kioti lb1914 d950 swap

devypower · Jan 14, 2020

Hi all!
been watching forum for a while just never post till now when i need help so please...... I'm sure this has been beat to death on all forums internet wide.... i have spent countless hours doing research on this swap so please dont start off saying do a search lol, everyone talks about doing this swap but not one person ever posts the outcome. yes or no, easy, hard, extra parts needed etc.. i dont get it there are 75 forums that talk about it and no final thoughts from anyone. i sent a pm to the gentleman truckfix that started a thread in 2018 on here to see what ever became of his journey so maybe he will reply, till then any thoughts

kioti lb1914 previous owner said all was good with tractor but.... it needs new engine. want an affordable swap looking at the kubota d950 have a few for sale around me for very reasonable prices. they have the thin bell-housing i see some have a 3" thick one which im sure will not work. i would not care if there were an adapter plate available to put a small block chevy in it LOL. I just want to use it and stop listening to my wife say i wasted thousands of dollars. so please feel free to share

Rebeldad1 · Jan 14, 2020

why not rebuild what you have? whats wrong with it?

devypower · Jan 14, 2020

bad head, bad rod, and block not possible, certainly not cost effective. only option is re-power with something else. i have looked into a kioti engine but the price and availability are just not there. these kubota engines are around $400 to $600 around me and i can swing that. like i said if there is someone who has machined an adapter plate to fit anything else i would look that way as well seems to be a common conversation with the lb1914 and1714. just cant see scrapping it

Rebeldad1 · Jan 14, 2020

devypower said:
i have looked into a kioti engine but the price and availability are just not there. these kubota engines are around $400 to $600 around me and i can swing that.

Knowing all this before you bought the tractor.... You must have bought it cheap enough to easily buy a new engine and come out ahead. Sounds like that must be the easiest plan. You also might have a local machine shop give you a estimate on a rebuild.

If you are real curious about the Kubota engine...... $400-$600 and they are around you why not just pick one up and try to make it work? If it doesnt just resell it.
Good luck either way.

devypower · Jan 14, 2020

no i paid decent money for it running good with a newer loader with less than 700 hours and it didn't last long. i have tried several machine shops and race car builders no one can fix it. looking for an easy way out trying to save face. just cant believe with all the threads on line not one person posted to say yes or no and what little tweeks were needed just open ended posts

rademamj1 · Jan 14, 2020

My neighbor has swapped John Deere diesel engines on his 1992 JD tractor. He put a brand new JD diesel in his tractor and ordered the custom built engine mounts that adapted the new motor to his older tractor. Be advised, the local JD dealer refused to assist him in any way on this engine swap project. It's not commonly done, and most dealers just prefer to overhaul older diesel engines, than install and adapt new engines + mounts.

There is not a lot of information on the tractor forums about swapping engines. Not a lot of posts on this subject. So you may be on your own for much of this engine swap project.

My advice is to just purchase the working diesel engine you want, and make 100% sure it fits under the Kioti tractor hood. From your post, your considering a used Kubota diesel engine, and that is a great reliable engine.

Once you get the Kubota engine home, take careful measurements of its mounting requirements, and then compare to the Kioti existing frame mounts. There are custom engine mount fabricators online for tractors, that already have an existing inventory. Good luck on the project. Provide updates to the forum members, so others may benefit from your experience.

devypower · Jan 23, 2020

so after days and days of reading and phone calls i have yet to find anyone who has actually did a kubota swap in this machine so i guess ill chalk it up to a loss and start looking at different tractors, i really dont want to throw anymore good money at bad . so for all the future people looking to do this save your time and money and get out wile you can. thanks for all the input guys.