Is LS now better with emissions???

[mjstef]

In 2018 I traded my XR3037C with 700 hours in on a brand new L228 New Holland skid steer. I had numerous issues with the emissions on the LS but loved the tractor overall. Due to health issues which make it hard to get in and out of a skid steer I'm thinking about going back to a tractor. Will trade the skid steer with 600 hours on it. Will need to also be able to run my Halverson firewood processor on it with a rear mounted PTO pump because I need 20 gallons a minute for the processor. Will be looking at mid 40 horsepower series machines. How are the newer ones holding up compared to my 2015 I got rid of?

 

[KCTractors]

I have a 2024 LS MT357 with 90 hours on it. Nothing but problems with regen system since day one. Dealer is working with me to get it corrected but no luck so far. Goes into regen sometimes .02 of an hour to maybe every five hours. They put in a whole new regen system in the summer 2024 and now they said going to put in another new system.Dealer told me that the problem is with the MT357. All LS does to make a 57 hp engine is to turn up the injector pump. I told them that is probably the problem. I told them to turn it back to a 52 hp tractor. Dealer told me that LS will not let them do that. I have 90 hrs on it now and it regened twenty one times now. I am keeping a log on the regens. It is a nice tractor but I am very disappointed in it.

 

[ruffdog]

A Toolcat has a compact size like a skidsteer but is very easy to operate.

 

[mjstef]

I have a 2024 LS MT357 with 90 hours on it. Nothing but problems with regen system since day one. Dealer is working with me to get it corrected but no luck so far. Goes into regen sometimes .02 of an hour to maybe every five hours. They put in a whole new regen system in the summer 2024 and now they said going to put in another new system.Dealer told me that the problem is with the MT357. All LS does to make a 57 hp engine is to turn up the injector pump. I told them that is probably the problem. I told them to turn it back to a 52 hp tractor. Dealer told me that LS will not let them do that. I have 90 hrs on it now and it regened twenty one times now. I am keeping a log on the regens. It is a nice tractor but I am very disappointed in it.

That's really disappointing. Mine was a gear drive and all the in and out of the throttle versus running steadies feel like you would in a hydro is likely would cause mine to keep getting plugged up.

 

[mjstef]

A Toolcat has a compact size like a skidsteer but is very easy to operate.

My brother runs one for the city he works for. Loader capacity is only 1500 lb and you start out at about 80 grand which I really have no desire to spend.

 

[D&D]

My brother runs one for the city he works for. Loader capacity is only 1500 lb and you start out at about 80 grand which I really have no desire to spend.

I was thinking about a JCB robot series. Different sizes and ages, might be able to find one to fit

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[PeteN]

I have a 2024 LS MT357 with 90 hours on it. Nothing but problems with regen system since day one. Dealer is working with me to get it corrected but no luck so far. Goes into regen sometimes .02 of an hour to maybe every five hours. They put in a whole new regen system in the summer 2024 and now they said going to put in another new system.Dealer told me that the problem is with the MT357. All LS does to make a 57 hp engine is to turn up the injector pump. I told them that is probably the problem. I told them to turn it back to a 52 hp tractor. Dealer told me that LS will not let them do that. I have 90 hrs on it now and it regened twenty one times now. I am keeping a log on the regens. It is a nice tractor but I am very disappointed in it.

It's interesting how the same tractor model can be so different. I've had a MT357 since 2021 and regens have been between 13 and 25 hours. I've read reports of regens north of 50hrs on this model but I really don't run it that hard since it is mostly used for bush hogging, grapple, and wood chipping which really doesn't task the tractor that much. When I'm not using a PTO implement, I generally run around 2000 rpm since it seems to run better there and, if using the loader, the hydraulic pressure/flow is better.

Mine is a Tier IV emission model. When did the Tier V emissions go into effect for this model? It might be more finicky with the stricter emission standard but what you are seeing is pretty extreme. I would have guessed they would have raised the turbo boost/add fuel to get more power not just add fuel to get more power. I doubt that anything I do even uses more than 40hp.

Seems like your case is more severe than most. I wonder if the dealer is looking at the source of the problem. Have they checked for leaking injectors, oil consumption, or any other issue rather than just change parts? Anytime I have questions for the dealer I bought from I haven't been overly impressed with their troubleshooting skills. Tractors have definitely become more electronically complicated but you still have to use your head and experience to fix most issues.

 

[deezler]

I would be curious to see a list of LS models with known regeneration issues. It seems it is not all of them, but still several and far more problems than some other brands. I would be wary.

Haven't heard many complaints (or... any?) from Kioti CK owners, conversely. Or Kubota L/grand-L series, but thats a substantial price hike.

 

[RobertEH]

Different model so not sure how helpful this is.

I have had some mildly irritating issues with emissions systems on my tractor. It is the LS MT235 HS.

Seems to be related to the ERG. I took my service log and tried to keep only the items related to emissions. I also have a regen summary as I track that. I may have deleted a few of the regen lines off of my service log by accident so they are not in synch.

I have not used the tractor much this summer so I am not sure if the codes that popped up in Feb were related to me deferring the regen, or a recurrence of the issue since they updated the Emissions SW or not.

My Service Log

 

[ruffdog]

My brother runs one for the city he works for. Loader capacity is only 1500 lb and you start out at about 80 grand which I really have no desire to spend.

They are not limited to 1500 lbs, just "rated" for 1500 lbs. They actually will lift around 3000 lbs....without ballast.

 

[ruffdog]

My neighbor has had old school non-emission tractors, including his D17 Allis. He bought a new smaller Kubota and runs the throttle like his old tractors. I told him that he should run it like he stole it but continued to putt around like his old tractors. Last week the dealer came and picked the Kubota up because of "all the flashing lights" on the dash. It is under warranty now but at some point it won't be.

 

[GS650GL]

The XR3037 had the Shibaura engine which did a regen every 4 hours or less and was known for lots of burner problems that are very expensive to fix. The LS engine is better but there have been a select few that have problems and want to regen all the time. Whatever vendor they got EGR coolers from had a bad batch that leaked coolant into the exhaust and contaminated the DPF. Replacing the cooler and the DPF was the only way to fix it right under the 5 year emissions warranty. Then they had lots of EGR valve problems with the Erae valve. Erae stopped making them so now they converted to Kamtech EGR valves. An Erae valve that fails must now have a conversion kit installed on the tractor to install the Kamtech valve. Whoever they got crankshaft position sensors from also had a bad batch and the sensors failed frequently. Whoever made the turbochargers had some early failures until they got it figured out. The LS engine has been good but unfortunately had these problems with components made by other companies that hurt their reputation. The new mid sized tractors now use Yanmar like the subcompacts do.

 

[deezler]

The LS engine has been good but unfortunately had these problems with components made by other companies that hurt their reputation.

Yeah but this tends to happen a lot more frequently when you are going with lowest-cost suppliers on every piece of the engine. Harder to find the right supplier relationships and balance of quality-vs-cost when you dont have decades of experience like your competitors do. They'll keep improving, I'm sure.

 

[deezler]

My Service Log

Every 30 hours isn't really so bad; hope it stays that way for you going forward. I think my Kioti is around 40 hours on average.

 

[mjstef]

They are not limited to 1500 lbs, just "rated" for 1500 lbs. They actually will lift around 3000 lbs....without ballast.

Still way more money that I want to spend....

 

[GS650GL]

Yeah but this tends to happen a lot more frequently when you are going with lowest-cost suppliers on every piece of the engine. Harder to find the right supplier relationships and balance of quality-vs-cost when you dont have decades of experience like your competitors do. They'll keep improving, I'm sure.

I worked for Case IH and Kubota for 30 years and a friend worked for John Deere. They all had common failures of some poor quality parts and sometimes switched vendors because of too many failures during warranty. Lots of recalls, campaigns and product improvement programs. Unfortunately all companies sometimes go with the lowest bidder, doesn't matter what brand. They look for a cost effective part that will only last until the warranty expires. After that, they don't care. Kubota paid the FTC a 2 million dollar penalty for falsely claiming some parts were made in USA when they were completely foreign made. The corporate mentality is keep costs down and profits up, including the competitors with more decades of experience. By the way, certain Kubota models had the most regen problems of all when I was there.

 

[wander2039]

My MT232 regened at 40hrs with no issues. Took about 30 minutes. Exhaust note is noticeably different when I started it before the Regen but didn't start till above 2k. I'd assume the 40hp version would be similar. I was worried about it but once I started I just throttled it up to max and found something to clean up till it finished.

 

[JimR]

I have a 2024 LS MT357 with 90 hours on it. Nothing but problems with regen system since day one. Dealer is working with me to get it corrected but no luck so far. Goes into regen sometimes .02 of an hour to maybe every five hours. They put in a whole new regen system in the summer 2024 and now they said going to put in another new system.Dealer told me that the problem is with the MT357. All LS does to make a 57 hp engine is to turn up the injector pump. I told them that is probably the problem. I told them to turn it back to a 52 hp tractor. Dealer told me that LS will not let them do that. I have 90 hrs on it now and it regened twenty one times now. I am keeping a log on the regens. It is a nice tractor but I am very disappointed in it.

Holy crap is all that I can say about that tractor. I think that it would be parked out in front of the dealer with a huge lemon on it if it was mine. Are all of this model tractor having this same issue?

 

[51allis]

The XR3037 had the Shibaura engine which did a regen every 4 hours or less and was known for lots of burner problems that are very expensive to fix. The LS engine is better but there have been a select few that have problems and want to regen all the time. Whatever vendor they got EGR coolers from had a bad batch that leaked coolant into the exhaust and contaminated the DPF. Replacing the cooler and the DPF was the only way to fix it right under the 5 year emissions warranty. Then they had lots of EGR valve problems with the Erae valve. Erae stopped making them so now they converted to Kamtech EGR valves. An Erae valve that fails must now have a conversion kit installed on the tractor to install the Kamtech valve. Whoever they got crankshaft position sensors from also had a bad batch and the sensors failed frequently. Whoever made the turbochargers had some early failures until they got it figured out. The LS engine has been good but unfortunately had these problems with components made by other companies that hurt their reputation. The new mid sized tractors now use Yanmar like the subcompacts do.

My XR4046 had regen issues along with it going into limp mode. I had enough when dealer said Emissions system and ECU needed to be replaced for almost $5k and not under warranty, so I just took all the emissions crap/ECU engine control off, fortunately, there is a work around for the manual injectors/pump throttle control, if you search you can find it. The emissions and the ECU no longer control the engine, its just like a diesel of old and have put over 400 hours on it this way. Only issue I have had is with gauges not working correctly but this winter will be putting in manual gauges.

 

[SGreene]

I have a 2021 Kioti RX7320, and prior I had the NX6010. Both the NX and RX had emissions software issues from the factory which the dealer had to figure out. I finally had enough and deleted and tuned my RX and holy cow did it pick up power, especially on the bottom end. Pushing into a pile of dirt or manure would cause it to bog and stall unless I caught it in time. Now, it has so much bottom end it's effortless. It gained torque, doesn't stall, uses less fuel, idles and operates at any rpm where as before I could only operate above 2,000rpm, and you can hear the little turbo spinning up. Do yourself a favor and either purchase an older pre-emissions tractor, or buy a tractor that someone can tune for you.