Kubota F series

   / Kubota F series #201  
The blower works awesome for sure and I use it after every mowing. I flipped up my deck the other day and scraped and carefully pressure washed a build up of grass clippings from the underside of the deck, it was looking pretty gross under there. I don't want to deal with deck rot down the road so I'm going to stay on top of that as well. I followed up with a thorough greasing.

I drained the oil out of my mowing deck gearbox by using a Harbour Freight cheap suction pump and then putting a red shop rag under the lower hole to catch the remaining oil and refilled with 80-140 gear oil so that should have me covered there for several more years. Need to do the overall greasing in the near future and sharpen blades.
 
   / Kubota F series #202  
I drained the oil out of my mowing deck gearbox by using a Harbour Freight cheap suction pump and then putting a red shop rag under the lower hole to catch the remaining oil and refilled with 80-140 gear oil so that should have me covered there for several more years. Need to do the overall greasing in the near future and sharpen blades.


LOL or 150 hours whichever comes sooner..

Have any of you F series owners ever considered or fitted swing back flat blades. I was told at the Kubota dealer that they used to be a Kubota option here but not these days unfortunately.
I am thinking of making up a set and see how they go.
Years ago I owned a similar style mower which had swing back flat blades which I was very happy with as even though it was a side discharge deck it would throw so much out the side but would also mulch do some degree.
The blades also cut cleaner, easier to sharpen and cheaper to replace from memory.
I had also bought that previous machine from the local City Council who I was told used to convert all their mowers from straight solid bars the the swing backs interestingly.
 
   / Kubota F series #203  
LOL or 150 hours whichever comes sooner..

Have any of you F series owners ever considered or fitted swing back flat blades. I was told at the Kubota dealer that they used to be a Kubota option here but not these days unfortunately.
I am thinking of making up a set and see how they go.
Years ago I owned a similar style mower which had swing back flat blades which I was very happy with as even though it was a side discharge deck it would throw so much out the side but would also mulch do some degree.
The blades also cut cleaner, easier to sharpen and cheaper to replace from memory.
I had also bought that previous machine from the local City Council who I was told used to convert all their mowers from straight solid bars the the swing backs interestingly.


I have a John Deere brush hog which uses that type of "swing back" blades, but the last 10 - 12 inches of tips have been sharpened at about 45 deg. angle. I always thought that the "swing back" feature was there in case when hitting anything solid like tree roots or rocks etc.

Anyway, please report to us how it worked out in case you will try this out in F mower.

Cheers :drink:
 
Last edited:
   / Kubota F series #204  
I started making the blade sets up yesterday. I am using and old set of worn blades and cutting them down to make the blade carriers. First obstacle was because they are tempered steel, makes them a bit difficult to cut and drill. Cutting wasn't too bad, the band saw got through them OK and I was using my worn blade that already has a couple of teeth missing so it didn't matter so much if it got a little more wrecked.
Drilling proved to be a drama, after getting the pilot holes done after several resharpening and lots of pig like squealing sounds, the 16mm holes for the blade bolts were just not happening. So I had to soften them. don't have an Oxy set or a forge on hand so I used my little TIG welder to heat treat the area which worked a treat and drilled much easier.
Today I will weld in a small side of each hole to key the bolts from spinning in the carrier holes, then try and retemper them which I hope will be just a quick quench immediately after the welding. Otherwise I will take them to a local spring works of something.

Yeah although the standard blades work well and they do incorporate a clutch style attachment to the spindles so that they can slip when hitting something solid like rocks, old stumps and other debris, I just think that the swing back blades are an extra level of protection. They are easier and cheaper to replace and a lot easier to resharpen.
The blades I am fitting are double edged and require no tools to fit or remove and cost about half the $$$ of standard blades.

So as long as the mowing action and finish are good I will be happy for my trouble.
 
   / Kubota F series #205  
I started making the blade sets up yesterday. I am using and old set of worn blades and cutting them down to make the blade carriers. First obstacle was because they are tempered steel, makes them a bit difficult to cut and drill. Cutting wasn't too bad, the band saw got through them OK and I was using my worn blade that already has a couple of teeth missing so it didn't matter so much if it got a little more wrecked.
Drilling proved to be a drama, after getting the pilot holes done after several resharpening and lots of pig like squealing sounds, the 16mm holes for the blade bolts were just not happening. So I had to soften them. don't have an Oxy set or a forge on hand so I used my little TIG welder to heat treat the area which worked a treat and drilled much easier.
Today I will weld in a small side of each hole to key the bolts from spinning in the carrier holes, then try and retemper them which I hope will be just a quick quench immediately after the welding. Otherwise I will take them to a local spring works of something.

Yeah although the standard blades work well and they do incorporate a clutch style attachment to the spindles so that they can slip when hitting something solid like rocks, old stumps and other debris, I just think that the swing back blades are an extra level of protection. They are easier and cheaper to replace and a lot easier to resharpen.
The blades I am fitting are double edged and require no tools to fit or remove and cost about half the $$$ of standard blades.

So as long as the mowing action and finish are good I will be happy for my trouble.
 
   / Kubota F series #206  
So as long as the mowing action and finish are good I will be happy for my trouble.


I hope you will be able to balance them before using - couple of photos would be nice once your are done.
 
   / Kubota F series #207  
OK I finished them off today and yeah I made sure they were adequately balanced. I set up a jig so that they were all cut at exactly the same length and did the same for drilling the ends so the blade carrying holes were exactly the same distance from the centre bolt.. tested once all assembled on a knife edge through the centre hole and all sat dead level.

Anyway I fitted them and took it out for a test run:
Pros so far:
Cleaner cut and still possible at lower RPM.
Noticeably less load on the engine and transmission.
Easier blade changes and sharpening if needed.
Cheaper blade replacement cost.
Mower deck seemed quieter.
Less clippings getting air born keeping me and the machine cleaner
Less impact on the drive system when hitting heavier debris.


Cons:
Blades would not be as robust but unknown at this stage how well they will stand up but their ability to swing back freely should protect them to a degree.
Some clumping of clippings at the chute when mowing in thick grass but should not happen so much as I mow more regularly. Worked better with the chute pulled fully open. I have used plain flat blades, fluted blades would no doubt throw better but I will stick to plains flat ones at this stage
Blades may need replacement more often being lighter gauge steel.

Now I will try and find out why Kubota withdrew the kit that they used to have available but for my purpose they seem to work well so I will run with them for a while.

IMG_20150604_145744.jpgIMG_20150604_145918.jpg
 
   / Kubota F series #208  
OK I finished them off today and yeah I made sure they were adequately balanced. I set up a jig so that they were all cut at exactly the same length and did the same for drilling the ends so the blade carrying holes were exactly the same distance from the centre bolt.. tested once all assembled on a knife edge through the centre hole and all sat dead level.

Anyway I fitted them and took it out for a test run:
Pros so far:
Cleaner cut and still possible at lower RPM.
Noticeably less load on the engine and transmission.
Easier blade changes and sharpening if needed.
Cheaper blade replacement cost.
Mower deck seemed quieter.
Less clippings getting air born keeping me and the machine cleaner
Less impact on the drive system when hitting heavier debris.


Cons:
Blades would not be as robust but unknown at this stage how well they will stand up but their ability to swing back freely should protect them to a degree.
Some clumping of clippings at the chute when mowing in thick grass but should not happen so much as I mow more regularly. Worked better with the chute pulled fully open. I have used plain flat blades, fluted blades would no doubt throw better but I will stick to plains flat ones at this stage
Blades may need replacement more often being lighter gauge steel.

Now I will try and find out why Kubota withdrew the kit that they used to have available but for my purpose they seem to work well so I will run with them for a while.

View attachment 428158View attachment 428159

Thanks for pictures because I had no idea of what you've been talking about.:thumbsup::confused3:
 
   / Kubota F series #209  
Now I will try and find out why Kubota withdrew the kit that they used to have available but for my purpose they seem to work well so I will run with them for a while.


Thank you for the update - please let us know how these work out in the long run :thumbsup:
 
   / Kubota F series #210  
Hey guys...new to the site. I just had my local Kubota dealer bring over a demo ZD326. I love it, except for when she went sliding down my slopes on my property. Slopes that my old Grasshopper (front mount deck) with Chevron tires handles just fine. I did a little research and I've come across a few people putting on different tires similar to what JD uses or the bar tires from the Kubota BX's. They say it improves a lot, but I'd like to see how much, and how the tires act on flat ground (i.e. how much do they dig.)

I have a dam for a pond that I would love to be able to mow with an F series. My first year, I used my B3200 with a 3pt finishing mower to cut it. That was a bit scary. The tractor just feels to narrow and tall to be mowing at the slope of the dam. Especially if it was a little damp at the bottom, it would slide or spin a tad and the pucker factor would increase very quickly. After doing that a few times, I quit doing it. This year I've been weed wacking it, takes about 4 hours with my commercial grade weed whip. It sounds like a 4wd F series with the right tires would do the dam, but talk about sticker shock.

It looks like a mid level, new, F series is going to be around $25k. Compared to possibly a ZD with bar ties and continue to weed whip a few times a year. I get very nervous buying used equipment since most is used commercially and beaten up pretty good. Plus, no financing (like 0% from Kubota).

Unless I've missed anything?
 

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