Categorized as a sub-compact utility tractor, this 1970s Kubota L175 diesel tractor is one cool and useful choremaster that would have a million uses for most of us. It’s fun (for me at least) to close out 2025 with another little tractor. This diesel survivor can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Hancock, Wisconsin, and the seller is asking $2,800 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
The built-in diving platform on the front is an added bonus! Just kidding, that’s where the weights go when you’re pulling a loaded trailer or maybe have a backhoe attached to the back of this tough tractor. We saw a smaller Case tractor the other day with actual farm-tractor tires on it, even though it was decked out (literally) with a 44″ deck mower mounted mid-point. A great comment came up (thanks, Jack M) that you’d probably want turf tires if you’re doing a lot of mowing. Those rugged tractor tires would wreak havoc on most lawns, unlike these nice, wide tires.
Kubota was founded so long ago that Japan was known as the Empire of Japan in 1890, when Gonshiro Ohde (becoming Gonshiro Kubota later) started making metal castings for scales (“balances”) and other non-motorized items. He was 19 years old, so when your teenager complains about not having anything to do and not knowing what they want to do for a living… The quality of Ohde-san’s castings was so high that customers started asking him to make other products. 135 years later, here we are. Well, 83 years later, the Kubota L175 tractor was made from 1973 through 1976. Other than the worn graphics on both sides of the cowl, this “sub-compact utility tractor” appears to be in nice condition.
Showing under 2,800 hours, and other than the lights not working and one of the seat brackets recently breaking, it would be fun to pick away at restoring it for tractor shows. The early 1970s aren’t considered super old for tractors, but there’s a Kubota following out there. The big deal here is the engine, a Kubota 45-cu.in. liquid-cooled two-cylinder diesel with 17 horsepower, sending power through a 10-speed (8 forward, 2 reverse) transmission to the rear wheels. With a category 1 three-point hitch, front and rear PTO, this versatile mid-sized tractor can just about do it all. My uncle in Georgia has a similar Kubota. Have any of you owned one? Happy New Year, everyone!
Another cool workhorse!!
The title says…. KAbota….. Well, I guess some do pronounce it that way. This diesel Kubota looks great. Had a friend that had a small 2 cylinder diesel tractor, dont remember the model, but smaller than this. He restored it, painted it up and it looked great. The fresh orange with the grey looks sharp together. This one looks solid and I’d be tempted to restore this one cosmetically. I’ll tell you what, Barnfinds is just hitting it out of the park with trucks and tractors P51 Mustangs, this is great!!! I wish my job didn’t get in my way so I could spend more time here lol. Thanks Scotty!!!
I’m sorry, that KaBota comment was supposed to say on the Title of the Facebook ad, not Scottys title, he got it right!!
Thanks, guys, have a great New Year’s Eve!
What? Oh, right, my usual anti ferrin’ attitude, dang imports ruined our way of life in Winneconne,,,,,not really, but truth be known, these were so dependable, they were as good, or better than the US counterparts. Sound familiar? Kubota motors quickly became the standard for things like Bobcat skid steers, and virtually every reefer trailer had a Kubota diesel. I’ve used these, and they have “cheap hydraulics”, meaning, the controls are really touchy, but these tractors did put a dent in the sales of US ones, but not completely. Foreign sales hadn’t quite caught on in the small tractor segment, people still wanted their IHs, and Case, but I think many smaller tractors today are rebadged foreign units. Speaking of tires, 2 different kinds on back, and I tend to think the aggressive tires would be best, as cutting grass is the least of this tractors potential, and the going could get rough. Cool find, Lothar, whoever you are,,
Howard, you aint kidding about Kubota engines finding their way into all kinds of equipment. We have boomlifts in the fleet made by JLG and Nifty Lift and they use Kubota diesels. Trust me….. 50 feet up in the air, you DON’T want that engine to Conk out!!!
Well, as a mechanic who worked on nearly everything that pumped or burned gas or diesel fuel, I can say that the stuff from the rising sun was consistent but not infallible. I saw some really bone-headed stuff come from across the Pacific, and I saw a lot of it get swept under the rug because of political correctness.
I butted heads with a Toyota dealer who rambled on about how much better Japanese cars were than American cars. I asked him why he had more mechanics in his dealership than the GM dealer across the street. And why was it that every time I looked into his service department they were completely swamped with broken Toyotas? I then added a piece that I former FIL said: “Everything was designed to serve a purpose; nothing was designed to fail.”
I remember hearing Kubota ads with a cool tagline, “You got a job for Kubota? We’re looking for work” I hope this little tractor isn’t looking for too much work (to be done on it), as I wonder if parts are available for it.
Yes!!! I could really use this ole workhorse. Living in the mountains of Western PA we get lots of the white stuff and unlike my mom and dad who had me to clean snow and dig them out, I have nobody. I’m 61 battling throat and lung cancer and my 2002 atv with the rusty plow is in worse shape than I am. This ole girl with a bucket on the front would make all day snow cleaning chores last about 30 minutes. It looks to be in nice condition.
I think it’s a good deal nice tool for the work I need to do around here
I don’t think you are in the correct decade with this as it looks a lot like my L275, which is early 80′ s I believe, but I could be wrong. Ours is still used to farm our vineyard and property. We recently tried to replace it with and electric Monarch and immediately went back to the old Kubota. The guys at the local shop say these are pretty indestructible, and we are proof positive of that given how much abuse she takes.
https://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/2/7/1276-kubota-l175.html
If it’s an L175, it’s from the 1970s, Fogline.
The nice thing about Kabota is a staunch dealer support so you can get parts, service and info. This has an added fast hitch which is real nice if you swap implements a lot.
My 2 cents, bypass this gen Kubota. You can get a similar size next gen with a 3 cyl and 4wd for the same money. These little kubotas are helpful in the garden but truth be told you can get a whole lot of heavy USA mfg’d tractor in this price range.
Back in the day the only small tractor you could get that was American made was an International Cub Lo Boy. It was actually a good tractor, albeit powered by a flathead 4, right up to the last one made in the mid-70s. Very reliable with good parts and service availability. It seems that the Japanese and the Koreans invaded the country after that.
I remember John Deere with its Yanmar-built tractors. That was interesting because Yanmar was under contract to JD and if it was painted JD colors it was a superior product.
There were more than a few angry discussions between JD and Yanmar becaue Yanmar tried to sneak John Deere designs (rack and pinion rear wheel spacing adjustment for example) onto its own line. JD eventually started building its own small tractors in the SE USA.
I’m not sure where IH was getting its later production of small tractors made but the diesel engines were Nissan.
Ford and Massey Ferguson were pretty much Japanese.
Kubota improved its products considerably over the years and now they’re every bit as competetitve as anyone else. We had a lot of tractors and power units come through our shop and the worst problems were in the fuel injection systems.
Filtering wasn’t much better than a plastic screen so I saw a lot of high pressure pumping elements and nozzle tips completely dusted out by 1500 hours. I mounted a lot of Stanadyne filters on the early ones but had to add an electric fuel pump to most of them. That worked…
For me, I’d probably try to find a Cub Lo Boy, or a John Deere. I’m that way…
Nice tractor but it needs 4 wheel drive My 750 JD compact is about the same size and the front end with weights I put it in 4×4 and it will will really pull
pete’n re-pete here: “…3 cyl and 4wd for the same money…” is a real wrk horse. Glad to see the re-label to “sub-compact”. I guess I can go wid dat. I dont remember seeing the imports (even of this size) back at that time around here.
Is Scott huntin something for a big yard project?
Again, the options on this size tractor surprise me.
I have a buddy that is a Kioti dealer. (Same color as Kubota but made in South Korea) I think the smallest one they make is a 20hp diesel. They are very popular in our area as are the Kubota. Some of the 30 year old Kiotis have an oil cooler leak issue. Kioti felt so bad about the failures that they provided a new cooler and installation kit (hoses, new bracket(s) (and even bolts) for less than a normal replacement oil cooler for their newer units. He has zero warranty issues and all his customers are really happy with their tractors. Kioti is the same company that makes transmissions for the Kia and Hyundai cars. And virtually everything except the tires are produced in house so that they can control the quality much closer. Many people have not heard of Kioti, and see an orange tractor thinking it is a Kubota. My nephew has a Kioti that I have used several times. And I have used John Deere stuff a few times. Both work well with no issues. But the Kioti just seems to fit me better. As in better ergonomics. OK, now you know about Kioti!
They have been around (at least in South Korea) for a long time also.
I have had a late ‘80s Kubota B7200 HST (hydro) 4×4 for years and it’s an absolute tank! 17hp 3 cylinder diesel with a loader and mid and rear PTO’ s. People often comment “well look at that cute little thing!”
I always tell them not to underestimate it. I’m constantly amazed at what that little thing can do, and I’m not nice to it!
We’ve had a b7200hst since new in the mid 80s. Chose it over the tractors painted like and sold by john deere.
It’s a compact and this 175 looks yo be close yo or thr same size.
Replaced steering box parts when they were available. The first time the desler said “you shouldve gotten power steering with the loader”. He sold us the tractor with the loader and didnt mention power steering. Power steering was NLA then. Then a complete steering box that was beefier and it broke. Still cant repair or replace with new from kubota.
We bought another b7200hst used and are ultra careful with bucket loaded with real heavy stuff….especially in soft/muddy conditions.
Most parts are available. Water pump and glow plugs weren’t too expensive.
Joy stick for the loader was worn sloppy to the point of dangerous. 2 parts for the linkage, not valves, was over $300 each. Back home from the dealer and in 2 hours grandson had the valves working with a separate control lever for each valve.
My neighbor had a Kabota. It looks like one and operated really well. I borrowed it because it had a rear Rototiller attachment. I used it for a few minutes and the rear end blew up. Turns out the Kabota was called a” gray tractor”!
It was imported by an enterprising entrepreneur. Kabota wouldn’t sell parts for it, and I had a tractor
with a blown rear end. I eventually found another tractor exactly like it. It had blown engine. We rolled the bad rear end off and rolled the new one on! Really easy as I remember. I took the tractor back to my neighbor and never borrowed it again. Exodus 22.14 seemed to apply in this situation!
I had a Kubota tractor about this size and year as part of my mowing fleet of tractors when I supervised a park in Florida from 1989 to 2002. It was the oldest tractor in my fleet, but was the most reliable.
My father had 2 different Kubota tractors over the years, both apparently the next size up L185, 4WD. I still remember the glow plug indicator- turn key to left for a few seconds, wait until that little coil is cherry red, then start it. Very distinct sound of that diesel.