New M62 Thumb Install

[AaronM]

I finally convinced myself that it was time to add a thumb to the M62. After getting a quote from my local Kubota dealer (which is great but... ouch!) I decided to see what else was out there. I sent out several inquiries to various thumb manufacturers to see what was available. All but one either didn't reply at all or replied with 'sorry we don't have anything'. A company called ShowTimeFab replied almost instantly with basically 'we can build you anything you want'. Skeptical- I decided to give them a shot and WOW did they deliver! They answered every email within about an hour, they were super friendly, the thumb arrived very quickly (1 week +/-), It saved me about $1K, and the product is spectacular.

I was really not looking forward to install this thing. I'm thinking 'those big pins are not going to come out easily, everything is heavy, and SOMETHING is going to be wrong' but, to my surprise, start to finish I only spent about 1 hour on the install (not counting having to stop to take my wife to pick up her car from the body shop... grrrr!).

Here is how the install went for anyone that is interested.

Here is the kit. The parts all look amazing. The welds are perfect and, until I drug them around on the shop floor, the paint was perfect also.


I love how the grease fittings are all recessed and protected.




So to start the install I drove the roll pin out of the main pin and used an air hammer to drive out the main pin.


Since no one (but Kubota) had a kit for this exact machine- this was a custom kit that was built to my measurements and... well... I measured wrong. I ended up having to grind about 1/8" off the thumb bushings to get the thumb to fit. 100% my fault.



Once I ground down my mistake the new hardened main pin fit perfectly. The longer main pin came drilled and a recessed grease fitting came installed





Then it was time to install the cylinder which was also built to my (mis)measurements and required about 1/8" to be ground down.



I did a little testing with the new thumb tonight but I ran out of time. I will post a couple more pictures later but, so far, it looks like it was was definitely worth the investment and I want to give a huge recommendation to check out ShowTimeFab.com if you are in the market for a thumb.:thumbsup:

Heavy Equipment Attachments from Showtime Fabrication

 

[KB7722]

Very nice! Would love to have a M62,

 

[JenniferKubotaM62]

Can you put a thumb on an M62 with the quick attach bucket system or does it require a pinned bucket (forgive my noobie question, just bought my first tractor, an M62).

Thanks
Jen

 

[4570Man]

Can you put a thumb on an M62 with the quick attach bucket system or does it require a pinned bucket (forgive my noobie question, just bought my first tractor, an M62).

Thanks
Jen

Pretty sure the thumb only works with the quick attach bucket system. I’ve got a thumb and quick attach on my M59. A thumb was on my must have feature list when I was M59 shopping. Now that I have one it’s even better than expected.

 

[Hersheyfarm]

Pretty sure Kubota has a kit for both pin on and quick attach buckets.

 

[JenniferKubotaM62]

Thanks guys...
Jen

 

[rScotty]

Our M59 got a thumb completely by accident.... What happened is that after a lifetime spent wrestling with old tractors and 3pt backhoes my wife insisted we go new tractor-shopping. And that's what we had been doing all summer & not finding anything we liked enough to buy, when I made a wrong turn going to the JD dealer and ended up turning around in front of the Kubota shop. So we said, "We're here; why not go in and see what the competition has? "

Looking over their new M59 demo, it occurred to me that this was exactly the kind of machine I had been trying to put together.
Only difference was that Kubota had solved the problem the other way round.
Where I had been looking to add a backhoe to a traditional tractor to enable it to do some landscaping work, the M59 (and M62) has the backhoe as standard, and adds the 3pt hitch to what is basically a landscaping/construction machine.

We bought it just as it was on the spot.....and it had the hydraulic thumb already mounted along with the quick attach bucket, so we took it as it sat. A Package Deal.
Frankly, If it had come with a pumpkin as a hood ornament, we probably would have taken that too.

It didn't take long before the thumb became our favorite feature. We like to landscape, and have a lot of rocks and trees. So we probably fire up the tractor to use the thumb more than any other reason - and none of what it does is what we expected when we got it. The backhoe rarely just digs holes in the ground, more often it is used as a lifter & positioner. Here it's doing some rockwork.
rScotty

 

[fried1765]

Our M59 got a thumb completely by accident.... What happened is that after a lifetime spent wrestling with old tractors and 3pt backhoes my wife insisted we go new tractor-shopping. And that's what we had been doing all summer & not finding anything we liked enough to buy, when I made a wrong turn going to the JD dealer and ended up turning around in front of the Kubota shop. So we said, "We're here; why not go in and see what the competition has? "

Looking over their new M59 demo, it occurred to me that this was exactly the kind of machine I had been trying to put together.
Only difference was that Kubota had solved the problem the other way round.
Where I had been looking to add a backhoe to a traditional tractor to enable it to do some landscaping work, the M59 (and M62) has the backhoe as standard, and adds the 3pt hitch to what is basically a landscaping/construction machine.

We bought it just as it was on the spot.....and it had the hydraulic thumb already mounted along with the quick attach bucket, so we took it as it sat. A Package Deal.
Frankly, If it had come with a pumpkin as a hood ornament, we probably would have taken that too.

It didn't take long before the thumb became our favorite feature. We like to landscape, and have a lot of rocks and trees. So we probably fire up the tractor to use the thumb more than any other reason - and none of what it does is what we expected when we got it. The backhoe rarely just digs holes in the ground, more often it is used as a lifter & positioner. Here it's doing some rockwork.
rScotty

You are way more brave than I am!
I NEVER do anything with my L48, anywhere near a parked vehicle.
I hate the $$ idea of a body shop mistake.

 

[4570Man]

You are way more brave than I am!
I NEVER do anything with my L48, anywhere near a parked vehicle.
I hate the $$ idea of a body shop mistake.

That’s one of the best parts about a nice machine. Working in close quarters to expensive things is something I do pretty often. A 3 foot or so margin that’s pictured above wouldn’t bother me at all.

 

[fried1765]

That痴 one of the best parts about a nice machine. Working in close quarters to expensive things is something I do pretty often. A 3 foot or so margin that痴 pictured above wouldn稚 bother me at all.

We live a very different life.
I am nearly 80 years old.
I operate my L48 TLB maybe 10 hours per year.
I have many thousands of hours of precise operation of highly mobile 100M machines.
It ain't the same for me!