I have an ancient kubota, made around 1978. Its the L185DT which means it's a little 700cc diesel 4x4 tractor. It has 17hp at the engine and 12.6hp at the pto at sea level. So at an elevation of 4,400 ft that's more like 10hp at the pto. I really could use a new tractor with new tractor power but not the new tractor price tag. Small tractors are priced like a new car but unfortunately unlike a new car they really hold value. So I turbo charged the kubota with an rh31b turbo and intercooled it with a Toyota mr2 after market intercooler. The intercooler needs a fan real bad, it gets hot. It develops plenty of boost I already had the waste gate open up, I just about jumped off my tractor when it did. I also added a 12si alternator but it seems to be dead, I stashed the alt in my junk pile about 16 years ago I thought it was serviceable. It's probably got a bad voltage regulator. I'll take it apart and test everything.
Cool. Problem with buying a new tractor once you get above 20 something hp is that Tier 4 bullchit emissions control. Neighbor has a 40ish hp Kubota he bought a year or two ago new, and every time he turns around, it has to go thru a 're-gen' cycle....what a pile of crap. Where did you buy the turbo equipment ?
I got the turbo and flange kit off ebay. Elbows, couplers bend reducers came from frozen boost dot com, they are next door and can get stuff here in about 2 days. All the other piping is a mix of 1, 1.5 and 2 inch 304 stainless 0.062 wall dairy process pipe I welded together or to the flanges. Yeah emissions control on a diesel tractor is the dumbest shit ever. Unless you are mowing, brush hogging, or pulling a cultivator or plow it's going to have to burn a lot of fuel to regen.
Interesting ,, I've got little MF 1020 ,, I've wondered about putting a turbo on it . I didn't know if you have to beef up the engine in any way or not from the increased compression. I also have a little Nissan 4x4 pickup , I thought about putting a little diesel motor in it with a turbo ,, then I could start making my own fuel. And ,, I hadn't considered the hp loss at higher altitudes,,, Anyway ,, I'd love to see some pics of the added turbo and all if it was possible,, not trying to put you thru any trouble,, cause I don't know how to post picks myself.
Mentioned before, finally broke down and bought a MF1552, 52 hp, about 2004 build. Found for the money I could get a bigger tractor cheaper than a 20 or so hp. Would not consider new diesel tractor with emission controls , computers, no service manuals electronic injectors, etc. Has mechanical pump and injectors, minimal computers, priced down as with weighted tires a tight turn will put ruts in the lawn, higher to climb into cab, a lot more care required in moving it etc. Bucket, forks, 3 point hitch, will all lift a lot more than the 20 hp and sometimes I run it at fast idle with the auto transmission as it has all the power I need and a very good engine controls. 3 ranges, 4 speeds in each range, and snail is slooow, perfect for an old man lifting logs to be bucked up or for bucket to put things in loft of garage. If a little younger I would bite the bullet and buy a full set of electronics and put them in a Faraday cage. Never really been into diesels and know nothing about turbo's except if they go, it is big bucks to fix them on most tractors. Don't know about rod bearings and crankshaft bearings, used to be a problem in the 1950's when we tried to hop up the engines before the big bores came out. Would love to hear how it came out and how it works over time. Taken a hint from the diesel experts here and adding just a little lube to my fuel now. Sounds like good cheap insurance. Really interested in any more comments on kerosene , additives, storage, and diesel engine life. I know kerosene here stores much better than the new diesel blends..
I just got my new Kubota 2610 about a month ago and one of the reason I bought this one was it was the biggest I could go (25HP) without having all the emission crap on it. Anything over 25 hp now has it. So far, I am in love with it. I got it with larger tires, spacers for snow chains, and a 3rd function kit installed. My only bitch is can't get a Grapple for it and probably will have to wait another month at least and then might not get one. Covid supply shortages of course...
Covid is doing you a favor....... Grapples seem to be the rage on YouTube, but unless you're scooping up/moving a LOT of brush (like nearly all the time), a grapple is a waste of money IMHO. Most YouTuber's have almost no experience operating a tractor and think they have to have every implement on the market. Set of pallet forks will do 90% of what a grapple will do at a fraction of the cost, plus the forks will move stuff like pallets/etc that a grapple won't do. I move brush and logs all the time with pallet forks...occasionally drop a pc of brush, but that's all. And I move a LOT of stuff on pallets and if you do, you'll find you need forks too. Try a set of forks for a while before you spring for the additional plumbing and cost of a grapple. It will likely change your mind about them.
Just had a septic put in last week and the guy shows up with a Case 590, loader bucket and backhoe. Have one helluva lot of very thick brush on the property and he cleared out enough room to work by just scraping it off with the loader bucket. I'd love to have something that capable but don't know a lot about tractors. There are lots for sale on-line through tractor resale houses. Had my eye on a 2015 Case 580 about 1600 hours with loader and backhoe but it was $45k. Don't have a clue as to whether that's a good price and it seems like a bit of overkill. Probably should look at something a little older but am a long way off from a purchase. It's for a few projects, I'm not going into business with the thing.
Unless you are clearing a lot of land covered with thick scrubby thorny brush I wouldn't fool with a grapple either. Bucket, rear blade, backhoe, brush hog should be the first go to. I don't even have a bucket, just a rear blade I can rotate 360 degrees.
Unless this Turbo conversion is approved for that specific diesel engine, and or the aftermarket has tested them and found them to be reliable, I would seriously be wary of modding a Kubota ( or any other manufacture) that wasn't originally designed to be turbo charged! It's a well known issue with many/most diesels, they are designed to run at certain cylinder pressures, and when you start messing about with that, your asking for potential major mechanical problems! Ask any one who ever owned a Kubota, Yanmar, Mercedes Benz ( Seriously bad), Isuzu, VW, or Nissan Non Turbo diesel that added a turbo to the stock engine and they broke all the compression rings or worse, broke the connecting rods! Now, if that engine were built specifically to take a turbo, it has the rods and pistons and rings, as well as the injectors and the means to re time the pump and adjust the fuel pressure, then go for it, otherwise, you might have a ticking time bomb on your hands!
There are different compression ratios pistons for turbo vs non-turbo Non turbo pistons if I remember correctly have a higher compression ratio Throw a turbo on this and you're asking for....problems, Like Ura-Ki has noted
Yup! Just bought a Mil Surplus MBZ G- Wagon with the Turbo 2.4L diesel, nobody here in the states has any idea that these interchange with the W127 series cars made in the late 70s early 80s and that in the Mil, they were all Turbos! Mine smokes and has busted top rings, so it needs an overhaul, but for the price, it was impossible to pass on! Compression ratio should be 22/1 for the Non Turbo, and 17/1 for a Turbo, both require glo-plugs for cold start ignition, mine is 15/1 on the compression gauge! Already scored an industrial cylinder head and forged Pistons and Steel rods that take the Ratio up to 27/1 with a Turbo and can handle as much boost as I want to shove at it! My Sprinter has also been upgraded, MBZ over built them and then cut them way back so fleet users wouldn't be abusing them! Factory is a good setup, but they strangle the boost and have a very soft throttle on them, and the power is down rated to 135 HP! It couldn't get out of it's own way for nothing! Found it also busted it's top rings and needed an in frame! Pulled the head, dropped the rods and Pistons and swapped out to the high output "Euro Spec" and went to town on it, removed all the choking emissions crap, put on a proper turbo and bigger intercooler, had the fuel pump re built to much higher rail pressures and the ECU re-programmed for max power, it now makes 290 HP and gets better fuel milage them ever! Total cost was under 5k for all the parts and labor I couldn't do my self! Old fuel milage was good at 22MPG, new fuel milage is 30 MPG and will lite the rear duels for 90 feet, 0 to 60 in about 6 seconds, and so far, tops out at 108 MPH! Plenty fast for a 5500 pound van! Lol Had a MBZ and Isuzu both blow up, both were non turbo reefer motors that got small turbos installed, bad idea! Got them for free, guess why! Lol! Was able to salvage the MBZ and parts from the Isuzu! So made a few coins of the realm off them!
My 6.2L headed 6.5L Chevy diesel runs between 22:1 and 23:1 compression. It's has about 40,000 turbo charged miles. The main reason for the lower compression ratio in turbo diesels is lower temperature, reduced NOx and handle hot boost. I have a gigantic intercoolers on both the 6.5L Chevy diesel and the tubota. The Toyota MR2 intercooler on the turbota was ran on a 2L 220hp engine with a much bigger turbo. Next mod will be to put an electric fan on the turbota intercooler.
Ha, I figured you be might knowin what's you was doin! My meanest is a 3408 Caterpillar V-8 ( 1098 Cubic Inches / 18L) that could be had in ether 500, 680, or 800 HP! I had my Guy set me up with the parts and machine services to push it just over 1000 HP on 43 pounds of intercooled twin turbo boost, which is the absolute max these turbos will make with out running a compound set up and the required complicated exhaust that goes with that, as it is, I cannot keep mufflers on it, so I had to double up with 4 large high flow off highway mufflers to make it work and try to show that i'm trying to keep it quiet! There are no transmissions or clutches that can handle the torque this monster makes, let alone drive shafts or rear ends, so I have to be very careful how and when I use that power! With the Automatic "Power Shift" trans and 4 speed cascade transfer case, this normally isn't a problem, its the 900+HP i'm cranking to the PTOs to drive a couple of big assed high volume/high pressure water pumps plus the Hydraulics that drive yet more pumps and powers the trailer which has even more power with its stand alone 470 HP Cummins ISC 8.3L "race motor" on it! Yea Baby, Turbo diesels rock!
No muffler for my turbota. Just a 2 inch 0.062 wall stainless steel pipe with a flapper. When the waste gate opens it gets loud.
@TnAndy and @oil pan 4 , I have been clearing land the last 3-4 years by hand and the most time consuming and dirtiest portion of the whole process is picking up all the brush/limbs plus it is so time consuming. I got hundreds of Lodgepole Pines to come down but thankfully probably only 1-2 more years and I should be finished. The hold up right now is we can't burn anything so can't get rid of the slash. I got a huge burn pit. I also have logs laying all over the place. How many? After cutting them into 10' and 12' lengths, I probably got 60+ logs to move and stack onto a logdeck and another 200+ already stacked into logdecks. So, yeah, I think I could make use of a Grapple. I am so damn sick of dealing with brush by hand - loading into truck then unloading it into burn pit - that it would be well worth the money. Having said all this and knowing that you both certainly know what you are talking about... I will take your advice and purchase a good set of forks today. I meant to do so anyway but wanted the Grapple first as I got logs all over the place that I need to clean up. Calling them now. Thanks to you both!
Takes a bit more 'finesse' with forks to get logs balanced left to right, where a grapple you can be more off center weight because of the top clamp.....but I've used forks for 25 years now, am pretty good a scooping up logs or brush with them, and can't justify buying a grapple. One caution using forks and brush....make sure you have the brush ends aimed left to right, not backwards and forwards.....the latter being easy to run the end of a stick in your radiator. I raise my forks about 4-5' high, turn the tips down 90 degrees and use like a rake to gather up loose brush.
Another one here for the forks 1st. I built my own for my Ford and for the uncle's JD. You'll be surprised how much brush you can gather with just a good set of forks.
@TnAndy @Tully Mars Well, hell. Of course, they are back ordered also. I did find a set, a off brand, but didn't like the look of them. Anyway, I have ordered a set of forks...waiting on them grrr! Seems like everything I am trying to purchase is back ordered, just tried to get a standby generator but - 'out of stock'. WTH, I thought things were suppose to be getting better? Anyway...I ordered a set of forks.
