3-Point Hitch position control lever on mx5100

[Herkypilot]

I finally got a call back from a Kubota Corporate representative, and going thru the Dealers and attempting to get assistance from the Area Kubota Rep. on my jerky hitch odyssey. Selling dealer did not give a rats patooty. Another dealer tried everything he could to assist me, but could not get the Area Rep to give anything, either a new valve or any payment to have the dealer troubleshoot the problem. Keep in mind this was under warranty still. When Kubota Corporate finally called me several months later, I was a Kioti owner. I don't know what he was going to offer me. I think Kubota corporate called me because I had participated in a 3rd party survey paid for by various tractor manufactures, and I had given them the whole story on the jerky 3pt hitch on the standard L series. From what I understand a valve off of a 3130 will fix it, and one member here has fixed his with a needle valve to restrict the flow to the cylinder, but other fixes are few and far between. Perhaps Sean would care to go over some of his attempts to fix his.

James K0UA

^^^^^ rscotty - what James said...^^^^^

What you are talking about is Kubota engineers may not have known about customer complaints, but Kubota corporate clearly did.

 

[Chilly807]

For what this is worth, I think the problem with the Kubota 3-point is the basic design of either the lift itself or the linkage that controls the valve. And Kubota is definitely aware of it, or they wouldn't have changed the valve so many times trying to fix it. It's one thing knowing there's a problem, it's entirely another admitting it publicly.
As for the OP's problem, it's most likely a misadjusted feedback linkage, but if it's not the dealer needs to get involved early on. Waiting for 50 hours pretty much guarantees he'll be stuck with the tractor if for some bizarre reason they can't fix it..

Sean

 

[k0ua]

For what this is worth, I think the problem with the Kubota 3-point is the basic design of either the lift itself or the linkage that controls the valve. And Kubota is definitely aware of it, or they wouldn't have changed the valve so many times trying to fix it. It's one thing knowing there's a problem, it's entirely another admitting it publicly.
As for the OP's problem, it's most likely a misadjusted feedback linkage, but if it's not the dealer needs to get involved early on. Waiting for 50 hours pretty much guarantees he'll be stuck with the tractor if for some bizarre reason they can't fix it..
Sean

Sean do you remember a few months ago someone posted here, it might have been a dealer or someone who works at a dealership, that there was a big meeting of Kubota reps about this subject. I wonder what was determined if anything. I also wonder when the new standard L series comes out this spring 2014 if there might be "changes".

James K0UA

 

[Chilly807]

I wasn't aware that a new L was in the works. It's hard to say what Kubota's plans are. If they intend to use the same basic platform (frame) which is currently a proven product and only change cosmetics, I doubt there'll be much improvement, if any.

They still sell the L's like they're going out of style, so from a corporate point of view there's no reason to change much mechanically. The trouble with wishing for change is, sometimes you get it... they may cure the 3-point problem by redesigning the transmission case, but what other problems will they introduce? The thing is, these are VERY good compact tractors at a competitive price. There's potential to make them better, but will the changes be accompanied by a higher sticker price?

There's a huge niche market with owners like us, who need a bigger machine than a BX or B, but don't need more power or a larger frame size to get the job done. A Grand L or MX would eat up more of my budget and garage space, and a B wouldn't do the job.. so if it's going to be Kubota it's an L. I definitely bought the right tractor, and I've made some modifications to make it suit me better. The only thing I haven't been able to correct is the 3-point rough operation, and while it still bothers me that it's not perfect, the rest of the tractor is outstanding for my use. I don't do a lot that requires precise 3-point control, like box blading, etc.

I don't like hijacking this thread, which is what we're doing.. the MX5100 is another great example of an economy tractor that gets the job done without paying an added premium for bells and whistles. I consider it to be an L3400 on steroids.. bigger and more powerful, but still basic and affordably priced as a result. This one needs a tweak to get it right, the sooner the better.

Sean

 

[JKTractor]

About 70 hours on mine. The whine is an adjustment issue and is just in by-pass. Mine was the same. It's a simple fix and takes about 10 minutes and a couple of wrenches. Lift up the seat and there's a feedback rod attached to a lever with two locking nuts. If I recall, it's right of center looking down and aft. The easy way to adjust is start your tractor and raise the 3ph all the way up until you hear the whine. Now loosen one of the jam nuts on the rod and move the other nut until the whine stops, then tighten the jam nut back up and you are done.
As far as the jerky hitch, as far as I've read, it's very rare that it will be fixed. You will either have to live with it, or trade the tractor for a Grand L of the same size. We all know Kubota knows about this issue and I'm surprised they continued to pump out MX's and L's that have this problem.

I had the same problem with my 2009 MX5100-DT. I found that the 2 nuts only control the tension on the lever (how easy it moves). However, I found it easy to bend the lever itself to adjust it. From where it connects by 2 screws, if comes up, angles out, then continues up. The part of the lever that angles out twists when you try to bend the lever, making it easy to bend/adjust.