FEL on compact

[man00]

I don't know a lot about tractors, but been looking for a while. I won't mention the dealership but was told Kubota had lots of problems with front axles. Is there truth to that or just trying to get my dollars?

 

[ipz2222]

I guess if 2 people had front axle problems, you could say, "Kubota has front axle problems". 3 different Kubotas under my butt for the last 18 years and no front axle problems.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I don't know a lot about tractors, but been looking for a while. I won't mention the dealership but was told Kubota had lots of problems with front axles. Is there truth to that or just trying to get my dollars?

Yep, that must be why Kubota is the #1 selling tractor in America, all the problems that they have.

I think someone who doesn't sell Kubota was trying to make a sale.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I've worked on quite a few tractors, I would actually say the opposite.
I think Kubota's have the toughest front axle assemblies of all the compacts!

 

[dmanlyr]

There was some truth to this 20+ years ago. Of course all normal farm tractors that were not built to handle a front loader suffered from this. Remember, a standard farm tractor is built to handle and tow implements, NOT a front end loader. Now that we have all decided how handy a FEL is, we all want them and it was a learning curve.

Just a look at old farm tractors with loaders, they all have very small "manure" buckets and manual trips almost to a tee, to try and keep front end overloading to a minimum. How many 8N, 9N's do you see with a three to three and a half foot manual trip bucket, back in the day, lots.

You tube is full of videos of front axle failures on all makes of tractors.

Rest assured though that Kubota learned its lesson and now builds a loader matched to a particular tractor model that won't overload the front axle, if the proper recommended ballast is on the three point. Part of the learning curve was a heavier duty front axle as well.

David

 

[kc8fbl]

My dealer had mentioned to me to check your tire pressure and keep it up where it's proper PSI should be. If they go too low, you could get one of the front axle seals to start leaking. I haven't had any problems with mine. Just keep tire pressure up and don't overload them with trying to haul too much weight with the FEL. Also, bigger or over sized tires can mess with the front seals as well. Just read and do as your op. manual recommends.

 

[Bluegill]

I had to rebuild the front axle of our 25 year old L3750DT, but this was due to years of FEL work with no counter weight on the 3 pt hitch. As I was doing that I bought a L3800DT, our 3rd Kubota...

 

[rentthis]

Over the years, I have owned dozens of 4wd Kubota machines. I have had to replace seals in 2 of them. Very easy to do. Keep in mind, I rent these machines. If their front axles can stand up to that, they would probably withstand an A bomb.

 

[Billdog350]

I contracted for a Kubota dealer for several years and we did end up doing axle pivot seals on some older 4wd machines. The L tractors were most famous for this. I did a few BX and B tractors but few compared to the L's. Regardless, these tractors are VERY reliable and usually the seal failure was caused by customers never washing the machines off and allowing sand/salt/mud/dirt to sit on the seals for years at a time. Take good care of your machine and it will take good care of you.

The job was only a few hundred in parts at most and took an afternoon worth of work if you hadn't done it before. After 10+ years of use on a machine, this is small potatoes...