What was your first Kubota and why?

[sixdogs]

It was the early 1990's and I lived in rural New England. We cut hay and my 40HP Fords were lacking for the tasks so I started looking and calling around for more HP. As you would expect, prices were high and inventory scarce in a remote locale. Then I stumbled onto the Kubota brand and people I talked with loved it but there were few dealers and only small sized models on hand.

So, I called Kubota Corporate and asked where the bigger ones were and what dealers owned them and they really knew their their inventory. I called a dealer in a close New England state and he suggested I look at an M8950 (89HP) at a bankruptcy repo he had coming up.

Look at it I did, in January and maybe 15-20 below zero with a strong wind and at the top of a ridge in the mountains. You could see forever and wicked cold is an understatement. It looked OK but needed some TLC so after the legal dust settled, I bought it, had it hauled home and put lots of hours on it over a decade. People chuckled a bit because Kubota was new and considered Japanese junk. But I knew better. it never missed a beat, had no drama and I sold it for more than i paid. What a great tractor.

 

[sixdogs]

About 18 years ago I bought 5 acres of hillside, rocky, gullied, treed property to self build my home on. Having owned boxstore riding mowers I knew they would never last and do an adequate job on my new property. I investigated and researched and rec'd advice from tractor owners to get diesel engine and 4 WD. I priced sub compact tractors and the JD was $3000 more than Kubota and the Blue tractors were $2500 more than Orange Kubotaa so I bought a BX2200 MMM FEL from Steve Barlow Kubota dealer because he wa about $2000 less than other surrounding Kubota dealers. I also bought the super expensive front wheelbarrow since I was buying my last lifetime mower.
Well, that little sucker was so much more than a lawn mower that I started doing lots of landscaping work with it but the low ground clearance was killing me. I returned to Barlows and asked what people that bought to small tractors did to correct their mistake. Steve explained that he would take my small BX2200 FEL MMM in on trade for a new or used bigger one. I traded the BX2200 MMM FEL after one year to a B7800 FEL RFM (I did have some open slightly sloping land in front of my home. Well folks that is the beginning of my story of how I have come to own 30 Kubotas plus I bought some rental property, bought some additional home property, sold my rental property and bought another 28 acres of home property. Needs changed over the yea rs and so my Kubotas changed over the years and currently own a few different Kubotas.
I did do some price shopping over the years and no other dealer was ever in the same ballpark as Steve Barlow Kubota so I have dealt with only Barlows as a dealer. I did buy a used. well used, older small Kubota one time and ended up trading it to Barlows for a 16' Gatormade trailer which I still have along with a 12' trailer.

Wow, JOHNTHOMAS, so this is how it all started. Sincere congratulations. I always wondered how it all began and this is like finding the first issue of Superman comics.

Have you ever listed all the models you have owned?

 

[Smokeydog]

1990-91 bought a used Kubota B20. Cute compared to our large 2wd tractors. Tough as nails and loved working the little guy. Driver friendly HST was a favorite with many operators. Really open our eyes how useful a CUT could be. Cycled thru several large Kubota ag tractors since and were impressed. Just like the ruggedness, ergonomics and versatility of the TLB models. Now down to just two tractors, M59 and B26.

Just like us, the many major tractor dealers in our area have gone from MF, Ford, Deere to Kubota over the past decades. Big Orange country.

 

[TMGT]

1990-91 bought a used Kubota B20. Cute compared to our large 2wd tractors. Tough as nails and loved working the little guy. Driver friendly HST was a favorite with many operators. Really open our eyes how useful a CUT could be. Cycled thru several large Kubota ag tractors since and were impressed. Just like the ruggedness, ergonomics and versatility of the TLB models. Now down to just two tractors, M59 and B26.

Just like us, the many major tractor dealers in our area have gone from MF, Ford, Deere to Kubota over the past decades. Big Orange country.

Yup, our Kubota dealer use to be a dealer for Allis Chalmers, then Deutz Allis.

 

[NCL4701]

I suspect that many JD dealers and probably other domestic tractor dealers cater primarily to large agricultural tractors and related equipment while Kubota dealers tend to be more focused property owners and landscape type businesses. Years ago I was looking at JD lawnmowers and the local dealer did not seem very interested in selling me a GT series mower. A few tiny mowers were sitting beside beside huge expensive agricultural equipment seemed odd. Kubota dealers are totally different, no giant combines, etc.

Exactly the case for my buying experience. All the JD dealers within 2 hours are owned by the same parent company. Had heard they weren’t small customer friendly but they had recently started marketing aimed at landowner type customers so went to research JD offerings. Confirmed if looking for one CUT they’d sell you one for just a little over MSRP if they were bored, you asked real nice, and you didn’t expect any questions to be answered. If you wanted a fleet of 40 or you wanted a quad track they’d talk to you. My brother has two JD’s, a CUT and a SCUT. Different dealer with entirely different attitude.

 

[RobertN]

I always though the Farmall Cub created the CUT. Unfortunately by the 1960's it was getting dated. They never came up with a newer CUT though. That's why Yanmar/Deere and Kubota came in...

I think Kubota owns the US CUT market because they created it. I remember the Kubota ads in Popular mechanics in the 70's. They just kept putting one foot in front of the other. People that bought them loved them, and they kept their value like crazy.

More than a few implement dealers around her had mainline AG brands, and took on Kubota as a product like extension. After a matter of years, they abandoned the legacy brands and went with just Kubota.

I often wonder what the CUT market would look like today if Yanmar hadn't chosen to private label for Deere, and had gone head to head against Kubota?

 

[airbiscuit]

Allis Chalmers B

or this

 

[airbiscuit]

This was close

 

[Steppenwolfe]

This was close

Those are nice tractors... My neighbor has one, I think called a low boy?

 

[Peter 315]

1990-91 bought a used Kubota B20. Cute compared to our large 2wd tractors. Tough as nails and loved working the little guy. Driver friendly HST was a favorite with many operators. Really open our eyes how useful a CUT could be. Cycled thru several large Kubota ag tractors since and were impressed. Just like the ruggedness, ergonomics and versatility of the TLB models. Now down to just two tractors, M59 and B26.

Just like us, the many major tractor dealers in our area have gone from MF, Ford, Deere to Kubota over the past decades. Big Orange country.

Three Kubota TLB tractors M59, L47, B26........