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Paradise KS | So ive had several people ask me to give an update on how my m7-171 KTV is doing.
I had Kubota out several times to do software updates. It helped other issues that i had with the tractor but nothing that would help the power transfer of the KTV.
I looked into trading out of it back to a challenger but it just wasnt cost effective. I was going to take a huge hit on the kubota and the challengers were priced much higher.
The last service tech that came from Kubota that rode with me finally said "it is what it is" but had no explanation as to why.
Finally this past week i had a new territory rep explain to me that the KTV in the Kubota is unlike any other on the market. Its built differently then the AGCO CVT, the JOhn deere IVT and the CASE CVT. Because of this and how the software was designed to control it it just acts differently then anything else on the market. Thus it really " is what it is" except i actually had explanation for it.
If i had been told this 10 months ago at the beginning this would have been much simpler. I could have accepted the fact that it wasn't going to perform like i expected it too. This would have been fine. But for whatever reason it took someone that long to finally tell me there was no fixing it.
Whats more frustrating at this point is nobody explained this to the dealers either. My salesman was led to believe it would perform similar to what my previous challenger was or at least similar to a CASE IH cvt which he sells also.
At this point the only problem is going down the road with a heavy load (loaded 1000 gallon sprayer, loaded drill) up a hill. The KVT will pull down to around 12 mph no matter the top speed untill i get over the hill which it will then return to the desired speed. Still frustrating, but at least i understand why now and can accept it for the time being. Speeds under 7 mph in the field it seems to be fine. Although i havent done any heavy tillage as im no till so not sure how that will work.
At this time my dealer will not be selling anymore of the Kubotas with KVTS untill it seems the issue has been resolved. I believe the powershift versions are fine.
It does everything else i could ask of it and the rest of the tractor is great. The KVT works well as a hay and loader tractor and wouldnt be afraid to tell someone to buy one for that purpose. I would just avoid one for any heavy use.
Word has gotten around about them and their KVT issues and no other dealers of any brand wants them on their lot at "market value" so ill be keeping it for the time being.
My hope is in the future i can add another larger tractor to take care of spraying, drilling, and any tillage i might do and use the m7 KVT as my haying and livestock tractor, which really was my plan anyways.
SO overall, I think the Kubota m7s are a great tractor ESPECIALLY a powershift model. And kubota is coming out with a 5 range 6 speed model to replace their 6 range 4 speed model which will be a big improvement with more options for shifting......They just dropped the ball on the KVT transmission.....
Overall i put 550 hours on the tractor with no problems, used less then 50 dollars in def to run it during that time period.
Edited by SpringBrookFarm 1/10/2019 07:45
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 IMG_1848 (full).JPG (125KB - 139 downloads)
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IMG_2118 (full).JPG (105KB - 105 downloads)
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Kubota M7-171 KVT year end update
