Life expectancy of the Kubota 3 cyl engine

 Anyone have an idea just how long one of these engines will last before needing to overhaul? Bordercollie's is 2900+. I am looking at a Miller Bobcat with a 1400hr Kubota engine. Of course, routine service is the key to good service from any engine. 

Hey Captain. Just so happens, I ask a guy ,whom's  opinion I respect very much ,the same question. He knows me well and shoots straight. .  He is an expert tractor mechanic and works only on tractors. In fact , he was the main guy at JD till he got his own very successful  repair business. Anyway, he told me 10,000m hrs with a quality maintance program before any major overhaul.. He is only talking about the general engine and not the RTV specifically. I was concerned about my heavy use and being able to save up to buy another. so any way that is what he told me.  I try to change the oil  and filter about every 100 hrs which can get expensive up front for my frequent use. I change the trans every 400 hrs and I use all Kubota filters.  Is that a Miller bobcat welder or a bobcat as in skid steer.? p.s.. I have almost zero blow by-- still. If this is a skid steer, There are other things to look at...........   Bordercollie

I have a Kubota 900 series engine providing power for our property (two houses) when the solar and/or wind are not sufficient to keep the battery bank charged.  I have over 5000 hours on it and it looks and runs like new.  I have heard of folks getting 30,000 hours(!) on the engine before needing to overhaul.  I change the oil and filter in my genset every 150 hours.  Mind you, it never starts cold, living in a heated generator shed.

iwould think that if the motor was well maintained that you could easily get 30k hours out of it. do you have a flowing creek or river around you? if so you could get 2 or 3 high output alternators and make a few paddlewheels  then run them to your battery bank.we did this on a shrimping barge and it worked pretty good when the water was moving. you could even mount a old fan blades to the  alternator and you will probaly get the same affect from the wind when it's blowing that is but i would give the water a try too but then again you do live on the north pole and everything is probably frozen.

 Thanks for the feedback. That's a welder. Captain

now bringing the wlder thing into it that welder will be running at almost full throttle when it is running so things will wear out alot faster than a regular deisel engine. but the best thing about the welder is it's cheap and easy to rebuild down here the rental companies won't sell their used welders they just redo the engines and send them back out into the field you might wanna contact miller and ask whats the cost to rebuild the engine and get all the parts just incase. i know when i was useing them on the job we would run them 24/7 until the job was finished.them little bobcats are tough we would shut them down for an hour for lunch and then for about an hour at crew change but other than that they was up and running. i seen some of them units with the covers and some of the little trailers almost rusted away but the unit ran like new.  at just 10 hours a day it would be way less than a year and you could put 1400 hours on a welder real easy. 

are you sure the engine is a bota?? the ones we used i think was kohler and and some other brand engine but i never remeber them havin a bota engine. 

your right it's a 19hp bota .i would still buy it 1400 hours ain't that much juss check it for leaks. 

tommy 20/69:

iwould think that if the motor was well maintained that you could easily get 30k hours out of it. do you have a flowing creek or river around you? if so you could get 2 or 3 high output alternators and make a few paddlewheels  then run them to your battery bank.we did this on a shrimping barge and it worked pretty good when the water was moving. you could even mount a old fan blades to the  alternator and you will probaly get the same affect from the wind when it's blowing that is but i would give the water a try too but then again you do live on the north pole and everything is probably frozen.

Good idea with the alternators, but the water here is very hard in the winter!  :-)  I am maximizing the potential of sun and wind as power sources, but between October and February we depend on the diesel genset to make up the difference--days are short and there is often not much wind--and the ice is 3-4 feet thick on the river.

 man das some cold stuff. and what was the reason for you to live way out in the middle of knowwhere? did you growup  there or did you get tired of the grid life and wanted freedom? 

tommy 20/69:

 man das some cold stuff. and what was the reason for you to live way out in the middle of knowwhere? did you growup  there or did you get tired of the grid life and wanted freedom? 

It does get cold, but the beauty and lifestyle more than makes up for needing to wear a few extra layers of clothing and burn a few more cords of wood.  You can check out the tourist propaganda at:  http://travelyukon.com/   My wife and I moved here in 2002, after living 7 years in Oxford, England.  We 'met' the Yukon via our son, who had moved here after university.  He fell in love with the territory after spending his summers here as a river adventure guide for local adventure tour operators.  We came for a visit and fell in love too.  So here we are.  By birth I am a 5th generation Californian, but I have always loved the North.  It's in my genes, I think.  There is a small community in Alaska named after my great-great grandfather.  At least that is the Reader's Digest version...  :-)

man you left frootprints all over this world. if it wasn't for my back&neck i would love to live up there in the mountains.