Tires Kubota M135X Duals?

[MHarryE]

Think of the axle as a lever. At one end you have 2 bearings spread apart to resist the tire load at the other end of the lever. Actually we try to get the tire load centered between the 2 bearings - that is optimum but not often possible. At Gleaner we had standard final drives for use without duals and optional heavy duty finals with humongous bearings that were designed to take oversize bin extensions and duals with all load on the outer dual. At Case we didn't want the expense of that heavy duty final drive so we used one final drive lighter than the standard duty Gleaner but warned against bin extensions and duals. Of course customers did both and we sold a lot of service parts. Duals can be put on anything. I've even seen them on front and rear of a Farmall A along with a home made loader and wide snow scoop.

 

[Grateful11]

I'm sure you could get a set of 'snap-on' or 'clamp-on duals for it as they are pretty universal. However, in every Kubota manual I have read (from B7610 up to M9540) they specifically recommend against dual wheels, my guess is it is the same for the M135x. Generally, tractors that are designed to run duals will have rack-and-pinion rear axles where the axle itself sticks out to mount the duals on, mostly row-crop tractors 100+hp. (the Kubota despite it's size is still a utility class tractor in many regards.)

I'd attribute the stern warnings in the manual to the fact that they didn't have duals in mind when designing the tractor. As such they don't want the liability that would go along with it if there was ever trouble/failure. What are you using the tractor for that you need duals?

At what point does a tractor come out of the Utility class and into a Row Crop, is it wheelbase, weight, etc? My wife's operation has a IH 686 with an M&W turbo 106hp, it's definitely not a Utility. I wouldn't consider her CaseIH 5140 104hp a Utility either but then again a friend of mine just bought a JD 5115M and it's classified as a Utility.

BTW: There's a L5740 with duals being used on a highway project nearby.

 

[pjbci]

Ask yourself, what are you going to gain by adding duals other than a really cool look? Is it worth it? You are going to have a considerable upfront cost. Duals increase traction but rob hp. They take a considerable amount of hp to roll them. To those who dont believe this, drive a tractor with em then take em off and you will be amazed at how much more responsive the tractor is. Maitenence cost is also going to be much higher. Any farmer or truck driver will tell you that an outside tire never goes flat, it always seems to be the inside one. Also with inside wheels pushed all the way in next to the cab, it makes working on some things around the hitch and under the cab almost impossible.

Just be sure you want em on a tractor that doesnt really need em.

 

[Verticaltrx]

At what point does a tractor come out of the Utility class and into a Row Crop, is it wheelbase, weight, etc? My wife's operation has a IH 686 with an M&W turbo 106hp, it's definitely not a Utility. I wouldn't consider her CaseIH 5140 104hp a Utility either but then again a friend of mine just bought a JD 5115M and it's classified as a Utility.

BTW: There's a L5740 with duals being used on a highway project nearby.

Well, it's kind of a subjective matter and it has changed over the years. Certainly a 3020 Deere was considered a row crop tractor (a small one) in its day, and would be about the same size as a 656 through 686 IH. In the most general sense I think of something like a 986 IH as being the smallest row crop tractors in that series,or a 4040 Deere. Nowadays the even the 6000 series Deere's are still considered utility class.

To confuse matters even more, a lot of utility class tractors throughout the years could be configured as either a utility/multipurpose model or a row-crop model. We have a 2550 Deere which is considered a utility size tractor, but it is the row-crop configuration (It's 65hp about 10K fully ballasted, roughly the same size as your 686) It has wide front axle spacing, rack and pinion rear axle, 15.5-38 rubber, row-crop fenders, and several other small things that make it different than the multipurpose model.

IMO, Kubota has never made what would be considered a row crop tractor. Even their biggest tractors are aimed at cattle, hay, and other similar operations, not row crop use.

 

[Grateful11]

I think it has a lot to do with the times we live in where huge farms are using 200-400+HP tractors and would never consider anything smaller. 30-40 years ago one person operations were buying tractors in the 65-100hp range tractors in the Row Crop version because it was all they needed. My late FIL bought the 686 in stock form but also bought a 11' Amco F17 Bog type Disc Harrow, it wouldn't pull it and called the dealer and told them he needed something bigger and they had the M&W turbo there that someone ordered and didn't take it. So he said come get and put on there and that was that. It was PTO dynoed then at 104hp and then dynoed about 8-10 years ago when he trouble with the Torque Amplifier at 106hp.

 

[milkman]

I know of one Kubota with duals, makes a mountain goat out of it on the hills.

 

[pjbci]

Milkman, thats gotta be the coolest looking little tractor I have ever seen!

 

[milkman]

Thanks, I had a lot of fun getting that together, got a video on YouTube with it pulling a disc.

Here's the build thread if interested, just scale it up a bit for the MX135. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/74076-bx-whatyacallit.html

 

[art]

Milkman, thats gotta be the coolest looking little tractor I have ever seen!

I second that!!!

We just brought in a M-105 that is in for service and he owner has snap-on duals on it!

 

[Verticaltrx]

I think it has a lot to do with the times we live in where huge farms are using 200-400+HP tractors and would never consider anything smaller. 30-40 years ago one person operations were buying tractors in the 65-100hp range tractors in the Row Crop version because it was all they needed. My late FIL bought the 686 in stock form but also bought a 11' Amco F17 Bog type Disc Harrow, it wouldn't pull it and called the dealer and told them he needed something bigger and they had the M&W turbo there that someone ordered and didn't take it. So he said come get and put on there and that was that. It was PTO dynoed then at 104hp and then dynoed about 8-10 years ago when he trouble with the Torque Amplifier at 106hp.

That's a great looking tractor. Back when my father was looking to purchase a 65hp tractor that was one of the models he was looking at. It wasn't long thereafter that IH was in turmoil, our local dealer closed, etc so he went with the 2550 Deere. We do have an IH 454 diesel that has been a great tractor, little over 7000hrs now.