How Hard to De-Green a Kubota MX5200?

[Suburban Plowboy]

I saw an ad for a Kubota MX5200 with 1500 hours. The price looked nice to me, but this thing has the wonderful emissions stuff that requires high revs and can result in $$$$$$ repairs.

I would never, ever violate any type of environmental regulation, ever, even though I run my tractor about 30 hours a year and could never make a dent in the pollution problem, but just as a matter of interest, how hard is it to get rid of all that fine emissions stuff on this particular tractor?

 

[jyoutz]

I saw an ad for a Kubota MX5200 with 1500 hours. The price looked nice to me, but this thing has the wonderful emissions stuff that requires high revs and can result in $$$$$$ repairs.

I would never, ever violate any type of environmental regulation, ever, even though I run my tractor about 30 hours a year and could never make a dent in the pollution problem, but just as a matter of interest, how hard is it to get rid of all that fine emissions stuff on this particular tractor?

It’s very difficult and your resale opportunities are limited if you do this. If it bothers you that much, buy an older pre-emissions machine. I never give that stuff a second thought on my machine and appreciate not sucking as much diesel particulates. But to each their own.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Yes, to each his own.

 

[2manyrocks]

Is the emissions system tied into the electronic injection system to the degree that it would be difficult to separate them?

 

[deserteagle71]

how hard is it to get rid of all that fine emissions stuff on this particular tractor?

Easy enough. Whether you could get the tractor to run afterwards is another story. Like any modern engine that Kubota is computer controlled and if you expect to be able to run it after deleting all that emissions stuff you'd better know how to reprogram the computer to run without it.

As mentioned in one of the other posts, if you want a tractor without all the emissions crap on it, buy an older, pre-emissions model.

 

[Fladogman]

Don't worry about the emissions stuff too much. It's not affecting my use of my MX 5800. How much it activates is affected by how you typically run the rpms. Mine only runs about once a month. And then for less than 20 minutes.

 

[Jrasband]

The tractors work fine and maybe you'll appreciate not having the soot coming out in your face.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Don't worry about the emissions stuff too much. It's not affecting my use of my MX 5800. How much it activates is affected by how you typically run the rpms. Mine only runs about once a month. And then for less than 20 minutes.

Ya, my dealer said if you are doing any kinda work with the tractor (not just transporting, for example) to up the throttle so the minimum RPMs are ~1200-1400 after warm-up and that's what I've been doing. I remember only 2 times needing to let the machine sit for a regen before shutdown, and each time was less than 10 minutes.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

There is only one manufacturer that isn't using common rail injection, where you can remove a DPF and the tractor has no idea. That is TYM. For resale you'd just put it back in.

The rest would go into limp mode and be unuseable.

That said, most TYM tier IV diesels run 200+ hours, with no need for a regen, so owners dont care to remove it

 

[bdhsfz6]

Aside from the lack of soot, I hardly notice the DPF on my MX5800. I have just under 2000 hours on it, and only once had to wait for a regen cycle to complete before shutting down the machine. Most of the time, regens happen during work operations and I don't even notice.

I can't predict what the future holds as far as expensive repairs go, but so far, the system has been trouble free.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I haven't noticed myself getting a faceful of soot with my current diesels, but then I sit in the seat while I use them instead of climbing underneath and putting my face next to the exhaust pipes.

So far, I have not had to deal with any of this unneeded equipment. Do people really have to sit around and do nothing while their tractors eat their own waste? That has to be a drag. Like charging a Tesla.

The whole "limp mode" business scares me. A buddy of mine has a worthless Mercedes that went into limp mode over and over for something like three years, and no mechanic could figure it out. I don't recall who finally fixed it.

It would be neat to find a pre-BS tractor, but it turns out other people were smart enough to hold onto theirs or buy them from other people as soon as they came up for sale. They are not easily found.

I'm one of the people who held on. My tractor is 25 years old, and if it had 45 or more PTO horsepower and a decent loader capacity, I would never replace it. It's kind of remarkable that Kubota thought 1500 pounds was enough for a loader. A less-powerful TYM lifts 45% more. Big difference when your main use for the tractor is moving logs.

My feeling about buying tractors with expensive, unnecessary gadgetry is like my feeling about buying used German cars. No matter how cheap they seem up front, they could be sources of huge regret when repairs are needed. And German cars and tractors often need repairs. If someone gave me a BMW for nothing, I'd sell it ASAP and buy a Toyota.

 

[deserteagle71]

So far, I have not had to deal with any of this unneeded equipment. Do people really have to sit around and do nothing while their tractors eat their own waste? That has to be a drag.

???

Not sure what your statement means. If you are talking about the regeneration process, you have the wrong idea. My Kubota M7060 is 9 years old now and only once in those 9 years have I had to "sit around and do nothing" while the regen process took place, and that's only because the automatic regen started just as I was about to park the tractor for the day. I throttled up past 2000 rpm, parked the tractor, and did something else for the 15 minutes it took to complete the regeneration process, then turned it off.

The rest of the time, the only way I would know the tractor is going through the regen process is when the light comes on in the dash. I have to do nothing, just keep doing whatever I was doing with the tractor - the process is automatic and it takes from 10 - 15 minutes from the time the light goes on in the dash till the light goes off, indicating the process is complete.

Sure, it would be nice to not have to deal with this stuff. When I bought the tractor I was really apprehensive about the problems the emissions system might bring. But, other than remembering to not let the tractor idle for long periods of time, it has turned out to be a non-issue. I'd buy the same tractor in a heartbeat if I had to do it over again.

Oh - and most of us have tractors with exhausts exiting above the hood so yes, soot in the face is a thing.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

How high do you keep your RPM's in normal use?

 

[scootr]

Agreed, do not buy a tractor thinking you will remove pollution control components. It's not a practical solution to your problem.
Buy an older tractor without the equipment. That said.
My 2018 MX5200 is the best running tractor I've had in the past 35 yrs. When I first got it the regen happened more often as I was not running at a high enough rpm.
Now a days I mostly work it at higher rpms (1500-2300) mowing and grading and I don't even know when it regens... GL in your search

 

[Fixastuff]

Not hard but not free either.

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[Suburban Plowboy]

To me, 1500 is about normal. The tractor moves fast enough, the noise is moderate, and the hydraulics seem happy. I would not like keeping a tractor's speed at 1800 or more all the time.

 

[newkiotiguy]

To me, 1500 is about normal. The tractor moves fast enough, the noise is moderate, and the hydraulics seem happy. I would not like keeping a tractor's speed at 1800 or more all the time.

Then buy a used tractor from before they were put on. It will cost you basically the same price as a new one because of other people like you. Obviously, you can't handle the the complexity and will worry every time you use it. Besides one specific kubota and some of the LS tractors, I haven't heard of many problems with regen.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Hey, don't take forum posts personally. This is a friendly place.

 

[Torvy]

Like @CloverKnollFarms mentioned, TYM models that have a TYM (formerly Kukje) engine don't use the computer in the same way other do. If you remove the filter, it just keeps working.

They don't regenerate often. Mine is at 70 hours or so and hasn't yet.

Other than those, you have to buy an old machine to avoid it.

TYM has made tractors for other brands that use that engine, too. (Bad Boy for sure).

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Given that the emissions stuff can cost thousands to repair, how do you check a used tractor to see if it's going to fail soon? Running it for 200 hours to check is not practical, so what do you do?