Kubota Diesel Swap

Nice work on this. Very clean!
Don't be ashamed to spam this thread with pictures!

 

About 5 years ago I acquired a basically new Kubota motor in a wrecked sweeper. I have always wanted a diesel first gen and thought i could make this work. The motor sat in my shop until last fall when I began cleaning up and decided it was go time. I looked and looked and finally found a very clean 4 door on marketplace a few hours away. I bought a transmission core on Ebay and went to work getting measurements and adapters going. After finally getting that done I pulled the stock motor and started this project. A few weeks later it was in and running. It took a few months to sort out all the details to look and function like factory on the inside. I have driven it for several thousand miles now with zero issues. Not all that practical but really rewarding now that it is done.

 

...and I thought mine sounded like a tractor. Welcome to the exclusive club of Tacoma owners who never have to buy spark plugs!

 

That’s the question I get. “Did you put a tractor motor in that?”

 

Love it! Plenty of torque I'm sure.

Not sure how much highway you drive, but mine has 3.56 gears from a Hilux Surf and it still turns 33s just fine. Keeps the engine revs down a bit while cruising with traffic.

 

Amazing! I think im north of you next state up. And I want to do this build also. About how much are you into the swap.

 

I didn’t keep track what I spent totally. Way more than makes sense, I just wanted to do it. I did buy a new rebuilt transmission that was not a necessary expense. The machine work and the transmission controller were the only necessary “big” expense. I did all the work myself and replaced tons of stuff I didn’t have to but wanted to. I would guess you could do it for a few grand if you have the motor. There is undoubtedly better options if you are going to have to buy the engine. Now that everything is complete and running smooth I do love it. Total novelty yet 100% functional. I drive it daily with no complaints at all.

 

I’ve done a small amount of upgrading during driving it for a few months.
Electric eBay a/c compressor. I was skeptical but it does work perfectly.
Changed the exhaust to a mbrp kit that looks much better and sounds smoother.
After searching for a clunk and changing basically every suspension component and body mount. I replaced the new Fox coil overs I had put on when I bought the truck trying to solve the noise originally. Found one of them was bad from the beginning. Went with 6112 bilsteins. Massive improvement over the fox. The Fox shocks feel like a toy in comparison to the 6112’s.

 

Martha Stewart approved

 

is the an ecm? Or all mechanical. I’m a big Cummins fan guy, but the 4bt is pushing 900lbs and the Kabota is around 650. How much front suspension work have you done to hold up the weight.

 

Badass man. I am tempted to do an M57 swap whenever I have issues with the motor or transmission in my second gen.

 

The Kubota is all mechanical. I did have to use a controller for the transmission. My motor was about the same weight at stock. The bumper, winch and adapter are my main weight differences. I have ran fox and now bilstein coils. They are on the second from the top adjustment and looks like a normal 2” lift.