skunkhome Posted August 20, 2008 Posted August 20, 2008 Picked this up 20 miles from the house last evening in a rain storm. PO had it on Craigslist for $450. and I figured it was a good deal. Starts and runs strong. It has some issues I consider minor, but thought it was worth it. Any one know anything about these beasts? Operators manual PO gave me leaves much to be desired. I hate it already as the mower is high centered on the "ramp" to my shed. Will have to jack it out tomorrow. pardon the foggy photo as it was taken with a chilled camera in a very humid atmosphere.
richp Posted August 20, 2008 Posted August 20, 2008 Nice. If it was local around my way I would have grabbed it.
Killer_A-C Posted August 20, 2008 Posted August 20, 2008 Kubotas are pretty hard to beat. Good quality stuff!!!!
skunkhome Posted August 20, 2008 Author Posted August 20, 2008 Well, not exactly, I mowed with it today and it was not pretty.B) I will not post pictures as it may be too shocking for some of our readers. There was less scalping at the Little Big Horn.:O To be fair the mower is a well made shop fabrication but the gauge wheels need replacing.. The mower must weigh a ton as it is very heavy guage and reinforced with rebar around all the edges. Even so it will never cut like my 3414. If I keep the beast I may use for rough cut only, or ditch the mower all together. It feels like a very powerful little tractor. Throttle response with 37 cid 3 cyl diesel is immediate. After 20 minutes it was running in the middle of the heat range. The appearance of the tractor is huge compared to my 3414 but according to the manual the Kubota is a lightweight by about 90# less. Steering is much easier but is very busy for the purposes of mowing. One thing that is evident is that the front end is carrying about 75-80% of the weight. This is one tractor that must have ballast in the rear tires. I have a lot of work to do as it has not had proper lubrication in some time. The transmission foot control is stiff and will not return to neutral when released. The parking brake can not be set while you are still in the drivers seat. Something is bent or just so dry it won't move easily. The result is that when I started it this morning it was in reverse without my knowledge and I promptly backed it into the rear of my Sweet Allis. Luckily it was Drawbar to hitch so no damage was done to Allis. I need to work on the transmission control linkage and the brakes as soon as I have a chance to figure out how to get the one piece cowl and fender off the tractor. The operators manual is just that. No lubrication guide, no exploded drawing...just, put the fuel in here, set your butt here, put the key in here, and go. need a service manual badly. As I was driving it today I was thinking "FEL". figure out how to harness that hydraulic power and put it to work. There is definitely no thought given to rear mounted implements! I have been trying to figure out how I can squeeze that oil burner into my tractor.
DMedal Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 my first thought was repower donor, keep the engine and scrap the rest.
plastikosmd Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 nice tractor...they go for good money, you got a good deal...I went with the JD model that is similar when looking for a small garden diesel (used). they are powerful little buggers. as far as rear impliments...mine has an optional 3 pt hitch, cat ) or something...small and for powered impliments..it used hydro power...hydro tiller etc..not sure if kubota the same. repower could be done..you would have to do a lot of mods to get it to fit and work..would ruin a good tractor that can bring decent money if you sell tho
stevenj Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 My thought is to mount your Johnny Bucket to this tractor and use the 3414 for mowing.
rsnik Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 Phil, I sort of agree with Steve. I don't know if you want to take the Johhny Bucket off the Baron but Steve has the concept. I was here on day one when you brought the Baron home from a long ways off and the seller...well, let's say she was not a heck of a lot to say grace over when you got home with her. You turned the tractor into one of the nicest in the club. But I agree the Baron Shuttle is a mower. Every time I mow the lawn with my Baron Shuttle I come in and tell the wife how I can't believe how the Shuttle deals with all the extremes of terrain and obstacles that mowing my insane lawn entails. But I think this Kubota is no mower. I think it is for grinding up, cultivating, pushing and moving dirt or handling other related materials like gravel and mulch.
skunkhome Posted August 21, 2008 Author Posted August 21, 2008 Thanks for the kind words, rsnik. I went out in the front yard today and mowed with my Sweet Allis (aka 3414S). It was so nice and the lawn looked beautiful and all was good with the world. Then I went into the back yard with the light fading and proceeded to dismount the mower/grader :D from my Kubota. A little over an hour later after much beating and cussing I got the &%#@$#@dang thing out from under the tractor. I was planning on climbing under to look at the tractor from the underside but by that time I was so pooped I said forget it. I looked over at good ole Sweet Allis and then back at this ugly brute and wonder what I was thinking. I some how feel disloyal to my shuttle spending time trying to simply gain access to the working parts under the tractor. Kubota took this powerful diesel and put it in a machine that appears to be solely designed to carry a belly mower then hang that P.O.J. under it. With its design you are right "its no mower" however Kubota made no provisions on the tractor for mounting ground engaging implements. Even the draw bar plate is too thin to to haul a trailer without bending. What good is it if it is no good for mowing and you can't attach a plow? I can do both of those things well with my Simplicity. The G5200 is a single purpose tractor and it can't even do a good job of that. I see them selling for upwards of $1000. but now I wonder why. I suppose I could get a mount made for my johnny bucket (I don't think Johnny makes anything to fit this Kubota) but I think it would be more prudent to sell it to some stranger and be done with it. The school could probably use it to haul the trash trailer but I am afraid the hitch plate would not hold up as it is bent already. If it started going south I would not want to have to deal with it there.
dentwizz Posted August 22, 2008 Posted August 22, 2008 You could always fab a drawbar mount on the rear. My neighbor made one with a ball-hitch for his landscape trailer(20 ft) and it holds up. It's just angle iron and some plate, but its mounted at four points. Oh, btw its a Cub Cadet. Those Kuby deisels are nice engines. They use them in so many brands of commercial mowers/tractors(like the larger Hustlers). Kuby has to learn about mowers but they know engines.
skunkhome Posted August 22, 2008 Author Posted August 22, 2008 quote:Originally posted by dentwizz You could always fab a drawbar mount on the rear. My neighbor made one with a ball-hitch for his landscape trailer(20 ft) and it holds up. It's just angle iron and some plate, but its mounted at four points. Oh, btw its a Cub Cadet. Those Kuby deisels are nice engines. They use them in so many brands of commercial mowers/tractors(like the larger Hustlers). Kuby has to learn about mowers but they know engines. At the present I like the engine but not much else. I still have not gotten the chance to crawl under the thing to see what makes it tick. I have not figured out how to get to the working parts without removing all that fiberglass shell, and I don't know how to do that without doing a bunch more disassembly. I have been Looking all over for manuals on the mower and also the tractor other than the operators manual the PO gave me. I find that publication virtually useless. It must loose something in the translation. #Even have to remove an inspection plate which is partially obstructed by the seat in order to check the transmission oil level. After working on my Simplicity I think it is a real pain in the neck. I plan to visit the dealer at the earliest possible date to try and salvage this deal.
skunkhome Posted August 27, 2008 Author Posted August 27, 2008 Rsnik, you wwere right. I worked on the mower over the last few days and fashioned a gauge wheel out of an old Simplicity rubber roller. I also found that one or the front mower hangers had been adjusted or mis-addressed to be 1/2" longer than the other. I shortened the longer one by the required amount, cleaned up and applied anti-seize compound to the spline shaft. I remounted the mower which took about 30 minutes (glaringly different than the Simplicity) and put it to work with the makeshift gauge wheel. It worked pretty well...not scalping at all so I went on and mowed the neighbors yard as well. Then I took it down to the abandoned property at the corner and cut the neutral ground which was thick and about a foot high. It doesn't cut as well as my Simplicity but is good enough and is powerful enough to be used for rough cutting. This Kubota is starting to grow on me. I love how it spins up immediately when you open the throttle.
plastikosmd Posted August 28, 2008 Posted August 28, 2008 glad to hear, these little diesel are a lot of fun
dentwizz Posted August 28, 2008 Posted August 28, 2008 Dad always had a saying, 'it couldn't have left the factory that bad'. some just have farther to go, I suppose. ;)
Recommended Posts