Confessions of Kubota Owners

[NorthwoodsLife]

So, I'll start.

Open station verses a Cab: In my life I've operated both. They trully are different machines.

Open station is a tractor in it's true element with nature.

A cab is a comfortable small home on a tractor.

Now, I prefer a cab, everytime. Especially now that I'm old. But a backhoe on an open station is excellent too.

FORKS: Gotta have them. Saved me several times it's cost in shipping and delivery fees.

That being said :
Please pray for the USA, and whatever nation that you live in. For Justice, Honor, and respect for the Lord God.

 

[edritchey]

Field work you need a cab and if you're doing a lot of road work a cab is nice but there are times where cabs just don't fit into the work area then open station machines are your only choice.

 

[Bmyers]

I'm another that supports a cab. My sinuses no longer like the dust and pollen. The can allows me to accomplish so much more that I would have to cut short. Even with the cab, certain times of the year still makes it uncomfortable being outside. I think that is one of the reasons I like the winter months so much, I don't have to deal with the sinus issues.

As far as attachments, my grapple is the attachment of choice. Yet as it is well known, each attachment has its place.

I'm not sure that my post was much of confession, just stating some facts that I have realized.

 

[will721]

I went open station because I knew I would be putting my machine in places it didn't belong. 6 out of the 7 days of the week I wish I had bought a cab. But on that 7th day when I'm doing work where it would be detrimental or outright impossible to fit a cab, I know I made the correct choice.

For confessions, ballast is the most important factor in loader work. Everyone says it, including myself. I think alot of people think they understand it but it really can't be stressed enough even on flat ground. Prime example was me yesterday moving engines around on flat ground. One soft spot was all it took to tilt a tire off the ground. Clearly an investment in more ballast needs to be made.

 

[fried1765]

I went open station because I knew I would be putting my machine in places it didn't belong. 6 out of the 7 days of the week I wish I had bought a cab. But on that 7th day when I'm doing work where it would be detrimental or outright impossible to fit a cab, I know I made the correct choice.

For confessions, ballast is the most important factor in loader work. Everyone says it, including myself. I think alot of people think they understand it but it really can't be stressed enough even on flat ground. Prime example was me yesterday moving engines around on flat ground. One soft spot was all it took to tilt a tire off the ground. Clearly an investment in more ballast needs to be made.

A Backhoe is wonderful ballast!

 

[GeoHorn]

A box blade or shredder also makes good ballast. I‘m “OK” with an Open Station because:

1-That’s all I knew (my previous was a 9N Ford)
2-My Kubota is used primarily for mowing long, straight grassland (airplane runways)
3-I was on a budget and therefore buying used and found a low-hour 20 yr old M (50 h.p. utility) that
is mostly all I need…but has a heavy-duty loader for bucket and fork useage.
4- I live down in central Tx where cold/snow is virtually never and hot/summer is common (and can be treated with cold beverages and a hat…or mowing can be done at night.). Also, a canopy does a good job.
5-It’s also a geared-trans tractor which is fine since mowing is the primary use and back/forth loader-work is either short-term or exceedingly rare. (If I’m doing loader-work …it‘s usually just carrying something from one place to another…. almost no landscaping.)

 

[mcmxi]

Open station is a tractor in it's true element with nature.

I had a BX25 for five years and an MX6000 for about 14 months, both open station, and I agree that there's something special about being on an open station tractor. You feel much more connected to what's around, sort of like driving my Jeep without the hard top or soft tops on.

I never did much in the way of mowing with the BX25 because it was uncomfortable to say the least. I'd cut a couple of acres a few times a year and it was slow and brutal. When I upgraded to the MX6000 with its significantly better ride and more comfortable seat along with a 7ft rotary cutter, I began to do a lot more mowing/mulching and the dust became a big deal. Sitting on a tractor for 5 hours in the heat and dust wearing a dust mask, goggles and hearing protection is no fun. What I've found with cabbed tractors is that I use them way more because environmental factors are negated. -20F to 100F, rain, wind, dust, snow, it doesn't matter any more. On a nice cool, dust-free day I'll open the windows and get fresh air in the cab and feel like I'm outdoors again. I don't have to deal with low hanging branches so a cab is the way to go for me.

There's a lot that one can do with forks, a bucket and a grapple. I went the liquid ballast and wheel weights route for optimal stability but still plan on cobbling together some sort of rear ballast rack to hold the 1,000lb+ of suitcase weights, both for storage and for additional rear weight when needed.

 

[ve9aa]

Would I prefer a cab? Sure!

Can I afford a cab add-on? Meh...sorta but I see it as a luxury item for a BX.

Even if I was GIVEN a cab, chances are it wouldn't fit in the garage door (lower than usual--long story--no it's not really practical to make it higher----don't give me all the advice--I'm no longer listening....haha)

60-70% useage is snowblowing. It's usually an hour job, so I just dress for it.

Also, I cab wouldn't fit here and there on my property so I am at peace with an open station.

 

[06B3030]

CONFESSIONS...lately I've been fondling the tractor more than my wife!!!!

 

[hagrid]

GOBBLESS!!

 

[bird dogger]

I like having the best of both worlds. Cabless tractor in the spring/summer months for all the reasons stated above!!

In the late fall I install my homemade cab with heater for the winter months of snowblowing etc. Again, for all the reasons stated above!!

It doesn't take too much to fab up an enclosure for your tractor to keep yourself out of the elements when needed. It can be anything from a simple "fabric over framework" to an elaborate "castle with glass windows".

But anything that keeps the frozen wind and snow out of your face is well worth the effort.

 

[fried1765]

I like having the best of both worlds. Cabless tractor in the spring/summer months for all the reasons stated above!!

In the late fall I install my homemade cab with heater for the winter months of snowblowing etc. Again, for all the reasons stated above!!

It doesn't take too much to fab up an enclosure for your tractor to keep yourself out of the elements when needed. It can be anything from a simple "fabric over framework" to an elaborate "castle with glass windows".

But anything that keeps the frozen wind and snow out of your face is well worth the effort.

Florida,..... is a better solution, to "the frozen wind and snow"

 

[jyoutz]

I would no doubt enjoy a cab, but at the time I bought my MX6000, there was supply chain shortages and finding any tractor was hard. After putting my wish list in to 5 dealers, one called me and said they had a tractor that had been ordered, but that person declined to buy. I jumped on it. I do agree that mowing during dry periods isn’t fun on an open station, so I try to cut the native grass after a rain. Snow removal would be better with a cab, but my insulated coveralls, boots, and ski mask works for me. For all other uses, I prefer an open station. Truthfully, I probably would have broken cab glass when mowing around trees, so the open station is better for my uses.

 

[NCL4701]

There have been many times I’ve thought I should have gone up a size or two and gotten a cab. Then I get into one of those tight areas on the woods that is fit only for an open station not one inch in any direction big enough for any thing larger and I’m reminded exactly why I chose what I chose. Ideally, I’d have a open station smaller L for tight spaces and mowing fields plus a small dozer for heavy woodland chores but storage space and budget led to the compromise of the biggest little tractor I could get. Every time I think I should have gone with a cab, a brief review of the tree limb scars on the ROPs reminds me why a cab would have been a disaster. I also sometimes regret not getting the backhoe but thinking about it recently, I could think of only three times I really “needed” it and two of those times the loader made due, despite not holding a candle to what it would have been with a hoe. Moving from a beat to death 9N and a Farmall with a trip bucket loader, after 400 hours on the L, I still feel almost guilty running a modern tractor with top/tilt, third function, a real loader, grapple, forks, and near 40hp on the PTO.

Just this past weekend we had two dead, rotten trees blocking trails and one hit hard enough to do a little damage to the trail with a good dent put in it. Before the L it would have taken at least an hour, maybe more, to clear them by hand with a chainsaw. With the L, I had to make two cuts on one of them to grapple a section out of the path, then fix the dent with the boxblade making adjustments by fiddling with the hydraulic controls. Less than 10 minutes start to finish including the sawing. The other one, just bulldoze broke it with the grapple and clear in less than a minute. So yeah, sometimes I still feel a little spoiled even on my open station CUT.

 

[Bearcatrp]

I keep thinking about a cab but I like having a option to bail off if crap happens. I don't were a seat belt so I can bail quick.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Confession:

I am the victim of multiple open (cab)relationships.

But to B honest, when I am working the B hard, I am usually thinking about MX.

And when I am using a shovel, I am dreaming about my backho.

 

[ken erickson]

I confess to not being able to stop with owning one Kubota and added a second. As they do not share the same space I try to divide my time equally between the two as to keep things running proper and smoothly.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

I confess to not being able to stop with owning one Kubota and added a second. As they do not share the same space I try to divide my time equally between the two as to keep things running proper and smoothly.

I confess.. That's my dream- plan.

I hope to get a M62 TLB in a year or so. If I do, I'm afraid that snow season and brush hogging will be the only time I'll spend time with my current LX-cab dude.

I just have to find a way to afford it.

 

[jimh406]

I couldn't justify buying a MX or Grand L for the few things I do, so no cab for me. I feel an LX is too light for a cab. However, my Polaris Ranger has a full soft cab.

There have been a few times a cab would have been nice, but we are blessed with a lot of sunny days. Rain isn't an issue, and it's dry here so I barely use my rotary cutter and find my Swisher pull behind rough cutter works well behind my Polaris Ranger on uneven slopes and hills.

I usually snow plow with my Polaris Ranger, but occasionally move snow with my bucket or blade. For those times, I just wait until it stops snowing and wear enough clothes. Frankly, the L2501 engine puts off a lot of heat which you feel when it isn't windy.

I also went with the L2501 because it is enough tractor for me and enough HP, and I got to skip having a DPF/DEF. Sometimes, I have to drive slower, but that's ok.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

GOBBLESS!!

You'll find Gob.