Why are Kubotas so popular? (genuine question...no brand warfare)

Hey all,

Eventually I plan on moving out to the country and will get a tractor (and another saw, etc.). That's several years away and, in the meantime I like to do research (i.e. fantasizing).

This is hardly a scientific observation, but on a few forums including this one, I see Kubotas more often than I expected. They seem to be the most popular of the small to mid-size tractors, at least from what I can tell.

Are there any major reasons for that? Not looking to bash other brands, just learn more about the Kubotas. If anything, between my Husqvarna saw and KTM motorbike, I've developed an affinity for things in orange.

 

In 1999 when we went to look at a New Holland it was $5000 more over a comparable Kubota. That got our attention, but being a New Holland/Kubota dealer, they salesman gave us an option; if we did not like the Kubota after 90 days, we could take it back no questions asked and go with a different tractor.

We never took it back.

I guess what I like is that they are strong, simple machines, and I have worked on every tractor there is I think. For instance John Deere makes comparable tractors, (made overseas by the way), and yet their drop down front axle shafts are pressed in and have more gears and bearings. One guy I know spent $1100 fixing them. I fixed a spun gear in ours and did the repair myself because it was easy to fix and had no pressed flanges for less than $200 genuine Kubota parts.

About the only thing I dislike about Kubota is their operators station: it is cramped, on every tractor they ever built, but it is not so bad I would not buy another.

But am I brand loyal? Not really, I have a friend that is a salesman at a Massey Ferguson/Mahindra Tractor Dealership and I would probably buy my next tractor there, just because he's a friend, he sold Kubotas once upon a time and said these tractors are comparable, and really it is where you get service, price and parts that matter.

 

A friend had one, about 20-25 hp, prior to his retirement. He owned a pile of tractors, from a pre-war Case L, several Veratiles, a 600 horse Big Bud, to the latest gimmicky John Deeres. The Kubota was the most reliable of all.

 

BTW: If you buy a new tractor, be wary of the HP rating and here is why. Today, anything under 26 HP is exempt from the Tier 4 emissions standards, SO, tractor companies are dropping 26 HP engines into chassis that used to have say 34 HP or so. This makes the bigger tractors under powered. This can be countered somewhat by transmission choice as a slosh-drive transmission robs the tractor of a lot of power, so if you go with a bigger chassis, but have 26 HP engine you might consider a manual transmission which will not rob your tractor of power.

Now which is better? Well it depends. I have a standard gear and would never go to a slosh-drive, BUT I do a lot of field work. My tractor might plow, bushog, or rake hay for hours on end. A slosh drive would get hot doing that and it is not needed, but if a person is doing a lot of back and forth front end loader work, a slosh-drive is a dream. My wife can drive our Kubota, hates the bulldozer and refuses to drive the skidder, but probably would do better with a slosh-drive.

So why not go with a Tier 4 diesel engine and get more HP? Well they have reburners on them, and once they need to be reburned, a farmer has a choice, stop what they are doing and reburn, or hit cancel and keep going. The cancel button is so reburning does not take place inside a barn or something where it could catch on fire. BUT hit the cancel button 3 times and it shuts down and the only way to reactivate it is to have a technician come out and reset it for the farmer. The cost for that is $1000. Yes you read that right with no extra zeros added due to a twitch. It is getting to be highway robbery. Granted this is John Deere and they are known for scamming people. I say that because last year they were taken to the US Supreme Court by farmers where they lost their case. They said when farmers bought their tractors they bought the machine, not the computer software within it. The US Supreme Court ruled that farmers had a right to fix their own tractors, BUT that non-John Deere mechanic shops did not! So what John Deere does now is, for every new series of tractors that come out, they change the software so farmers have to buy new diagnostic equipment to work on their own equipment.

If I seem anti-John Deere I do not mean to be, they just happen to have the most expensive parts. I believe they make some of the best tractors out there that are a dream to run (I own John Deere), but Caterpillar has got them beat on prices and parts.

BTW: One thing a farmer has to do is always compare John Deere Industrial with John Deere Agricultural for cheaper prices. Many times, like on my John Deere 350D, which agricultural tractors have identical parts, I can buy them at John Deere Ag for half the price.

 

When I was tractor shopping a few years ago, I looked at Kioti, New Holland, Mahindra, John Deere, Kubota, Branson and TYM. Those were the local dealers. I was shopping in the 30-40 hp range, 4wd and hydro, for basically snow removal, dirt work and woods work. No farm or field stuff. There were good and bad features to every one. Specifically regarding Kubota: they were the nicest tractors in terms of fit and finish. Seemed simple and solid. By far the most expensive for the features. The killer was the operator's station, I am 6' and 300# and I could not get the seat back far enough to be comfortable and still operate their horrible treadle-style forward-reverse pedal. The salesman at the Kubota dealer told me that the operator's station and pedal design was a common complaint. You either like it or you hate it. Kioti shared this problem.

In the end I narrowed it down to a Mahindra and a TYM, and in the end found a used TYM T353 with loader, pallet forks and new 5' brush hog for $16,000. About 60% of the cost of a new one with the same attachments, it was a year old and less than 150 hours. Being used to John Deere controls with separate pedals, the TYM is instinctive. I do not have to physically look to find the pedals, they are just -there- in the right place. Huge selling point for me. I imagine I will keep this tractor for as long as I can reliably find parts. The dealer is gone now, so I will have to beg the Mahindra dealer to get me parts as TYM appears to be manufacturing some of their tractors for them. In 10-15 years I guess I'll see what's out there.

 

Agree with that many others have said here try to stay away from the category four if you can. Kubota does have a smaller operator cockpit stinks because I also am a bigger guy.. my niece happened to be a diesel mechanic. her dad has a lot of older farm tractors.. friends and neighbors have JD..

my Kubota has been dead on reliable .. had a tire that got a leak,(not tractors fault) blew motor when pushing snow (I do not care for horseshoe oil pan with those little twist caps) but no engine runs without oil.. 2 things KTAC covered new motor but shouldn't a 10,000 dollar motor have a low oil shut off.. fixed by dealer in less than a week.

other than that for 12 years it starts runs and does what I want it to do.. no need for service besides maintenance an it just straight up works...

neighbor upgraded to 65 hp JD has had nothing but problems meaning tractor get brought to dealer for a code of some sort at 350 round trip and he comes borrows mine this happens 2x a year for last 3 years.. it's a tier 4 engine.

 

Good financing and lengthy warranty are some of the factors imo


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^^^ and their insurance KTAC is phenomenal. .. they covered my engine when someone else was using it and did not notice oil on snowwith less than 300 hours!

this cheap financing does lower value of 5 year old units or less easier to buy new

 

I went with Kubota because 1 ,price difference over other top tier brands 2, most of the research I did indicated they were very reliable .
I bought my L3130in 2003 . So far it’s been fuel ,oil ,filters ,and one leaking seal on a FEL curl / dump cylinder .

 

I am an unabashed Kubota fan. I believe they are popular for all of these reasons listed above-financing, reliability, fit and finish way above the 2nd tier tractors, and excellent KTAC insurance.
They also have a widespread dealer network with stability-unlike some of the other smaller brands. I also have found their dealers value customers like us-we are their business,unlike dealers that sell industrial/agricultural equipment.
I'll be shipping for a larger tractor soon, and I'll probably consider JD, but they'll have to win my business with better features and comparable price.

 

mine had like a billion hours on it and ran like a watch. OK not a billion but hour meter stopped working years ago

 

Thanks for all the input guys. Appreciate the balanced responses. Dealer support is also important and there's only JD and Kubota near me.

Update: I called a local dealer...the 0%/7yr financing sure is tempting.

Update 2: I mentioned this research to my wife. She knows from past experiences that when I research stuff, eventually there's a purchase. She didn't flip out or anything so I'm thinking "yellow light" on the purchase.

 

Kubota—/ overall good company as described above.
I know this is a tractor thread, but if you ever need a skid loader try a SVL90 by Kubota... they’re a blast.

 

I've ran Case, Oliver, JD, Bobcats, Massey and Fords from 20 to 200 hp. Favorite for loader work was JD 301 industrial with synchronized shuttle, gear drive no braking or clutching required just flip a lever forward or back! Close second is a Bobcat with hydro foot pedal one forward one reverse, granted this machine is a lot smaller hp so would not do the work but I still liked it. Current tractor is a Case D40 40 hp with synchronized 12 forward 12 reverse, I just moved 210 tons of material with it last week for my patio I built sure hydro would have saved me a little time but this was my grandpa's tractor I got it when he sold the farm and moved to town.

As mentioned before gear drive if your driving/pulling/brush hogging as primary job or get a hydrostatic for primarily loader work. Or better yet buy gear drive and rent a skid loader for any big projects as they are made to handle material!!!!

 

We spent a lot of time shopping for a tractor to move round bales and skid wood. The round bales are hard on the front end when feeding out on rough frozen ground, so we were shopping in the 50 hp range to get the beefier farm frame. The other requirement was my wife and daughters needed to be able to operate it easily.

In the early 80s a neighbor got a new 60hp Kubota, and when we called him in 2008 to ask about how it had held up he felt it was the best equipment purchase decision he had ever made (it was and is still running strong).

The day we bought, we both sat on and drove new NH, JD, Mahindra, and Kubota. All the dealers were within 40 minutes (there are at least 3Kubota shops within an hour). My wife couldn’t sit on the JD seat and have her feet flat on the platform. Dealer fussed and fiddled, but that was a big reason they fell off the list. The Mahindra felt solid, but was less refined. Gear shift between your legs, not a full flat platform. She didn’t like the loader control as well.

The Kubota we got is the basic gear transmission, but all around felt more refined and better thought out controls. At 1600+ hours we’ve had zero repairs (well, I’ve wiped a light off the fender while backing into brush bushogging), and would definitely buy a Kubota again.

 

We borrowed this from my wife's work. All I can say is "wow!". Put 36 hours on it over two weekends.

I can't compare this to anything else for excavators, but have a lot of experience on many farm tractors.

 

I have had a Case Farmall sub compact for the last 11 years. It has been a awesome little tractor doing everything I have wanted with it. The local case dealer sold out to a big outfit 2 years ago. Away went the small town service. Decided this year to update. Happened to stop by the local Kubota dealer. Got to talking to them. Good thing I did. I have a new BX2680 Kubota coming by the end of the month. It has a quick detach loader, 54" drive-over deck and a super duty commercial grade 55" front mounted snow blower on a quick mount system with full hydraulics. One very impressive little tractor, perfect for my needs. Now.....the real shocker. My Case has 873 hours on it. 11 years ago it cost my 15,000 with a quick attach loader and 60" deck. I almost choked when they offered me12,000 on the trade. As well, I had bought a new 64" back-up blower at the end of this past winter from this same dealer and used it once. He further offered me exactly what I paid for it this spring on this deal. Needless to say, I can't wait for the end of the month........................

 

yup they offered me more for my Kubota than I paid for it in 2006 got a great deal when market crashed here... but new tier 4 idk but a cab would be soooo nice

 

Kubota makes a good rig. Just wish they'd make the operating platform for a person taller than 5' & fix the steering drift.

Got a link for the supreme court's decision? My understanding is that nothing has been done on this issue. But Deere see's what's coming and is trying a software licensing agreement angle.

 

I agree with what had been said. They also offer some features that comparable tractors don't have.