Bought a new Kubota

Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
1,906
Location
Vermont
The wife and I plan to retire in 2020 and I was going to buy a new Kubota then but with the economic uncertainties of tariffs and the possibility of increasing inflation, I took advantage of Kubota's 0% financing and bought my tractor two years early.

Having never owned a tractor before, I plan to stay with OEM filters and fluids at least through the warranty period. The tractor was delivered to our Vermont cabin just a few days before I left but I was able to put 5 hours on it and it sure is fun. It is the B2650 model with hydro trans and I got the FEL but I held off on the front snowblower for now.

With 15 heavily wooded acres and a quarter mile of unplowed road that I am responsible for, I am sure that it will come in handy. My first planned upgrade is a Piranha tooth bar.

The first scheduled fluid change is at 50 hours and I will probably hit that next summer. And yes, I lowered the ROPS bar before I backed into the garage.
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Valvoline/Ashland produces the service fluids for your Kubota if you want to run an OE fluid without paying the OE price. Only place I'd likely stick with a Kubota is on the Hydraulic/Transmission fluid since a commercial substitute fluid is harder to find than a 15w40 Engine oil or 80w90 gear oil for the differentials.

Local Kubota shop back home in Michigan services customers tractors with Valvoline 15w40 or 5w40 when not using Kubota oil, customers choice. They only used OE filters.
 
Congratulations. Nice. Kubota is tops. I have a BX2200 that I bought new in 2001 so this summer makes 17 years of trouble free ownership. The only thing that has gone out on it was OEM hydraulic hoses burst a couple of times. Changed the engine oil and filter every 100 hours, and the air filter and hydraulic fluid (Super UDT2) and transmission filter every 300 hours. Change the axle fluid too for that one I would have to look it up. The tractor is on its third battery including the OEM -- this one now is a Group 35 from Costco, same as the Toyota Corolla uses. The stock size is a 51R car battery (Hyundai Elantra) but the size 35 fits.

I have been running Mobil Delvac 1300 Super oil in 15W-40 weight since the tractor was new.

I recently replaced the seat with aftermarket and got, yes, the Piranha tooth bar that I just installed last weekend. First think i did with it was remove a 6" diameter apple tree (dead) the thing came out of the ground like nothing.

If I may suggest one thing the best small dollar investment you can make is to by a Mr. Funnel filter funnel. I kid you not -- if you do not buy one other accessory for the tractor buy a Mr. Funnel.
 
Thanks for the feedback fellas.
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To address a couple of your comments, I agree that the piranha toothbar for the bucket will just be the beginning as I am already eyeing a grapple to use in the woods. I do plan to stick with Kubota fluids for the time being but I appreciate the recommendations moving forward.

Regarding price, I looked at JD but never really got to the point where I priced them versus the Kubota. The Kubota was just a superior machine to me. Having said that I don't mind sharing what I paid for my Kubota. I ordered it with ballast star fluid filled rear tires, rear wheel spacers for additional stability and snow chain compatibility. Also on the order was a third function front hydraulic option and an upgraded rear link adjuster.

After all of that I paid just over 23K OTD delivered to my place in Vermont.
 
I forgot to mention Mr. Funnel. I checked out the website and I am intrigued enough to consider ordering one to check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Just started looking for my first tractor have 60 acres 52woods and 1/4 mile gravel driveway. In southern missouri. First tractor looked at JD 3025E 25 hp loader, brush hog, box scraper, trailer $22,200

JD.year 2001. 4400 36hp loader 310 hours. $10900
Think im going to buy the used one and save a few bucks hopefully. Just want to groom the drive, move a little snow and rock. Did you look at JD or anything else?
 
Originally Posted By: Ausfahrt
Thanks for the feedback fellas.
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To address a couple of your comments, I agree that the piranha toothbar for the bucket will just be the beginning as I am already eyeing a grapple to use in the woods. I do plan to stick with Kubota fluids for the time being but I appreciate the recommendations moving forward.

Regarding price, I looked at JD but never really got to the point where I priced them versus the Kubota. The Kubota was just a superior machine to me. Having said that I don't mind sharing what I paid for my Kubota. I ordered it with ballast star fluid filled rear tires, rear wheel spacers for additional stability and snow chain compatibility. Also on the order was a third function front hydraulic option and an upgraded rear link adjuster.

After all of that I paid just over 23K OTD delivered to my place in Vermont.

Looks nice! I'd advise getting a heavy box blade or some form of rear 3pt ballast next. A gannon 5'-5.5' box blade will come in handy for just using the loader to its capacity and you can play bulldozer using the cheap 3pt arms instead of the loader, and with the hydraulic top link you can use the scarifiers to rip into stuff,.
 
Originally Posted By: Fitter30
Just started looking for my first tractor have 60 acres 52woods and 1/4 mile gravel driveway. In southern missouri. First tractor looked at JD 3025E 25 hp loader, brush hog, box scraper, trailer $22,200

JD.year 2001. 4400 36hp loader 310 hours. $10900
Think im going to buy the used one and save a few bucks hopefully. Just want to groom the drive, move a little snow and rock. Did you look at JD or anything else?


That looks like a good deal on the JD.

I did look at Deere and Yanmar too. I looked at used tractors too but the prices were so high that I decided to buy new with warranty and that way if it was abused it would be abused my me.

Three main things made me choose Kubota over Deere:

1. The nearly universal QA skid steer front attachment versus JD's proprietary attachment method. There is nothing wrong with JD's attachment but it just limits options and costs more.

2. Yanmar makes a stout diesel but why can't John Deere make their own engines?

3. Dealer support. My Kubota dealer is just 30 minutes away and they treated me much better than the Deere dealer who basically ignored me.
 
Indylan:

Thanks! I don't understand much of what you are saying but this is my first tractor. My Kubota has fluid filled rear tires so I figure that should give me enough rear ballast to not have issues using the loader.

I had to google scarifier and I won't be needing that.
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My step-father bought one of these a little over 3 years ago. He passed two years ago and I've inherited it. Sort of. So far, it has been an incredible tractor. So much so when I sell the farm I'm going to try to keep it.
It replaced a 30+ year old smaller Kubota that "bought the farm" when the engine died. I'm convinced the old tractor would still be running if it had even minimal maintenance.
The 2650 is used to plow, disc, spray, scrape, dig postholes, haul a bin trailer, etc.
Attachment points were welded to the bucket so the old 3 point forks could be directly attached. We can now use it as a fork lift to move bins and loaded pallets without removing the bucket.
About the only attachment left I could use is a back hoe.
 
Originally Posted By: Ausfahrt
Indylan:

Thanks! I don't understand much of what you are saying but this is my first tractor. My Kubota has fluid filled rear tires so I figure that should give me enough rear ballast to not have issues using the loader.

I had to google scarifier and I won't be needing that.
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On a level surface, sure you could probably max out your loader while keeping the rear tires on the ground, but a bit of slope with a raised bucket full of gravel could have you on your side if your not careful. You have to remember a tractor is basically a tricycle because of the free pivoting front axle. There are axle stops to keep it from rotating far enough to wreck the tractor but the stops won't help you if your going over. I've got loaded rears and have them set out wide, but to bomb around with a full bucket of gravel I want my 1000lb box blade on the 3pt, then I can cross reasonable side slopes with the bucket low. If I raised it full height though it would still be easy to tip. Having weight behind the rear axle helps more with stability than weight at the rear axle, plus it takes weight off the front axle, so for simple material moving you can normally stay in 2wd and save some wear and tear on the front axle
Here's my boxblade

The teeth in front the box are call scarifiers and they help break up the soil so the blade in the box can cut through it

The box blade makes moving and grading dirt a dream compared to trying to it all with the loader. A brush hog also makes good rear ballast but you have to be careful of the extra length of the tractor.
A good forum for tractors like our is tractorbynet, lots of friendly guys and almost any question you can think of has been debated and analyzed to death.
 
Prior to getting the rear tires filled, dad used his 1200 lb grater box on the Grand L as ballast when moving the boat around with the bucket mounted hitch. Somewhat serious tongue weight, but it was also pushing it backwards up a hill. Filling the tires up made a huge difference.. Really helps with snow removal too since the blade weighs much less.

I don't think you'll need a grader box unless you are doing some serious changes like "grade changing". Dad bought his box years ago for putting in a driveway and also a path that goes along a woods to a pond. He also used it about 7 years ago when changing the front yard after adding a retaining wall around their house. It all depends on what you are wanting to do with the tractor.

I recommend a rear mount snow blower so you'll have the bucket to crawl out of nasty situations. My .02.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: Ausfahrt
Indylan:

Thanks! I don't understand much of what you are saying but this is my first tractor. My Kubota has fluid filled rear tires so I figure that should give me enough rear ballast to not have issues using the loader.

I had to google scarifier and I won't be needing that.
21.gif


On a level surface, sure you could probably max out your loader while keeping the rear tires on the ground, but a bit of slope with a raised bucket full of gravel could have you on your side if your not careful. You have to remember a tractor is basically a tricycle because of the free pivoting front axle. There are axle stops to keep it from rotating far enough to wreck the tractor but the stops won't help you if your going over. I've got loaded rears and have them set out wide, but to bomb around with a full bucket of gravel I want my 1000lb box blade on the 3pt, then I can cross reasonable side slopes with the bucket low. If I raised it full height though it would still be easy to tip. Having weight behind the rear axle helps more with stability than weight at the rear axle, plus it takes weight off the front axle, so for simple material moving you can normally stay in 2wd and save some wear and tear on the front axle
Here's my boxblade

The teeth in front the box are call scarifiers and they help break up the soil so the blade in the box can cut through it

The box blade makes moving and grading dirt a dream compared to trying to it all with the loader. A brush hog also makes good rear ballast but you have to be careful of the extra length of the tractor.
A good forum for tractors like our is tractorbynet, lots of friendly guys and almost any question you can think of has been debated and analyzed to death.


Thanks for the tips and the pics!

I have a lot to learn about the capabilities of this tractor and how to use it. My number one plan for it is snow removal since I have a long driveway in addition to living on an unpaved and unplowed road.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Prior to getting the rear tires filled, dad used his 1200 lb grater box on the Grand L as ballast when moving the boat around with the bucket mounted hitch. Somewhat serious tongue weight, but it was also pushing it backwards up a hill. Filling the tires up made a huge difference.. Really helps with snow removal too since the blade weighs much less.

I don't think you'll need a grader box unless you are doing some serious changes like "grade changing". Dad bought his box years ago for putting in a driveway and also a path that goes along a woods to a pond. He also used it about 7 years ago when changing the front yard after adding a retaining wall around their house. It all depends on what you are wanting to do with the tractor.

I recommend a rear mount snow blower so you'll have the bucket to crawl out of nasty situations. My .02.


I am pretty sure that I want a front mount snowblower because of the length of my driveway and road but I held off on buying one because I kept getting conflicting recommendations on what was the best way to go. One one hand, I just can't see myself backing up all the time with my body contorted but on the other hand you make a valid point about not having the use of the loader with a front mount.

I am going to have to live through a New England winter before I can decide on which way to go. Thanks for the input, here is a pic of my driveway from the road.
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Keep the oils and filters changed keep her lubed up and she will do work for a long time. A tractor and some implements are nice to have when you own lots of dirt.
 
There are rear 3pt blowers that you pull going forwards as well. I do my 1/4 mile with a 7' rear blade, pulling forwards if the snow is under 8" and pushing backwards if its deeper(the 3rd pass gets heavy). We get mostly 8" or less at a time and I have to start the year doing 3 passes to keep the banks from creeping in too much in March. Our tractors don't have the speed/hp to wing up snow over a bank like a truck.
Depending on what you are doing in the winter, the loss of ground clearance with a front blower frame and loss of the loader may make it a no go. Cheapest/simplest by far is a rear blade but if you get 2' dumps or lots of snow in general then a blower is probably better.
 
I'm starting to look at these as well and just learned there's a B 01 series and a B 50 series.. I did not know this. The B 50 series being somewhat larger than the 01 and a tad smaller than the L. To make it more confusing, the BX is even smaller than the 01.

Op, when you were looking at tractors, did you consider the L? A B2650 and L2501 are very close in price and I am torn. Same situation with the 33 horse models.

My father and I looked at an equivalent JD and they are basically the same price. I try not to be brand biased so I figured they were worth the look.. Very cheap look and feel IMO. Growing up with Kubota my whole life, I felt like a traitor too.
 
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