Kubota M59

Hi all,
I am looking for feedback on a Kubota M59. I'm thinking of replacing a fullsize TLB with it. There are lots of guys on another forum who have them, but they are mostly hobby farmers and the like. I'd like to know from someone who has used one in a construction application how it stands up, and if you missed the size and speed of the bigger machines. They are physically quite big, and since my machine is usually overkill, I thought it might make a nice compromise.
Thanks

i have a few hours on the m59 and can say it lives up to kubotas reputation. its not a 416 or a 580 but does what its weight class is designed for.i like it much better than the deer 110. only thing i dont like is the lack of a full cab and if its raining your right foot gets soaked due to the placement of the hystat pedal/ roof coverage.:usa

something i'm not sure i like is the exhaust. i would rather have a stack on the hood. seems the fumes would get old by the end of the day coming up from underneath.

thanks for the feedback. I am hoping to run across someone who has used one hard along side some bigger machines. Ilooked at the JD110, but it was too small, and I tried to find an Earthforce like you have Capt Met, but there were none around. I also tried a Ditch Witch XT1600, which has huge potential, but needs some more development. So now Kubota has this new machine, and it seems like it might be just the right size. The dealership is quoting me one with a Laurin cab, which is very nice. That should take care of the exhaust as well.

I have looked at the M59 without the backhoe. It has good stats on the loader and is a solid construction tractor, not like that little deere. If your not set on kubota, JCB has some nice little machines that can be all wheel steer.

thats a good tip about JCB. There is no dealership near me, and I have heard that some of the maintenance type parts like hoses can't be sourced anywhere but the dealer. But I should at least go and talk to them, because they make a big range of machines.

Bear, is it an issue of nobody carring bsp fittings, or is something else special about the hoses?

Wajax is the JCB dealer around here in NB possibly the same in BC?

As for hoses,guy up the road from me has a 1700B he once told me he gets his hoses and filters from princess auto,other option would be UAP they did hoses for our Volvo and Hitachi excavators maybe see if they can be of help

What does the M59 weigh in at?
It seems to me the L48 is right on the edge of moving with a pickup and no CDL. So if you must have a big truck, big trailer and a CDL to move, it why not have the advantages to a fullsize machine?

On the JCB hoses, a few years ago the hose ends were hard to find. But now every hose my JCB has needed they have been able to make at my local NAPA.

http://www.kubotatractor.org/kubota-m59-specs.pdf

According to this it weights 8300#

Easily done below CDL on a 12K or 14k trailer

And way below a full size TLB

Cretebaby said:

http://www.kubotatractor.org/kubota-m59-specs.pdf

According to this it weights 8300#

Easily done below CDL on a 12K or 14k trailer

And way below a full size TLB

Click to expand...

Not in Commi-fornia.... Any trailer over 10,000 GVW requires a Class A CDL.
I thought that was the same nation wide:beatsme

Most trailers rated to haul 8300# is going to weigh more than 1700#.
I know kubota claims you can haul a L48 at 7800# under CDL, but do those 9,999 GVW trailers really weigh less than 2300#?

Don't get me wrong I would love to have a L48 or maybe even a L39, mostly for finish type work and clean up. But it would also be nice for light digging where it isn't worth hauling the fullsize hoe in.

LT-x7 said:

Not in Commi-fornia.... Any trailer over 10,000 GVW requires a Class A CDL.
I thought that was the same nation wide:beatsme

Most trailers rated to haul 8300# is going to weigh more than 1700#.
I know kubota claims you can haul a L48 at 7800# under CDL, but do those 9,999 GVW trailers really weigh less than 2300#?

Don't get me wrong I would love to have a L48 or maybe even a L39, mostly for finish type work and clean up. But it would also be nice for light digging where it isn't worth hauling the fullsize hoe in.

Click to expand...

I thought it was the same nationwide too

But I don't need a CDL for my F350 @ 12k with a trailer @14k

Thats the upper most limit before needing a CDL

You might be able to haul the L48 on a 10k with a llittle weight transfer to the truck:beatsme

thanks for the replies. I do plan to talk to JCB. What put me off them is mostly that the dealership is almost two hours from me. Doesn't seem like much, but when you need to run in for a small part in the middle of a work day, its a PITA. There are lots of local dealerships, one being Kubota. For the record, I brought an M59 home yesterday. I am going to install a septic field with it on monday and dig a pit for a guy. Then I'll know if its worth pursuing. I have a 1 tonne with duals, and a 12000 pound deck over that I haul my small equipment with, and I loaded it up and went for a spin today. It felt just fine. Pulled well and stopped well. I was going to scale it but the pit was shut. I'll try again on Tuesday before I return it.

This might be the best of both worlds,do everything the NH can do and be small enough to no longer need the smaller equipment meaning less overhead for you and cheaper to operate and stay competitive in tough times

I went to JCB's website. The only thing that fits the bill is the 2CXS. It's got more power, but it needs an extenda boom to get to 12 feet dig depth and it weighs 14000 pounds. Must be built like a tank, but thats marginally less weight than my LB 110, and I can dig almost 19 feet, so whats the point? I know the Kubota is probably built lighter, but they are all over the place here and they have a really good reputation. Although that is why I originally posted the question, because I'd like to know how they stand up in a construction environment.

Tell us what you thought of it. I have been looking at these since they came out, not serious enough to demo one but I like the idea of one. The lack of a factory cab would likely be a deal breaker. Surely Kubota will offer a cab on it in the furture wont they?

The one i saw at the farm show was a removable backhoe, like the others in the kubota line. I don't see how they can remove the backhoe and still have a cab. i would be really nice to have a small backhow with a cab though.

Here is one on Iron Planet.

http://www.ironplanet.com/jsp/s/item/201766?h=405,2328

It has not been inspected yet so there is nothing to look at, at the moment but it will be interesting to see what it brings.

well, I put 6 hours on that little thing today. It's actually a nice machine. I was surprised how refined the backhoe hydraulics were. I had no trouble keeping it nice and smooth. But they were maybe a little slow. Nothing I wouldn't get used to. I dug a pit 13 feet deep, and that went well. When I tried the little 110 John Deere, the lack of reach was a real pain, but on this machine its not near so bad. It has a really big front bucket for it's size. I measured it and its marginally smaller than the one one on my big hoe. So I would give it around a yard. I don't know if its because off this, but it lacks power in the front end. You can't break the full bucket out of a pile without screwing around a bit. And that lack shows up in other areas as well, like backblading. It might do way better with a slightly smaller bucket. The backhoe on the other hand has lots of jam. I did everything I needed, no trouble. I liked the hydrostatic transmission, and the creep feature, which is nice for inching forward when you are trenching. It weighs just over half what my big machine does, so when I keep that in mind, I would say it does a really good job.

I scaled my truck today before I took my little toy hoe back. I have a double cab dually and a 12000 pound deckover, and with the M59 on and nothing else I was 19665 gross.