On the trail of Kubota

[John Langford]

I have been trying to establish the Kubota engine equivalent of the M35B so that we can all go off to our Kubota tractor dealer and buy subsidized (kidding!) engine parts. I started with a posting from Roc on the C36 site which said that the Kubota no. on the side of the M35 is Model: V-1305-E. I tracked that number to the Jennings Equipment site where the V1305-E turns out to be a 3 cylinder engine. But  I discovered that the Kubota V1505-E2-D21 is installed in the Kubota B3030HSD "premier tractor". The V1505 is 30 hp, 4 cylinder, 91.5 cu. in displacement, bore and stroke 3.1 x 3.1 inches, and takes 4.3 litres of oil.  Could be our guy! It is also installed in the Kubota Compact Excavator, KX71-3.

Then I think I confirmed that when I discovered that Witchard Marine in Oz marinizes the V1505 and calls it the WM 35. The picture looks just like our Universal M35B. See:
http://www.wm-marine-diesel.com/witchards.htm  

The excitement builds! Plenty of data on the engine here which makes the match pretty air tight. Even the gear box (Hurth HBW100) matches up.

See performance data for the engine @ http://www.kubotaengine.com/curves/V1505-E.htm

Oops, a setback in certainty. Another Kubota site says the V1305 is a 4 cylinder as well (not a 3 cylinder) and the preformance data is also close to our M35B. Roc may have been right after all. See: http://www.kcpp.com/kubota.htm
But then a further Kubota site makes it pretty clear that the 1305 and the 1505 are basically the same engine. See:
http://www.frontierequip.com/kubota/Super_Five.pdf

So I think we are closing in on it. What we need is someone who has specs for the M35B at home to check them against the specs for the 1305 and the 1505 and close the deal. Then I can get my tractor hat on, go up to the Kubota place on the Saanich peninsula and check prices.

Anybody else want to pick up the Kubota challenge?

[Roc]

John,
Very good investigative work.  I keep my boat on the Chesapeake and on my ride down to the marina, I pass by many farmlands and a lot of serious commercial tractor dealers.  I've taken my Kubota serial numbers and tried to get an equivalent oil filter, but the problem I found is that in order for them to find the correct filter, they need to know what tractor has the engine, and NOT the engine itself (go figure).  I even brought my Universal oil filter and they couldn't find one that looked the same.  I did manage to find the fuel filter equivalent, but not the oil filter equivalent.

The difference in price is substantial, about 1/3 the cost of the Universal equivalent.  But all in all, your talking about a $15 filter from Universal vs. a $5 filter from Kubota.  You probably change the filters but once a year so the difference isn't all that big, considering you're spending funds to properly maintain the engine.  That's why after spending a few hours at various tractor dealers, I quit trying to find the oil filter equivalent.  However John, you seem to have gotten closer.

[Bill Sedgwick]

Although this link doesn't answer the M-35B question, it is an interesting history and gives the orgin of the M-35 engine.
http://www3.telus.net/Atomic_4_Eng_Service/History_of_the_Universal_Motor_Company_4.html

[Bill Sedgwick]

Here's another site with manuals http://www.sailingboatefaki.gr/Engine%20Manuals.htm .