Kubota Excavator

[Boondox]

Nobull and Coopers -- Nice rigs! But your pix highlight my dilemma. I can afford a larger mini-excavator if I don't get a cab...but the cab would make it better for both me and the controls (plus keep me bug free in black fly season).

When you say it really cooks inside...I thought all cabs came with heat and AC. Does the AC not keep up with the summer heat?

Pete

 

[nobull1]

As far as I know, with Kubota you have to get into the 121 or larger before you get air, or at least it was..

 

[markct]

That's the BEST! I love the "new car small..." The rental company I work for, just bought a new JD 120 and 160 and 200 and they smell so nice, well now they don't but they did....I hate to get them dirty. I don't know why the contractors have to open all the dang windows cuz the machines have AC and all it does is gets the inside so dusty and not new looking....lol /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Blake
WA

i could never understand that either!!! i am a mechanic for a garbage company and we run a transfer station, we have a JD544 loader which has the garbage handling package on it, so its got extra big filters for cab air etc and of course heat and ac which is standard for some reason the operators still run the thing with the cab doors and windows wide open. and this is a far dustier and dirtier operation than any construction operation i have been around, its amazing the dust from dumping some of the garbage trucks loads. i mean i run my excavator and farm tractor with the doors open or off but thats cause it has no ac, i just dont understand it on a modern machine with ac. and while im going on about things i dont get, i cant figure out why it seems 90 percent of the tractor trailer drivers like to run there air ride seats without any air in them, so not only is the ride stiff but your sitting way down on the floor practicaly! brand new T800 kenworths with all the goodies and air ride seats, but they might as well have mounted the seat on a block of wood. not only is there no shock absorbtion but ya are so low ya cant see crap, im 6ft tall and when i move the trucks around in the yard to work on them i usualy raise the seat up some.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

As far as I know, with Kubota you have to get into the 121 or larger before you get air, or at least it was..

its on some of the smaller machines now.

 

[nobull1]

It has been awhile since I last posted about my KX91-3....almost two and a half years actually. I now have around 850 hours and just getting into our busy season. I have to think of what I might have had to do in the last 2.5 years to the Kubota. After some careful thought I figured I have replaced nothing. The excavator has been working flawlessly with just regular maintenance. Our maintenance includes 15w40 oil for the summer and 10w30 for the winter. Although we use the excavator rarely in the winter it starts a lot easier with 10w30 instead of 15w40. We also change the drive motors oil every spring regardless of hours used. The cost of drive motors will set you back thousands, so this is just cheap insurance. The steel tracks are working fine and showing no wear, although the sprockets appear to be wearing a little strange. On the tip of the sprocket about 1/2" on one side it appears to be rounding off to a 45 degree angle. This is happening on both sprockets and on different sides. I can't really figure out why it would do this, almost like you were applying pressure on one side of the track and only applying pressure on one point of the sprocket. As far as I can tell it really won't be a problem for some time to come and then you would just replace the sprockets. When I get a chance I will get up to the dealer and have a talk with the service people to get their opinion. I also have changed the grease that I am using. The aluminium complex worked good for all purposes and seemed to do the job. I just could not find any that had moly and think that the lack of was causing me to have to grease a lot more than i should. I am now using a lithium based with moly that works fine. In the US you can get Schaeffer aluminium complex with moly, but is way too expensive after import and trucking costs to Canada. If it was reasonable to purchase, I think it would be the answer.
Other than that it is business as usual and almost five years since I started this thread and still happy. I will post again maybe in the fall if the thread is still open

 

[johnk]

Great to hear the Ole Kubota is basically trouble free for you. I think when you report back in a year or so you'll still have the same report. Good luck and Happy Excavating!

 

[coopers]

Great to hear Kubota hasn't let you down! They're a good machine.

 

[kubota orange]

Kubota's are quality machines. We have a mini KX 123 and one larger Kubota and they havent let us down yet.

 

[nobull1]

Just hitting around 950 hours and still working fine. I was to the dealer about the wear on the sides of the sprockets and they had not heard of it before. So I went out and looked in their shop and low and behold one they were working on for other reasons had the same wear pattern. Nobody had a good answer and once they looked at a new one realized that it was not from the factory like that. I am not worried and figure at the rate of wear it will take years to be a problem.

I finally went out this Fall and made my mechanical thumb hydraulic. What a treat it is to use and lots of power to boot.

I also installed a quick attach and purchased a 36" ditching bucket and a 16" trenching to complement my 24" trenching bucket.

There was a little wear on the pin and bushings between the arm and boom. I don't like loose bushings as they will just accelerate wear and could get very costly to repair. I went out and bought a new pin and two bushings and all was tight again. With the quick attach I should not have to side swipe as much and hopefully not wear the pin and bushings near as fast.

I finally got tired of trying to use them tiny foot pedals for track controls. After some thought we added a couple of 1/2" pins to the sides of the pedals. The pins were welded to the pedals and made a 3" extension to the pedal for your foot to rest, in a normal resting position.

 

[nobull1]

How time flies. It is a year and a half later and I thought I would just post an update. Since the last post I have been doing very little excavating due to a variety of reasons. The main ones are the economy and the lack of time. Our chicken, beef farm business and firewood sales has continued to expand and it has me doing a lot more in that area instead of the fun stuff. The economy is "oh well" could be worse. So I have only put about 100+ hours on since last report and all is well as expected.

The concern about the quick attach is a non-issue and works great and is easy to change. The thumb works great and I feel like superman when I start crushing concrete between the thumb and bucket. I should have switched to a hydraulic thumb years ago. I am now using Schaeffer aluminium complex grease with moly as I found a reasonable price source in Canada. I believe it is a superior product if for no other reason then the bucket takes a lot longer to get noisy, has to be a good thing. I also have started using 0w40 shell oil in all my trucks and equipment. The oil is more money but the difference when starting in the winter is reason for anyone to want to change. They say it can be used in the summer and I have with no problems. The benefit is that I used to change oil spring and fall regardless of hours ( always way below the recommended hour change interval anyway) Now I change the oil in all but my truck once a year and save the labour and material cost and believe I have a superior product in my motors.

It is over seven years now and this thread is still open. Maybe I can post on the tenth birthday.

We now have a new RTV 1100 so maybe I should start one for that as well