Any owners of Grand L3130 out there???

[Anonymous Poster]

Am thinking about buying the L3130 to use with FEL and possibly box scraper. Any new owners of that model out there? My only tractor experience is with an 8N running a brush hog. The new one will be used to clear mesquite bushes/trees and then level the land. (Arizona desert) Am I looking in the right direction?

 

[BobinCols]

Welcome Hans-I have a TO35 Ferguson and have about 25 hours on a new 3130HST which is used for mowing, aerating, and snow removal. There are some other members that can help with the FEL operation. I do know that the new 3130 loader is a lot heavier capacity than the 3010 that it replaced and is available in 2 sizes (FEL). The 3130 would be highly recommended for what your intended use is as you stated. Kubotas are fine products period. I also had a 3010 which was nice, but when the new 3130 came out, feature for feature and spec's, Kubota made the 3130 so much nicer and user friendly. Good luck and make the purchase, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for the Welcome, Bob and of course your comments. I am currently waiting for a reply from my ins. agent re: insurance if and when I finance on the zero plan with Kubota. The other problem I have (or will have) is that I will try to uproot many small to medium mesquite bushes/trees. There is an attachment like a spade available but it is prohibitively expensive to purchase for one job. I wonder if the corner of the FEL bucket would be strong enough to lift out small trees. I also have a number of large rocks to lift out before I can grade. Any info on this from any one will be appreciated.
Thanks for a great forum.

 

[grandad]

You can dig out trees with the loader - sort of - but you end up with a 6 ft wide trench on each side that you dig. Don't try that next to your wife's rose garden! Using just the corner of the bucket is only possible if you can get an angle for doing so, such as an embankment. Moreover, you need to be careful digging with just one side of the bucket like that... if you catch a root or a boulder and keep on curling/lifting, you could rack the bucket or the loader frame. Finally, a toothbar makes a huge difference for work like that.

 

[CTyler]

I took out aprox 50 small trees in the 2-5" range with the FEL on my L3130. Most were in the 3" range. I would push/pull them a bit to loosen them up. Then dig a tooth into the base of the trunk and curl the bucket. Granted I had to do this a number of times but no 6' holes.