What's RIGHT about the M59?

[rScotty]

Well, today we are probably finishing with a thread where we beat the back hoe hydraulics on the M59 pretty much to death....it turns out that for three of the machines with mysterious BH hydraulic problems the solution was simply that the directional flow lever tends to vibrate out of position. Believe it or not, the fix is to reach over and push it back into position. Sometimes the smallest things take the longest to figure out.

But in the process, some mud got slung at our M59 hoes, and so I thought it might be fun and help balance the scales to talk about what is RIGHT with this tractor. And after 4 years of using ours pretty much everyday there's a few things I'd like to say. ...

Turns out that the list of things that are right is pretty long. Start at the front: I really like that blunt front and beefy front axle, and how good it looks and how stable the whole M59 is working on side hills....must be the low CG. Shucks, it even has a pivoting hood protector that doubles as a work table.

Or how about that Triple Vortex Tier IV engine just starts right up in any weather? Now on mine I always plug it in in cold weather because why not be nice to the beast? But I also know that if there's an emergency at ten below that the M59 is going to fire right up. That engine just runs and feels right.

Hey! What about that FEL? Now there's a nifty item. I admit to being a little intimidated when I first saw it; and yes...., I had a few doubts that this machine could really handle a 7 foot wide bucket holding almost two tons of dirt. But you know what? The truth is that it doesn't even notice. And the control is fingertip sensitive. After using it for 4 years I'd say that any smaller loader would be too small.

And you just gotta love that HST Plus tranny with the high/low range splitter on the column. Just wave your pinkie to seamlessly split the range from torque to speed and back again.

Enough Super stuff.
I sure hope my tractor reads this thread....
rScotty

 

[ManAtArms]

Well I'll chime in too. For the most part, my M59 has been problem free and quite a joy to own and operate. There are always those moments where I wish I had a mini excavator for better digging performance, but then I use the M59 on a project like drilling fence posts, unloading a tractor trailer of lumber, moving a 3000lbs boulder half a mile and I realize that a TLB can do it all. There are times that I think having a smaller machine would be handy, but then I just couldn't imagine having something with less power. Speaking of power, IMO it has the right amount of power for a machine of it's weight.

Steering is smooth and effortless, even when carrying a heavy load. It has an excellent turning radius. I can always seem to maneuver in and out of tight situation. Traction is very good, which I suppose it should be with a machine this heavy.

Overall machine ergonomics are very good for me. I'm 5'9" 165lbs and find the 59 to be well laid out. Mounting and dismounting the machine is a pleasure. I'm always jumping on and off to get my hands dirty. The seat spins from loader to backhoe position easily. A larger operator might find the seat spinning too tight. A factory cab would be nice!

I agree with rScotty on the engine. Always starts. I also use the engine block heater, however it will start without it. It's responsive and powerful enough for the machine. I rarely find myself bogging it down even with heavy use.

The transmission and gearing are smooth and nicely spaced. HST Plus is a really nice feature (although, I wish it had cruise control.) It is responsive and you can nearly always find the right gear? Low-Low (turtle) is really low and I almost never use it. I use Low-high (rabbit) for most loader work, especially in FWD when driving into piles of heavy material like stone. I use the medium range 90% of the time. You can easily load topsoil in medium-low and shuttle it in medium-high with a flick of the control stick. I use high for exclusively for travel. I recently drove 10 miles one way to another farm in high-high and only had to shift to high-low to climb steeper hills. However, I do not use the auto-shift function, as I feel it "hunts" too much.

The front loader is strong enough to seriously lighten the rear end (with the hoe attached). Compared to the ASV PT50, (which weighs 6000lbs and has a rated operating capacity of 1900lbs and a tipping load of 3800-4000lbs.) the M59 makes the PT50 feel weak. There a several things I can lift with the 59 that the PT won't, despite the near similar max lift capacities. Even more impressive is the difference in stability. If I lift a 3000 pallet and drive it around, the 59 handles it with stability and overall sense of control. The PT50 would struggle and be constantly surfing the edge of tipping, not to mention going up or down a grade with this load. No contest. And I don't even have the tires loaded on the 59. Front quick attach is great and I frequently switch to forks or a grapple. Driving into a pile of heavy material and scooping is night and day between the two machines. The 59 is way stronger in push, lift and especially curl, even with the larger, deeper bucket on the 59. In defense of the PT50, it's a smaller, more compact machine that spins on a dime and can easily out perform the M59 in shuttling material short distances. The PT50 also has the advantage of being able to see your cutting edge and of course the ability to use the machine more like a dozer, which you cant with a tractor. I picked it for comparison due to their similar absolute lift capacities.

The hoe has enough power to drag the machine around if your not paying attention. Good reach and the thumb works really well for most tasks. If I was being nit-picky, I would like to see better smoothness when using bucket curl, dipper crowd and boom functions at the same time. I would also like to see push button electric actuation of the thumb, rather than the foot pedal. Oh yeah, extend-a-hoe would be really sweet. Overall, you can definitely dig out some serious crap.

 

[indianaEPH]

Got to agree with the above comments. THis is a great machine. I've been clearing land and I'm amazed at the size of the tree I can push over and then dig out with the loader. For even bigger trees the hoe can do the job. I've run some long drainage ditches and the creep feature is great. I would not want a hoe without it now. Also, I feel the same way about the HST. This is my first HST trans and I can say that it is a joy to operate (yes cruise would be nice). With low and high range in each of the 3 HST gears you are always just a flick of the lever to be in the right gear.

 

[capt_met]

my backhoe doesn't have cruise either. however from the drive position i can easily reach back to the hand throttle at the backhoe position. put it in gear throttle up and go. one touch to the foot throttle and it takes over for stopping. would this be possible with the M59?

 

[TBarD]

Well you guys pretty much covered the important features of the M59 - I agree with all of it. To sum it all up, the M59 is probably the best TLB currently available in terms of power and versatility, while still being light enough to haul with a light truck. I wouldn't want anything smaller for the stuff I use it for. I continue to be impressed with what it is capable of. It is a real backhoe, with a reversible seat, creep, 12' dig depth, etc., but the hoe can be removed in a few minutes to do 3pt stuff, and it takes only a moment to swap out the bucket for forks or whatever. The hoe, let alone the bucket, can easily pull a fence post or pick up a large log. The tractor really excels with the 7' bucket, or offloading pallets from a delivery truck with the forks. The auxiliary hydraulics are powerful enough (16 gpm) to run low flow skid steer attachments. The diesel is turbo which helps at altitude. I was skeptical about HST before I got the M59, but am now sold on it for a tractor as versatile as the M59. About the only nit I have run into so far is that it can be difficult to operate the hoe smoothly when using the dipper/crowd and boom simultaneously. And it does burn diesel at an impressive rate, but that is the price one pays for such a powerful tractor!

 

[indianaEPH]

I was also going to mention the ease of removing the BH. In the past month I've swapped out the BH for the 3pt 3 times. It can be done in less than 1/2 hour from BH to 3pt with implement attached.

 

[TBarD]

Here is a shot just after removing the backhoe for the first time (pictures of the M59 without a frame of reference are often deceiving - it looks small in the picture but it is not; note how the boards under the hoe are crushed into the hard ground) . I was a bit concerned about removing it on rough ground but this turned out not to be a problem. Most of the time spent removing it for the first time was spent thoroughly cleaning the quick disconnects and their covers. When later reconnecting it the most time consuming part was backing up to just the right spot. Next time I think I will try it with the seat reversed, using creep. As I mentioned in another post, the hardest part of converting to 3pt the first time was getting the 3pt hitch off the stow position on the tractor. It is a tight fit to the stow pins, and had rusted a bit.

I used the 3pt to pull an 84", 850 lb. grading scraper to do some site and road leveling. The M59 pulled this just fine although I did need to engage four wheel drive. No problem with power though. The only issue I had was that the top link pin that comes with the M59 3pt was a bit too short for my beefy scraper.

With the hoe off and nothing on the back, the empty bucket alone is enough to unweight the rear wheels coming down the mountain! It didn't take me long to get it into four wheel drive for this case as well.

 

[mike69440]

Reports are the M59 is quite stable even without loaded tires, but from my experience with my L39, I find weight is my friend. There is nothing scarier than picking up speed going down even a slightly steep hill with a load in the bucket and having the rear tires skipping and sliding. My L39 is within 300 Lbs of a M59 as I have added a thumb, inner and outer wheel weights, filled the loader tubes with solid shafting, have a small front end weight on the guard and about 70 lbs of bucket reinforcement. The wheel weights widen the rear track 1.75", so chains fit nice. It is reasonably nice and stable now, power still ok but I would not want to burden its limited power and Grand L front axle with any more weight. I can still pick up and position the machine with the hoe also. If I were lucky enough to own the M59, I'd ballast it to close to 9,500 lbs and use a 78" wide 4-1 bucket. I know a lot of people tow their machine, but I think it is safer to have a heavy machine.

I have adusted the hydraulic relief valve on the loader to a bit over 2,800 psi, which is just on the strong side of the factory rated pressure. Speaking with a Kubota mechanic, he advised that once you go over #3,000, all bets are off with longevity of the hydraulic pumps. I've not had any issuse with hundreds of hours operation at 2,800 psi.

 

[TBarD]

I have adusted the hydraulic relief valve on the loader to a bit over 2,800 psi, which is just on the strong side of the factory rated pressure. Speaking with a Kubota mechanic, he advised that once you go over #3,000, all bets are off with longevity of the hydraulic pumps. I've not had any issuse with hundreds of hours operation at 2,800 psi.

This rang a bell - I saw your posts earlier with the L39 picking up some very large rocks in the bucket. Also I think you had the fire recently (lightning/emp caused?) which torched the console. Bummer, that was awful to behold! I am going to install a battery disconnect switch on mine as soon as I get a chance as a result, or at least disconnect the battery when I am away.

I was originally thinking I would get a L39 as it was about all I could afford, but found out while shopping that the early M59s (back when the model was first released around 2008/2009) came with a lot of extras standard, probably as a come-on - front and rear aux hydraulics, thumb, etc., which helps to narrow the price. And then I found a used one for a very good price, took a big chance and was able to fix it up as good as new after I got it. The new ones have gotten so expensive over the past few years that it is hard to see how anyone can afford one. But the current L39 isn't far behind, for that matter. I suspect it is largely the price of raw materials, witness people stealing copper wire and so on.

I have only had my M59 up in the mountains for a bit so far, and am still (gingerly) testing how stable it is. I expect the reports are right and it is quite stable with the hoe on. Just a warning that with the hoe off and the bucket on, it is quite front heavy even with a completely empty (but 600 lb or so!) bucket.

 

[rScotty]

......the early M59s (back when the model was first released around 2008/2009) came with a lot of extras standard, probably as a come-on - front and rear aux hydraulics, thumb, etc., which helps to narrow the price. And then I found a used one for a very good price, took a big chance and was able to fix it up as good as new after I got it. The new ones have gotten so expensive over the past few years that it is hard to see how anyone can afford one.

We bought one of those introductory models when they first came out and saved a bundle over Kubota's advertised price, only to see the economy collapse and prices go even lower the very next month.

Say, I haven't tried mine with the Cat II 3pt hitch and no hoe. In fact, I've never taken the hoe off since we have a large Ag tractor handy. How did the lift work with your big box scraper full of dirt? I'd be surprised if the M59 had problems with the weight or HP. But did it?

Back 30 years ago when I bought our first compact diesel 4x4 loader tractor we all marveled that it cost as much as a good used 100 hp farm tractor. But it turns out that's not the point. The point was that it just cost proportionately more to get into a smaller space and do the same work. At the time we figured that the reason it was costly was that the designers couldn't just throw metal at it to make it smaller like they could to make them bigger.
It's the medium size and weight that makes it so useful for us. Frankly, we could have bought a darn good barely-used Case, Cat, or JD commercial TLB for the money....one of the yellow ones you see everywhere. And I came very close to doing so. It would have been every bit as good a machine as the M59, and quite possibly better. Nothing against the M59, but those yellow commercial machines have decades of development. But for our uses they are all just a bit too large and heavy. In the end nobody else makes one in the M59 size, and that along with it being commercial duty turned out to be the deciding factor.
We're just lucky that it also turned out to be a good TLB.
rScotty