What machine would you want to do this task?

4570Man · Jun 17, 2019

What you said about it being fast and nimble vs the gigantic 310 is pretty much the exact reason I want one. The ctl has fantastic visibility off the front but awful visibility on the other 3 sides. The visibility also sucks when unloading pallets off a truck. You’re sitting so close to the fork frame test you can’t see around it. I’m not a fan of the expense and damage caused by the tracks. They kick up a lot of dust too. How tall is the canopy in the m59?

rScotty · Jun 17, 2019

It seems to be coming down to a CTL and maybe a rented mini-ex for really tight work versus the smaller M59 TLB. Or just stick with the 310 you have. All of these work fine as far as I can see. Which one to use is sort of a matter of preference.

Maybe some people just flat enjoy running CTL more than a TLB, and for others its the other way round. CTLs have almost a frantic buzzing energy about them that some just love. I don't quite understand why, I'm more of a TLB kind of guy myself. I like a machine that will lean into a load and muscle up without being so frantic about it. I like to be sitting above the work, not in it. And I like the all around visibility even if I can't quite see the tip of the bucket.

But in deciding between CTL & TLB it seems to me that personal preference seems to count for just as much as logic.... and nothing wrong with that.

I've got a friend who uses her CTL to clean out horse stalls inside her great big old barn and just thinks it's great. I think it is stinky, stirs up a lot of dust, is kinda "buzzy". For me the CTL bucket is shaped wrong, and the whole job would be nicer on a compact tractor. She tried a compact tractor but thinks it is slow and uninspiring - kinda stodgy - compared with her CTL. She isn't going to change; and I probably won't either. Both work just fine.
rScotty

4570Man · Jun 17, 2019

I have some experience running a 95 Kubota CTL. It’s nice and strong as heck but like anything also has downsides. I have a strong dislike for a mini excavator. I’d like a 10 ton one but I’d run my 310 and a m59 before I bought a little mini.

rScotty · Jun 17, 2019

OK, now I've got a question for you and anyone following along... Do you know of any active forum for the JD310s? I've got a problem with my temperature gauge and cannot figure it out.

Here on TBN there are dozens of owners of M59s willing and knowledgeable to help with any problem.
There's even more who post on the section of TBN devoted to operating Kubotas https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/

here on TBN I can even get all the help I need on an old Yanmar built in 1980. For my truck, there is a Toyota Landcruiser club (IH8MUD)

BUT I CANNOT FIND ANY OWNERS GROUP TO HELP ME WITH THE JD310. And there must be a thousand JD310s out there for every Kubota M59.... and that's probably being conservative. So where are they? They have to be out there, and working on their machines. What am I missing?
rScotty