Just bought a F3060!

[Steelsoldiers]

I just, priced a 2 foot length of solid core Delrin, 25 bucks delivered from McMaster Carr. Maybe I should go in the wheel business. 135 bucks is highway robbery. Far as the axles go, the issue is, they are square on one end to interface with the square hole in the inboard side of the wheel hanger so I'd have to start with square stock and turn the remainder to the correct diameter. I have the stock on hand, I don't have the Delrin. Probably buy the axles and cut the Delrin to length and bore it to the correct diameter. The Delrin is self lubricating btw.

Man, that’s a great deal. Let me know if you ever decide to make the big rollers too.

 

[5030]

Man, that’s a great deal. Let me know if you ever decide to make the big rollers too.

I most likely will. On my big roller there is a grease fitting on the end. No grease fittings on the back ones at all but Delrin is self lubricating itself. Not sure why the rear rollers have a square on the end because a round through rod, cross drilled and cotter pinned will work just fine and exactly what I did to keep the LH back roller on.

 

[Doug Vee]

Hi all! First post here! I bought a F3060 last night and am working on getting myself more educated on their operation and maintenance. The guy I bought it from owned multiple Kubota machines and seemed to be very knowledgeable about them. He had owned it for a year before buying a newer F series. The original owner was a school system so most of its 1500 hours were racked up mowing around schools.

I have been mowing about 3 acres of hilly grass with a 1974 Cub Cadet 800. It has been a great little tractor, but its relatively narrow chassis and RWD characteristics make it less than ideal on slopes. This F3060 should help me cut more grass faster and safer.

It has a few issues that need addressing in the near future. First, I need to put a seat on it. The current one is usable, but really ragged. I see that Kubota has discontinued the seat. Any good aftermarket sources for seats similar to what's on it? Second, I need to put some rear tires on it as they are pretty bald. Any particular brand of tires better than others for these machines or will any turf tire of the same size work? Lastly, I need to replace the front plastic and headlight assembly. I often mow into the night if I have to do it during the week. Looks like those parts are still available so that shouldn't be too hard.

Here is a photo of it. Let me know what you think and please feel free to share any tips and tricks for these machines. Thanks!

Welcome to the club. I am starting my 2nd full season with the F3060. They are good machines. Mine has about 2500 hours on the clock and seems to be running like a top. Mine on the trailer to bring home:

Concerning the rear axle lube, the differential is separate from the outer gear cases. Draining the outer cases can be a little problematic, if the Allen drain plugs are rounded out. Both of mine were. I used an appropriately sized Torx bit and pounded into the stripped Allen recess on the plug. I was able to get enough purchase for the plug to turn out. I replaced with new plugs.

Concerning the hydraulics for the blade, I am lucky enough to have the hydraulic kit on mine. I have not researched finding a blade for it, but I am pretty sure I am not that lucky to find one. Fortunately our winters are usually not that snowy to need one, but it would be sweet to have one when it does snow.

Enjoy that diesel mower!
Doug

 

[Steelsoldiers]

Welcome to the club. I am starting my 2nd full season with the F3060. They are good machines. Mine has about 2500 hours on the clock and seems to be running like a top. Mine on the trailer to bring home:
View attachment 864198
Concerning the rear axle lube, the differential is separate from the outer gear cases. Draining the outer cases can be a little problematic, if the Allen drain plugs are rounded out. Both of mine were. I used an appropriately sized Torx bit and pounded into the stripped Allen recess on the plug. I was able to get enough purchase for the plug to turn out. I replaced with new plugs.

Concerning the hydraulics for the blade, I am lucky enough to have the hydraulic kit on mine. I have not researched finding a blade for it, but I am pretty sure I am not that lucky to find one. Fortunately our winters are usually not that snowy to need one, but it would be sweet to have one when it does snow.

Enjoy that diesel mower!
Doug

Hi Doug! Nice looking 3060! Thanks for the tips on the gear boxes. I plan to tackle those next now that the center section is holding gear oil.

The front hydraulics is one of the things that got me excited about this machine. The attachments aren’t that common, but hopefully I can track down a broom and a blade before next winter. Our house sits at the end of a long private road, which we are planning to repave this summer. That should make it a lot easier to scrape or broom.

 

[Doug Vee]

I thought of another issue that I had to repair. The steering column structure broke! I guess have many, many, many times getting on and off the machine by yanking on the steering wheel to pull themselves onto the platform, it finally broke. Fortunately the part was available and not ridiculously expensive. It possibly could have been repaired, but I felt I would rather replace it if one was available.

Moral of the story- don't yank on the steering wheel when getting on the machine!

Doug

 

[Shady oak]

I ate a cinder block that was hidden in the tall grass yesterday with the F2880. It pulverized it. Oh well, poop happens. I ordered a 2 rear anti scalp rollers and axles. They are shot and the axles are worn to points. Could probably make them in the shop but easier to order new ones. If the new rollers don't have grease fittings in them, they will. Sucker has plenty of balls. I was mowing the edges of the hat fields with it. Never slowed down at all but I am running it in low range, Having issues with the 'treadle-pedal' as well, goes forward fine but backing up, it's slow to non-existent. I need to adjust the reverse linkage I suspect and it needs a new headlight bulb but I have a spare LED left over from when I replaced them in the M9's. Just have to take the front cover off and handle that, not that I'll ever use it because I won't.

Like I stated elsewhere, the bonnet is in pretty deplorable condition and I'm contemplating fixing it or just buying a new one. Ain't cheap, over a grand for a new one. Fixing it will entail Tigging the cracks and then sanding and painting it, a winter time project. I'll probably pull all the sheet metal and redo that as well and paint the frame as well. It ris fine and my dealer changed all the fluids and filters and forgot to top off the Hydrostat. I had to add 4 quarts of SUDT to get it on the dipstick where it was supposed to be. I don't ordinary have SUDT on the shelf but I did and I used it. I don't use it in my big tractors at all. I use 85-140 GL5 gear oil in the front axle and Chevron All Weather Synthetic THF in the gear boxes. Napa is running a sale on it right now, Regular price for a 5 gallon pail is 232 bucks. NAPA is running a sale on it for $125 a pail, online. I ordered 4 pails of it. Chevron is hard to find. My jobber carries it as well as NAPA and that is about it. I like it, does real good in the winter and it comes colored orange of all things so it's easy to see on the dipsticks. Don't need to change it this year, but next year I will plus the 4 filters.

I did add my usual AR 9100 Nano-Borate additive to the motor which is SOP for me.

Regarding your treadle pedal Working hard backwards? Up BEHIND the frame rail on the battery side, sort of between the battery and the back of the front tire, there is some linkage connected to the pedal. That seems to get sticky and I have been told to lube that with some kind of light lube like silicone or something.

This is located basically behind that zero fitting just in front of the battery. I think in the book it’s called "variable speed controll"? But that zero doesn’t seem to affect or improve the pedal travel.

Oddly my 2007 version doesn’t have this zerk, and for now the reverse motion of the pedal is quite free and easy.

 

[Fields_mj]

I ate a cinder block that was hidden in the tall grass yesterday with the F2880.

Way back when I was running an F2100 for my dad ('93), I ran it full speed into a raised/extended manhole cover. It brought the mower to an instant stop and almost threw me off the machine even though I was buckled in. Cracked the manhole cover but didn't even dent the deck. Just scratched a little paint off... Definitely the toughest machines I've had the pleasure of operating.

 

[Shady oak]

The only complaint I have on my F2560 is the ride. I am 6’5” and 260. That means the adjuster on the seat is all the way tight and I still bottom out. Has anyone successfully put an air ride seat on one of these? And if so does it require a larfe amount of drilling and fitting? Thanks.

 

[arto98607]

........................ Thanks for the tips on the gear boxes. I plan to tackle those next now that the center section is holding gear oil.

.......................

Welcome to the F & F3060 club!

You will need small metric allen wrench for the rear axle drain plugs, and if the are worn or damaged otherwise it would be a good idea to replace them with new OEM ones. Don't remember what size but probably somewhere 5 or 6 mm?
The plugs wear if the mower has been driven a lot on very uneven ground...


This is my F with 3700+ hours:

 

[5030]

The only complaint I have on my F2560 is the ride. I am 6’5” and 260. That means the adjuster on the seat is all the way tight and I still bottom out. Has anyone successfully put an air ride seat on one of these? And if so does it require a larfe amount of drilling and fitting? Thanks.

Mine came with an air ride seat base when I bought it. Today, they are all drilled and spaced to ISO requirements so installing one to the existing seat and base is pretty much 'plug and play' other than you will need to supply power to the built in compressor. Be apprised, like everything else today, they aren't cheap. Seats Incorporated as well as K&M sells them. I installed a K&M air ride seat base on my M9000 open station last year and tossed the stock, vinyl sweaty butt seat for a Cordura replacement seat as well.

I believe the air ride seat base set me back around 700 bucks and the replacement seat was an additional 250.

Kubota want's way too much for their seats. Much better to go aftermarket.

 

[arto98607]

Anyone shopping for a replacement seat for F3060 should be aware of the narrow bottom mounting width.
The mounting base is recessed several inches in the fender and not just any seat base will fit.

One solution would be to just replace the seat & reuse the spring suspension/mounting but most users would like air ride seat I think, which may also be available in narrow model?

Newer F models are different as far as I know.

See the blue arrows in my photo below.


Edit:

The seat suspension base that bolts to the framing is only 225 mm (~ 8 7/8") wide, and center to center mounting holes are 200 mm (~ 7 7/8") apart.
The base sits in a narrow recessed area in the fender as mentioned above.

 

[5030]

No grease fittings on the back ones at all but Delrin is self lubricating itself.

Keep in mind that the rear anti-scalp rollers while made from Delrin, also have a metal insert in them that rides on the through shaft. What I did, was I angle drilled them so the drilled hole located between the 2 inserts. I drilled a hole just large enough to use the 'needle greaser' attachment that fits on the end of my grease gun. That way the rollers and their metal inserts can be greased. Thought about drilling and tapping them for a zerk fitting but just a drilled hole and the needle greaser works as well. Besides, an angled zerk might be hard to access anyway.

 

[5030]

I found it somewhat amusing that in the shop manual, Kubota calls out the hinged space below the seat on my 2880 as a 'Globe Box' Gotta love those Japanese translations.

 

[5030]

Regarding your treadle pedal Working hard backwards? Up BEHIND the frame rail on the battery side, sort of between the battery and the back of the front tire, there is some linkage connected to the pedal. That seems to get sticky and I have been told to lube that with some kind of light lube like silicone or something.

This is located basically behind that zero fitting just in front of the battery. I think in the book it’s called "variable speed controll"? But that zero doesn’t seem to affect or improve the pedal travel.

Oddly my 2007 version doesn’t have this zerk, and for now the reverse motion of the pedal is quite free and easy.

Gonna check that out this week for sure and my 2880 came with a side discharge deck and I think I prefer it over a rear discharge, no special reason, just do.

I waited a long time to buy this one. The county fair board was going to get a new one 2 years ago but didn't have the funds. Same with last year but this year they did. How's that for patience? I got my dibs in on it right away, soon as I found out their intentions.

 

[Doug Vee]

While servicing my F3060 yesterday, I learned of another item to be on the lookout for:

I had been hearing an intermittent rattle behind me, especially when cold. I had the hood open right after I started it and noted the rattle again. The muffler was still pretty cool, so I put my gloved hand on it. The rattle immediately stopped. Hmmm, I thought, what the heck is going on with that? I shut it down, and got a light. After about a second I could tell what the problem was.

Just for grins, I went to the Messicks parts site....$549. Well, that WAS fun. It didn't look like a good project for my old stick welder, so took it over to the brother in law's for a little MIG love. Due to my lack of MIG experience, I'm not including that picture, but suffice to say, the repair looks like it will be successful.

Though the muffler cracked at sometime before 2700 hours, it was pretty cool that the hardware that held it on was well designed. Nuts were welded to the brackets, and the bolts did not protrude past the face of the nuts, so everything came apart with no drama (see first picture). Also, the muffler was built of pretty heavy gauge material, so again, no drama to weld.

So, now gotta go mow.

Doug

 

[Steelsoldiers]

While servicing my F3060 yesterday, I learned of another item to be on the lookout for:

View attachment 867917View attachment 867918
I had been hearing an intermittent rattle behind me, especially when cold. I had the hood open right after I started it and noted the rattle again. The muffler was still pretty cool, so I put my gloved hand on it. The rattle immediately stopped. Hmmm, I thought, what the heck is going on with that? I shut it down, and got a light. After about a second I could tell what the problem was.

Just for grins, I went to the Messicks parts site....$549. Well, that WAS fun. It didn't look like a good project for my old stick welder, so took it over to the brother in law's for a little MIG love. Due to my lack of MIG experience, I'm not including that picture, but suffice to say, the repair looks like it will be successful.

Though the muffler cracked at sometime before 2700 hours, it was pretty cool that the hardware that held it on was well designed. Nuts were welded to the brackets, and the bolts did not protrude past the face of the nuts, so everything came apart with no drama (see first picture). Also, the muffler was built of pretty heavy gauge material, so again, no drama to weld.

So, now gotta go mow.

Doug

Good catch and good fix!

 

[5030]

While servicing my F3060 yesterday, I learned of another item to be on the lookout for:

View attachment 867917View attachment 867918
I had been hearing an intermittent rattle behind me, especially when cold. I had the hood open right after I started it and noted the rattle again. The muffler was still pretty cool, so I put my gloved hand on it. The rattle immediately stopped. Hmmm, I thought, what the heck is going on with that? I shut it down, and got a light. After about a second I could tell what the problem was.

Just for grins, I went to the Messicks parts site....$549. Well, that WAS fun. It didn't look like a good project for my old stick welder, so took it over to the brother in law's for a little MIG love. Due to my lack of MIG experience, I'm not including that picture, but suffice to say, the repair looks like it will be successful.

Though the muffler cracked at sometime before 2700 hours, it was pretty cool that the hardware that held it on was well designed. Nuts were welded to the brackets, and the bolts did not protrude past the face of the nuts, so everything came apart with no drama (see first picture). Also, the muffler was built of pretty heavy gauge material, so again, no drama to weld.

So, now gotta go mow.

Doug

The learning curve on MIG welding is pretty flat actually and why weldors (me included) refer to MIG as the glue gun of welding. Clean it, fit it up and Glue Gun it, preferably with solid wire and inert gas.

Finally, turn up your base idle to the point where the motor runs smoothly. It's the shaking at idle that caused the fracture.

 

[5030]

After it's welded, take a wire brush to the entire muffler and paint it with high temperature flat black stove paint and make it pretty again...

 

[Doug Vee]

The learning curve on MIG welding is pretty flat actually and why weldors (me included) refer to MIG as the glue gun of welding. Clean it, fit it up and Glue Gun it, preferably with solid wire and inert gas.

Finally, turn up your base idle to the point where the motor runs smoothly. It's the shaking at idle that caused the fracture.

5030,

You're right, the MIG does have a kind of "glue gun" vibe! Concerning the base idle, I have not felt that it is idling that low, but I will check into it with an open mind and see what transpires.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[5030]

5030,

You're right, the MIG does have a kind of "glue gun" vibe! Concerning the base idle, I have not felt that it is idling that low, but I will check into it with an open mind and see what transpires.

Thanks,
Doug

I'm AWS TIG certified and that is my favorite process but, I use MIG for non alloy welding all the time because on mild steel, it's quick and really needs little skill to use properly, plus I can MIG weld is high amperage spray arc transfer on thick mild steel but it has to be done in the shop. I also own a Lincoln Ranger engine drive and stick weld outside but of course the end result is not as pretty. I burn a lot of solid core wire. Like I said, not much skill needed with a glue gun and inert gas, You get the voltage / amperage and wire feed set correctly, just a matter of lowering your hood and positioning the nozzle correctly and welding.

The adjustment screw for the base idle is the vertical one below the throttle cam. The horizontal adjustment screw parallel to the throttle linkage sets the maximum RPM at full throttle. It usually has a small lead disc with safety wire on it.