Kubota B3350 tractor regeneration problems

[GreenCamo]

Mahindra - 5 facilities in USA - also some made in Japan by Mitsubishi for Mahindra.

Mahindra Announces 5th North American Facility | Mahindra

Have you read the press release? What do they do at this "facility"? They certainly don't produce anything. Of course they need distribution centers as well as assembly areas for everything being shipped in. There is not a CUT manufacturer that manufactures the tractor portion here in the US. Assembles yes, not manufactures. Loaders and other implements - yes for manufactured here, not the tractors.

You say the other poster has an uninformed bias against Mahindra, and he may well have. But I believe you may have drunk too much of the Mahindra Red (or pink after exposure to too many UV rays) kool aid...

 

[oldpilgrim]

Follow the link for kubota and see what their facilities are. You can ask the same question of them.

I havent drunk too much of the kool aid. I just know what I have and like it. I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

[liteship]

Kubota recommends warm up time for both the B3350 and B2650. The hydraulics will not work properly without proper warm up. With my now returned B3350, I occasionally experienced a situation where the throttle arm did not operate and attribute that to hydraulics not warmed up enough. The operating manual is the same for both the B3350 and B2650. The manual includes a range chart for warm up recommendations, and calls for at least 5 minutes for 32F and above and 15 minutes or more or -4F and below and various gradations in between. I know not everyone lives in cold temperatures like Maine where I live, But I can assure you that I always use my block heater overnight when we have -20F, and warm up after startup is at least 15 minutes. One other thing. Kubota does caution against cold operation as lack of warm up can cause potential damage.

 

[landedakioti]

As noted in my earlier message, I had significant issues with a new B3350. After 4 regeneration failures within 9 months and approximately 30 days of this at the dealer for repair, I concluded that for my purposes this tractor was a lemon with no permanent fix in sight. The dealer could offer no encouragement, but was willing to continue his efforts at repair. I could not accept this. Let me back up here and say that I have no complaints with the dealer. He did everything he could with a faulty product. After hearing of my dissatisfaction,I believe he contacted the Kubota people. Apparently they agreed that since there was no fix in sight for my B3350, they would offer me a new B2650 with a partial credit to make up the difference in price. I did after all get some use out of the B3350. I did accept this, and so far am pleased with the performance of the B2650. I have used it with the snowblower a couple of times. Let me add a couple of observations. They did not offer to replace my B3350 with another B3350, and I probably would not have accepted it in any event with the knowledge of my own experience. Confidence and reliability are big deals in my world, and I lost confidence in this product. Also, Maine has very strong consumer protection laws that I believe would have covered me with this product. I kept this in my back pocket in case I needed to use it, which I did not. I probably could have demanded a full refund, but I wanted a tractor. Let me reiterate. The dealer, his service and transportation people were all excellent. They did the best for me that they could, and I'm sure they were nearly as frustrated with this B3350 as I was.. The B2650 is supposedly a less powerful tractor, but I have not yet noticed any difference. I'll let you know in the future if I do. Liteship

I'm thankful maine has a great lemon law it got me out of kioti tractor. Into a kubota that works and a great dealer.

 

[namesray]

Kubota recommends warm up time for both the B3350 and B2650. The hydraulics will not work properly without proper warm up. With my now returned B3350, I occasionally experienced a situation where the throttle arm did not operate and attribute that to hydraulics not warmed up enough. The operating manual is the same for both the B3350 and B2650. The manual includes a range chart for warm up recommendations, and calls for at least 5 minutes for 32F and above and 15 minutes or more or -4F and below and various gradations in between. I know not everyone lives in cold temperatures like Maine where I live, But I can assure you that I always use my block heater overnight when we have -20F, and warm up after startup is at least 15 minutes. One other thing. Kubota does caution against cold operation as lack of warm up can cause potential damage.

Ok. That is the same warm up times my tier 3 kubotas state. With a block heater and kubotas new super udt2, semi synthetic hyd oil, I have cut my warm up time way down from what I use to do. (Getting in practice for my new much larger mx5200 that is comming). I agree that -20*f would require warm up time. Do you place at mid throttle for warm up or leave rpms idled all the way down low?

Diesels dont generate much heat at low idle and I have been told this messes with the regen systems. So run throttle up a bit if you are to leave it run or shut it off. Dealer told me he seen many more issues with owners who idle their tractor a lot as compared to owners who shut tractor off.

Now I am not saying its owners fault and I am not saying that kubota doesnt need to get their act together. I just went through a hush hush recall on mx5200 engines blowing up luckily before I got it delivered. Dealer didnt know about it and I have been told kubota has known about it for a year. Dealer was great in tracking down the knowlege and upgrade, but when I called kubota corp to get the low down before I notified dealer, I was less then impressed with how I was told the issue was being handled.

I have always bled kubota orange when it comes to tractors/equipment. But I agree as said by a few others, they had better get their act together or I might start bleeding red or blue as I have noticed kubotas more recent equipment has been slipping in quality and reliability. Proof in point, about a year ago if you loaded the kubota owining, operating formn here on tbn, you saw very few members with major issues and mostly just posts about how they like their kubota or how they wanted to add an attachment or such. Load that same page today and you see a lot more major problems with kubota and less owners posting how they like their new kubota or what they want to add to it.

 

[tk tom]

I can't think of a single complaint on my 2650. Maybe the loader control can be a little further away from the treadle pedal, in the winter with bulky clothes/boots on the bucket curl function is impeded by my leg when reversing. I feel bad for those who bought the 3350's, I almost did but can't agree with the price difference. I pay for features in a tractor/vehicle/etc. The regen stuff is not a feature but rather a requirement, I don't feel the need to pay extra for something that doesn't add to the tractor's value. 7HP is not worth $5k+ to me, they're charging for all the other tier IV crap.

In another month or so I'll be headed back to the dealer to pick up a new box blade, I'll ask while I'm there if they are willing to part with any information on issues pertaining to the 3350's they've sold.

I'd recommend a 2650 to anyone with a 3350 having problems and they offer a replacement.

 

[s219]

I feel bad for those who bought the 3350's, I almost did but can't agree with the price difference. I pay for features in a tractor/vehicle/etc. The regen stuff is not a feature but rather a requirement, I don't feel the need to pay extra for something that doesn't add to the tractor's value. 7HP is not worth $5k+ to me, they're charging for all the other tier IV crap.

Agree 100%. That must make it all the more annoying for those who paid extra to run into these hassles.

 

[oldpilgrim]

One other thing. Kubota does caution against cold operation as lack of warm up can cause potential damage.

Can anyone explain to me what the damage might be? I can''t see that it could harm anything any more than a car engine would be damaged without a 'proper' warmup period.

I'm not trying to be a troll or anything, I just want to know why a long warmup is 'needed'.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Mahindra - 5 facilities in USA - also some made in Japan by Mitsubishi for Mahindra.

Mahindra Announces 5th North American Facility | Mahindra


Kubota - 5 facilities in USA also made in Japan

Kubota Tractor Corporation - Kubota Careers

Lets be clear here. Mahindra's "Factory" is actually dealers who happen to do setup work for other dealers. I know one of them well. They don't build anything, they bolt on tires and implements. Its a great concept really, because it means their marginal dealer network does not need experienced techs for doing delivery prep. Its nothing like Kubota's KMA\KIE, etc who actually build equipment. Mahindra is very loose with terms to cast an image of themselves, if you go by their definition... I guess our dealership is a factory too .


As for whats happening with these tractors, As I understand, the issue is the reformer system is not working properly at extreme temperatures. There was a problem with some of the parts that where used. When these first started tricking into the shop the parts that where in inventory to fix the problem where also bad, so some of these are coming in for a 2 or 3rd time because the parts supply needed updated. This is an issue on both the B3350 and F3990 that use the same reformer system. The warming weather should buy us some time to get this fixed properly. It was a brutal winter for Tier 4 across all brands this year. I may have screwed up some of these details, we're buying another store so I've not been in much lately.

 

[NC Plotter]

I'm not trying to disagree with you, but I live in NC, and my first Regen failed at 65 degrees. Clearly not due to ambient temperatures. Dealer is picking it up this afternoon.

As far as the purchasing decision, the 2650 was never on my radar. I was looking for a ~35HP tractor give or take, and so the B3350 and L3301 were my two main options. Along with the E-series green tractors. The B3350 had all of the power of the L3301 with better features, less weight, a tighter turning radius, easier to trailer, etc. For my uses around the house and creating small food plots in the woods, the smaller (deluxe) package seemed like the better choice. However, I didn't hear a word about any problems with Tier IV. My dealer mentioned that he had a L3200/3800 still, but when I asked him about Tier III vs. Tier IV, and what advantage the former might have, he just chalked it up to personal preference and the possibility of a minute power loss. He never mentioned anything about the problems they have been having. I called them Saturday and the first thing the guy said was, "Yeah, we have another one in the shop right now for the same thing." I would like to give the dealer the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't aware of the issues at the time I asked the question. It wasn't going to prevent me from buying, just which model I was buying.