Kubota’s on parade at Vincent Tractors Dig Day event

by Nick Drew | Mon 22 May 2017

Kubota’s on parade at Vincent Tractors Dig Day event

Vincent Tractors the Kubota dealers for Cornwall held their annual dig day event last week and the Digger Man Blog went along to get a taste of the action and a warm welcome from Matthew Hodge and Matthew Fox awaited us.

Local dig days are a very popular way for existing and potential customers and operators to try out the latest offerings from manufacturers in a close to real life environment. Kubota UK are very active in this department and have a fleet of demonstration kit available for the dealers to use at such events. There was plenty of choice of Kubota machines to try out and the local plant community turned out in force to “try before they buy”.

Local builder Bert Sandercock who’s Brother Graham is well known for running Mecalac machines and has recently been appointed as a local dealer attended the event to see what was new from the Japanese manufacturer. Bert already runs a high spec U27-4 model which is equipped with a tilting grader bucket which was specified by his uncle Alan who operates the machine. Bert’s other uncle Edward, came along to the event and was impressed with Kubota’s KC250HR-4 tracked dumper. This machine has a load capacity of 2500kg and features a 180-degree slewing skip. It also features a revolving operator’s seat and controls enabling the operator to drive the machine in either direction.

Bert was keen to try out some of the smaller machines as he is thinking of adding a smaller size to his fleet. First up was the KX019-4 which slots into the 1.5 to 2.0 tonne category depending on specification. The machine has expandable tracks which when retracted gives the machine a width of just 990mm. It has a maximum dig depth of 2580mm. Bert was impressed with the quality and operating feel of this popular model.

Another model making a big impression on the visitors was the latest version of Kubota’s popular 8 tonne offering the KX080-4@ which on this occasion was fitted with the highly versatile TAB boom arrangement. Taking a spin in this new 63.2hp Tier 4 final emissions compliant model was James Crowther, who along with his mate is in the market for a new machine which we hope to be covering in due course. General consensus among the visitors we spoke to was that the machine with two piece TAB boom was an incredible piece of kit which offers the end user so much more scope when tackling jobs. There was certainly plenty of interest shown in this machine on the day!

With an eye on European market, Kubota launched a range of compact wheeled loaders last year. The range consists of 6 RT models ranging in weight from the RT100, which tips the scales at 1175kgs and is powered by a 3 cylinder 20hp (15kw) engine, to the RT280, which weighs in at 2620kg to 2770kgs, depending on specification, and takes its power from a 4 cylinder 45hp (33kw) engine. The full list of models comprises of the RT100, RT140, RT150, RT210, the RT270 which was demonstrated at this dig day event and the RT280. These machines, which all feature well proven and reliable Kubota engines and hydrostatic drive are built under license by Dutch manufacturer Tobroco, at their factory in Oisterwijk in the Netherlands, where they also produce their own Giant models.

Also attending this event were the guys from Engcon UK who were demonstrating a tilt-rotator on another popular Kubota machine the KX57-4. Although the machine arrived at the venue late, there were plenty of punters keen to try out the game changing system. The set-up, using the machines existing joysticks, was a bit on the primitive side, but it still demonstrated the potential that a tilt-rotator can offer the end user and most people walked away with their eyes opened if a little bit surprised at how difficult they are to control until you’ve spent some decent hours on one. Bert Sandercock was one of the first to take to the controls and was suitably impressed with the concept.

We would like to thank the team at Vincent Tractors for the invitation and the hot food and drinks on offer as part of the hospitality on the day.

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