Details of Cars

Kubota L series: the middle of the tractor range

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Kubota compact tractor with a front loader
Kubota tractor with an LA713 front loader. Photo by Novoklimov, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Kubota L series is the middle of the company’s tractor range, between the compact B and BX machines for gardens and the large M series. It is also the oldest of the three in name: the L15R of 1962 was Kubota’s first riding tractor for paddy fields, and the L200 took the line to the United States in 1969.

Kubota L series at a glance

Kubota L series key facts
Maker Kubota Corporation, Osaka, Japan
Line mid-size tractors between the B/BX and M series
First L model L15R, 1962, a riding tractor for paddy fields
Export landmark L200, 21 hp, exported to the United States from 1969
Compact series in the L family L1, L2 and LX
Larger L models listed L 3200-4100 DR-DW; L 4240 and the 5000 series
Front loader in the photograph LA713
Models in this collection L1500, L225, L2850, L2900 and L35
Engines Kubota’s own diesel range

There is no Wikipedia article for the L series. This page uses the Kubota company articles, which name the L line and several of its models but give no individual specifications.

History of the Kubota L series

Two first tractors

Kubota entered tractor building in 1960, when the T15 became the first Japanese riding tractor for upland fields. Two years later the L15R was developed for paddy fields, and the letter that it carried has stayed on the mid-size line ever since. These were small machines by the standards of the big agricultural names, and that was the point: Kubota came out of a company that had built farm engines since 1922 and diesel engines since the mid-1940s, not out of the tractor trade.

The L200 and America

In 1969 Kubota began exporting a 21 hp tractor called the L200 to the United States, and the reception it found there changed the company. The Kubota Tractor Corporation was set up at Torrance, California, in 1972, with similar subsidiaries following in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 1988 Kubota opened its first American factory, Kubota Manufacturing of America at Gainesville, Georgia, which started with tractor parts; in 2006 production moved to a new plant near Jefferson in the same state. The small tractor that began in a Japanese rice field had become an American garden and estate machine.

The L family since

The Italian Wikipedia article describes the L series as intermediate in size and power between the compact B and BX tractors and the large M machines. Within the family it lists the L1, L2 and LX compact series, the L 3200-4100 DR-DW models, and the L 4240 together with the 5000 series in its various DUA, DW, HDUA and HDW forms. The machines in this collection belong across that spread: the L1500, L225, L2850, L2900 and L35 are all versions of the line, and the tractor in the photograph carries an LA713 front loader.

Design and features

  • The middle of the range: the L series fills the gap between the garden-sized B and BX tractors of about 8 to 17 kW and the M series of roughly 47 to 100 kW.
  • The oldest name in the range: the L15R of 1962 was the first Kubota tractor for paddy fields, a year after the company had built Japan’s first riding tractor for upland fields.
  • Front loaders: the L series tractor in the photograph is fitted with a Kubota LA713 loader, the kind of attachment that turns a small tractor into a yard machine.
  • Kubota-built diesel engines: the tractors use the company’s own engines, the same range that Kubota sells to other manufacturers as crate engines.
  • A long model spread: from the compact L1, L2 and LX to the L 4240 and the 5000 series, the line covers a wide band of sizes under one name.

Kubota L series versions

  • L15R: the 1962 riding tractor for paddy fields that began the line.
  • L200: the 21 hp model exported to the United States from 1969.
  • L1, L2 and LX: compact series within the L family.
  • L 3200-4100 DR-DW: larger L models in the Italian list.
  • L 4240 and 5000 series: the top of the L range, in DUA, DW, HDUA and HDW forms.
  • L1500, L225, L2850, L2900 and L35: the machines of the line in this collection.

Smaller Kubota tractors are in the B series, and the largest are in the M series. Their engines are described in Kubota diesel engines, and more machines are in the Kubota collection.

Sources

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