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Kubota M series: the large tractors

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Kubota M series: the large tractors

The Kubota M series is the top of the company’s tractor range, the machines built for arable farms rather than gardens. The sources give the power band of the line as roughly 47 to 100 kW, and the M135GX as one of its models.

Kubota M series at a glance

Kubota M series key facts
Maker Kubota Corporation, Osaka, Japan
Line large tractors, the biggest in the range
Power band about 47 to 100 kW
Example model M135GX
Models listed by the sources M 6040, M 7040, M 8540 and M 9540; M 100 S-X
Transmission variants listed DTH, DTHQ, DTN, DTNQ and DTHL
Position in the range above the L series; the B and BX series are the smallest
Origins of Kubota tractors T15 in 1960, L15R in 1962, Bulltra in 1971
Engines Kubota’s own diesels, up to straight-six turbocharged tractor units
Models in this collection M4700 and the M series record

There is no Wikipedia article for the M series. This page uses the Kubota company articles, which give the power band and a list of M models but no individual specifications.

History of the Kubota M series

A tractor maker from 1960

Kubota reached tractors late in its history. The company had been building engines since 1922 and diesel engines since the mid-1940s when, in 1960, it produced the T15, the first Japanese riding tractor for upland fields. The L15R for paddy fields followed in 1962, and in 1971 the Bulltra series brought two novelties to the small tractor class: a water-cooled inline two-cylinder diesel that Kubota calls the smallest in the world, and the industry’s first four-wheel drive on a compact tractor. The Bulltra quickly became the company’s best-selling product, and the same engine and driveline thinking carried into the larger machines that came later.

Small tractors first

Kubota’s reputation was made with small, manoeuvrable tractors, not with the big arable machines. The export push began in 1969 with the 21 hp L200 to the United States, and the success of that model led to the Kubota Tractor Corporation at Torrance, California, in 1972 and to a factory at Gainesville, Georgia, in 1988. The Italian Wikipedia article sums up the range that grew from this base: the B and BX series for gardening, with machines of about 8 and 17 kW, the L series in the middle, and the M series at the top.

The large end of the range

The M series occupies that top position, with about 47 to 100 kW and the M135GX given as an example. The same article lists a spread of M models: the M 6040, M 7040, M 8540 and M 9540 in their DTH, DTHQ, DTN, DTNQ and DTHL forms, and the M 100 S-X. The machines in this collection, the M4700 and the M series record, belong to this end of the Kubota range, where the tractors work arable land rather than lawns.

Design and features

  • The largest Kubota tractors: the M series covers roughly 47 to 100 kW, well beyond the garden-sized B and BX machines of 8 to 17 kW.
  • A wide model list: the sources name the M 6040, M 7040, M 8540 and M 9540 families, the M 100 S-X and the M135GX.
  • Transmission variants: the M 6040 to 9540 models are listed in DTH, DTHQ, DTN, DTNQ and DTHL forms.
  • Kubota diesel engines: the range runs up to straight-six turbocharged tractor engines, all built inside the group.
  • Built for arable work: the line sits above the mid-size L series, in the class where a farm tractor pulls implements rather than mows a lawn.

Kubota M series versions

  • M 6040, M 7040, M 8540 and M 9540: the main M families in the Italian list, each in several transmission forms.
  • M 100 S-X: a further M model named in the same list.
  • M135GX: the example given for the power band of the series.
  • M4700: one of the machines of the line in this collection.

Smaller Kubota tractors are in the L series and the B series, and the engines they share are described in Kubota diesel engines. More machines are in the Kubota collection.

Video: Kubota M40 series tractors

Video on YouTube.

Sources

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