Neil from Messick's here to talk through with you today on the different series of tractors that Kubota makes. I spent the better part of about the last three years making fairly regular videos on these different models and their features and functionality. Consider this the index. If you have no idea where to start in your tractor buying process, this is where you're going to want to begin. We'll get you honed in here to the right series tractor for your application. 

We size tractors for people based upon your application. It's not necessarily that we just come out here and look for what we got in stock. We've got just about everything. It's a matter of what you're doing with it and what part of your application is going to be the most demanding, whether that's needing to get grass mowed quickly enough or loads you need to lift for a loader. We want to go through the different applications, the different chores that you have in mind for a piece of equipment, and then select the right tractor series here appropriately for what you're going to be doing. 

The different series that Kubota has available would be BX, B, L, MX, and M. Within those couple of series, you're going to find the better part of a probably, ultimately, 80 or 90 models or so. Starting here and those letters on the front end is kind of get you honed into where you want to start. 

We're standing here beside a BX series tractor. This is the beginnings of a real tractor. Four-wheel drive, power steering, diesel engines, three-point hitches on the back, the beginning of a real piece of equipment. Anything smaller than one of these and we're generally into lawn and garden tractors, and those kinds of things, totally different class of equipment when you get to this kind of machine. If you're coming out from a lawn and garden type tractor, something like this will rock your world. It feels like a vastly more machine than one of those lawn and garden pieces of equipment does, and tends to consistently impress people, and that it outperforms your expectations for this size machine. 

Generally, the BX is the tractor of choice for somebody on, say, less than three or four acres or so. Ultimately, coming to real equipment for the very first time, this is the gateway drug to get into the tractor world. Find these things easier to come by used than a lot of the other tractors that we're going to see here. That's partly because the volume of machines are sold, but also, because this is often a starter tractor for a lot of people. They choose later on then to move up to bigger pieces of equipment as they learn more about their applications, or what they're going to be doing, or maybe get into different chores as the tractor stuff is really, really fun. 

Like I said, we're into those lower acreage classes. I've sold BXs to guys with a half an acre. I've sold them to guys with 50 acres. It goes into those chores of, "Are you going to be able to mow the grass quickly enough for what you want? We're 48-inch to 60-inch mower decks in this size. We're using loaders. They're going to lift loads full height in the bucket into a back of a truck in the neighborhood of about 500 to 600 pounds or so. You can lift probably about 50% more than that on a lot of these numbers. You're just not going to lift and dump and fully handle those loads into any position. Loader specifications are perhaps the most difficult thing to understand in the tractor world. I got a lot of videos about that to help educate you about how those things work. 

When we go up into the next family of tractors, we take a step out of the subcompacts and into a compact tractor. We're going to move into Kubota's B series. In the B series, there are four different models, B2301 and B2601, that sit on smaller chassis, and B2650 and B3350 that sit on a larger chassis. Now you're going to find these tractors, even the small one here, are going to feel like, surprisingly, more machine than a subcompact does. Even going to a 23-horse B series machine, it feels a lot more capable than the smaller machines do. That's partly because the rear end of these machines are going to have three range rears in them, while the smaller tractors were usually going to be a low and a high. 

A machine like this is going to have a low medium-high. That extra low range gives this tractor a lot more ability to pull and push and work with a loader than what the smaller tractors can. As you get to a bigger machine, you are also getting a little bit more capable hydraulic system with more flow so your implements can cycle and operate a little bit more quickly than the smaller tractors can. You're also picking up a bigger machine with more physical weight. When it comes to tractor type task like pulling and pushing, weight is a big aid there. 

Now when we're in the B series, we are looking at tractors that we don't want to be too heavy. These are compact tractors that are geared towards residential lots and that kind of thing where you want to be working around your house. If a tractor gets to be too heavy, you start to rut up the ground and those kinds of things so capable machines with meaningful loaders, able to do a capable work but not so heavy that will compromise the chores that we might want to do. More or less these are generally going to be found in the 10-acre and under range. 

Usually, the smaller Bs are going to end up in your 4 to 7 acres, and your bigger Bs in the 7 to 10. You can find a lot of variation there. Guys will go one way or the other all the time but that's generally going to be driven by their loaders, where the bigger tractors loader is going to lift about 150 pounds or so more than what the smaller one does. We're also going to view a [unintelligible 00:05:19] implements as well. If you want to be able to say mow a little bit faster or work, let's say, wider blade across the back for clearing snow, the bigger tractor is going to be able to handle implements that are about 12 inches wider. More or less, you're going to scale up capabilities and implements here by about 10% or 20% by going into the larger chassis tractor. You'll find the price jump here isn't all that great. 

You're going to notice as I go from tractor to tractor they keep getting bigger and bigger. From this point down, you can actually get every one of these machines in 26-horsepower. Remember that when you're looking at tractors, horsepower is not a good indicator for the capabilities of a tractor. This hydraulic system, the weight of the machine, its loader, its cylinders, there's a lot of things that play into these machines that are going to tell you how much work they can do that goes far beyond the engine horsepower. 26-horse is a breaking point there for emissions reasons. When we're under 26, we don't need after treatment on the engine. When we go over 26, we do. Generally, were going to see a lot of machines under 26-horsepower, and then it jump up into the 30s with not a whole lot there in between for that reason. 

We're standing here beside an L series tractor. There's a more variety in the L series than there had been in the other machines here that we're going past through at this point. When we're moving into Ls, we're moving into utility tractors now. These are machines that are starting to get big enough and heavy enough that you're not going to be doing work around your home and on sensitive turf and that kind of thing. You can put mid-mount mowers on all these other tractors. You could not want a big machine like this. They just start to get a little too unwieldy for those kinds of applications. 

At this point, we're moving into people with more utilitarian type tasks. Say, moving hay bale is a little bit of light farming applications. Vegetable farming, landscape yards, and that kind of stuff. You need to be moving materials. We're getting capacities now where we can get a loader that can lift and carry say, a 1,000 pounds, 12,000 pounds on a set of pallet forks and move much more meaningful loads than we can on the smaller tractors. 

When we talk about weight now, and L is a tractor that we're going to start to want and get some of that weight. You're going to notice these being heavier than what the BX and the B series tractors are because we need that additional mass in the tractor in order to offset the loader. There's two families inside of the L series. There's the standard L series machines, whose model numbers currently in 2019, end in 01, so 2501, 2301, 2901, and 4701. Those first two digits are going to be the horsepower of the machine and then the last two are their family identifier. 

All of those tractors are economy tractors so simple machines for everyday tasks, not a whole lot of bells and whistles. You can get gear shift transmissions and those kinds of things in the standard L so they can be very, very price competitive and inexpensive tractors for the quality and capability that they're going to bring to you. There's also a Grand L series family as well. Those are going to range from 35 clear on up to 60 horsepower. All of those model numbers are going to end with a 60 on the end. 

As you can see here the Grand L series tractors are grand. They're our deluxe premium feature-rich tractors. These are machines where you're going to find all of the technology that the tractor industry has to offer. Comfortable cabs of heat and air-conditioning, sophisticated transmissions of electronic controls that are going to have cool things for guys who know how to operate equipment, but also some features for guys who are new to machinery that help you get a 100% out of this tractor without being an expert operator. That transmission can do a lot for you. You're going to find all of these features available in either cab or open station models. Everything under that glass is going to be exactly the same. 

Capability wise, you're going to find that these are going to sit on three different chassis. The 35 to 60 horse models are going to increment up through small chassis changes. You can set up side by side you're only going to notice maybe an 8-inch or 10-inch difference from the smallest to the largest but the loaders are also going to go up. There's three different loaders in this family. The bigger ones are going to be more capable as you go up into that larger tractor with a bigger hydraulic system. A lot of variety in size but feature function-wise, all of these machines in the Grand L family are exactly the same. 

For us here in the Northeast, a vast majority of the Grand L tractors are sold with cabs. For us, it's probably about 85% or so. That's because here, like today, it gets quite hot outside. These are going to have air-conditioning but also that you're going to have a cab for snow removal and those kinds of things in the wintertime. There is one smaller tractor, it'd be 2650, that you can get a cab one but for most guys that are in snow removal applications or for homeowners that are looking to get themselves out of the elements, this is a really popular choice. 

I'm sitting here in the seat of an MX series tractor and this is the next bigger machine up from the L series. You can think of an MX as kind of a hybrid between the M series utility tractors and the L series large compact tractors. The mechanics of this machine are very much L series front end with M series rear ends. You're going to find these to have a little bit more stout back ends with larger category, two hitches, but a lot of L series technology out in the front of the machine with L series-sized axles and loader capacities. These are popular options for us because it's a really good size utility tractor in that 48 to 58 horsepower range that does not have all those bells and whistles of the grand Ls. If you're looking for a capable utility tractor that's a little bit more machine than the standard L, the MX fills that niche. 

One thing that I really like on this tractor that's kind of the standout for me is this is a machine that's got a really nice set of tires on it. That's what's putting your power to the ground. When you look at the front tires on an MX versus the front tires on an L, you're going to find a lot wider, more stout, uglier looking tire than what you have on that smaller series. 

Typical applications for a tractor like this tends to be guys that are doing that utilitarian work but need a little bit more machine than what the standard L series is going to offer. We're in that 48 to 58 horsepower range but on a physically bigger, more capable chassis. This is not considered the lux machine so not excess bells and whistles. The larger 52 and 58 horsepower machines come with the Lux three-point hitches, but you don't have electronic controlled transmissions like we have on the Grand L series. Little bit more economy-oriented, but very, very capable tractors and very nice machines to run. I personally gravitate towards this machine from the top end of the L series. If you're looking for that little bit more basic design, you don't need the electronics that are in the grand L, the MX is a really appealing machine. 

I'm sitting here on an M5660 and this is the very first of the tractors in the M series. We're talking to M series tractors. We're now in the machines that are made for daily utilitarian type work. These are going into agricultural farming applications being sold to municipal guys, guys that may have higher acreage demands, up into, say, 40, 50 acres that you're maintaining larger acreage now that you need a meaningful tractor that can pull much larger implements behind it or handled much, much heavier loads. Well, we've covered say 18 to 60 horsepower between the BX, B, L, MX series. We're now going from 56 horsepower clear up to 171 in the M series. You can guess there's a lot of variety in the M series. 

This M5660 is the entry point, but we're just now launching an M4 series that's going to fall into 60 to 70 horsepower and M5 series that's going to run 90 to 110, M6 that's going to run a 100 to 140, an M7 to run 130 to 170. Now, there's some slop in all of those numbers, but it should give you an idea that as you go through each one of these tractors, you're moving into a different family of machines with bigger chassis, bigger loaders that are going to be more capable for more demanding work. 

That is the index to the different families of the Kubota tractors. Now, as we've been going along here in the video, I'm going to put links and stuff as we've gone through each one of these tractors to the other videos that I've done that go into these machines in much, much more detail. Like I said, generally, the best way to determine where you should be in this spectrum of tractors is to think through the different applications you have. What are the different things that you need to do with one of these machines, be it mowing or lifting with a loader or running attachments, and identify the most demanding part of your application, and then suit the machine in order to fit that need. 

If you're going through the buying process or if you have parts of service needs for machines you already have, give us a call at Messick's. We're available at 800.222-3373. We're online at messicks.com