KUBOTA

[ALVIN]

I don't have a front end loader,when mowing seem's like front end is light,harder to make corners,especially on small hill.

 

[Kelvin]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ROLLBAR HAS L175,L225.SO WHAT DO WE THINK)</font>

ROLLBAR: I think that the Rollbar you have was designed to be used on a variety of Kubota tractors, thus the multiple model numbers. It may also be that your tractor didn't originally have one, and someone added it on at a later date. I did that with my non-grey market B7100, because it was a late 1970s model that didn't come with ROPS. My factory add-on ROPS was designed to be used on multiple Kubota model tractors, and had several model numbers listed on the ROPS.

Grey-Market Tractor Definition?

I've never seen this being discussed (and haven't searched the Grey Market forums, either), but I thought that grey market tractors are those that were built to the safety standards of another country other than the USA. To me, this means that it could have been built for countries outside Asia (such as England that uses English, or a country such as Germany that may accept English decals on their tractors). Thus, in my mind a grey market tractor could have all English markings on it (but I admit that there is lots of room for me to be wrong...).

The "DT" Suffix:

Usually, a "D" in the suffix indicates 4wd, while an "E" in the suffix indicates 2wd. I don't know what the "T" indicates for your tractor; however, on an old L185 tractor brochure that I have the "T" was used in the suffix on the model with Turf tires, and an "F" was used in the model with Farm (Ag) tires.

Kelvin

 

[polecat]

JIST A BULL NAMED NO ONE!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I've never seen this being discussed (and haven't searched the Grey Market forums, either), but I thought that grey market tractors are those that were built to the safety standards of another country other than the USA. )</font> That is pretty much what gray market means. Automobiles can be gray market also, and in order to import them, they must meet the safety standards that were in place in the year in which the auto was built. I don't know that gray market tractors have to meet standards of their day. I think a better definition of gray market for tractors would simply be a tractor imported to the US that was made for any other country and not the US. Kubota, of course, sued everybody and got laws in place to ban the import of Kubota gray market tractors under their label. So some smart people started relabeling them under the Zen-Noh name, and even some Yanmars come in under that label. Kubota dealerships are forbidden from providing parts and service for any gray market tractors. I think the biggest rub is that while there are nearly likes in the US, a lot of times parts are just not the same on the grays. Also, there are a lot of the imports that have no US equivalent at all. John

 

[KubotaSteve]

I thought the DT was 4X4 gear tractor. On my 7200 it was gear and 4X4 and had the DT whereas a friend had the same tractor that was hydro and it was listed as HST.

 

[Kelvin]

I'm not sure how you are disagreeing with me, if you are.

The "D" in "DT" means "4x4 gear drive"; I'm not sure if the "T" has any significant meaning.

In the B7100 lineup:

B7100E = 2wd; gear drive
B7100D = 4wd; gear drive

I think that the first hydrostat models had these model numbers:

B7100HST-E = 2wd hydrostat
B7100HST-D = 4wd hydrostat

I think that somewhere in the late 1980s or early 1990s the hydrostat model numbers changed from "HST-D" to "HSD" (example: B7100HSD = 4wd hydrostat).

This model naming convention also applies to other B series as well.

UPDATE: Just before I hit the "Post this Message" button I decided to look at some of my old Kubota brochures. It turns out that my brochure for the current GrandL series tractors use the "DT" suffix for 4wd/gear drive tractors. So, it may be the the "B" series uses the "D" suffix while the "L" series tractors use the "DT" suffix to indicate 4wd/gear drive transmission.

Kelvin