Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series?

   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series? #1  

BGigHarbor

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.l5460, bcs 725, 852
Does the regeneration produce lots of heat? Does it require extended road speeds to regenerate?

Is there any sort of manual maintenance required?

What is the life span of the filter?

I can't find much specific info.

Had an l40 series in mind but locally they are all gone and only the l60 series is available.
 
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series?
  • Thread Starter
#2  
I know it's different, but the cat muffler on a 346xp saw comes to mind. Nothing good about it and plenty bad (like way too much heat).

Luckily it's an easy swap of the non cat muffler, but not so on the l60 series.
 
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series? #3  
Does the regeneration produce lots of heat? Does it require extended road speeds to regenerate?

Is there any sort of manual maintenance required?

What is the life span of the filter?

I can't find much specific info.

Had an l40 series in mind but locally they are all gone and only the l60 series is available.

When regening you will produce around 1000 to 1100 degrees F at the DPF intake. The outlet will be alittle less. On our trucks (Tractor trailer) our drivers have to do periodic "parked regens". We also have to take the DPF and DOC out and "Bake" the filter and clean the DOC. This happens around the 250,000 mile mark. The life span of the filter on oour trucks seems to reflect on how well they are mantained. There are alot of factors that can take life away from the DOC and DPF.
With that being said I am sure that the DPF filter will go into regen mode on its own at a certin predetermind interval or you will have to do a "manual" regen to keep the filter clean.
I would call your Kubota dealer.
 
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series? #4  
The life of the dpf's is still yet to be seen as they have not been out long enough. Overall there is a lot of fear by people who don't own these tractors just as there was and still is by people who don't own 07+ diesel trucks. I would suggest pm'ing MharryE as he has a new M135GX and has first hand experience with the new Kubota emission equipment.
 
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series? #5  
So far no issue at all except for needing to switch on the DPF manually. It starts in manual mode to make sure you aren't surprised by a regen starting when you are in a building for instance. The tractor has a monitor mode by which you can select to see how your DPF is filling - it reads in percent. I switch to auto mode when I get to over 90% but it can take quite a few hours to get from 90 to 100% depending on load. My last job was moving bales, lots of accel and decel so the level rose relatively fast - like 3% an hour. Prior to that I got in 3 hours plowing and the percentage actually dropped because the exhaust temp at nearly 100% power is enough to burn the door out of the filter. If I understand right when the filter gets filled with ash, maybe between 5,000 and 10,000 hours, the regens will start getting so close together so it is time to take the filter off and have it cleaned. The dealer should have a list of paces that can clean a filter.

Prior to retiring a few years ago I worked testing new products prior to production. I retired just as we were building our first prototypes with Tier 4 interim. We used a system similar to Kubota's. I have lunch with my old team every few months and keep up with their test results. The actual field testing has shown our product will never need a DPF cleaning in the 10,000 hour design life but the product line is one that runs at low idle or high idle - there is no in between. Consequently the normal exhaust temperature when working tends to be hotter than say a tractor where a person wants to run at part throttle. My L5740, for instance, gives a burst of smoke with every direction change when using the loader. I assume that will be trapped because my M135GX runs a clean exhaust when used under the same condition.

During my regens so far the only way I have known it is getting hot is to switch my monitoring system around so one line will read exhaust temperature. If it wasn't for the light saying it was regenerating and the exhaust temperature climbing I would not know it was regenerating but all my regens to date have been while working pretty hard and steady - chopping haylage or plowing. I have a neighbor with a M100GX who said he had a regen light start flashing near the end of the day. He was in manual mode and waited until he was working the next day to switch to auto and let it regen.

Hope this helps.
 
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series? #6  
   / Can you help me understand the Kubota dpf on the l60 series?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks all for the info.

Initially I was surprised and dismayed at the prospect of having to buying an l60 series, but my views have softened. Any less exhaust to breathe is welcome, and actually I am less horrified by the fuel filler placement than I as. Was looking at a l5060 this morning briefly at a local dealer and it was more tucked behind bracketry than I remembered. That was on an l3560, and I don't know if the bigger tractor protects the filler better....
 
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