Kubota L48 loud. Quieter muffler options?

[914Farm]

I have a 2000 Kubota L48 with 1300 hours on it. As I get older I am more noise sensitive. Although I wear ear protection it seems like my tractor is so loud! My muffler appears to be intact but I am thinking of cutting open to see if it has fiberglass packing that needs to be replaced or if I can put in more baffles. I’ve also thought of using a quiet automotive muffler as well. Anyone here have any experience dealing with this type of issue?

 

[seville009]

Maybe change whatever you are using for hearing protection first; might be quicker and cheaper.

I use a padded headset (like headphones) that cover both ears in full - works very well for me on all of my equipment. It would probably work even better if I got newer ones with thicker padding, but these work well for me.

Just a thought….

 

[Peter 315]

I don't think it has a fiberglass packing.. But a new muffler is about 250.00..

 

[Texasmark]

Before you start adding baffles and such, you need to find out what the exhaust requirements are for your tractor. I accidentally bought an IH muffler for a Ford tractor. You couldn't see through the IH but you could the Ford. The tractor wouldn't run with the IH and I had to go the expense of buying another muffler....the Ford model.

 

[ultrarunner]

The Deere M has a straight stack… I can’t stand it but my nephew loves it… talk about LOUD

My understanding is OEM costs more but worth it…

Lots of options for hearing protection and don’t skimp!

 

[sd455dan]

Before you start adding baffles and such, you need to find out what the exhaust requirements are for your tractor. I accidentally bought an IH muffler for a Ford tractor. You couldn't see through the IH but you could the Ford. The tractor wouldn't run with the IH and I had to go the expense of buying another muffler....the Ford model.

I had the loudness problem with the Ford backhoe and the round muffler was just to loud.
Read where some guys buy the larger Oval one for the 6710 and some others and it made a Big difference. Besides being quieter in general it also took a lot of the pop out of the exhaust note.

 

[CliffordK]

The Deere M has a straight stack… I can’t stand it but my nephew loves it… talk about LOUD

Somebody put a cylinder glass pack on my John Deere 440ic. Talk about obnoxiously loud. I need to find something that will work better on it, but that one has bigger issues to deal with first.

On the other hand, my Caterpillar 977K is a much bigger machine and appears to have a straight stack, and is reasonably tolerable (with a cab that isn't air tight). Perhaps the turbo reduces the noise a bit (if the thing even works).

Anyway, if the tractor has a through hood pipe and a muffler above the hood, there is likely a quite a variety of possibilities. On the other hand, if the muffler is somewhere under the hood, or under the tractor, that may limit the options quite a bit more.

Perhaps the OP could get some good photos of his configuration on the Kubota L48, but I presume the selection of mufflers is quite limited.

 

[rScotty]

I have a 2000 Kubota L48 with 1300 hours on it. As I get older I am more noise sensitive. Although I wear ear protection it seems like my tractor is so loud! My muffler appears to be intact but I am thinking of cutting open to see if it has fiberglass packing that needs to be replaced or if I can put in more baffles. I’ve also thought of using a quiet automotive muffler as well. Anyone here have any experience dealing with this type of issue?

Your L48 is the same basic engine as our M59, but since the L48 doesn't have any emissions or computer or turbo there are lots of options open to you that don't apply to newer emissions style tractors. That's another advantage to the old ones.

The L48 beng an old style diesel, my opinion is that to do this in the best way, you could first add an basic automotive aftermarket exhaust manifold temperature gauge - and after that are free to try any configuration of exhaust pipe and muffler you want. Run the exhaust to the rear, or upright, and into/out of any muffler you want to try If the exhaust manifold temperature stays roughly the same as stock, you are good to give it a go. The engine will be fine.

BTW, I just last year went through a muffler change on our old JD. Modern replacements (Steiner) are a good fit and value, but are lighter construction than the OEM. The new lighter-wall construction means it looks identical, but passes noticibly more sound and particularly high frequency sound out to the operator - and the HF sound range is where older hearing is particularly vulnerable to damage.

So one thing you can consider would be that there is an advantage to a larger & heavier muffler. I see no reason why an older automotive type would not work perfectly well. You could mount it somewhere convenient and extend the pipe. Careful of the heat....

To muffle the JD for our older ears, we ended up using almost the same JD muffler - but went to one for the next larger displacement engine. It was close enough to look and fit fairly well so we adjusted the mounts to fit. The larger muffler lowered the frequency and reduced the amplitude.
For your L48, you might look at the Kubota M5700 to M9000 series and see if one of those will fit.

40+ years ago we converted the side exhaust on our chore tractor to a vertical stack. That worked very well. We mounted a larger muffler down low, and added an elbow with a tall exhaust pipe & rain cap. Made the upright in two sections that slid together so that hitting something like a tree limb would only knock off the top. A vertical stack is so much nicer I'm tempted to convert the M59.

rScotty



=

 

[ultrarunner]

For some models Steiner sometimes had options on mufflers such as a standard stock and a premium for the same application.

I'm a big fan of under rear exhaust making my old Jubilee a real please to operate...

Least favorite is the vertical exhaust in front of operator for 3 reasons... exhaust gas, sound and more vulnerable to tree limbs.

I realized each style has good and not so good attributes.

 

[CliffordK]

Least favorite is the vertical exhaust in front of operator for 3 reasons... exhaust gas, sound and more vulnerable to tree limbs.

I realized each style has good and not so good attributes.

I live in a place with significant fire risk in the summer. The government is getting rather picky about off road vehicles during fire season. I fudge it a bit with the tractor, but definitely don't want an under tractor exhaust. Mine has an elbow at the top of the stack. For some reason it likes to twist to blow at me, so I try to remember to twist it any other direction.

 

[ultrarunner]

True enough regarding tinder dry conditions.

I resign myself to wearing hearing protection and my respirator doing open cab field work...

The only exception is the Jubilee... with the rear tail pipe it's not only quieter but also no exhaust to breath...

I live in a place with significant fire risk in the summer. The government is getting rather picky about off road vehicles during fire season. I fudge it a bit with the tractor, but definitely don't want an under tractor exhaust. Mine has an elbow at the top of the stack. For some reason it likes to twist to blow at me, so I try to remember to twist it any other direction.

 

[Carl_NH]

With the side exhaust try get a muffler wrap kit with clamps and high temp muffler tape as a first step.

Then add under hood adhesive foil - cut and attach under the hood will quiet it down too. Changing the muffler would be the last thing - these insulation fixes will be less than $50.

 

[rScotty]

I live in a place with significant fire risk in the summer. The government is getting rather picky about off road vehicles during fire season. I fudge it a bit with the tractor, but definitely don't want an under tractor exhaust. Mine has an elbow at the top of the stack. For some reason it likes to twist to blow at me, so I try to remember to twist it any other direction.

Seems like there is more fire risk now. Wetter springs, dryer summers, and old tractor exhausts ran hot, but they were not nearly so hot as the modern catalytic and regen ones.
It's a simple problem that owners and designers can solve without involving the government.
rScotty

 

[ericm979]

On the other hand, my Caterpillar 977K is a much bigger machine and appears to have a straight stack, and is reasonably tolerable (with a cab that isn't air tight). Perhaps the turbo reduces the noise a bit (if the thing even works).

Turbos do a lot to reduce noise. Basically they're taking energy out of the exhaust.

The OP should look for a larger non performance car muffler that will fit on his Kubota. Most cars run in the 2000-3000 rpm range most of the time so a car muffler should be tuned to reduce those frequencies. A tractor muffler is likely tuned for lower rpms and would be preferable but they're harder to find.

The larger a muffler is, the better it can attenuate sound. So put in the largest one that will fit. You may need additional brackets to hold it.

If you can get the tractor to an exhaust shop they should be able to make a new exhaust with a new muffler.

 

[Fallon]

Seems like there is more fire risk now. Wetter springs, dryer summers, and old tractor exhausts ran hot, but they were not nearly so hot as the modern catalytic and regen ones.
It's a simple problem that owners and designers can solve without involving the government.
rScotty

The higher the combustion temps, the more efficient the engine. So as materials & engineering support it upping temps is a no brainier. The main downside is NOX. You get more oxides of nitrogen created at higher temps. And NOX is one of the main smog & greenhouse gasses. Then you get regulations resulting in DEF systems to get rid of the NOX.

 

[JONNY BOYYYE]

I have a 2000 Kubota L48 with 1300 hours on it. As I get older I am more noise sensitive. Although I wear ear protection it seems like my tractor is so loud! My muffler appears to be intact but I am thinking of cutting open to see if it has fiberglass packing that needs to be replaced or if I can put in more baffles. I’ve also thought of using a quiet automotive muffler as well. Anyone here have any experience dealing with this type of issue?

IF YOU SCREW AROUND WITH CHANGING MUFFLERS IN ANY WAY,YOU MIGHT CHANGE THE BACK PRESSURE ON THE MOTOR WHICH COULD RUIN IT AND VOID THE WARRANTY---CHECK WITH THE DEALER FIRST--THERE MAY BE A RECALL OR A BETTER MUFFLER TO BUY THAT WOULD WORK

 

[Eagle1]

IF YOU SCREW AROUND WITH CHANGING MUFFLERS IN ANY WAY,YOU MIGHT CHANGE THE BACK PRESSURE ON THE MOTOR WHICH COULD RUIN IT AND VOID THE WARRANTY---CHECK WITH THE DEALER FIRST--THERE MAY BE A RECALL OR A BETTER MUFFLER TO BUY THAT WOULD WORK

Really doubt a 23 year old tractor of a model that was discontinued 14 years ago is under warranty.

 

[Peter 315]

Really doubt a 23 year old tractor of a model that was discontinued 14 years ago is under warranty.

Well maybe he got the extra e x t e n d e d warranty...LOL

 

[m5040]

Really doubt a 23 year old tractor of a model that was discontinued 14 years ago is under warranty.

The owner is his own warranty station, I think the guy was just looking out for him and if he adds too much back pressure it could damage the perfectly good engine, and then it would be very quite.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Simplest...and cheapest...solution is better ear protection. Do the research on the decibel level.