# New Kubota Big Tractors section!



## Chris

Here you go...Have fun with it!

Andy


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## Archdean

> _Originally posted by admin _
> *Here you go...Have fun with it!
> 
> Andy *


Thanks, we will get started today!!


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## Vectoruzi

Archdean said:


> Thanks, we will get started today!!


Looks like nobody got started with it. But, I'll post a pic of my L3350 anyway.


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## Nickwelder

Perhaps the big Kubota's are not popular, I know mine isn't with me.
I posted a review on TBN, nothing bad, just information on things to look out for, then !!SWISH!! the magic vanishing wand was waved, and me and my review ceased to exist.  
So, I am not really here, and my knowledge has no value. edro:


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## Hoodoo Valley

Nick, here we operate a little bit differently. We value your opinions and I for one am always curious about the personal experiences one has with their tractor, so lay it on us Man!


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## Nickwelder

Ok Tractor Beam, here is my review that disappeared from Tractorbuynet. edro:
Warning!!! Anybody with short attention span, or allergic reaction to long posts, should look away now.


I don't think the Kubota M108s is a model used in America, though there would obviously be an equivalent. It is their 108 hp model.

Here in Cornwall there are a number of smallholdings, 2 - 7 acres, that sort of size, and there is a problem with gorse, bramble and blackthorn, what you would probably term scrub in America.

The holdings are too small for contractors, and too big to tackle on your own, so I had this idea of a medium sized tractor with front loader and articulating flail on the back to deal with this stuff. My old David Brown was past it so I looked for a new replacement.

Consequently, I went to various tractor agents and the local Kubota dealer set me up with an m108s tractor for my heavy duty articulating flail. I worried that the tractor was too small, but was assured it would easily do the job.

On delivery I found, contrary to the literature, there was no E540 pto speed. I especially asked for this as when flailing not all the ground is the same and diesel can be saved on some fields by selecting E540. No reply from Kubota.

First problem on the first job.
It was a road edge trimming job. The Kubota was so slow I thought the engine was seizing. I limped home and called the dealer. Their fitter found that on lifting the flail past a certain point it bound up tight on the tyres, stopping the tractor moving. Kubota said they could only guarantee their tractor to work with Kubota implements. After visits by everybody the flail manufacturer eventually made alterations to the flail, even though it was clearly not their fault, as exactly the same thing happens with the link box. Call me picky if you like, but to me type11 implements should fit type11 links fitted to a type11 tractor.

Next job,
The left stabilizer broke just as I was driving downhill and turning left, the flail jammed into the right hand tyre locking the wheel and almost tipping the tractor over. the only way out was to get my landrover to pull the flail backwards as I inched out from the hedge. More of a nightmare than I could ever explain. Kubota said it was my fault as the flail was too heavy for the tractor.
They changed their mind once I said that I would sue the dealer as I had purposely bought the setup to do exactly the job I was doing, and had raised the issue of tractor capability myself. The flail weights 900 kgs (2000lbs) and the tractor lift is rated at 3500kgs (8000lbs), so somebody is misleading somebody somewhere.

Next job,
With new, different, stabilizers. One of the new stabilizers came undone with exactly the same result, as I was flailing on the down side of the slope it jammed and pulled the tractor into the ditch. No help from the dealer in getting out of the ditch, Fortunately I have an old Ford 550 digger that I was able to use to ease the Kubota out. Now I have cobbled together both the original type of stabilizers and the new ones working side by side.

The next job,
I picked up some rocks with the front bucket and as I lifted it up one of the rear wheels came off the ground and nearly tipped the tractor over. I had the flail on so there should have been enough weight. The dealer came out this time, took the tractor back, and put the wheels out farther. The same thing happened straight away. The dealer came out, took the tractor back, and water ballasted the tyres. This stopped the tipping but the mud coming off the tyres covered the cab. I bought some add on mudguards.
I know Cornwall is hilly, but the dealer is in Cornwall and knew what the tractor was for, so these endless near misses should not have happened.

The next job,
Saw the right lift arm ram fly off like a bullet with £100 worth of UTO pumped out in a zillionth of a second, and saw the flail crashing to the ground. Trying to put 40 litres of oil in a tractor through an impossible to get at 1/2 inch hole with an implement attached in a muddy field was indescribably difficult.

I could go on, engine cutting out, engine missing, hydraulic handles bending, valves sticking, gearbox jerking and clanging, clutch not working sometimes? etc, etc, but suffice to say in over two years I have never managed to complete any job without having to limp home to repair something that shouldn't have gone wrong. It just isn't a real tractor, it's a garden machine with a big turbo and huge tyres to make it look like a real tractor. It struggles with everything, and I have only managed 200 hrs. Remember, I told the dealer that this was a new venture and I was therefore unsure of what I needed, so I think that rather than helping me get going they used my inexperience to palm me off with whatever they wanted to get rid of, and Kubota have colluded with their dealer to try to save face.

I suppose I was spoilt with the David Brown, but I just assumed that all tractors are built for strength and reliability.

In Kubota's defence they did offer to replace the M108s with their M125x, for the extra money of course, but on test I could only put up with it for one day as every part of it seemed bent and absolutely nothing worked properly. Kubota since stopped replying to me. I would add that the Kubota front loader is superb quality, and actually accentuates the poor finish of the tractor. Needless to say the front loader is made in America, not Japan.

I think that Kubota, flushed with the success of their undoubtedly brilliant little tractors, have gone up in size to a market that they are not experienced in, and have got it wrong. The reality is that the link arms are too short and the tractor is underpowered and poorly made. I have since read an evaluation from Nebraska University that states as much, also saying that the lifting capacity was less than Kubota claimed, as well as the oil flow rate being less than that claimed, making the hydraulics very slow, so Nebraska University could not issue a certificate of compliance with advertised performance. 

All that is good and well but the most telling thing for me is to find out that the two Kubota dealers in the Southwest both run agricultural holdings. One will only use Massey Ferguson for their own work, and the other uses Deutz. Nuff said I think.

Sometimes I get peeved at the loss of £40000 and a good business idea, there's no shortage of work, I just don't have the confidence in the tractor to take it on, but mostly, I feel exasperated that these businesses are so determined to bury their heads in the sand, and chase the god of avarice, that they can't see the noose they are making for themselves as they gleefully follow the lemming bankers over the financial cliff of doom. Bye

I don't want my money back, I don't want any compensation, I don't even want an apology, just a tractor that does tractory things in a tractory way. That will never happen, and I will never again get £40000 to invest in anything else, so the moral is, take tractor advice from anybody other than a tractor dealer or tractor manufacturer. :fineprint

The right rear wheel is still buckled after the first mishap, even though it has been back for this to be done. Somehow this gets missed everytime, ime, ime, ime.


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