New Kubota with DPF Filter

JOHNTHOMAS · Mar 7, 2017

Odd how people with these machines and have used them with most not being first time tractor owners feel about them vs people that have never owned one.

Strange, who to believe, owners with actual experience or those with no actual paid their money down more than lot evaluation/speculating/some reading experience concerning that one oddity machine.
I've owned several Kubotas and several different attachments. Often times people ask for my opinion and if I've never owned and operated the machine or attachment I say so. I not very often clearly state "I've heard but have no experience" statement concerning something I have no experience with. My B3200 comes to mind. Heard much ado from non owners about it running rough. Mine did have an rpm point where I could feel an increase in the vibration but raising the rpms past that point smoothed it out mostly. The vibration compared to the many other Kubotas I'd owned wasn't a big issue but was noticeable but many that never owned them hyped the issue way past the point of a reason not to buy a B3200. I had a BX2350 and it was bad when going into reverse and I expressed how bad it was to me and got rid of the machine because of it but never told anyone that knew the issue they should get rid of theirs or if buying one to just know about the issue before buying instead of finding about it later based on my actual hands on experience. Same with a BX25D-1 that didn't stop when the foot pedal released and continued rolling unlike my first BX25 and all other Kubota HSTs that stopped when the foot pedal is released.
This is one of the reasons I try to clarify whether one has actual hands on ownership, not lot test, experience with their opinion of the particular model. I also look at a persons profile and when it isn't filled out I make some judgements about the info provider.

:2cents:

gk527 · Apr 9, 2017

sandyc said:
My 3350 has been upgraded and now I hardly notice regens

What did they do to fix it? I'm wanting a B3350 but the DPF issues I've heard about concern me. DPF doesn't bother me in general, just the B3350's DPF. I'm leaning towards a B2650 because of this.

I assume you're still running trouble free?

brain55 · Apr 22, 2017

JOHNTHOMAS said:
Odd how people with these machines and have used them with most not being first time tractor owners feel about them vs people that have never owned one. Strange, who to believe, owners with actual experience or those with no actual paid their money down more than lot evaluation/speculating/some reading experience concerning that one oddity machine.
I've owned several Kubotas and several different attachments. Often times people ask for my opinion and if I've never owned and operated the machine or attachment I say so. I not very often clearly state "I've heard but have no experience" statement concerning something I have no experience with. My B3200 comes to mind. Heard much ado from non owners about it running rough. Mine did have an rpm point where I could feel an increase in the vibration but raising the rpms past that point smoothed it out mostly. The vibration compared to the many other Kubotas I'd owned wasn't a big issue but was noticeable but many that never owned them hyped the issue way past the point of a reason not to buy a B3200. I had a BX2350 and it was bad when going into reverse and I expressed how bad it was to me and got rid of the machine because of it but never told anyone that knew the issue they should get rid of theirs or if buying one to just know about the issue before buying instead of finding about it later based on my actual hands on experience. Same with a BX25D-1 that didn't stop when the foot pedal released and continued rolling unlike my first BX25 and all other Kubota HSTs that stopped when the foot pedal is released.
This is one of the reasons I try to clarify whether one has actual hands on ownership, not lot test, experience with their opinion of the particular model. I also look at a persons profile and when it isn't filled out I make some judgements about the info provider. :2cents:

Well said. There is a lot of speculative advice given here. I have 30 years of Kubota experience and I'm reluctant to reply to questions because there are so many variables that I can't see from my computer, not to mention a ton of regional differences in use and operation. The issues I see in sunny California at near sea level are going to be far different than issues in the snow packed high country. I'll respond to very specific things that I have intimate knowledge and stay way from speculation as much as I can.

With that said, the B3350 issues were well known by Kubota and they took a lot of steps to resolve them, from simple thermostat changes and ECU reprogramming to changing the dosing valve for the after-treatment. Depending on serial number some of these changes were running changes at the factory and while some were dealer field mods. To the best of my knowledge all the problems have been resolved. Again in sunny California we didn't have the same issues as those with sub-freezing temperatures.

JOHNTHOMAS · Apr 23, 2017

I now have about 30 fairly hard hours on my L3901. Bush hogging high grass and small trees, pushing down small trees, box blading, post hole digging with front hydraulic post hole digger, front bucket dirt digging/moving work, grapple work and so far I've had no experience that I know of with the DFF. If it has done anything I never knew it. Fuel consumption has also been a pleasant surprise with it using less than a gallon per hour which almost all of my Kubotas have used. Just general hands on guess, no scientific equipment used on any of them.
I do keep it at high RPM due to people on here saying I need to which is something different that I've done over the years with my other ones. I guess that shows I can accept new ways of doing things being almost 70 years old according to the calendar. New isn't always bad.:laughing:

:cool2: But sometimes hard for some people to accept. Some people forget how things of the past actually were and not always how they were in their minds.

mdhughes · Apr 29, 2017

I have had my L3901DT since Dec 2014 and I'm very happy with the tractor. I use it more during the winter months cutting wood than I do during the summer, so most of the regens are in the cold weather. Here is a list of the dates and hours on the tractor when the regen started:

01-17-15 16.0
02-28-15 28.8
03-29-15 40.0
05-05-15 53.1
07-14-15 68.6
10-24-15 81.5
12-25-15 92.7
01-30-16 105.1
02-06-16 118.8
04-24-16 130.9
07-10-16 143.7
07-16-16 156.5
10-16-16 172.1
12-16-16 184.5
02-12-17 196.0
03-11-17 210.1

bdhsfz6 · Apr 29, 2017

Like many on the forum, I've read about more "bad" DPF / Regen issues than I have experienced personally. My current MX5800 is the first tier 4 tractor I've owned. I'm pushing 150 hours on it and have gone through 7 regen cycles. On 2 occasions, I didn't realize the tractor was in regen mode until the cycle was almost completed. So far, there have been no noticeable performance issues during the process. The only complaint I have is it seems to like to regen when I'm putting the tractor in the barn for the night. I'm reluctant to cancel the cycle so I just let it do a parked regen. Never takes more than 15 - 20 minutes.

Some of the Grand L series Kubotas have the "intellipanel" that indicates the particulate matter accumulation. I can see where this would be a handy feature. It gives you a rough idea when a regen is about to occur and you can plan your work accordingly. Unfortunately, it isn't available on the MX series. I almost bought a L6060 which had that feature but opted for the MX to save some $$. Oh well... there's always the next tractor.

Ivan49 · Apr 29, 2017

I have a L 3901 Kubota and it is the first tier 4 tractor I have owned. Over my years I have owned many tractors and still have several older ones. The first regen happened at 17 hours and the tractor felt like the engine had a miss and then picked up. The second regen happened at about 40 hours and I did not know it was in regen mode until; I saw the light flashing to increase the RPMs. and that is the way it has been since. The biggest thing I noticed was the amount of fuel used. The harder you run it the easier on fuel it is. I have around 240 hours on it today and no problems at all. The loader kind of sucks but I have to live with that

johnk · Apr 29, 2017

Carburators vs fuel injection. Technology keeps advancing. Dpf might be a godsend but I still have a tier 3
.

scdeerslayer · May 3, 2017

bdhsfz6 said:
Like many on the forum, I've read about more "bad" DPF / Regen issues than I have experienced personally. My current MX5800 is the first tier 4 tractor I've owned. I'm pushing 150 hours on it and have gone through 7 regen cycles. On 2 occasions, I didn't realize the tractor was in regen mode until the cycle was almost completed. So far, there have been no noticeable performance issues during the process. The only complaint I have is it seems to like to regen when I'm putting the tractor in the barn for the night. I'm reluctant to cancel the cycle so I just let it do a parked regen. Never takes more than 15 - 20 minutes.

Some of the Grand L series Kubotas have the "intellipanel" that indicates the particulate matter accumulation. I can see where this would be a handy feature. It gives you a rough idea when a regen is about to occur and you can plan your work accordingly. Unfortunately, it isn't available on the MX series. I almost bought a L6060 which had that feature but opted for the MX to save some $$. Oh well... there's always the next tractor.

I don't really want the "intellipanel" since that just adds more electrical complications, but it would be nice to have a light indicating that a regen will occur soon. What should be available on any tractor is a regen-on-demand that you can activate once it's close to needing a regen so you can make it happen at a more convenient time.