Kubota F v. zero turn

[Xfaxman]

Yes but you don't see very many of them on the Kubota owners forum, wonder why, not.

That is why I posted in this forum, to inform Kubota owners .

 

[Xfaxman]

Toro is a fine machine and if I found one, properly equipped, I would consider it. I did notice that Xfaxman owns a ZD1211, too.

Don't know where you saw that, I have never owned a Zero turn mower.

 

[GolfAddict]

Xfaxman’s post reminded me of another thing I forgot to mention that I'm sure applies to any brand front mower. This may be obvious to everyone else, but was something I never thought of prior to getting mine.

With the zero turn, or even any lawn tractor, the deck is underneath you. As you start up a slope you hit it with the front wheels and the mower lifts as you go, but the deck stays level with the mower. On a sever downward transition, the deck might tend to scalp a little but it stays level with the mower as you go over the crest.

With the front mount, when transitioning from more level ground to going up or down a steep slope, if the transition is sever enough it doesn’t work out well. I find I have to hit it at an angle to keep the mower deck from jamming up at too steep an angle, or dropping down too far. If I don’t transition at an angle, the deck jams way up and the PTO shaft u-joints sound like I’m tearing stuff apart!

 

[Hay Dude]

Don't know where you saw that, I have never owned a Zero turn mower.

Sorry, meant to say JOHN THOMAS....

 

[Xfaxman]

I think John, at one time or other, has owned at least one of everything Kubota has ever made

 

[Hay Dude]

Ok, so what? Kubota makes high quality stuff.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Xfaxman痴 post reminded me of another thing I forgot to mention that I'm sure applies to any brand front mower. This may be obvious to everyone else, but was something I never thought of prior to getting mine.

With the zero turn, or even any lawn tractor, the deck is underneath you. As you start up a slope you hit it with the front wheels and the mower lifts as you go, but the deck stays level with the mower. On a sever downward transition, the deck might tend to scalp a little but it stays level with the mower as you go over the crest.

With the front mount, when transitioning from more level ground to going up or down a steep slope, if the transition is sever enough it doesn稚 work out well. I find I have to hit it at an angle to keep the mower deck from jamming up at too steep an angle, or dropping down too far. If I don稚 transition at an angle, the deck jams way up and the PTO shaft u-joints sound like I知 tearing stuff apart!

I have some steep hills but never noticed any issue since the hyd arms are holding the deck from dropping below a certain point going down and coming over a drop off and wheels follow terrain going up with no issues for me or never the noise you've described. I tried my 2wd F on home property some years ago and on my steepest hill it would not mow it going forward since front deck wheels were pushing into the "wall" but lifting deck a bit or turning and backing up it climbed like the old billy goat,
I have tried several different Kubotas to see how they work and which one(s) work the best for me and also have had some property changes which have created different needs/wants/desires.

 

[Fallon]

View attachment 674478 I think John, at one time or other, has owned at least one of everything Kubota has ever made View attachment 674479

More like 2-3 of each.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

View attachment 674478 I think John, at one time or other, has owned at least one of everything Kubota has ever made View attachment 674479

Very smart man... That John....:thumbsup:

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

More like 2-3 of each/QUOTE]

I think I have finally reached the proper combination of Kubota's for me and my needs/wants after trying the BXs, some Bs, a few Ls and now a MX plus a few RTVs, one Kubota riding lawnmower, a few Fs some ZTRs and ZDs. I think I'm there or close, really close to stopping testing new and different machines for TBN buddies. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Have you guys seen the new Jeep looking offroad diesel powered side by side with enclosed cab that Kubota dealers are now selling but not labeled a Kubota? Just sayen

 

[Hay Dude]

So maybe we can stop the nonsense for a few posts....
I located an F3990 with 503 hours. What year or serial# break did the DPF problems become a thing of the past? I think someone mentioned 2018?

F3990 with resolved DPF, or F3680 with no DPF?

 

[RickB]

PM me the serial number of that F3990 if you wish. Feel free to review my comments in this thread, I won't restate them.

 

[Hay Dude]

PM me the serial number of that F3990 if you wish. Feel free to review my comments in this thread, I won't restate them.

Calling them today for price & serial.
Thanks

 

[RickB]

Here's one I stumbled across.
Pardon Our Interruption

 

[AllDodge]

My F has had no issues but only 180 hours. Forget if I bought it in 17 or 18
If the Regen starts and I'm ready to put it away, its left outside running WOT until done

 

[Hay Dude]

Found an F3680 in Circleville Ohio
Pardon Our Interruption
Dealer will sell for $9750. Said it was farm owned and used to mow levees so I would assume worse than average stress on machine.
Has much newer deck, less than 5 years old.

 

[RickB]

That looks promising.

 

[GolfAddict]

Seeing Hay Dudes thread thread on his F purchase spurred me to find this thread to make a couple of updates to the long winded F3990 review I wrote up earlier in this thread. This update is a bit long winded as well…

1) I had talked about the “free wheeling behavior” that I was having on steep slopes. I’m embarrassed to say that this is not the case at all. I was simply sliding backward downhill.

I think to most all of us using a regular front steering tractor, you know that if you start down a very steep slope you better have it in 4WD because your back tires may well break traction and you’ll find yourself in for an ugly ride sliding down the hill. It is pretty intuitive. Going up that same slope may not even require engaging 4WD because all the weight is shifted to the rear tires.

This is exactly what was happening to me, my front drive tires were breaking traction. (Backing these F’s down hill is no different than going down the same hill frontwards with a regular tractor. I don’t know why, for me at least, this was not intuitive at all.) Backing down, I returned the pedal to center and the wheels just started sliding on the grass and I thought it was free wheeling. Thank goodness for the auto-engage 4WD that saved me when I pushed the treadle forward. Driving a rear steer tractor takes some getting used to. I manually engage 4WD on steep slopes now, of course, which I should have been doing all along.

2) I have become another victim of the regen issues on these models. It seemed to me that over the summer last year the regens were starting to take longer. This year I was mowing one day and it started its regen and it seemed like it was taking forever. It never stopped. I finally parked it and did the parked regen procedure. It took forever, but finally finished.

The next time it went into regen, again it would not finish. I parked it and tried the parked regen procedure but it would not finish, just kept cycling over and over. I shut it down and went in and called the dealer for help. They were super responsive and had a truck out by early afternoon. The tech was not RickB but seemed just as familiar with the issue. He hooked it up to his laptop for diagnosis, took the lid off some thing (some valve thing?), manually manipulated it, ran some line clearing procedure, ran the regen, and it finished. Subsequent mowings with regens weren’t a problem.

A week or two later when the parts came in, he called and came back with two sizable assembly items that he replaced, and I haven’t had another problem with it as of yet. Also, the regens finish much quicker now. He did not know if there were any engineering changes to the replacement assemblies that will permanently fix the issue. Mine is still in the normal warranty period, but he let me know that Kubota has warrantied all of the three models with this regen issue for life, which is a relief.

Hopefully, there were changes made to the new parts and this won’t be a yearly issue. It’s sure an annoyance! It certainly lessens the pain in the butt greatly that they are very responsive, I was only out use of the mower for a couple hours on the two days he was here, and there is no expense to me.

I still am very happy with the mower other than that issue, and I don’t think I’ll ever be without an F mower again. However, when they come out with the new model that replaces the F3990, this one is likely going in on trade. I won’t feel too bad, since I know whomever the new owner becomes will have a lifetime warranty.