B3350 DPF Bypass

[MadMax31]

There are a few guys writing tunes. Mostly larger M style machines. Once warranty is up, nobody cares what you do to YOUR machine. However, the B ECU is being "cracked", I know a guy who owns the hardware to "talk" to those things. He bypassed the emission shit on an articulated tractor that kept puking turbos until warranty was up and he plugged in. Hes not on the interwebs, doesn't advertise and doesn't actively look to fool with a machines ECU, but he sure does with his own Camaro, Mud Truck etc....

Until the EPA/DEC physically walks on someone's property and lifts a hood to visually check for the presence of emissions, nobody is getting in any real trouble. Here in NY, if you delete anything on your personal diesel truck, you wont pass emissions. No sticker=equals no taking it home. Most pay for a blind-eye hookup and ECU says all is well, and they get their sticker. Those "blind eye" guys are dwindling as job loss isnt worth somebody's sticker.

I personally have a conundrum, as I am actually purchasing a tractor this Spring. The DPF has been a massive turn off for me. I like to lug machine ( mow at 2000, loader at 1800 ) and idle while I work off machine. I dont like beating up starting components by starting a machine a dozen times a day. I have no intention of ever messing with a DPF can, nor bypassing it. I avg 50-75 hrs a year, so compared to alot of people, I barely use it. I would go Postal if the one day of the week I have to plow snow and it acts up.

I want a cab, %90 of cab machines wont fit in my 7' door. If I cant keep it in garage, Im going big. Big equals DPF in a new machine. Used finance rates kinda suck... I waited to long to get into the compact tractor game....

 

[lugbolt]

After I quit the dealer, I briefly went to work in the oil field. Got to meet a lot of interesting people. Most of my "work friends" drove newer diesel trucks. One in particular was a '13 F250 6.7L PSD. Yep DFP delete which means full exhaust system. Also was tuned. It ran awesome and wasn't real loud either. Good truck.

One afternoon after work I was on my way home and passed him, pulled over on the side of the road by a highway policeman. They'll stop you just as quickly as any other cop, BTW (and I've been stopped for a cracked window by the highway police). I was off for a week, and got back to work. Found out that he was stopped for a "non-stock" exhaust (4" exhaust, and the factory exhaust is a twin "intercooled" setup). Fine was $15,000 + court costs, plus a good talking to by the judge at the courthouse and there was no wiggle room. She was pretty stern I hear. And I know of one company who works on compressors that had a whole fleet of 08-09 F250's and all were "deleted" right after they bought them for the fuel mileage improvements. They got wind of the deal with the guy I knew, and they sold every truck to avoid any potential fines involved with being caught, since they ran the same roads in the same areas.

I've heard of a few others who've been aggravated as well. So don't say "nobody cares". It IS fiddling with FEDERAL emissions laws, which were passed by originally the clinton administration, then signed into law by the bush administration, if I remember correctly.

You wanna mess with it, be aware that you take on the responsibility-and the gamble-of breaking the law. After your 2 year warranty is up, Kubota won't mess with you..but the dealer will if you need to take your tractor in for whatever reason. The dealers are all instructed to NOT work on "tuned" tractors, so you'll have to find a shade-tree, or do it yourself whichever you choose.

The DPF is no big deal. People keep reading the horror stories online about the diesel trucks. It's all a bunch of internet hearsay and the only time people post anything online is when they have a problem; rarely do you see posts about "I love my DPF tractor and I've had no problems with it". The newer stuff has FAR fewer problems. Even the B3350. We sold about a dozen and never once had one in for anything but factory-directed-modification to the ECU which improves reliability. If you don't want a DPF, you're looking at 24.9 hp or less, and there IS an L series that has no DPF. Only one. L2501, very popular tractor. That, or find yourself a good USED tractor that is a few years old with low hours. Every manufacturer is required to meet the same standards, JD, Mahindra, Kubota, Massey-Ferguson, LS, New Holland (which is basically LS), every one of them. Canadians may have different standards, but it's also illegal to import a canadian tractor into the US, and Kubota won't help you if you do. Neither will the dealers. In all honesty, out of all the DPF tractors we sold when I was at the dealer, every one of the tractor owners I had asked how they like their tractors, they all said basically the same thing. Once they got their mind set tuned to forgetting about the DPF, it became a non-issue.

If you're bush hogging or mowing, the DPF will regen and you'll never even know it. It operates seamlessly. But you have to keep the RPM up. Lugging the engine will destroy it quicker than running full throttle or near full throttle. Why? Diesel engine does not have fuel going through the intake tract. Air only. On a gas engine, gasoline is going through the intake valve and intake port on the intake stroke. That fuel helps to cool the piston tops. With a diesel, it relies on air to cool the piston tops. Thus, with lower RPM and lugging the engine, you have less air flow, and less piston cooling. With a dirty air filter, combined with lugging, I've seen guys burn pistons and/or break rings. Lugging it will also cause a regen to happen more often because the DPF will get dirtier faster and won't have enough heat in it to turn the soot into ash. Those guys who lug them HATE the DPF, but those same people, once they learn how to properly use the tractor, their issue disappeared.

 

[rkidd]

Lugbolt. Well said on how to operate a diesel engine whether it has DPF or not. Alot of people sure dont understand that! Well done!!

 

[tempforce]

glad that most people are having no issues with the canned exhaust tractors. my new B3350HSDC i bought last january, had nothing but problems. 12 service visits within 5 months. and it was ran at full throttle unless i was getting ready to shut it down. (letting the turbo spin down, before turning the engine off).

 

[OldeEnglish]

Your putting more stress on your machine or the one your buying by running it at lower RPMs. Equipment is designed to run at high RPM's whether it be a kubota or a CAT pay loader. Mowing at less than required PTO speed is dumb, so is over stressing a hydraulic pump because your not giving it the RPMs it's designed to run at to lift a bucket of snow or dirt. You can't red line a kubota and blow the motor, they are designed to run at high rpms. It's pretty straight forward.

As far as this DPF saga, I have no doubts there is someone out there like the guy in the classifieds that can reprogram the computer. What happens to the rest of the junk the exhaust runs through? That's my question....

There are a few guys writing tunes. Mostly larger M style machines. Once warranty is up, nobody cares what you do to YOUR machine. However, the B ECU is being "cracked", I know a guy who owns the hardware to "talk" to those things. He bypassed the emission shit on an articulated tractor that kept puking turbos until warranty was up and he plugged in. Hes not on the interwebs, doesn't advertise and doesn't actively look to fool with a machines ECU, but he sure does with his own Camaro, Mud Truck etc....

Until the EPA/DEC physically walks on someone's property and lifts a hood to visually check for the presence of emissions, nobody is getting in any real trouble. Here in NY, if you delete anything on your personal diesel truck, you wont pass emissions. No sticker=equals no taking it home. Most pay for a blind-eye hookup and ECU says all is well, and they get their sticker. Those "blind eye" guys are dwindling as job loss isnt worth somebody's sticker.

I personally have a conundrum, as I am actually purchasing a tractor this Spring. The DPF has been a massive turn off for me. I like to lug machine ( mow at 2000, loader at 1800 ) and idle while I work off machine. I dont like beating up starting components by starting a machine a dozen times a day. I have no intention of ever messing with a DPF can, nor bypassing it. I avg 50-75 hrs a year, so compared to alot of people, I barely use it. I would go Postal if the one day of the week I have to plow snow and it acts up.

I want a cab, %90 of cab machines wont fit in my 7' door. If I cant keep it in garage, Im going big. Big equals DPF in a new machine. Used finance rates kinda suck... I waited to long to get into the compact tractor game....

 

[Dieselbob]

I have just two things to add to all of this. I'm run the parts department for a fleet of about 250 class 7 and class 8 trucks, and it's a small wonder that DPF and EGR issues haven't bankrupted our company. It's a CONSTANT battle to keep this stuff working day to day, and the maintenance that we pull to TRY to keep it going is expensive too. We replace NOX sensors ($450 each, two per truck) ) and differential pressure sensors by the handful, not to mention EGR valves, accordian pipes, and 7th injectors. I don't know a thing about the Kubota system, but the REAL test for these tractors won't be now, it will be 3, 5 7, 10 years down the road, and then you had better PRAY they figured it out better than Cummins, Detroit, Navistar and Mack/Volvo have. The other thing is, if they want us to run these things at full throttle, then they damn well should put better mufflers on them. There is NOTHING I hate worse than to hear an engine scream all day, especially when it's not even working hard, and I used to be a race car mechanic for cripes sake! This fall when I was moving 100s of tons of fill dirt, I used an MP3 player and full cover noise canceling headphones just so I wouldn't have to hear that little BX roaring like a freight train hour after hour. .

 

[tomjones2266]

Well I sure hope all of those positive commenters have the b3350. I got one of the first put on the market. Kubota spent more money on trying to fix mine than if they had given me my money back and a new tractor. It is in the shop again so they have not figured out a fix yet. Do not buy a b3350. Go with a different brand tractor or a used one that does not have the emminsions on it.

 

[SDT]

Well I sure hope all of those positive commenters have the b3350. I got one of the first put on the market. Kubota spent more money on trying to fix mine than if they had given me my money back and a new tractor. It is in the shop again so they have not figured out a fix yet. Do not buy a b3350. Go with a different brand tractor or a used one that does not have the emminsions on it.

The B3350 has been replaced with the new, common rail injected (no reformer) LX3310, though 3350s are still being sold for the time being with a $2,000 incentive.

SDT

 

[i7win7]

Do you realize your replying to a 3-4 year old thread started Dec 2016

 

[vanquisher]

Do you realize your replying to a 3-4 year old thread started Dec 2016

I think SDT was replying to the comment on Sunday. Also If the topic is relevant why not continue the same thread?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

emulator is ILLEGAL to use and VOIDS Kubota warranty

 

[Jared 756]

I know of several B3350's that have been "deleted" successfully and been running great ever since, unless you do this i'm not sure i would recommend the B3350's

 

[SDT]

I know of several B3350's that have been "deleted" successfully and been running great ever since, unless you do this i'm not sure i would recommend the B3350's

How would one do that?

SDT

 

[Jared 756]

How would one do that?

SDT

Some have drilled holes in the dpf filter and others have removed the filter completely

 

[Bushrat]

I recently bought a B3350 from a neighbor that is moving to the beach. It only has 330 hours. I had my very first experience with the regeneration the other day, and delayed it by pushing the button, only twice. Ran the unit at high RPM for another 30 minutes before I stopped to let it regen. It billowed smoke profusely every few minutes. It did not appear to be burning anything off, just the opposite All in the space of a half hour I got to level 4. I took it to the dealer and their equipment recommends replacement of the DPF unit to the tune of $2200. They told me they are getting a dynomometer to load the tractor and get the DPF hot enough to regen. That figure is not even including any labor. I am the third owner of a tractor with 330 hours and I have to get raped by Kubota on this DPF? No wonder people are looking for a way to get away from it. It belched more particulates during the attempted regen than any tractor I have seen. I will be searching for a long term solution myself based on what I read in the forums. I just don't know enough to trick the sensors to keep it running normally with the DPF removed. I will not be held over a barrel because of fed regs when a manufacturer has put me in a compromised position that can become cost prohibitive. I did nothing wrong, dammit. I see on another part of the forum a link (http://www.agrotronic.pl/en/1548/Kubota_tractors__deactivation_of_EGR_and_DPF_already_possible) for a black box that will deal with the computer stuff, but it appears to come from Poland or something. I'm a little uncomfortable with that, but not as uncomfortable as getting hit with over $3000 a couple months after buying the tractor. I know of no shade tree mechanic I would trust with this mod. Wish I did.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

sadly, Bushrat, the one thing you did 'wrong' was not asking Google 'kubota B3350 dpf problems' BEFORE buying the tractor. It might have taken you an evening to sift through the 1,000s of hits, but it would have helped educating you to potential problems and the cost.
I have to wonder about 'emission warranty' for the DPF system... 330 hrs is nothing , less than 2 years for me, and I 'play' with my BX23S....
Also wondering if it's possible to clean the DPF with some 'chemical' or say heat in oven( NOT the wife's...) for a few hours at xxx temperature ? hmm... gotta ask Google that.....
crazy thing is, 2 years ago there was a TV show on and the guy SHOWED how to 'bypass the damn computer and DPF'....

 

[SDT]

I recently bought a B3350 from a neighbor that is moving to the beach. It only has 330 hours. I had my very first experience with the regeneration the other day, and delayed it by pushing the button, only twice. Ran the unit at high RPM for another 30 minutes before I stopped to let it regen. It billowed smoke profusely every few minutes. It did not appear to be burning anything off, just the opposite All in the space of a half hour I got to level 4. I took it to the dealer and their equipment recommends replacement of the DPF unit to the tune of $2200. They told me they are getting a dynomometer to load the tractor and get the DPF hot enough to regen. That figure is not even including any labor. I am the third owner of a tractor with 330 hours and I have to get raped by Kubota on this DPF? No wonder people are looking for a way to get away from it. It belched more particulates during the attempted regen than any tractor I have seen. I will be searching for a long term solution myself based on what I read in the forums. I just don't know enough to trick the sensors to keep it running normally with the DPF removed. I will not be held over a barrel because of fed regs when a manufacturer has put me in a compromised position that can become cost prohibitive. I did nothing wrong, dammit. I see on another part of the forum a link (http://www.agrotronic.pl/en/1548/Kubota_tractors__deactivation_of_EGR_and_DPF_already_possible) for a black box that will deal with the computer stuff, but it appears to come from Poland or something. I'm a little uncomfortable with that, but not as uncomfortable as getting hit with over $3000 a couple months after buying the tractor. I know of no shade tree mechanic I would trust with this mod. Wish I did.

The emissions system is warranted for 5 years. The reformer (common cause of expensive claims) is now warranted for the life of the tractor and is transferrable.

Operator error is NOT warranted so be VERY careful what you say to your dealer. Read your Operator's Manual very carefully before speaking to your dealer. Dealers and (especially) factory representatives are trained to spot "operator error" issues to deny warranty claims.

What year (original sale date) is your tractor?

SDT

 

[SDT]

Some have drilled holes in the dpf filter and others have removed the filter completely

You actually know folks who have successfully done this?

The DPF used on the B3350 is welded together and cannot be opened to access the filter.

Removal of the DPF without installation of a "black box" will cause the ECM to prohibit operation.

It's not that simple.

SDT

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: Read your Operator's Manual
hahaha..,really , has anyone actually read one.....

it should not be possible for an operator to do anything to the DPF/emissions stuff. The 'computer' should control all the 'critical parameters' and such....,just saying....

 

[SDT]

re: Read your Operator's Manual
hahaha..,really , has anyone actually read one.....

it should not be possible for an operator to do anything to the DPF/emissions stuff. The 'computer' should control all the 'critical parameters' and such....,just saying....

Yes. Multiple times and thoroughly.

This is one of those times when one needs one's ducks in a row before speaking to dealer or Kubota representative. The consequences of not doing so can be expensive.

SDT