It's a Jinma 454LE, using a 3-cylinder Hunghai glowplug diesel engine of 3.05 liters, 45 HP at the PTO, with such neat features as creeper gears, 2-speed PTO, compression release, etc. I purchased it from at Circle G Tractor in Lamar, Mississippi, and I can recommend Mr. Gooch without reservation.

This is a Chinese-made unit, of course, and while their reliability reputation is spotty, at best, my Inner Scotsman couldn't resist the budget-friendly price.  I looked at (and drove) Mahindra, New Holland, and TAFE. This tractor out-the-door amounted to barely a down payment on a New Holland. Whew! They're nice, those Blue tractors, but they're not priced for poor Panola County white trash. :-/

A Mahindra would have run about the same price as the Jinma.. but with no front end loader.  And I'd have probably had to settle for 2-WD, too. The closest Mahindra equivalent (40 HP and 4WD) would've run me about $5K more bare, without the FEL.

The TAFE looked great, did have a loader and MFWD.. but was 5 HP less and, worse, nearly $3K more. The final straw that became the deal breaker was my online research, which said that TAFE is down to less than a 5,000/year production level, hanging on by it's fingernails. Jinma, OTOH, is bringing about 6,000 units/year into the US alone. Add in the rest of the globe (a far larger market!) and it's clear they're making a lot of tractors. And they drive good;

O' course Pam's an old hand at stick shifts. From a '68 Dodge D200 to our current Miata, she's pretty much driven it all. God I love that woman...

I dunno.. I'm not too apprehensive about the reliability rep factor of the Jinma. Mind, there are horror stories on the online forums. Failure of the Jinma hydraulic pump at low hours ( < 250) seems to be a particular concern. But then Jinma hydro pumps run a mere $400 brand-new, vs $2K for a John Deere.  And I suspect those who suffer this fate don't follow the rigorous out-of-the-crate drain-and-flush regimen that  tractors require. Mine did, thanks to the good folk at Circle G. And I plan to repeat it at 15 to 20 hours. All fluids - engine, hydraulic/injector/PS pumps, radiator,  trans - the works. 'tis cheap insurance...

There was the guy who had massive cylinder and valve wear at 400 hours, but I'm convinced his improperly installed (modified, really) air filter caused the meltdown. I reckon the Jinma's like every other vehicular conveyance from the 50cc scooter buzzing around your block to the supertanker plying the Seven Seas - you can get a good one or a bad one, depending on what day of the week it went down the Assembly Line... 

Of course merely DRIVING and actually WORKING are totally different propositions when it comes to tractors;

These photos were taken one the evening I took delivery of the Jinma, and I was just messing around. But I've put a little over 10 hours on the machine after moving it to Longtown, and have done some darned good work with it (if I do say so meself ). So far the only problem has been a nasty leak in the Power Steering system - 'nasty' in the sense that when the seal on the banjo bolt let go, it spewed oil all over me boot! I dispatched Pam to Quality Auto Parts in Batesville and she returned an hour later with a most excellent replacement seal (a mere US 38 cents!) and a gallon of Universal Tractor Hydraulic Oil (US $8.34 for the gallon, but only $28.99 for the 5-gallon bucket). Less than $10 and two hours later - Presto! - I was back at work. If this proves to be the worst breakdown I suffer at the Jinma's hands, I'll be a happy man indeed! {knocks on wood} 

At 5,000 pounds (4,300 base for the tractor aprox. 700 for the loader) the Jinma is much more nimble and ground-friendly than the Ford 5000 at 8,000+ pounds. Oh, and did I mention 'safer'? For the 'nimble'  and 'stable' parts do add up to 'safer' - and that's very important, as Shamrock Hollow includes some hilly terrain that demands the utmost caution from the operator. It's not the slope of the land itself so much as that it's prone to cutting by runoff. Drop a wheel into one of these runoff trenches while you're already traversing a near-maximum slope, and that's it. Over you go.

I walk the terrain to be mowed, sprayed, etc. to identify these eroded spots, and mark them with a flag. OK, OK I 'walk' it with the Rubicon, but you see my point. I've had the Jinma's tires off the ground twice as it is, once on two wheels (the back ones), and once on three (lifted the L rear wheel). The former happened while digging with the loader, feeling it out, and wasn't very dramatic at all. Kinda fun, actually!

The second.. well, I didn't quite have to change me underwear, but 'twas close!   I had a chain on an old overgrown-with-weeds implement sitting by the barn, tugging backwards with the loader and.. well, any experienced operator knows what happened next.  The only thing that saved me is that, not being a total idiot, I had the loader positioned very low. So when the rear lifted, the loader grounded and saved me - had it been lifted 5 feet or so, I'd have tipped over for sure. A couple of co-workers witnessed this faux pas, and ribbed me that it looked like I was looking for the ejection seat.. But, hey!, any experienced operator has to know his machine's limits! It was a test - That's my story and I'm sticking to it! !   

So, it'll pull the 6' bush hog through the deepest growth without bogging down, even up the hills in 2-Low 4WD. The loader is stout, capable of lifting 1,200 pounds without breaking a sweat. The 3-point hitch/lift works just fine, and the 2-speed PTO means I'm good to go should I decide to add a backhoe or sprayer. The controls are laid out logically, and are easy to operate - the canopy even goes up and down much easier than I expected, a one-man job.  Mind you, the transmission can be a bit balky at times. But that's to be expected with 16 forward/4 reverse, and will likely smooth out once the tractor breaks in.

Yep, I guess you could say I'm quite pleased with the Jinma. All in all, it's near perfect sized for the job at hand, and at the price of a used Camry, an excellent value. The caveats, reliability and parts availability.. well, only time will tell. The latter is really not a worry for me, as I've seen  Circle G Tractor's extensive parts inventory in person. The former.. well, 'tis a roll of the dice, I know. "You pays yore money and takes yore chances.." 

-Ricky

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