Kubota RTV-X

[lotus_esprit_s1]

Picked this RTV-X up a few months ago for the bargain price of £1000 as it a) had rust holes in the floor from being used to go sea swimming in and driving home in a wetsuit and b) the rear suspension knuckle had snapped in two when it hit a rock hard.

As I bought it with road tyres

Holes in floor

Snapped suspension knuckle

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

Replaced the suspension knuckle with new kit from Kubota - obviously found to be a weak point as the replacement is cast iron
Also found the driveshaft CV to be torn, Kubota don’t sell the boot separately, preferring you to drop £600 on a new driveshaft! Instead I used an Audi cv joint of the correct size and cut the old tripod section and glued it into new boot

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

The suspension was sitting really low at the front, looking through the paperwork with the buggy, I found it was originally supplied with a basic rollbar cab, and had been retrofitted with the glass panel kit and cab heater assembly later on in it’s life, however the front springs should have been uprated for the extra weight of the cab, which they weren’t. £50 on eBay got me a pair of new uprated front springs and the ride height was up to where it should be, not really noticeable in the photos but the front now sits a couple of inches higher.

 

[Smallfry]

Not seen you here for a while. Thought something had happened !

Amazes me how much they charge for genuine parts for this sort of thing !

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

Way too busy for last twelve months, I’ve let go of one of my contracts as working 12hrs a day 7 days a week was doing me no favours.

Yes, some parts prices are stupidly high, but then the cab floor panel was £70 which I thought was quite reasonable.

 

[Turbo]

Ive a couple of kubota roll cages for that type of vehicle plus springs that came from the same sale.

 

[frank horton]

nice handy vehicle.....
shame about the rot....
r those hub pins tack welded in place....?

 

[lotus_esprit_s1]

nice handy vehicle.....
shame about the rot....
r those hub pins tack welded in place....?

The pins are welded to retaining plates that bolt to rear A arm.