Curved VS Straight Loaders: PHOTOS

[Bob_Skurka]

In another thread Henro asked if there really is a difference between the visibility of the curved versus straight loader arms.

In the past I have been very vocal about why I like the curved loaders. I will shut up today and let the pictures speak for themselves and let you all decide based on what each of you see.

In the first picture, you can see that the two tractors are sitting side-by-side in my driveway. The leading edge of the buckets are directly in line with each other (the toothbar on the B2910 bucket is sticking out in front, but the front edge of the buckets are in line).


My daughter Melen is on the TC24. (and before you make fun of her name, it is a nickname which is short for Mary Helen, so no, we did not name her after fruit!)

 

[Bob_Skurka]

OK for picture #2, here is a front view, which shows chalk marks on the driveway. The lines are at 1' increments and are measured starting at the front edge of the bucket, so the first line is 12" from the bucket, the second line is 24", third is 36", etc. There are lines out to the 6' mark.

The "X" marks on the driveway are 24" off the center line on either side of the center line.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Here is a picture of my daughter sitting on the 2' mark in front of the bucket of the Kubota.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Here is Melen sitting in front of the New Holland

Melen is sitting on the 2' mark in front of the leading edge of the bucket.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Here is a view forward. The tape measures are set at 15'

This is the view from the Kubota seat. By the way, my eyes are 34" above the BOTTOM edge of the seat.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Here is a view forward. The tape measures are set at 15'

This is the view from the New Holland seat. By the way, my eyes are 34" above the BOTTOM edge of the seat.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

By my measurements:
1- the NH hood blocks almost 3' feet of view
2- the Kubota hood blocks the view out to about 6'
3- the NH curved arms allow much more bucket view, and much greater view around the bucket and lets me see to within 2' of the cutting edge

I took as much care as possible to shoot the pictures from the perspective of how I sit in each tractor, one hand was on the steering wheel of each tractor as I snapped the picture. I figure that normally I operate the tractors with either 1 or 2 hands on the wheel, so by having 1 on the wheel when shooting the picture it would likely put my head in the normal postion it would be in while I drive the tractors. On the NH I normally have the seat all the way to the rear. On the Kubota I normally have the seat ALMOST all the way back. For the purposes of these pictures, I took both with the seats in their normal positions based on the way I operate them. I figure that anyone else who is about 5'11.5" tall with a 33.5" inseam and an eye level that is 34" above the seat bottom would get exactly this same perspective because they would likely operate the two tractors with the seats in relatively the same positions. However, if anyone thinks it was unfair that the Kubota seat was NOT all the way back, please realize that if I had moved it to the most rearward notch the view would actually be worse. The reason I don't have the seat all the way back on the B2910 is because the operators station is larger than the operators station on the TC24. While the pictures don't show it, the overall lenght of the B2910 is about a foot or more longer than the TC24.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Here is the final picture.

 

[rozett]

I guess the engineer in me says that it seems to have nothing to do with the curved loader arms and everything to do with the slopped hood. If you redesigned the engine compartment of the Kabota and put a slopped hood on it, you would have equal views.

Yes, I know.... the curved loader arms came with the redesign and slopped hood... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[shoppintractors]

Bob,

I took the liberty to take four of the pictures and put them side by side. See attachment.

Don