Robert_in_NY
Super Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2001
- Messages
- 8,552
- Location
- Silver Creek, NY
- Tractor
- Case-IH Farmall 45A, Kubota M8540 Narrow, New Holland TN 65, Bobcat 331, Ford 1920, 1952 John Deere M, Allis Chalmers B, Bombardier Traxter XT, Massey Harris 81RC and a John Deere 3300 combine, Cub Cadet GT1554
Well I finally reached the 50 hour mark and will give a short review of my initial thoughts on this machine. It is an M8540 Narrow with cab, FWA and 10 speed tranny.
First off some of you know my extreme dislike for the original factory vinyl seat that came with this cab tractor. I couldn't use the tractor for more then an hour without hurting. Thankfully Kubota and Grammer worked together to offer an air suspension replacement seat option and while it is not the greatest seat in the world it is considerably better then the stock seat.
The tractor has plenty of power. The cab heat and air work great. There are a few little features that are handy. It is light which is both good and bad. I don't mind it being light in the vineyard and I bought it with as much cast weight as possible so that I can weight it properly when needed.
So now for the parts I don't care much for. The cab is extremely noisy. The lift levers clang around non stop and you have that metal on metal clanging noise constantly ringing inside the cab. The tool box is also mounted to the cab frame outside and it vibrates noise into the cab as well.
There was no mirror mounted inside the cab (external mirrors are an option but not one you want in an orchard or vineyard). I had to order an aftermarket mirror and build a mounting plate to be able to attach it to the cab. Kubota didn't design the interior of these cabs to allow mounting of aftermarket items very easily.
There also wasn't a cup holder in there. For someone who spends 8-12 hours in a tractor every day a cup holder is very handy and actually a requirement to help keep from dehydrating. I bought a very simple bottle holder that would mount on a bike frame and mounted it to the 1" bar to the right of the dash. It works well for holding a bottle water/gatorade and is easy to reach and still out of the way since there is no step or easy access on that side of the cab anyway.
The roof plastic is very thin and flimsy. I am actually scared of using this tractor near my orchard for fear a limb may puncture it. I definitely won't use it near woods or brush lines for that same reason. I feel Kubota should build a thicker cab roof shell for these machines that can take some abuse. I was scared just cleaning the spray residue off the top of the roof. The soft bristled brush would make the thin plastic deflect very easily. I can't imagine how a layer of snow would be handled by it. Hopefully there is proper support under it for that situation.
Some items I don't like but is part of the nature of a narrow tractor. Such as the front wheels. There is no clearance at all inside the rims and as a result any mud gets packed in there tight and you can't clean it out easily.
One item I found during the 50 hour service that I extremely dislike is the hydraulic filter location. There are two filters hydrualic filters located next to each other instead of one like most every other tractor has and each hydraulic filter cost the same as the big one every other tractor I own does so it costs me twice as much for filters. These filters are located on the side of the transmission right behind the right rear tire (as you sit in the tractor). The easiest way and the way I will change them from now on will be to remove the rear wheel. The area these are located is very tight and you can't get in there to clean the dirt away. The filters fit so tightly next to other items on the tractor that you can't get most of the dirt away even if you did pull the wheel. When you do get the filters off you have a large opening into the housing so any dirt that falls off in the removal process has a great chance of falling into the housing. The placement of these filters in this location is just stupid in every aspect. Its hard to access, hard to clean and twice the expense. I do not understand why they did what they did but it is what it is and I will do my best to keep the dirt and debris away from this area (which is directly behind the wheel so it will be a challenge).
The tractor is a nice tractor as a whole. I will continue to make a few modifications to improve some items (trying to come up with a simple way to quiet the cab without making it look trashy). I wish Kubota would have made it easier to mount items inside the cab. I have installed my sprayer control on the right door bar which isn't ideal but was the easiest place I could access. The two power outlets they have in the cab are nice. One is a simple 12 volt outlet and the other is ideal for running sprayer controls and other controllers.
A couple other items I have noticed and have not taken the time to figure out yet are that this tractor is extremely rough riding (it has radials). I am going to try lowering the tire pressure to the lowest recommended setting and hope it helps. Also, the foot throttle is almost useless as if you try to use it to give just a little fuel it makes the tractor jerk and you can't feather the pedal as the tractor is jerking violently. Every other tractor I have ever used has not had this issue. I don't understand why this one does it but I have been way too busy to try and figure it out.
When I bought this tractor I had considered a John Deere narrow as well but because of the reputation Kubota had on here I decided to buy one with out ever seeing one in person. If I had demoed this tractor before buying I can definitely say I never would have bought it over a John Deere. I am disappointed with it but that is because I expected better from Kubota. I am going to try and get it fined tuned for my operation and hopefully it will grow on me as time goes by.
The only other narrow tractors available in this area that would work for me are Case-IH/New Hollands (their cabs are not very good for my back, the Kubota has a nice fairly flat cab floor so I can stretch when needed) and Landini (that dealer isn't one I feel comfortable with) and John Deere. I have not seen any other M40 narrows from Kubota in this area. I know a dealer an hour south of me has sold a few of them but I have not seen any in the vineyards. I do know of three other farmers who have standard M series Kubotas that they narrowed up as tight as possible to use in their vineyards. I really hope Kubota keeps trying to improve this model. It has the potential to be a strong player in this market and could easily compete with John Deere if Kubota would put forth the extra effort. As it stands now though I would not recommend this tractor to someone comparing it to a John Deere. A CNH narrow, yes but not a Deere
I will try to remember to update this thread as the opportunity arrises of both good and bad.
First off some of you know my extreme dislike for the original factory vinyl seat that came with this cab tractor. I couldn't use the tractor for more then an hour without hurting. Thankfully Kubota and Grammer worked together to offer an air suspension replacement seat option and while it is not the greatest seat in the world it is considerably better then the stock seat.
The tractor has plenty of power. The cab heat and air work great. There are a few little features that are handy. It is light which is both good and bad. I don't mind it being light in the vineyard and I bought it with as much cast weight as possible so that I can weight it properly when needed.
So now for the parts I don't care much for. The cab is extremely noisy. The lift levers clang around non stop and you have that metal on metal clanging noise constantly ringing inside the cab. The tool box is also mounted to the cab frame outside and it vibrates noise into the cab as well.
There was no mirror mounted inside the cab (external mirrors are an option but not one you want in an orchard or vineyard). I had to order an aftermarket mirror and build a mounting plate to be able to attach it to the cab. Kubota didn't design the interior of these cabs to allow mounting of aftermarket items very easily.
There also wasn't a cup holder in there. For someone who spends 8-12 hours in a tractor every day a cup holder is very handy and actually a requirement to help keep from dehydrating. I bought a very simple bottle holder that would mount on a bike frame and mounted it to the 1" bar to the right of the dash. It works well for holding a bottle water/gatorade and is easy to reach and still out of the way since there is no step or easy access on that side of the cab anyway.
The roof plastic is very thin and flimsy. I am actually scared of using this tractor near my orchard for fear a limb may puncture it. I definitely won't use it near woods or brush lines for that same reason. I feel Kubota should build a thicker cab roof shell for these machines that can take some abuse. I was scared just cleaning the spray residue off the top of the roof. The soft bristled brush would make the thin plastic deflect very easily. I can't imagine how a layer of snow would be handled by it. Hopefully there is proper support under it for that situation.
Some items I don't like but is part of the nature of a narrow tractor. Such as the front wheels. There is no clearance at all inside the rims and as a result any mud gets packed in there tight and you can't clean it out easily.
One item I found during the 50 hour service that I extremely dislike is the hydraulic filter location. There are two filters hydrualic filters located next to each other instead of one like most every other tractor has and each hydraulic filter cost the same as the big one every other tractor I own does so it costs me twice as much for filters. These filters are located on the side of the transmission right behind the right rear tire (as you sit in the tractor). The easiest way and the way I will change them from now on will be to remove the rear wheel. The area these are located is very tight and you can't get in there to clean the dirt away. The filters fit so tightly next to other items on the tractor that you can't get most of the dirt away even if you did pull the wheel. When you do get the filters off you have a large opening into the housing so any dirt that falls off in the removal process has a great chance of falling into the housing. The placement of these filters in this location is just stupid in every aspect. Its hard to access, hard to clean and twice the expense. I do not understand why they did what they did but it is what it is and I will do my best to keep the dirt and debris away from this area (which is directly behind the wheel so it will be a challenge).
The tractor is a nice tractor as a whole. I will continue to make a few modifications to improve some items (trying to come up with a simple way to quiet the cab without making it look trashy). I wish Kubota would have made it easier to mount items inside the cab. I have installed my sprayer control on the right door bar which isn't ideal but was the easiest place I could access. The two power outlets they have in the cab are nice. One is a simple 12 volt outlet and the other is ideal for running sprayer controls and other controllers.
A couple other items I have noticed and have not taken the time to figure out yet are that this tractor is extremely rough riding (it has radials). I am going to try lowering the tire pressure to the lowest recommended setting and hope it helps. Also, the foot throttle is almost useless as if you try to use it to give just a little fuel it makes the tractor jerk and you can't feather the pedal as the tractor is jerking violently. Every other tractor I have ever used has not had this issue. I don't understand why this one does it but I have been way too busy to try and figure it out.
When I bought this tractor I had considered a John Deere narrow as well but because of the reputation Kubota had on here I decided to buy one with out ever seeing one in person. If I had demoed this tractor before buying I can definitely say I never would have bought it over a John Deere. I am disappointed with it but that is because I expected better from Kubota. I am going to try and get it fined tuned for my operation and hopefully it will grow on me as time goes by.
The only other narrow tractors available in this area that would work for me are Case-IH/New Hollands (their cabs are not very good for my back, the Kubota has a nice fairly flat cab floor so I can stretch when needed) and Landini (that dealer isn't one I feel comfortable with) and John Deere. I have not seen any other M40 narrows from Kubota in this area. I know a dealer an hour south of me has sold a few of them but I have not seen any in the vineyards. I do know of three other farmers who have standard M series Kubotas that they narrowed up as tight as possible to use in their vineyards. I really hope Kubota keeps trying to improve this model. It has the potential to be a strong player in this market and could easily compete with John Deere if Kubota would put forth the extra effort. As it stands now though I would not recommend this tractor to someone comparing it to a John Deere. A CNH narrow, yes but not a Deere
I will try to remember to update this thread as the opportunity arrises of both good and bad.
