Roasted Kubota

[SidecarFlip]

Not sure if it's off topic but...

I'll take mine rare...lol

Been reading about Kubota's catching on fire, especially the larger ones like I have. I'm considering putting a battery master cutoff switch on each one so when they sit in the barn, there is no electrical current present to cause a fire.

Everything is insured but would be a real mess considering both tractors live in the same barn with all my hay tools and the hay for the stock as well plus the farm pickup truck.

I'm a bit nervous after seeing roasted Kubota's and they aren't pretty or edible either.

 

[mickeyd]

How many fires have there been? Were all the fires caused by the same fault?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think if you were to have a 100% Honest conversation with them:

#1: 10% Owner/operator neglect ( failure to clean chaff and flammable debri ) and more likely a 9 % still goes towards #5

#2: 15% Operator stupidity ( Sprung a fuel /oil leak but I thought I could get it back to the shop, or WOW who put this power pole so close to the field )

#3: 25% Someone jerry rigged something on it ( What... it wouldn't power the 2000 Watts of halogens and the 5000 watt surround sound stereo that I added, and I thought that extra fuel tank bungee strapped to the hood was a great Idea )

#4: 1% Simple mechanical failure, probably .99% still falls under #1

And the final

#5: 49% Owner/ operator torched because they are sick of farming!

 

[armylifer]

I agree with Wolfman. I have an uncle and a friend that are both arson investigators. From conversations that I have had with them, there is a lot of arson involved in insurance claims. I don't know how many of their cases involved tractors but it seems that arson is a highly preferred method that people take to get out from under debt, broken or old equipment, and a myriad of other reasons. For those reasons, I would suspect arson in many of those reported fires. That's just me, I have a suspicious mind.

 

[BAP]

I think if you were to have a 100% Honest conversation with them:

#1: 10% Owner/operator neglect ( failure to clean chaff and flammable debri ) and more likely a 9 % still goes towards #5

#2: 15% Operator stupidity ( Sprung a fuel /oil leak but I thought I could get it back to the shop, or WOW who put this power pole so close to the field )

#3: 25% Someone jerry rigged something on it ( What... it wouldn't power the 2000 Watts of halogens and the 5000 watt surround sound stereo that I added, and I thought that extra fuel tank bungee strapped to the hood was a great Idea )

#4: 1% Simple mechanical failure, probably .99% still falls under #1

And the final

#5: 49% Owner/ operator torched because they are sick of farming!

Very obvious that you have never farmed for a living using your equipment 10-12 hours straight in dust, dry hay, chaff, corn leaves blowing and so on. It is not operator neglect when after hour 8 and your tractor is hotter than h*** from running all day and a high pressure fuel or hydraulic line blows spraying fluid on a hot exhaust manifold flashing into fire before you can hit the key. Or chaff has sucked in enough and hits something hot and ignites, or a bearing fails on an implement catching fire. I do not know many farmers that will torch their equipment and I was one for 35+ years before being disabled. Your responses are both arrogant and stupidity combined. I like your knowledge you share but in this post you are degrading all hard working farmers that keep food on your table. Tractors do catch fire, just like combined, self propelled forage harvestors, cars trucks and other equipment. Some are more prone due to poor design allowing heat to build up easily and trapped combustibles to ignite.

 

[D2Cat]

An interesting article from the Univ. Of Minnesota extension service. Cleanliness, maintenance and eliminate any heat source.

http://nasdonline.org/1494/d001294/combine-and-tractor-fires-a-burning-problem.html

The idea you run (or did run) 10-12 hour days in "dust, dry hay, chaff, corn leaves blowing..." is part of the maintenance to prevent the build up of material to cause a fire. It's required to stop to do the maintenance as needed, not only at the end of the work day.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Maybe after reading and seeing pictures of roasted large frame Kubota's, I'm getting a bit paranoid and maybe I'm over reacting.

I keep them both very clean (I wax the sheet metal regularly), keep the radiators blown out (after every use actually) and I maintain both of them and they are both paid for but I have to say I did roast one round baler a few years ago and when they light up with hay inside, there is no putting them out. You call the fire department first and your insurance agent second.

I just thought a battery disconnect might be a good idea. They don't cost a lot, like 25 bucks for an American Made one.

I'd just hate to loose a couple hundred thousand dollars in equipment over a freak electrical fire in the barn. It's all insured but replacing the stuff could be a nightmare.

BAP is correct, in the summer when I'm working them, they do get pretty hot. I know I cannot lay my hand on the axle extensions very long after a hard day of running. I work them hard, what I got them for in the first place.

Like I said, maybe overreacting to what I see on the net.

The equipment and hay storage barn is a ways from the house and shop so it's not like I'm in there regularly. My wife is though to feed the cats that live in there, the cats that keep the rodents from eating my wiring.

What really hit home with me, was last week, the fire station in the next town over, burned down. It's a paid by call department so no full time firemen there and one of their pieces of equipment got an electrical short, caught on fire and by the time someone saw the smoke and another department got there to fight the fire, all the equipment inside plus the building was a total loss. I could be in the same boat with a fire. We are out in the boonies with a volunteer department too.

 

[armylifer]

A neighbor of mine that parks his equipment under an aluminum awning has had his wiring eaten by rodents before. Fortunately for him it did not cause a fire but rodents do eat through electrical wiring. I have seen that a few times through the years. Anyway, a battery disconnect switch seems like a good investment to prevent any wires from shorting out and causing sparks in equipment that is unattended. That $25.00 investment can save 10,000 times more than it cost.

 

[SidecarFlip]

An interesting article from the Univ. Of Minnesota extension service. Cleanliness, maintenance and eliminate any heat source.

http://nasdonline.org/1494/d001294/combine-and-tractor-fires-a-burning-problem.html

The idea you run (or did run) 10-12 hour days in "dust, dry hay, chaff, corn leaves blowing..." is part of the maintenance to prevent the build up of material to cause a fire. It's required to stop to do the maintenance as needed, not only at the end of the work day.

Good article and I practice those things all the time. First thing I did when I bought them both was to add a fire extinguisher to each unit. It's in it's holder right next to the floor by the door, within easy reach. I also added a Mag Light in a holder as well.

Kind of surprised that tractors don't come equipped with fire extinguishers from the dealer / factory.

As a rule I never pressure wash any implement, especially hay tools and tractor engines. I blow them off with compressed air instead. Pressure washing tends to compromise bearings. I may pressure wash the outside but not under the hood.

How I lost my round baler, from a compromised bearing in one of the axles that carries the belts that form the bale. It seized while I was bailing and set the bale on fire and that was that. I used to always pressure wash it. My new New Holland roll belt never gets washed, just blown off. Insurance covered the loss minus my deductible so it still cost me a grand and lost harvest time waiting for the insurance company to have a new baler delivered and lost time in my business costs money.

 

[majorwager]

BAP,

I still do farm, and take exception with your criticism of NIW. Although I do not know any farmers who would deliberately destroy their own equipment, there are numerous instances where careless disregard for maintenance contributes to these mentioned incidents.

The hell-bent finish the field or bust attitude is a problem. Very few well-lubricated bearings burst into flames. They also have a life expectancy that need not expire at failure.

The excessive chaff in both combines and balers requires monitoring. Even w/ sole operators, find a means to keep a backpack blower in the field, and during excessive build-up , STOP and use it.

Fires are rarely spontaneous. They smolder and warn what is about to happen. Recently one of the big sq balers collected hay chaff in a brake drum. The odor was very NOTICEABLE. Turn off the darn radio and take a routine fast walk around the equipment.

We have a rigorous maintenance program. I have been on the planet a long time and NEVER witnessed a hydraulic line burst, that was NOT ripe for replacement.

Farmers in general are notorious procrastinators, myself excluded not because I read tea leaves better than the next fellow, it is because me and my co-op despise breakdown and failures.

The full charged extinguishers on our equipment are always "charged"

If you can be honest with yourself for a moment, those long hours are the life we chose. Let me know if anyone is forced into involuntary farm labor, and I" 'll call 911 in their behalf.

Show me a tractor/baler/combine fire, and intrensinctly, I"ll show you a woefully substandard maintenance agenda, and/or careless operation ignoring the warning signs of unanticipated combustion.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I realize that most owners of Kubota's on here don't use their tractors for farming but Kubota does sell tractors for ag related operations and Kubota is pushing that market pretty aggressively. I have 2. They will never mow lawns or till gardens. Not what they are for.

They do make good snow removal tools however.

 

[Talenel]

An interesting article from the Univ. Of Minnesota extension service. Cleanliness, maintenance and eliminate any heat source.

http://nasdonline.org/1494/d001294/combine-and-tractor-fires-a-burning-problem.html

The idea you run (or did run) 10-12 hour days in "dust, dry hay, chaff, corn leaves blowing..." is part of the maintenance to prevent the build up of material to cause a fire. It's required to stop to do the maintenance as needed, not only at the end of the work day.

I work in the 'maintenance' field (no pun intended).


I always like when you buy a piece of equipment that has a 100% duty cycle (made to run 24/7/365) manual has a weekly/monthly/yearly etc maintenance schedule, BUT if you call a tech in for something they tell you that you need to shut down every 8 hours and do 3-4 hours worth of maintenance or they wont warranty anything.


You can't pay off a 600k machine being down 1/3 of the time and I certainly don't have the time to do that every day.


We have a 40 MILLION dollar machine that they tell us not to even turn on because it would be more cost effective...

Tractors are no different, if you can't build something for it's purpose GTFO of the business....

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Your responses are both arrogant and stupidity combined.

I personally thought they were insightful and well stated!

Come on, lighten Up, It was a joke!
It was flippant comments on why "so many" "Roasted Kubotas".

In this post you are degrading all hard working farmers that keep food on your table.

My entire past and present family either farms, farmed or ranched, as did I, before my father sold the ranch.

They would all agree and laugh at what I wrote.

Farming and Ranching, are the hardest occupations on the planet and sometimes the most thankless.

I personally have a huge respect for anyone that does it, but still think they are crazy! They work way too many hours and get paid way too little.

 

[D2Cat]

I keep an infrared thermometer on my tractor when I'm cutting and baling hay. I always stop after about two rounds to measure the temp at all the bearings and the gear boxes. Then every once in a while I randomly stop and measure again. It provides a level of sanity for me, out working by myself, by knowing the equipment is operating in a reasonable temperature and I get to stretch my legs.

 

[D2Cat]

I work in the 'maintenance' field (no pun intended).


I always like when you buy a piece of equipment that has a 100% duty cycle (made to run 24/7/365) manual has a weekly/monthly/yearly etc maintenance schedule, BUT if you call a tech in for something they tell you that you need to shut down every 8 hours and do 3-4 hours worth of maintenance or they wont warranty anything.


You can't pay off a 600k machine being down 1/3 of the time and I certainly don't have the time to do that every day.


We have a 40 MILLION dollar machine that they tell us not to even turn on because it would be more cost effective...

Tractors are no different, if you can't build something for it's purpose GTFO of the business....

Talenal, not sure what you're trying to tell me. You have a 40 million dollar machine you don't turn on? Why did you purchase it? You have a 600k machine you can't pay for because it takes too much time to maintain....

I'm not aware of any tractor manufacture that says their product has a 100% duty cycle. And I don't build tractors, so I can't get out of a business I'm not in!

Might rephrase your thoughts so they make sense.

 

[mickeyd]

I'm not aware of any tractor manufacture that says their product has a 100% duty cycle.

I always ignored companies that even promise a 99% up-time. While in the military I was surprised at all the companies that promised a 99% up-time to win a contract and NONE of them ever made it. When you tried to call them on it they always had some reason why it wasn't them.

My favorite was Ma Bell back when they owned everything. We had to have lines that were extremely stable as we pushed so much data across them.
Whenever a line dropped even 5% it would cause our repeaters to drop off. When ever we called AT&T and told them we needed a line "conditioned" they would say that they would investigate it. We would wait about 15 minutes and the line would clear up and about 5 minutes later AT&T would call back and stated that it was working fine when they tested it. Of course they would immediately "condition" the line and wait for it to clear before running their test. That way they had proof that it worked and never had to pay a penalty.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I personally thought they were insightful and well stated!

Come on, lighten Up, It was a joke!
It was flippant comments on why "so many" "Roasted Kubotas".



My entire past and present family either farms, farmed or ranched, as did I, before my father sold the ranch.

They would all agree and laugh at what I wrote.

Farming and Ranching, are the hardest occupations on the planet and sometimes the most thankless.

I personally have a huge respect for anyone that does it, but still think they are crazy! They work way too many hours and get paid way too little.

Actually, in my case that only slightly applies. My main farm income comes from commercial forage and I price my per bale cost factoring in equipment, upkeep and profit and I keep a nice profit margin every year. My margin is usually 20% per cut.

One thing I did was divest myself from haying my own property a few years back. The only thing my owned hay ground is for, is feeding my wife's nags and my cattle.

All the rest of the forage is sold and it's all on land owned by others. All I do is maintain that cropland and harvest it and all inputs are divided equally as is the profits gleaned from the hay. Only having one established customer and not having to deal with 'horsey' people eliminates the grief too. My one customer is good as gold for payment which I do at the end of the year.

Took me a while to develop that relationship but it's made life immeasurably easier for me. No more whining, no more 'they hay isn't what I want', no more 'I'll pay you next week because I don't have it now...and then I have to get nasty to get my payment'. All gone and not too soon actually. I was pretty fed up with excuses and was considering getting out of the business entirely.

Just had a conversation with my customer a few days ago. I told him I picked up another 10-15 acres and asked him if he wanted it all. His reply was certainly. We do everything on a handshake like good country people do.

I like getting paid at the year's end. Makes keeping track of everything much easier and that big check is always nice at the holidays too.

 

[majorwager]

Tanelal,

Your situation appears a bit convoluted, even bizarre. But this is a tractor website, hence the focus.

D2Cat posted a logical well positioned message concerning Tractors.

I'm not aware of any machinery that is exempt from scheduled service. It is a reasonable expectation @ time of purchase. Members do NOT dwell on any point that suggests their maintenance costs and time are unreasonable.

You appear frustrated over a situation unrelated to this website.

It is unfair, make that irresponsible, to draw a correlation to Kubota built products. D2Cat should NOT be the target of your anxiety.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I keep an infrared thermometer on my tractor when I'm cutting and baling hay. I always stop after about two rounds to measure the temp at all the bearings and the gear boxes. Then every once in a while I randomly stop and measure again. It provides a level of sanity for me, out working by myself, by knowing the equipment is operating in a reasonable temperature and I get to stretch my legs.

In retrospect that might have saved my round baler and I have an IR thermometer in the shop. never thought much about carrying it in the tractor, but I will this season. Thanks for the tip, much appreciated. Will reside next to the fire extinguisher and my Mag-Light.

On the subject of 100% duty cycle. Everything mechanical requires periodic service, so 100% duty cycle is a myth. You have to discontinue use at some point or the machine or whatever will fail.

Not even humans are 100% duty cycle....lol

 

[hagrid]

These fires are directly attributable to the use of tapered roller bearings in the front axle final drive.

I will be installing ball bearings in my front axle and sleep the sleep of the saved and thankful.