Kubota L2501 gear drives have soft clutches?

[Sid Post]

Looking for a smaller (phyically) 4WD compact tractor to pair with my L4600 (gear drive 2WD), I was shopping the Kubuto L2501DT interest free 'deal' recently. One of the things the dealer warned me about was frequent clutch changes which run ~$2400. I can see the 150 hour clutch swaps for the mini-'ranchettes' and people who have never seen a tractor before that wasn't sold at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I grew up on big green iron and never new what a hydrostat was except in high school when we got a JD300 lawn mower and finally a Massey 760 combine. Are clutches on the L2501 really fragile? Or, is it mainly an issue of people who have never learned to drive a stick shift transmission trying to buy cheap and then 'riding the clutch' to its death?

On my L4600, I never even gave this a thought. Ignorance is bliss! Oh wait, it's an L4600 with a loader ... It's not 4WD though.

This will be a mow tractor and yes, I realize it is a transmission driven PTO.

 

[jeff9366]

Is it an issue of people who have never learned to drive a stick shift transmission trying to buy cheap and then 'riding the clutch' to its death?

Owner/Operators seldom have any difficulty with clutch & gear tractors, any brand, any model.

When business owners decide to buy clutch & gear tractors for operation by ever changing employees, problems are endemic. No one in their right mind would buy anything but HST for employee use ~~~ but they do.

My local Florida Kubota dealer charges $1,200 for a new clutch on any Kubota L.

L2501 was the highest volume single Kubota model at the dealer during 2017 and 2018 to date.

Resale on clutch & gear tractors tends to be much lower than its HST equivalent. Not many potential operators and fear that seller is selling because a clutch is needed.
(So it costs you $1,000 - $5,000 for HST, even if the tractor you take home is clutch & gear.)



VIDEO: Kubota Standard L-Series. L25�1 L33�1 L39�1 L47�1 features and operation. - YouTube

 

[sdquick]

Not a answer to your question. But I was good with gears and thought the HST was over hyped, until I got one... It would be hard to go back on a compact tractor.

 

[jeff9366]

Not a answer to your question. But I was good with gears and thought the HST was over hyped, until I got one... It would be hard to go back on a compact tractor.

I agree.

My opinion about desirability of HST developed while owning/operating a Deere 750 clutch and gear, a kubota B3300SU/HST, a Kubota L3560/HST+, and operating two 50-horsepower, 2-WD John Deere's, one a Deere/Georgia shuttle shift the second a Deere/India clutch and gear. A fairly diverse assortment of tractors, in weights often discussed on this site.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I have an L 3301, gear drive. Not sure what your dealer is referring to, but I surely prefer my gear drive L over my B 2320 which is hst. But, I'm not a newbie to tractors, and grew up with gears.

 

[OzarkMike]

I have an L2501 gear drive. I have zero concerns about its clutch reliability, and my tractor sees a lot of hard use. Although the transmission only has two ranges, I can always find the perfect gear for whatever work needs to be done. Especially when it comes to mowing.

 

[paulfun9]

I would honestly bet the problem is more on the operator than the machine.

 

[super55]

Unfortunately I think the dealer was trying a ploy to get you into a hydrostatic or shuttle shift.

I had a 4wd L2500 gear shift for years and never had one zero issue with the clutch. I sold with 800 hrs on it and the clutch was still as tight as when it was new and never had to do any adjusting to it. I that tractor has well over a 1000 hrs on it now and the clutch has not been touched.

That little tractor was a pure workhorse. I would run a 6' bush-hog with it and a 6 1/2' double gang disc and while it did struggle on occasion all I did was go to a lower gear and push through. Most of the time I could run these implement in 6 or 7th without any issue.

Even though it did not have an independent PTO or a syncronized transmission I got pretty darn good at running that thing. I could shift on the fly with it by listening to the engine RPMs and then dropping it into the next gear without having to come to a complete stop. The one thing I always liked on Gear over hydro tractors is the engine will let know when it's time to drop a gear because of it lugging and dropping RPMs. Hydros are typically always ran at high RPMS so its harder to tell unless your familiar with the whine the HST makes.

 

[moship]

Clutch part number, T1060-20173 is used in 8 models. Did the dealer mention these other tractors as having issues?


The part fits the 8 models listed below:
L2501D
L2501F
L2800DT / HST (Dual Traction 4wd / Hydrostatic Transmission)
L2800F (2wd)
L3200DT (Dual Traction 4wd)
L3200F (2wd)
L3400DT / HST (Dual Traction 4wd / Hydrostatic Transmission)
L3700SU (Hydrostatic Transmission, 4wd / Special utility)

Reference: Kubota: ASSY DISK, CLUTC, Part # T1-2173

 

[Steppenwolfe]

The dealer was steering him toward an hst... Period.