M59 Discussion Thread

[Charlesaf3]

I had the turbo hose warranty switch done out at my place. Didn't take the tech very long and he was nice enough to change my UDT fluid at 46 hours.

I am trying to figure out how to rake rocks out a roping arena. Does anyone know of a front loader attachment to seperate them out from the dirt? Rocks are about 3" to 6" and rock dirt ratio 70/30.
How ell do they work?

SOunds like a rock bucket or a bodozer/rake would work for that. Whats up with the Turbo hose? Hadn't heard anything on that.

 

[Charlesaf3]

well, now I've heard about the hose. One was sent out to me. to put on, we'll see how that goes, but I'm told it's easy...

Haven't had any issues, I must say.

 

[Chato]

It took the tech just a few minutes to change the hose.

Frankly, I couldn't tell the difference between the old one and the warranty hose? I'm glad Kubota is that thorough.

Thanks for the navigation on the rock rake. The problem I see is while pushing the loader rake gathering the rock it will also pile up dirt in front of it? This application is new to me but I'll look into it and thanks.

The more I use this tractor for rough country work the more I like it. It's a winner.

 

[rScotty]

Well, I was one of the first to hear about the hose, but my dealer - though friendly enough - is anything but a self-starter. He hasn't gotten the hose yet and I doubt he has even ordered it. To get my backhoe manual I finally had to go get one out of a new M59 on the lot....thus perpetuating that problem. The workshop manuals I ordered never have shown up. But he is personable...seems honest....and as for doing some other things I like the way he goes after it. The front chains are a good example:

He made me up a set of front chains to my specifications after the stock offerings weren't right for our conditions here. His are dandys. Chains are important up here in the high Rockies, and I've been using them on 4wd tractors for 30 years now so know what works good locally. They need enough lateral resistance for good steering....to prevent the front end from being pushed or sliding sideways...but I don't want aggressive ice lugs that can provide so much traction that the front drive system could get overloaded. The tires need to be able to slip enough to protect the drive train.....Some of this is just intuition speaking, but I was a mechanic for 30 years before college and becoming an engineer for the last 15, so my intuition is pretty good for things like that.

Without my asking specially, that same dealer who isn't a self-starter on the literature was eager to make up a set of special chains out of bulk chain stock and the price was same as the ready-mades. The workmanship is excellent. As I said, they are dandy chains.
The M59 continues to impress me.
rscotty



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[rScotty]

e loader rake gathering the rock it will also pile up dirt in front of it? This application is new to me but I'll look into it and thanks.

Chato, I bought a Bradco 7' heavy duty quick change rock bucket and have been sorting through my dirt piles and then spreading the sorted dirt. The sorting isn't perfect and always leaves a few breadloaf to muffin sized rocks in the corral to be picked up by hand.

If you have enough of a run, the tines of the rockbucket will theoretically slide under the rocks as you drive forwards - loading the rocks while the dirt passes through the tines. It requires a deft hand on the controls to keep the tines level and sliding. I'm not that good, so in practice it only works so-so for me. I still end up getting down and throwing rocks into the bucket. The dirt passes through OK, but it doesn't get all the rocks and all too often it discovers new ones. If I angle the tines just right it is a marvel. Just wrong and all the previous work is undone.

This tine-type rock bucket works very well in our dry ground composed mostly of sand and disintegrated granite "soil". The dirt passes through the tines easily. We don't have loam or clay here, but if we did the soil would be more sticky and the tine bucket would not work nearly as well.

There are some QT front mounted "Rock Dawgs" for rent at the local Bobcat dealer. Being able to use Bobcat implements sure is one of the big advantages of the M59. Right now I'm thinking I may rent one of those next spring....though come to think of it we may need to figure out a source of high flow hydraulic. Will the front remotes work for that? Any other ideas?
rscotty

 

[Chato]

Thanks rScotty that's exactly the kind on information I needed.

I think I'll rent the tine type rake bucket you described to see how well it works. Then, decide if buying one is worth it. The soil is much like yours.
From your description I assume you can't float the bucket so handling the loader pitch angle is the only control you have.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[rScotty]

Chato, please post what you find out. I've a lot of rocks to move and the M59 with a rock bucket and a thumb on the backhoe has been the ticket. Having any sort of 4n1 bucket or even grapples on the bucket wouldn't have been nearly as useful to me as having the tine bucket.

Again...the usability of rock bucket sure does depend on the soil. I'm pretty sure that a rock bucket wouldn't be any good in sticky soil. It needs a sandy soil that can run freely through the tines. Even so, I find myself working the hydraulics rapidly to "jump" the bucket to make the dirt run through.

I looked at a lot of rock buckets. Ended up with the Bradco one because of the width, the long length of the tines, the overall heavy construction....and just the overall look. It didn't occur to me until I used it that the little curved up area on the floor of the bucket about a foot back of the tip of the tines was important...but it sure is. That internal lip makes all the difference, so be sure to get that feature on a bucket. The Bradco has round tines and others have squre tines....I don't know which shape works best there or if there is any diff.

About floating the rock tines...I'm surprised at how well the Kubota float works, but it seems to me that how useful that floating is has to do with the length of the tines, the weight of the arms and bucket, and of course the soil itself. Our soil is hard and the rocks are stuck pretty firmly. Floating the bucket hasn't worked so well. Either it rides over rocks or it stabs the ground and makes a mess. I think that the float would work better if the bucket were much heavier or if the tines weren't so long. Long tines make adjusting the rock bucket angle real touchy....but of course the long tines are just the ticket for dealing with big spill piles of rocky dirt.
Let me know....rscotty

 

[rScotty]

Another thought on moving the muffin to breadload sized rocks. When we bought the M59 I also got a quick change adapter for the loader arms. This adapter is made by Land Pride and enables us to mount any three point implement on the front of the loader arms. The idea being that you either go in reverse to pull the implement towards you or else turn the implement around use it by pushing it backwards.....So I mounted an old 3 pt blade to use to push snow around. It seems like it will work, but so far we haven't had enough snow to test it out.

That got me to wondering if the same adapter would work with a standard angling rock rake? We could drop the quick change bucket and mount the rake. Seems like it would work better with the typ of rock rake having gauge wheels. Then we could use the loader arm float position to let it ride without driving he teeth into the ground. With the strength of the M59 I try to remember to use any front mounted implement gingerly to avoid breaking things...It ought to be common sense but it's easy for me to forget.
rscotty

 

[Charlesaf3]

remember to watch for "tweaking" your arms as well...

Could you post a picture of the chains? Sounds interesting.

 

[rScotty]

OK, I'm having a lot of fun fitting oddball skid steer implements to the quick change bucket mounts. Making the M59 quick change FEL bucket mounts the same as a standard skid steer was a stroke of genius on Kubota's part.

Now that I've fitted a Land Pride 3 pt hitch to the loader arms, the options increase even farther.

I know that in Europe it is common to have 3 pt hitches on both end of a tractor and it sure makes sense. Plows AND pto stuff ought to be on the back, but lots of things like blades and rakes work better on the front. It feels nice to be all done with sitting half twisted around backwards. Just lean back and push.

So here's my question....I'd like to have a gauge wheel mounted somehow on the FEL arms so that I can use the float function with blades and rakes. Does anyone make such a gauge wheel? Anyone have any hints if I have to fabricate one?

rScotty - M59 working well....