Grading New to me Kubota M59

[mike69440]

Love it!! These units are beasts!!

Even the Littler ones.

 

[Yamforlife]

Even the Littler ones.

Yup I had an L39 for years....I did everything I should have not of done with that TLB. Just sold it and bought a 2016 M59.

 

[goeduck]

View attachment 570703View attachment 570704
Yup I had an L39 for years....I did everything I should have not of done with that TLB. Just sold it and bought a 2016 M59.

Both are very nice :thumbsup:

 

[Gasifier]

View attachment 570703View attachment 570704
Yup I had an L39 for years....I did everything I should have not of done with that TLB. Just sold it and bought a 2016 M59.

I had a L35 TLB a few years back. Very good machine. The M59 is a nice, smooth, strong TLB. With the 3-Point hitch capability it is very versatile, strong work horse for its size.

 

[Gasifier]

Put the M59 to work the other day. Getting the BTU supply underneath our covered porch. It’s a nice size bucket.

 

[Yamforlife]

Perfect:thumbsup:

 

[Gasifier]

I broke down and ordered some chains for the front of the M59. I didn’t really want to spend the money on them, but I am going to need them if I want to get anything done this winter back in the woods. And will be moving snow with it as well. The industrial tires I have had on machines in the past were not very good for either of those things. So the chains should help.

 

[rScotty]

I broke down and ordered some chains for the front of the M59. I didn’t really want to spend the money on them, but I am going to need them if I want to get anything done this winter back in the woods. And will be moving snow with it as well. The industrial tires I have had on machines in the past were not very good for either of those things. So the chains should help.

I'll be curious to hear how the chains work out. I expected that we would use front chains quite a bit on the M59 when we got it.

That was because a few decades back we had several winters with deep snow. And since chains had been handy for us on tractors before we got the M59, one of the first things I did was to have a custom set of front chains made for it. That was in 2008.... I tried them on to make sure they fit, took them off, and have never used them since.

There just is that hasn't been a need for chains here recently. We've had mild winters for the past decade and no real deep snowfalls, at least nothing over a couple of feet, and the M59 handles that just fine barefooted. For some reason the M59 doesn't slide around as much as our other machines. Still, it's nice to have the chains available.

Let us know how they work.
rScotty

 

[mike69440]

I broke down and ordered some chains for the front of the M59. I didn’t really want to spend the money on them, but I am going to need them if I want to get anything done this winter back in the woods. And will be moving snow with it as well. The industrial tires I have had on machines in the past were not very good for either of those things. So the chains should help.

For steering, a light set of chains on the front really help!

Studs may work also on ice??
https://www.amazon.com/Marrkey-Anti...08&sr=8-3&keywords=Car+Tires+Studs+Screw&th=1
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/184041-pictures-your-snow-weapons-445.html, Post# 4442

 

[Gasifier]

Everything on my property for parking and roads is crushed stone and/or dirt. The snow gets packed down and becomes very slippery. The chains on the last tractor made a huge difference.

Then going into the trails in the woods to get next years firewood out is always better with chains as far as I’m concerned. As soon as you start uphill and or have that granular snow the slipping and sliding starts. Not with chains.

I’m hoping for the best!

 

[Gasifier]

For steering, a light set of chains on the front really help!

Studs may work also on ice??
https://www.amazon.com/Marrkey-Anti...08&sr=8-3&keywords=Car+Tires+Studs+Screw&th=1
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/184041-pictures-your-snow-weapons-445.html, Post# 4442

I did consider studs but decided to go with chains instead.

 

[Gasifier]

A very heavy box arrived today! Yea!
I worked out in the cold off and on all day with the chainsaw. So I earned a couple of the bottles. LOL



I have to work the next few days but I will put the chains on this weekend.

 

[mike69440]

Best to use two people, let gravity help, and be thankful you have the stabilizers.

 

[Gasifier]

Best to use two people, let gravity help, and be thankful you have the stabilizers.

These chains are for the front tires of this machine. Hopefully they won’t be too hard to put on. Loader/bucket to help out.

 

[Yamforlife]

These chains are for the front tires of this machine. Hopefully they won’t be too hard to put on. Loader/bucket to help out.

Front should be easy to put on. The rears are a B#@tch! Yup use the loader bucket to lift the front up Good luck

 

[Gasifier]

Finally got a chance to install those chains this morning. My neighbor gave a hand and then I had to get cleaned up and off to work. I will hopefully have time to try them out tomorrow morning and do any adjustments that need to be done. I’ll have to tie up the excess with wire or use the couplers that came with them. Looked like things will be close on inside of tire. Will have to see about that. Don’t want them rubbing/hitting anything. I’ll post up some pictures when I get them done. Can’t wait until my next day off to go out on the M59 and do some more work in the woods!

 

[rScotty]

Finally got a chance to install those chains this morning. My neighbor gave a hand and then I had to get cleaned up and off to work. I will hopefully have time to try them out tomorrow morning and do any adjustments that need to be done. I’ll have to tie up the excess with wire or use the couplers that came with them. Looked like things will be close on inside of tire. Will have to see about that. Don’t want them rubbing/hitting anything. I’ll post up some pictures when I get them done. Can’t wait until my next day off to go out on the M59 and do some more work in the woods!

Looking forward to a report on how they work. I ran chains on tractors for 25+ years here - but for the last decade we just haven't had enough snow to bother. More rain than snow.

For my own equipment it always turned out to be worthwhile to spend the time to get the chains to fit as close as can be to the tire, even though that did mean breaking & reattaching chain links. If you do that, you'll need pry bars, a big vise - and I had a box of wornout truck chains I got from somewhere and used bits and pieces of those for parts to modify my tractor chains to fit.

Biggest set of chains I made were a custom fit onto 13.6x38 rear Ag tires (2wd).Not recommended, I'd much rather fit front chains to a 4WD. With the 2WD farm tractor it was kinda un-nerving to be driving along with those big rear Ag tire chains whistling past your ears.
You sure don't want to get slapped by one....
It did make me pay attention to getting the chains built just right....
rScotty

 

[Gasifier]

Well my good neighbor/friend helped me by finishing up the tightening of the chains. I’ve been busy working so we did a little here and there for an hour in the morning. It turned out with the fasteners (tension adjusters) left on they and chain were going to hit on the mechanical parts of front drive and steering. So we came up with the solution to take the fasteners (tension adjusters) right off on the inside. Then pull the chains as tight as we could get them and put them together with the four couplings that came with the chains. Then he used a side grinder to cut off all excess chain. Appears that it should work very well. All I’ve had time to do is take it for a test drive and see that nothing is going to hit. We will see how tight they stay when I put it to work this week. I have a vacation and wife and kids are in school. So I’ll be out on the woods cutting firewood while opening up a new trail. Can’t wait!

 

[mikester]

Hey gasifer, a big heads up - those chains are going to walk side to side. Get a spider on the outside. Something with HD springs not bungees. You should consider shortening the inside chains to keep them further away from the steering and axel components...they look awfully close to stuff you dont want to hook onto while driving.

 

[rScotty]

Hey gasifer, a big heads up - those chains are going to walk side to side. Get a spider on the outside. Something with HD springs not bungees. You should consider shortening the inside chains to keep them further away from the steering and axel components...they look awfully close to stuff you dont want to hook onto while driving.

I agree. That set of chains is getting there, but go slow until you see how the chains walk when turning under torque. It always took me several tries before I got the chains to fit right. Eventually as you modify the chains for best fit, you may find you get the best fit to the tire profile by using "X" bars across the tire tread instead of cross bars to link inside to outside chains. The "X" cross bars use an "O" in the center to connect the four legs.

Like Mikester says, if you are going to have all that extra chain on the inside then you will want to have very sturdy spider connections right across the outside face so that the chain cannot move to the inside. I've used the heavy rubber bands with hooks to tension the chain on the outside face of the tire. That works surprisingly well, but I never could make myself believe that it would last.....it did pretty good though. I've never tried his spring idea - they might be better.

What I did with my best pair was use the rubber band & hooks to show me the right shape - and then I used them - and then replaced the rubber parts with solid chains all connecting to an "O" in the center of the outer wheel face.

Getting chains right takes a while - but it's worth doing.
rScotty