RedNeckGeek
Super Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2011
- Messages
- 8,410
- Location
- Butte County & Orcutt, California
- Tractor
- Kubota M62, Kubota L3240D HST (SOLD!), Kubota RTV900
I purchased a used Kubota L3240 five years ago and it came with lots of issues, It was a private party sale, and I knew little about tractors other than what I'd read on forums like this. Kubota gets a lot of good recommendations, but I guess those folks never had an L3240. First thing I had to do was split the tractor to replace an impeller shaft seal on the transmission. Found out that's not an uncommon problem.
Then I bent the 3PH linkage backing up with the box scraper. Straightened that out with a hydraulic press, and now I don't back up with the box down.
Next to go was the cover plate on one of the front 4WD hubs, which caused the wheel to fall off. Had to limp it back to the garage using the FEL to hold the front end up. Apparently the design is too weak to take much side load, and living on a hillside side loads are unavoidable.
Once back together, one of the couplings between the impeller shaft and the front axle stripped as I was headed down hill with a load of rock in the bucket. There are no brakes on the front axle and with all the weight up front the back wheels just slid when I hit the brakes. The thing took off down the hill like a rocket and the only thing that kept me out of the lake at the bottom was dropping the bucket. When I removed the failed coupler I found the splines on the ID completely worn off while those on the impeller shaft were fine. Sure, nothing lasts forever, but total failure on a safety critical part like that after only 1300 hours?
The main pivots on the FEL boom arms were shot when I got it, and yesterday I finally started in on a repair. Turns out Kubota didn't use bushings on the pivots, the box sections on the loader arms are too thin to use with a magnetic based drill, and I'm not man enough to keep a 1 3/16" drill from spinning out of my hands. I've got a mill, so I've started to disassemble the FEL so I can move the arms to the shop. That's when I found that the welds that hold the stiffener tube between the two loader arms are cracked half way around on each side. That's maybe a good thing because I may have to separate the arms anyway to get them on the mill so I can re-bore the pivot hole.
Two years ago I replaced the FEL mounts because the old ones broke and my attempts to weld repair them also broke. The dealer gave me a "good will" discount, but it still cost almost $1000 for the replacements. When the new ones finally showed up they had been re-designed with thicker sections where the old ones broke, and an Internet search showed that I wasn't the first to have the same problem. When I asked the dealer for some help with the cost, both he and the Kubota warranty person accused me of abusing the tractor. The only abuse that tractor's seen is hauling bucket after bucket of dirt and gravel around the property as I graded and landscaped my home. But as I said, a lot of that was side hilling, and after maybe 1000 1/4 mile trips, the weaknesses in the design became apparent.
My tractor has the HST, and with all the shuttle work it's done, and with mowing, it's easily the best part of the tractor. I really like just having one pedal as well.
If all you want to do is mow, push snow, and maybe rake out a gravel drive once in a while, the Kubota would probably work out just fine. But like my neighbor with a JD says, if you want to build something, you're going to need more of a construction grade tractor, and it'll be either yellow or green.
Then I bent the 3PH linkage backing up with the box scraper. Straightened that out with a hydraulic press, and now I don't back up with the box down.
Next to go was the cover plate on one of the front 4WD hubs, which caused the wheel to fall off. Had to limp it back to the garage using the FEL to hold the front end up. Apparently the design is too weak to take much side load, and living on a hillside side loads are unavoidable.
Once back together, one of the couplings between the impeller shaft and the front axle stripped as I was headed down hill with a load of rock in the bucket. There are no brakes on the front axle and with all the weight up front the back wheels just slid when I hit the brakes. The thing took off down the hill like a rocket and the only thing that kept me out of the lake at the bottom was dropping the bucket. When I removed the failed coupler I found the splines on the ID completely worn off while those on the impeller shaft were fine. Sure, nothing lasts forever, but total failure on a safety critical part like that after only 1300 hours?
The main pivots on the FEL boom arms were shot when I got it, and yesterday I finally started in on a repair. Turns out Kubota didn't use bushings on the pivots, the box sections on the loader arms are too thin to use with a magnetic based drill, and I'm not man enough to keep a 1 3/16" drill from spinning out of my hands. I've got a mill, so I've started to disassemble the FEL so I can move the arms to the shop. That's when I found that the welds that hold the stiffener tube between the two loader arms are cracked half way around on each side. That's maybe a good thing because I may have to separate the arms anyway to get them on the mill so I can re-bore the pivot hole.
Two years ago I replaced the FEL mounts because the old ones broke and my attempts to weld repair them also broke. The dealer gave me a "good will" discount, but it still cost almost $1000 for the replacements. When the new ones finally showed up they had been re-designed with thicker sections where the old ones broke, and an Internet search showed that I wasn't the first to have the same problem. When I asked the dealer for some help with the cost, both he and the Kubota warranty person accused me of abusing the tractor. The only abuse that tractor's seen is hauling bucket after bucket of dirt and gravel around the property as I graded and landscaped my home. But as I said, a lot of that was side hilling, and after maybe 1000 1/4 mile trips, the weaknesses in the design became apparent.
My tractor has the HST, and with all the shuttle work it's done, and with mowing, it's easily the best part of the tractor. I really like just having one pedal as well.
If all you want to do is mow, push snow, and maybe rake out a gravel drive once in a while, the Kubota would probably work out just fine. But like my neighbor with a JD says, if you want to build something, you're going to need more of a construction grade tractor, and it'll be either yellow or green.
