Kubota M6 axle in the oil pan

[daugen]

It was interesting reading the website info on the new DEF M6 model.
https://www.kubota.com/product/MSeries/M6101.aspx
shock absorber front suspension on the largest model, memory presets for favorite settings,
and my favorite, which really makes me scratch my head:

To offer one of the highest crop clearances in their class, the front axle propeller shaft passes through the engine oil pan to provide ample clearance.

Now unless that oil pan is custom made to wrap around that shaft, that means two very fancy seals at each end, protecting the oil supply for the engine.
I hope they have double checked their low engine oil warning system....and I'm sure they have. Well, that shaft isn't going to rust any time soon.

I neither need nor can afford a tractor this size but the tech is interesting, and in another five or ten years, it will trickle down to smaller tractors and we all will benefit.

Just have to wonder what bumping into one of those preset buttons would do...a flip cap on top might be safer unless the actual actuation is somewhere else.


realized my error, this should be in Kubota operating, not buying, but it struck me, is this propeller shaft design reliable? A reasonable engineering compromise? If not, that affects buying...

 

[Baby Grand]

My L3240 has a wrapped or "bifurcated" oil pan, and I suspect your L5740 has one, too.
The oil pan looks like a pair of saddlebags that are joined, at the top.
If you get under your tractor and look up, you'll see the front prop shaft, tucked way up, in a fold in the oil pan that runs from front to back.
-Jim

 

[ovrszd]

Yep, like Baby Grand explained, my M9540 is built the same way. Has two drain plugs. Definitely allows them to keep the propeller shaft higher and still maintain an ample supply of engine oil.

 

[daugen]

well I'll be darned...
thanks guys

 

[Grateful11]

Didn't GM build a vehicle where the front driveshaft actually went through the oil pan and not just had the oil pan wrapped around it?

 

[jayman30]

Didn't GM build a vehicle where the front driveshaft actually went through the oil pan and not just had the oil pan wrapped around it?

The Chevy Trailblazer had the differential actually bolted to the side of the pan with the axle going through it - some engineering there! - LOL

 

[Sawyer Rob]

My L3240 has a wrapped or "bifurcated" oil pan, and I suspect your L5740 has one, too.
The oil pan looks like a pair of saddlebags that are joined, at the top.
If you get under your tractor and look up, you'll see the front prop shaft, tucked way up, in a fold in the oil pan that runs from front to back.
-Jim

Yeaaa, lot's of tractors have been made this way for a long time... Kubota is waaay late to that party!

SR

 

[MHarryE]

Other than using DEF to meet Tier 4 final, the only change from the Grand X series is they added an auto position to the MFWD switch. In auto, it will automatically kick the front wheels out once travel speed exceeds 11.8 mph - for those who forget to switch out of MFWD when roading. All those other presets they describe - my M135GX has them along with the driveshaft through the oil pan just like on my first Kubota, a 2001 L3710. I had to go through the M6 specs multiple times to spot that change because everything other than adding DEF was identical. Not like the M5 where the cab got a major upgrade. That happened on the larger tractors with the Grand X introduction in 2013.

 

[daugen]

well I started this thread out of ignorance so might as well continue...
It was that Trailblazer setup that had me wondering, how to maintain those seals..., but not to worry,
this is old news, and those interesting features are already on the big tractors as MHarry has pointed out.

There's another thread going on rough riding tractors. I wonder when cab suspensions and front wheel suspensions will trickle down to the
utility market. I for one would sure like a smoother riding tractor so that front suspension option really caught my eye.
MHarry, do you have one of these, and does the shock absorber work?

three years and 250 hours later my L5740 runs flawlessly, though I remain disappointed in its loader performance. I can't go into a full pile of dirt and pick up without constantly going backwards a little. I guess I should have bought an M...like most of you guys...

 

[Agvg]

Front suspension is mandatory here I Europe for tractors that has top speed of 50km/h or higher, front brakes are mandatory for 40km/h tractors, front suspension is a very expensive option.