Kubota RTVs - how do they handle off road?

[FTG-05]

Had to throw this In there. ( no picture it didn't happen thing. )this is DT86 s bota.

Wow!

How much does one of those weigh?

Thanks,

 

[texasjohn]

Suggest you run water thru radiator fins...they rather easily get clogged up because radiator is in dust trail from front tire....need to clean out mine frequently when dusty conditions. Good vehicle, you have already found a highly underrated feature....slow down/stop when letting off the "go" pedal.

 

[FTG-05]

Suggest you run water thru radiator fins...they rather easily get clogged up because radiator is in dust trail from front tire....need to clean out mine frequently when dusty conditions. Good vehicle, you have already found a highly underrated feature....slow down/stop when letting off the "go" pedal.

I also checked that out yesterday as well. The radiator has a screen just like my L4330, both it and the radiator were pretty clean.

I'll be replacing the steering fluid here in a couple minutes - 1.6 gallons of Super UDT - ouch! Oh well, life's tough, then you die.

 

[DT86]

Wow! How much does one of those weigh? Thanks,

It all depends on type of grass, the thickness of the windrow, the baler, who is running it, ect. Those are rolled good and tight, I'm going to guess around 900lbs. Those aren't the heavy ones though, the high moisture plastic wrapped ones are probably almost 1500 lbs.

I think mjcountrybumpkin must have snuck down to the car wash before he took that cause I don't remember it being that clean.

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

It's was raining like ****, not clean just shiny.

 

[FTG-05]

Drained the milky power steering fluid today, let it drain for about 3 hours. Then I put one quart of power steering fluid and one quart of cheap ATF and then ran the RTV for about 5-8 minutes around the farm to try to get rid of all the water in the system. Drained it again and 4 hours later, it was still dripping white milky now slightly red mixture. So I'm going to let it drip overnight, then get some more cheap ATF to put in it tomorrow to flush all of it out. Assuming I can get all the milky stuff out, I'll then refill it with SUDT. I also tightened up about a dozen or so various bolts on it.

Then I plan to replace the antifreeze and change the oil and perhaps the fuel filters. I have the filters from the auction where I won the farm, the previous owner also had an RTV, albeit a lot newer version.

 

[DT86]

Sounds like you're on the right track.

You might want to check the muffler to clean the spark arrestor. They get clogged with soot over time, some have been known to be misplaced during this procedure.

It's was raining like ****, not clean just shiny.

Ah, now I remember.

 

[FTG-05]

Got some work done yesterday:

- Took about 7-8 flushings to get all the milky stuff out of the power steering system. Sacrificed a full gallon of cheap ATF, then another 1/2 gallon of hydraulic oil, but it appears to be all out. Refilled it with SUDT and the world is better now.
- Changed the oil and oil filter. Didn't have the hydraulic or trans axle filter, so I'll have to pick them up from the local Kubota dealer tomorrow.
- Took my wife on a tour of the farm. Given our hills and the steepness of same, she finally was able to visit and see parts of our farm that she had never seen before. One of which was the view of our house from the bottom of the hill:

By the way, the RTV had no trouble going up or down my hills, although going up, it isn't any kind of speedster and I sometimes wonder if it's going to make it or it's going to stall out. Is there some special trick to using the transmission/gas pedal? I *think* the transmission is very similar to the tractor HST tranny??? And you're not supposed to mash the pedal to the floor to get up to speed or something like that.

Thanks,

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Nope, you're not gonna set any speed records in that RTV, but you'll be able to go up anywhere you can get traction. HST will vary the transmission ratio under varying load to keep engine speed constant. That means you'll go slower uphill than down. Some say that you'll get max speed with the pedal just shy of floored, but I haven't noticed that on mine. You'll reach a point where it won't go up in M or H, so switch down to L and away you go. 4WD helps a lot with the traction part, as does the diff lock.

BTW, that looks like a good spot for the chainsaw scabbard. :thumbsup:

 

[biffnh]

When loosing speed going up hill, back off on the accelerator and the machine will pick up speed (akin to downshifting). It helps to anticipate the uphill and prior to tackling the hill shift into L and you'll be better able to maintain your speed. You will never win a race but it will surely get you and your load where you want to go!