Kubota L3301- is this right for me?

[GoosePaint]

New here, but have been reading for months trying to figure out what tractor I need. My wife and I bought 10 acres of completely wooded land north of Baton Rouge about a year ago. I've been clearing driveway and homestead area on the weekends. Borrowed a New Holland tn70a from a buddy for the heavy work, but I need my own now. We have a camper and generator on the property, its high and dry, no hills. I have a flat grass spot in the front under powerlines that I will garden, around 25000 sq ft. We have a sawmill so dragging trees around will be done too. I have narrowed down my choices to Kubota L3301. I'm 30 years old and would like to not have to buy another tractor out of need for the rest of my life. Will the L3301 hst 4x4 w loader do everything I need it do do?

 

[motownbrowne]

Personally I'd go up a size. I am 28 and have a mill too, so we have similar situations. I was about to pull the trigger on a l3800 (predecessor to the 3901, which I think is about the same weight as the 3301), but after spending some time on this site I decided to go with the mx4700. I can tell you that every time I lift a pallet of firewood, a log for the mill, or a stack of lumber I'm glad for the bigger machine. I paid $4500 more to step up one size and not once have I regretted it. Relative to the overall purchase price, the additional cost of a slightly larger machine is small. Let us know what you end up with, and happy hunting.

 

[newbury]

Treat is as your first tractor and be on the lookout for something bigger to LIFT logs with the FEL or develop a method to get the log loaded.

I've got a B7610 (which I knew was small) and it's great for moving the small stuff around. I've also got a Woodmizer LT 10 w/18' of track. But to put a 10 foot, 20" white oak log on my sawmill I need a lift of about 1500 lbs (unless I let it dry out). Now a 10' pine only weighs about 1100 pounds and I can handle that with the 3 point.
This log wasn't 20".

Now just for fun and jokes I have loaded a "full log" on my mill entirely by hand with a pair of cant hooks, but it ain't easy.

So I searched for something that would lift a ton on the 3 point and cost less than $15K.
Got this for $12K.

Supposedly lifts 2 ton on the 3 point and 1 ton on the FEL. Makes putting the logs on the mill REAL easy.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Personally I'd go up a size. I am 28 and have a mill too, so we have similar situations. I was about to pull the trigger on a l3800 (predecessor to the 3901, which I think is about the same weight as the 3301), but after spending some time on this site I decided to go with the mx4700. I can tell you that every time I lift a pallet of firewood, a log for the mill, or a stack of lumber I'm glad for the bigger machine. I paid $4500 more to step up one size and not once have I regretted it. Relative to the overall purchase price, the additional cost of a slightly larger machine is small. Let us know what you end up with, and happy hunting.

MoTown is right. I just happen to have both, an MX5100 and the L3301. But, I also have 80 acres. That said, both are excellent tractors and work really well. The MX is much bigger and 52 hp. I love my little L3301 and use it mostly for light front end work and finish mowing. I think with 10 acres and the work you want to do, I would go for the L3901 and more hp. Also, consider the gear drive shuttle shift, you'll save a few bucks and have (IMO) more power at hand, and just as easy to use. Good luck.View attachment 433948

 

[jeff9366]

We have a sawmill so dragging trees around will be done too. I have narrowed down my choices to Kubota L3301. I'm 30 years old and would like to not have to buy another tractor out of need for the rest of my life. Will the L3301 hst 4x4 w loader do everything I need it do do?

I would calculate max tree weight you want to transport to your mill, then select a tractor that will lift 125% or 150% of that load with the FEL for transport. I would not be dragging and collecting dirt on trees to be milled.

(Lift on the L3301 - LA525 FEL is around 1,100 pounds.) (Lift on the L3301 3-Pt is around 1,500 pounds.)

A grapple is optimum for moving trees. See STEPPENWOLFE's photo.

Less expensive option is SSQA (Skid Steer Quick Attach) pallet forks for moving trees.

I have aluminum Debris Forks but I lose some lift capacity due to fork mount on front of FEL bucket, so leverage works against me.

You can certainly use 3-Pt mounted pallet forks too, as in NEWBURY'S post, but FEL pallet forks offer more flexibility in loading and unloading, especially lift height.

L3301 is certainly ample size for a large garden.

You will want 5/16" chain grab hooks installed on the bucket of whatever tractor you buy.

LINK: Ken's Bolt on Grab Hooks <<Bolt-On>>

 

[s219]

I would calculate max tree weight you want to transport to your mill, then select a tractor that will lift 125% or 150% of that load with the FEL for transport. I would not be dragging and collecting dirt on trees to be milled.

Agree 100%, but with a good skid plate on the 3-pt, you can elevate one butt and get very little dirt on the log when dragging. That's what I normally do. I think I paid about $125 for my skid plate on e-Bay, but they are easy to make with a welder and some square stock.

 

[jeff9366]

Agree 100%, but with a good skid plate on the 3-pt, you can elevate one butt and get very little dirt on the log when dragging.

Full cut chains on my Stihl MS261 retain sharpness a very long time so long as dirt/sand contact is nil to irreducible minimum. "Very little" dirt would be too much by my standards. Then there is the issue of unproductive time as dull chain is exchanged for a sharp chain.

While I occasionally have to skid a weather toppled tree, I only salvage the clean wood for chainsawing into firewood. Any part with visible dirt is segregated and carried to the burn pile on the Debris Forks.

I use an OMNI (brand) 3-Pt triangle-crossdrawbar, with an OMNI "hanging tree" to elevate logs when (rarely) skidding.

 

[s219]

I always run semi-chisel when dealing with dirty wood, which is most of the time. I love full chisel for performance in clean wood, but it is quite a bit more fragile in dirty wood. I think I reduced the need to file by about a factor of 3-4 when I started using semi chisel. I got that tip from a production logger on Arboristsite (before the jerks there annoyed the guy too much) and boy was that some good advice.

 

[s219]

I should add, when milling, I suppose the main concern is the milling rig, not the felling/bucking saw. I have a hard time sharpening or changing chains with my Alaskan slabbing rig, so the cleaner the wood the better there. And we go through enough bandsaw blades when using a WoodMizer as it is, so dirty wood would only make that worse, and require a bigger supply of spare blades on hand.

 

[Fallon]

I have a L3200 (same tractor only slightly older) & love it. I can mow our 4 acres of pasture (decent number of obstacles) in 4 hours. It moves dirt pretty well, although it would be nicer to have a bigger tractor to make things go faster at times. Generally I'm pretty happy with it, although I keep thinking about upgrading to a cabbed Grand at some point, but that almost doubls the price over what I paid.

If you are going to be moving logs, you might be limited by the loader capacity. 1,000 lbs isnt too much when doing some stuff. I generally dont like pushing my equipment to the limit often, as that wears things out & beats it up faster.

Definitely get a HST & one with the SSQA. HST makes manuvering & picking things up trivial. SSQA means it takes seconds to swap between a bucket & pallet forks.