Kubota M5660 Walk Around and Review

We're here today with a Kubota M5660 Utility Tractor. Hard to imagine now but we've been doing tractor walk-arounds for almost a year and we're still not the whole way through the product line. It just show you something about the incredible variety of the machines that are in the Kubota product line. This M series machine is considered an Economy Special Utility Tractor. We're going to walk around in here and point out some of the things that make it a little bit different from its more deluxe brethren, and the 6060 and the 7060, and show you some of the good applications that you might be able to find for this machine.

One of the things that I appreciate about Kubota's economy tractors is when they build an economy model, they don't strip down the important pieces of the machine. You'll notice in some competitive economy tractors, when they start to make things a little bit more simplistic and a little bit less expensive, that shows up in dramatic ways in the quality of the loader, and the quality of your transmission options, the quality of your three point hitch, the tire selections. There's a lot of different places that the companies can decide to cheapen their tractors to lower into lower price categories.

When Kubota does that, a lot of the main things, the functional parts of the tractor, the things that you rely upon, are the same in this machine, or very similar in this machine, and they are through the rest of the other more Deluxe series. The areas where this tractor gets less expensive are mostly in the operator's platform. When it comes to some of the fancier agronomics of how control levers are set up and that kind of thing. But the actual mechanical bits of this tractor are the same as the other versions. The loader, for instance, LA1154 is the same loader that's used on the M6060 and M7060.

You're going to get the same loader capacity, the same height, the same performance on this tractor that you will on those other machines. Two things that I like on this loader, well, I always point out standard skid steer quick couplers that are available, universal standard couplers that are compatible with other implements. One thing that I really like on Kubota loaders, it's such a simple feature and makes so much sense, is this pin right here for moving position of your loader cylinder. By adjusting this pin to either the top position or the bottom position, you can choose either a height or a power function for your loader.

It's hard to imagine but this about two and a half inch difference here, from moving that pin, can either give you about another foot of lift height, say, if you're stacking round bales or about an extra 10% of lift capacity and power by moving down into this bottom pin and changing the angle of this loader cylinder. Nice deluxe loader with all the features that you would find in the more Deluxe series machines. Another important aspect of tractors like this, when you put them into fieldwork, is really ballasting them for the proper application.

One criticism that we often will have about Kubota tractors is that they're a little bit lightweight compared to a lot of the other machines in this class.

That is true. If you look at the base weights throughout the literatures and those kinds of things, you'll notice that they are lighter than what a lot of the other competitive counterparts are. What we often do when bringing tractors in then is ballast them for their applications. This tractor, set up with a loader on the front, is going to need a ballast behind it in order to balance out that loader.

In the case of this machine right here, this is ordered through with cast rims on the back to add about 800 pounds, I believe, to the back tires in order to offset the capacity of that loader.

Conversely, if you are buying this for a mowing application, you don't want that weight. Weight, in a mowing application, just ruts things up or if you're going to go out and work a tedder or hay rake, you don't necessarily want all that weight on the tractor. Ordering this with the steel rim is going to save you all that extra tonnage of running across your yards and your fields and that kind of stuff. In utility tractors like this, ballasting is a really important aspect.

You always want to be watching. The base weight of the tractor is one thing but a ballasted weight for your application is really what you need to be considering. The tires and the ballasting options that are available in this machine, again, are the same tires and ballasting options that we have in the more deluxe counterparts, not a cheap set of tires on the rear. The model number on this tractor is the M5660. If you ever watched Kubota's model numbers, typically the first two digits in the model number more often than not are the engine horsepower of the tractor. This is a 56 engine horsepower tractor.

The transmission in this machine is very, very efficient. It's an 8x8 synchro shuttle. It's able to put 50 of those 56 horsepower out the back of the PTO. In a mowing application or something like that, you've got a lot of your engine horsepower able to be delivered to an implement. If you remember, about a month ago, we did another video on a John Deere 5055E. That would be a 55 engine horsepower tractor, just like this one, but only delivering 38 of its engine horsepower to the PTO. It's a very inefficient drive line. That kind of PTO horsepower is really important when you're in mowing applications and PTO applications.

It's really the tractor's ability to put power to your implement. Kubota has created a very efficient transmission. It's nice to drive and one that can really deliver as much of the tractor's power as possible out the rear to your implements. If we flip up the hood here, it's simply a pin here in the front to fold the grill guard front and then reach down here to a latch underneath. This would obviously be best done with the loader off. Most all of your important things here for servicing the tractor could be found right here in the front. The battery is right down here on the bottom, easily accessible when you inevitably have to get jumper cables on it when it goes dead. Radiator reservoir is down here in the front.

All of your main fuses for your starter and your battery are easily accessible. Your large air cleaner right here in the front, that can be opened here from the side if you want to pull the whole element out, or simply squeeze the rubber thing down here on the bottom that drop out the bigger pieces of dirt. When you get back in here into the radiator itself, there is one place here I think Kubota did a little bit too much on the cost saving side. The screen that goes across the radiator here could be a little bit more robust. It's just a simple metal screen, it doesn't slide out as nicely as some of the bigger tractors do.

Maybe something to consider if you're working in really, really dusty environments. You'll see back up here in the back of the engine compartment is the DPF. This is a tier four tractor, with a diesel particular filter on it. These more modern machines now with DPFs, all you really need to do is start the engine and go work. Nine out of 10 times, when we see a problem with an emission system on tractors like this, it's when a customer isn't running the engine hot and hard enough. This would not be a tractor that likes to be idle and put-putted around. It's meant to have ribs and go to work.

We've done some other videos explaining the ins and outs of tier four and have a bunch of other ones in the works here as well, since it is such a common question that guys come up with. Rest assured, the problems that the on-road truck industry has seen with emissions systems have not been nearly as severe with tractors. We haven't had the issues that they had. For the most part, as an operator, you start the key, you go to the field, and you work. Around the back of the tractor is where your business gets done on a machine like this. Really, this is made for implements. Right?

Loader works, sure. Most of the guys buying utility tractors like this are putting meaningful implements behind them as well. This tractor, even though it's an economy tractor, has a deluxe three point hitch on the back, believe it or not. It's a category two rear-end, with a large category two balls. It still has the extendable link ends in the bottom. You can move the link ends in and out easily to get them hooked up to the heavier implements that you tend to put behind a tractor like this. You have the [unintelligible 00:07:30] sway bars in the back with pins instead of turn buckles and an easy solution up here to level your link arms left to right.

This is all the more deluxe three point linkage that you tend to see on higher class tractors but still put on this economy based machine. The one place back here that would be a little bit less expensive than what some other tractors are would be in the rear remotes. These would be stacking remotes, the first one is standard equipment, two or three could be stacked on top here for more. You'll notice that the layout in the way that these valves are done with linkages and stuff down underneath, the fenders, and the position of those levers is a little bit more basic than the more deluxe counterparts in this series.

Some of those agronomic differences where controls are down a little bit lower with longer throw levers, instead of nice short levers up near the operator, are some of the places that you see some expense saved on a machine like this. Like I said, when we go back into those functional parts of the tractor, to the three point hitch, the things that you interact with, and are frustrating when they're not done right, are all here. Kubota really is delivering a good tractor at a good value. When doing these walk-arounds, one of the things I pride myself in is not just being, "Hey, everything is great" all the time. There's pros and cons to every machine.

One of the habits that I'm into when I'm going over tractors now is sticking my head underneath the machine and looking for what the low point is underneath the tractor. You'll notice in some machines, you've got steering linkages and that kind of stuff hanging down below the front axle which becomes your target point, right, if you're running over a rock, or logs, or something like that. Particulary, when we get in utility class tractors like this, these things do rugged work. When I stick my head down here below the tractor, for the most part, there's nothing too concerning but the only thing that did pop out to me is that the loader valve hangs over here on the side.

Again, when we go back into this economy and deluxe options, on the more deluxe tractors, it's up out of the way more, if I put it that way. There is some decent shielding and stuff around this to keep the simple stuff off of it but if you are to really catch a big log or something that pops up into this thing, you could bend it up without too much trouble. That would be something that I keep an eye on. Maybe consider you to look at the more deluxe version of these machines if you're going to be in those environments a lot.

The operator's platform of the tractor is one of the areas where you can start to see where some of the differentiation between economy tractor and the more deluxe tractor takes place. If you look down here across my footwell, I don't have quite as much leg room as I would on some other tractors. Also, I have a little bit more of a hump here, across the middle, than what they normally would have on a more deluxe machine. No rubber formats, just a metal format across here. You'll hear a little bit more resonant noise and engine noise and that kind of stuff where the floor mats tend to deaden that a little bit. As I move back here through the sides, the more deluxe tractors are gonna give you controls up here on the sides. Short throw levers for your rear remotes and your gear shifter right up here by your side, where this uses a little bit more old school and traditional levers that go down through the floor. There's still some cowlings and stuff up around in here. One thing I've noticed on some other economy tractors is that a lot of times you could see straight down to the ground.

If you're sitting up here in your seat, and your cell phone falls out of your pocket, there's nothing to stop it. In the case of this tractor, there is cowlings and metal all through the bottom here to catch anything that might fall off of the operator. Here's where I find my differences between deluxe and economy, right, largely in these control layouts. Right over here, I have my three point hitch control to go up and down. There is no standard draft control on this model. My lever for my PTO, let's turn that on and off. Valve to operate my rear remote, high and low range. My gear selector, one through four. Loader valve. Throttle up here on the dash as well as a foot throttle down here on the floor.

My hydraulic shuttle to change directions. One of the things that I'm really happy with on this tractor is that it's a fully synchronized transmission. That is something when we get into economy tractors, often times, you'll see un-synchronized transmissions or mechanical shuttles and not hydraulic ones. This is a real hydraulic shuttle where I can go between forward and reverse without going on and off the clutch all the time. I can also change between first, second, third and fourth gear on the fly, with synchronized gears, without having to stop the tractor to keep from grinding gears as I change them. I go again back into that statement that while this is an economy tractor, it preserves a lot of the important, more deluxe features in the transmission and in the things that the operator interacts with.

Down on the dash itself is basically the same dash that you'll find in most of the other tractors in this series. There is only two buttons down here related to the emissions system. One to do a parked regen and one to bypass or prevent regen. For the most part, you're not going to touch these two buttons, unless you either are in a combustible environment and you don't want the tractor to regen, you can bypass it there. If you want it to run later, you'll park the tractor and hit that button to kick off the regen cycle. For the most part, in typical applications, you're not going to be using those. Over on the left hand side, there's a button. It says RPM.

That's a constant RPM feature that these electronically controlled engines can have. You can think of it as an electronic governor, basically, where if you have a PTO load on the back, and your RPMs are spinning along at 540 like you want them to, when the tractor starts to encounter a heavy load, it can throw more fuel at the engine and electronically govern the engine in order to give it more torque to keep the RPMs spinning right at 540. With that shut off, the tractor's more likely to slow down than when it's engaged. Most of the time, you're probably just gonna turn that on all the time. I'll do a short driving demonstration here to show you exactly how this 8x8 transmission works. To start the tractor, you simply push down the clutch and turn the key.

[engine starting]

I'm gonna go ahead and slide this guy into second gear, alright. Now, I can go from a dead stop, let the clutch out, and take the shuttle lever here, lift it up, and push it forward. And the tractor will go inthe forward. Now, that was done without me touching the clutch, right? Now, while I'm rolling forward here, I have a foot throttle that I can use to rev it up and down, to go into my pile of dirt and transport, or whatever. When I want to change directions, I'll keep my foot off the clutch, and pull the lever in the opposite direction. And all that's done with hydraulic clutch plates and hydraulic pressure to change the direction of the tractor. One really important feature of that is because you're not on and off the clutch all the time, you're dramatically extending the life of your clutch plates.

You're not hitting that clutch every time you're changing directions, and slipping it all the time in order to make the tractor change movement. You can change your gears all without touching the clutch, you can change your direction without touching the clutch. When you want to shift gears, down here on my right hand side I have a one through four gear selector, and a high load down here on the bottom. Like I said, these are synchronized gears. Right now, I'm in second, when I want to go on to third, I push the clutch down, slide it over there to third, and let the clutch out. Like I said, these are synchronized. Sometimes, in economy tractors, you'll find un-synchronized gears.

When you want to change those gears, you either need to do some kind of bubble clutching, or clutch and come to a stop, or speed matching, or something to be able to keep the gears from grinding every time that you change them. This is a fully synchronized transmission, so you can pop through every one of these gears, from first to fourth if you want to, and not have any kind of grinding or anything while you do that.

Really, what a lot of that is gonna do is prolong the life of your transmission. Again, go back to that thing. When a tractor is cheapened to create an economy model, there are certain things you just shouldn't touch. You shouldn't address the things that take money out of the things that are going to effect the experience of the operator, or the reliability of the machine. This thing checks all those boxes in the right spots. This is a tractor that we sell a fair amount of into loader applications because it has a very strong loader for this class tractor. Haying applications, that kind of stuff where somebody needs an inexpensive utility tractor with the right weights, the right capacities, to do that kind of work. That's the Kubota M5660 Economy Utility Tractor. If you have a need for a machine like this, any kind of utility work that needs to be done around your property, give us a call at Messick's. We're available at 800-222-3373, or online at messicks.com.