Kubota L5740

[ArlyA]

I have a 2011 Grand L5740 I bought in 2014 with about 300 hours on it. It now has about 2600 hours on it.

I really like it. But, it's not without issues. I've had to change front wheel bearings I think 4 times now. Probably because I put too much weight on the loader.

I've also had to change the exhaust manifold gasket twice and it's out again now for the third time.

I've also had to rebuild the Air Conditioner on it.

Overall, I still like it, and I use it for my heavier work. I also have 2 Grand L6060's. We don't have snow here, so I don't know anything about that.

47k does seem a bit high for that tractor. I was recently offered 15k as a trade-in for mine, but it's not in nearly as good shape as the one you are looking at.

Here is a link to my thread on the front wheel bearing issue I've had. Front wheel bearings failed L5740

Have you heard of others having this wheel bearing grief?

 

[Complete Turf Care]

Have you heard of others having this wheel bearing grief?

If you read my thread, you will find a few others who have had this issue. However, I don't think it happens to everyone.

 

[Fallon]

Have you heard of others having this wheel bearing grief?

The 40 & 60 series all have weak front wheel bearings. It's not the end of the world. Keep an eye out for oil leaks & get em fixed if they leak. Everything has issues, Kubota has good parts & support.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Something to keep in mind that others may forget about. The L5740 that you are looking at has well over 10K worth of implements and loader attachments that come with it.

Just food for thought.

Good luck with your decisions.

 

[5030]

I also has one some years back that I bought new and traded in on a bigger one (I've owned many new Kubota's and traded them in in my quest for a large enough unit to run my hay tools which lookung back is sort of screwey but how my 'journey' went anyway and the 2 M9's I now own are ideal in both size and pto power for my requirements so for all intents and purposes, my journey came to an end...).

Anyway, the price is a bit steep, but taking into account the inflated dollar and the fact that a pre 4 unit in good shape will always command a top dollar resale, it's not that far out of line.

What I remember about it was the weak aircon and the steering linkage. I had to replace the steering linkage joints at a pretty low hour interval and the OEM joints lacked grease fittings. I also had to shroud the aircon condenser with cut rubber mudflaps to channel the ambient air that the engine fan was pulling through the condenser as with the condenser, the HST cooler and then the rad, the engine fan had issues pulling enough air (cooling) through all the heat exchangers fromt mounted to allow enough heat exchange to allow the AC to effectively cool the cabin plus I added additional tint to the cab glass (Kubota don't apply adequate tint to reduce the heat exchange through the gass ro allow the aircon to work efficiently.

I see it has no rear remotes. The one I had, had 2 sets of Pioneer remotes, in fact every Kubota I owned had rear remotes, factory added or dealer added.

My current M9's have 3 sets plus flow control on the topmost set and I use them all and the flow control as well.

If memory serves me well, it was a good smaller sized unit but again, lacked the grunt I required to run my ever increasing in size, hay tools.

I see it has no rear remotes, something I always require and the issue with adding them on that unit is the cost. I could check what the cost to add is but I seem to remember that even back then they weren't a cheap date.

The other thing I see is. it has a light duty material bucket instead of the heavier (more stout) excavation bucket and the bucket lacks the SSQA attachment set, something I always require on ANY loader, but that can be added. Kubota as well as ATI offers a SSQA attachment unit. Personally, I prefer the ATI as it's way more robust bit you still have to remove the mounting ears from the existing bucket and weld on a SSQA plate to the back of the bucket. Thinking back, lift capacity on the one I owned was adequate back them but back then I wasn't moving large round bales around either, I was making small squares back then, I don't now. It has the proper bucket level indicator as well, something that Kubota dropped in later years for the useless top of bucket indicator you cannot see anyway. I refitted both of mine to the rod style indicators, an easy mod to fab up for about 20 bucks in materials.

I also see the present owner welded a chain hook in the center top of the bucket, a big No with a material bucket as that is the weakest point and most prone to bending under imposed load. The grab hooks always need to be welded on in line with the hydraulic cylinder mounts, always. The bucket don't have a replaceable cutting edge either but adding on a bolt on cutting edge isn't a big deal, lots of them out there, Again, I prefer the ATI for it's replaceable carbide cutting teeth but just my preference. Even though I also reside in Michigan, I never had a front mount PTO blower. I've always had a rear mount, in fact I have a 72" Lucknow in the barn I never use that I should sell. Since I purchased the 10 foot wide retired county plow that I welded a SSQA plate on the subframe, I just use that now. I have no idea how the blower chute rotator plumbs into the tractor hudraulics but I'd have a hard look at it in as much as that model is Power Beyond versus Open Center, so it has to be plumbed correctly to work and looking at the blower, especially the impeller, I'd say the owner blew a lot of gravel along with the snow as there is a ton of wear on the impeller, expecially the edges which is indicative of 'tossing' a lot of gravel.

Like I said previously, the asking price is pretty high but in today's used tractor market, not unreasonable for a mid sized pre 4 unit. Having said that, everything is megotiable and I'd negotiate if it was me.

It's in nice shape fpr it's vintage, I will say that but I'd also want to see the maintenance records pertaining to engine oil changes as well as HST fluid changes and filter replacement. Never been fond of R4 tires, always had R1's but it is what it is and tires can be changed, it's just tires today, like everything else, are expensive.

One thing I did and always do is, I exchanged the stamped steel rear rims for cast steel center rims (I don't remember if there was an upcharge or not) because all Kubota tractors are light in the britches with the loader installed and I'm adverse to loading tires. With cast centers, you don't need to as the cast centers keep the tractor planted when using the FEL at capacity.

Finally, all small to mid sized Kubota tractors suffer from undersized front axle bearings, even my M9's do. replacement isn't bad but they should have tapered roller bearings in the front axles and not ball bearings. I've replaced the front ball bearings as well as the kingpins on both of mine, more than once. You can do it yourself of you are mechanically adept and the seals as well because front beraing failure will destroy the front seals as well.

I'd see if I could negotiate a lower price, one never knows but don't expect a huge price reduction however. The dollar isn't worth what it was when the unit was new....

I realixe the post is long but the thread got me thinking about the one I owned, bought new and traded in and upgraded to a 5030 HSTC (hence my screen handle) and traded that in for the M9 I presently own and then bought a second M9 simply because I could and I dislike changing implements out all the time and hay implements are all heavy and I'm getting old.

 

[ArlyA]

Has anyone else lost the front bearings on there 40 & 60 Kubota's?

 

[5030]

Every Kubota if the FEL is used to capacity and it's driven in FWA a lot, will have front axle bearing failure at some point in it's life and I suspect other brands will also or at least any brands that employ ball bearings versus tapered rollers. One of the main reasons I switch my front axle lubricants from UDT / SUDT to 85-140 hypoid oil as GL4-5 hypoid oil provides superior shock dampening over the UDT / SUDT. Something I do as soon as I take possession of any Kubota tractor. Having said that, I do not ever use bargain basement hypoid oil either. Always brand name Shell or Castrol.

The other inherent issue with all Kubota FWA axles is the scarifical coupling that couples the front drive shaft to the input shaft on the front axle. It's purposely made softer than the drive shafts it couples but is easily replaceable by exposing it by sliding the driveshaft covers off and replacing it. it's secured by a roll pin and I keep an extra one in the shop all the time. You can tell when it's failing as the front axle will make a chattering sound when in FWA on dry ground. What occurs is the softer coupling is sliding over the hardened splines on the driveshaft segments.

Not something you need to be concerned with as you'll never put the hours on that machine that I do anyway and unlike the outboard bearings and seals as well as the through pins on the FWA axle, the coupling is easy to renew. I cannot remember if the upper joint / casting on the one I traded in had a zerk to lubricate it, but both my M's do and they get greased about every 10 hours along with the front axle pivot. Kubota's all like regular greasing but then all tractors do. Service life of the front ball bearings will all depend on the severity of use. IOW, you flog them and they will fail sooner than later. Would have been better if Kubota had fitted them with angular roller bearings but they didn't and it's really not possible to refit them as the outboards would have to be machined to accept the roller bearings.

 

[hayden]

I have a 2007 L5740 and in the 18 years I have owned it I have not had a single failure. Nothing. I have broken a couple of things, but they were my fault. It's otherwise been 100% trouble free. No wheel bearing problems, and no transmission seal problems. It has about 1000 hrs on it now.

 

[ArlyA]

We'll need to add a tree grapple and a circuit up there for that. Has anyone else done that? Cost of adding that?

 

[CH4Ohio]

We'll need to add a tree grapple and a circuit up there for that. Has anyone else done that? Cost of adding that?

You’ll have $1000 in it if you do it yourself.