Your Kubota KX037-4

Common jobs for the Kubota KX037

The Kubota KX037 is the 3.7-tonne machine many homeowners and small firms settle on. It is heavy enough for real digging yet still light enough to trailer behind a pickup, which makes it a good first machine. On Swedish jobs it runs groundwork, drainage and pool pits on residential plots where you want more machine than a 3-tonne unit but still something nimble.

On a residential plot the KX037 digs out for foundation, pool and drainage, grades ground ahead of paving and lays services in narrow trenches. It loads spoil and clears up on the job. It is a machine for ordinary plot work, where the same machine takes on both deeper digging and fine grading.

For groundwork, drainage and pool pits it suits a digging bucket, a grading bucket and a sorting grapple, and with the S40 hitch you swap between them without leaving the cab. At 3.7 tonnes you keep an eye on attachment weight, but the machine carries everyday attachments steadily on a normal plot.

Buckets and attachments that fit the KX037

For a 3.7-tonne machine you choose a digging bucket for excavation, a wide grading bucket for levelling and slopes, and a narrow cable bucket for drainage and services. On plot jobs you mostly swap between the digging bucket and grading bucket, with the cable bucket out when you lay pipe or cable.

A sorting grapple can be run on the KX037 when you load stone, clear roots or sort spoil. At 3.7 tonnes you keep the load down and do not reach the grapple out far, or the machine loses stability. The grapple weight plus the load has to stay within what the machine can carry.

All attachments run on the S40 hitch, the standard for mini excavators. With the same hitch you swap quickly between bucket, grapple and auger drive without leaving the cab, and you build a set that comes along when you size up.

Auger drive and light attachments for the KX037

On a 3.7-tonne machine an auger drive is useful for post holes, planting pits and holes for footing piles. The drive rotates and the auger bit is the part that sits in it, and you choose the bit size by the hole. On fence and deck jobs it saves a lot of digging by hand.

A hydraulic breaker on the KX037 is a light breaker for concrete and stone. You run it when you hit rock in the pool pit or have to take out an old concrete slab. The oil flow on a machine this small is limited, so it is the flow and not the weight that decides which breaker the machine handles. Check the flow before buying.

The most important thing on a 3.7-tonne machine is not to overload it. The most common mistake is too heavy an attachment far out, which makes the machine tippy. Stick to light attachments within the machine lift capacity so the KX037 works safely even at full reach.

S40 quick hitch and fit

The Kubota KX037 runs an S40 hitch, the standard coupler for mini excavators. Check the attachments are listed for S40 before you buy. With a common hitch you build a set of light attachments that all fit and that you swap quickly between tasks.

On a 3.7-tonne machine the attachment weight matters a lot, so the main thing is to stick to attachments the machine can lift at full reach. That S40 is the same hitch as on the larger mini excavators means the buckets you buy now come along when you later move up to a 5-tonne machine.