I am going to post the letter I sent to Kubota regarding my situation as it explains what happened pretty well and then I would love you guys advice on what to do next.
[Hello, my name is Chris and I just wanted to send a message about my experience. My goal is not to cast blame but simply inform you of my introduction to tractors (first one) and specifically Kubota. My wife and I have started our dream of owning some land that we purchased a few years ago in East Texas. We will be moving out there permanently when our daughter graduates from high school in 4 years. We have 42 acres that we paid someone to clear a driveway and clear about 12-15 acres to use as pasture and home site. We have built a small building so that we can house a tractor and any other toys we buy until we finally build our dream house out there. I had been researching tractors of various brands, horsepower, etc and Kubota consistently came up as one of the top brands for durability and reliability. I ultimately had set my eyes on a m7060 or similar tractor someday when a unique opportunity came up.
Baytown Youth Fair had a tractor raffle. I was surprised to see a tractor of any kind being available in a raffle so I decided to take a chance and put $200 in for two tickets knowing my wife would likely be mad at me for spending it. Ultimately, she couldn’t stay mad because we ended up winning. Total shock. A Kubota L3302 HST with LA 526 Loader, quick attach bucket, RCR1260 brush hog and PFL 3048 pallet forks. We went to the Wowco dealership in Baytown to pick up our new tractor with only 5 hours on it and, after a brief introduction to it, we loaded it onto a trailer (which was my Father’s Day gift from my wife) and took it up to the metal building on the property. When unloading I backed it into the metal building garage and noticed a small puddle of antifreeze on the floor. I was a little concerned so I called a nearby Kubota dealer about it, and they stated sometimes with a new tractor air can get trapped in the lines and it can bubble out and not worry too much about it. The tractor at this time had 5.1 hours. My father and I started using it to brush hog some of the acreage as the weeds were quickly competing against the grass. We started noticing that it would suddenly shut down after about 10 to 15 minutes. No real warnings, no indicator lights, just cut off. We assumed that maybe it was due to the air filter in the front getting clogged by debris so we would let it sit, blow out the filter and after a few minutes of cooling it would start back up only to shut down again. It did this a few times but seemed to be running smoothly when it was running, so being new to tractors we assumed that maybe it was just breaking in. Then at about 12 hours of use with the brush hog my dad said it smelled hot. I checked the fluid levels, and it had oil, had antifreeze/coolant in the reservoir so I couldn’t find any indication of what would be causing the smell. At 15 hours the intervals between the shutdowns started to be more frequent at about 5 minutes apart. My dad and I decided this was concerning enough on a new (to me) tractor that we should have someone look at it. We loaded it up on the trailer and took it to Lowe tractor in Henderson, TX.
They broke it down and found that the motor was shot because it overheated to the point where it scalded the internal parts of the motor. They said it basically looks like something cracked or hit a hose that brings the coolant into the motor (I am no mechanic so I am not even sure how to word this correctly) and that I likely wouldn’t notice the leaking coolant as it was being run across the pasture. I can honestly say I do not know if the tractor we won came with an issue (which was owned previously apparently as it is out of warranty I have since learned), or if by mowing a pasture area we damaged something, but I was shocked to hear this, on a tractor with only 15 hours. Ultimately, I am thankful that we won the raffle because I still only spent 200 dollars and even if we sell only the implements and the tractor itself is sold off, we will came out ahead but it definitely has me questioning the raffled item, Kubota in general, and I will always have a dealer check over a machine before I sit down on it. This was my first foray into owning a tractor and ultimately, I have learned a good bit about their operation and enjoyed the time I was able to use it.]
So my question is, what to do next. Ultimately I learned that a 33hp tractor with a 60 inch brush hog left a lot to be desired in clearing the 12-15 acres we have (42 total but most still trees) so I figure I will eventually get a larger tractor. Should I sell just the loader arms, bucket, brushog (maybe keep the pallet forks for a bigger tractor down the road?)? Sell the whole thing to someone who wants to try to replace the motor themselves? We had insurance on the building and contents but I have no idea what this would look like and how much they would cover if any. Offer it for parts? I mean the thing only had 15 ours on it and it died. I have to think some of the components still have some value. What would you do in this situation? Thanks a bunch for reading (sorry for being long winded on my first post).
[Hello, my name is Chris and I just wanted to send a message about my experience. My goal is not to cast blame but simply inform you of my introduction to tractors (first one) and specifically Kubota. My wife and I have started our dream of owning some land that we purchased a few years ago in East Texas. We will be moving out there permanently when our daughter graduates from high school in 4 years. We have 42 acres that we paid someone to clear a driveway and clear about 12-15 acres to use as pasture and home site. We have built a small building so that we can house a tractor and any other toys we buy until we finally build our dream house out there. I had been researching tractors of various brands, horsepower, etc and Kubota consistently came up as one of the top brands for durability and reliability. I ultimately had set my eyes on a m7060 or similar tractor someday when a unique opportunity came up.
Baytown Youth Fair had a tractor raffle. I was surprised to see a tractor of any kind being available in a raffle so I decided to take a chance and put $200 in for two tickets knowing my wife would likely be mad at me for spending it. Ultimately, she couldn’t stay mad because we ended up winning. Total shock. A Kubota L3302 HST with LA 526 Loader, quick attach bucket, RCR1260 brush hog and PFL 3048 pallet forks. We went to the Wowco dealership in Baytown to pick up our new tractor with only 5 hours on it and, after a brief introduction to it, we loaded it onto a trailer (which was my Father’s Day gift from my wife) and took it up to the metal building on the property. When unloading I backed it into the metal building garage and noticed a small puddle of antifreeze on the floor. I was a little concerned so I called a nearby Kubota dealer about it, and they stated sometimes with a new tractor air can get trapped in the lines and it can bubble out and not worry too much about it. The tractor at this time had 5.1 hours. My father and I started using it to brush hog some of the acreage as the weeds were quickly competing against the grass. We started noticing that it would suddenly shut down after about 10 to 15 minutes. No real warnings, no indicator lights, just cut off. We assumed that maybe it was due to the air filter in the front getting clogged by debris so we would let it sit, blow out the filter and after a few minutes of cooling it would start back up only to shut down again. It did this a few times but seemed to be running smoothly when it was running, so being new to tractors we assumed that maybe it was just breaking in. Then at about 12 hours of use with the brush hog my dad said it smelled hot. I checked the fluid levels, and it had oil, had antifreeze/coolant in the reservoir so I couldn’t find any indication of what would be causing the smell. At 15 hours the intervals between the shutdowns started to be more frequent at about 5 minutes apart. My dad and I decided this was concerning enough on a new (to me) tractor that we should have someone look at it. We loaded it up on the trailer and took it to Lowe tractor in Henderson, TX.
They broke it down and found that the motor was shot because it overheated to the point where it scalded the internal parts of the motor. They said it basically looks like something cracked or hit a hose that brings the coolant into the motor (I am no mechanic so I am not even sure how to word this correctly) and that I likely wouldn’t notice the leaking coolant as it was being run across the pasture. I can honestly say I do not know if the tractor we won came with an issue (which was owned previously apparently as it is out of warranty I have since learned), or if by mowing a pasture area we damaged something, but I was shocked to hear this, on a tractor with only 15 hours. Ultimately, I am thankful that we won the raffle because I still only spent 200 dollars and even if we sell only the implements and the tractor itself is sold off, we will came out ahead but it definitely has me questioning the raffled item, Kubota in general, and I will always have a dealer check over a machine before I sit down on it. This was my first foray into owning a tractor and ultimately, I have learned a good bit about their operation and enjoyed the time I was able to use it.]
So my question is, what to do next. Ultimately I learned that a 33hp tractor with a 60 inch brush hog left a lot to be desired in clearing the 12-15 acres we have (42 total but most still trees) so I figure I will eventually get a larger tractor. Should I sell just the loader arms, bucket, brushog (maybe keep the pallet forks for a bigger tractor down the road?)? Sell the whole thing to someone who wants to try to replace the motor themselves? We had insurance on the building and contents but I have no idea what this would look like and how much they would cover if any. Offer it for parts? I mean the thing only had 15 ours on it and it died. I have to think some of the components still have some value. What would you do in this situation? Thanks a bunch for reading (sorry for being long winded on my first post).
