Tractor Sizing Kubota L3901, L4701, L4060, MX5400, stability, miscellaneous

[Bullwinkle123]

I'm buying a tractor. First, let me say that my primary uses for my tractor are probably covered. The L3901 should be entirely adequate to the primary tasks. That said, I have a few secondary wish list items and concerns:

Stability:

Big concern for me, perhaps because I'm just a big chicken. My property is very hilly. I'm unsure of the slope, but let's just say that all past people who've brush hogged my field always go up/down hill, never sideways. My woods are also hilly. See next item.

Woods:

I'd like to go into the woods. I have some trails I used to maintain by hand, some logs I'd like to skid out of the woods. Casual stuff. Even if I was super serious about woods and logging, we'd be talking 10 cords/year _max_. My trails are not designed for tractors. They're wide enough to get in, but turning around may be problematic unless I modify the trails, and there's the hills, i.e. the trails are often cut into the side of a hill, so ... forward and back, no sideways.

Snow clearing. Probably irrelevant, just FYI.

I don't think the the snow blowing stuff really has much impact on the tractor size at this point, i.e. the L3901 will probably do the trick. Sure, bigger is better for weight and such. And the Grand L series has the mid-pto option for a front mounted blower. I might be okay with a pull-type rear blower if I went that way. I have a 1/4 mile driveway. Much through the woods (challenging to push the snow back there). Some large turnouts (50 feet in diameter). Gravel. In my dreams I'd snowblow it, maybe I'll settle for plowing. Under no circumstances will I snowblow in reverse. No cab, because of trees and aforementioned woods plans.


Okay, let's talk width tradeoffs:

I've mostly spoken with a dealer about an L3901. Here are the specified (default) widths of the Kubotas I mention in the title:

• L3901 - 55.1"
• L4701 - 62.4"
• L4060 - 66.5"
• MX5400 - 69.7"

So the L4060 'Grand' model is more than 11 inches wider than the L3901! That beckons to me, but perhaps it is irrational, and I don't have the a list of cost upgrades involved yet (any data anyone?). And there's the conflict, wider tractor means harder to navigate woods. Heavier tractor means more damage to lawn (when crossing), and potentially tree roots.

The dealer tells me the L3901 only accommodates 1.5" spacers. So at best I'm going to get 58.1" width. I don't know what's available for the others yet.

Anyway, just looking for advice based on your personal experience with these models and/or issues. I have a _basic_ grasp of the differences in these models, i.e. all the goodies that come with the grand L series compared to standard L. I don't have any clue about real cost differences yet. I'd guess wider models mean I need wider implements, e.g. snowblower, means more cost for attachments too.

So, long and short, I'm trying not to go overboard. I'm hoping I can do some of my secondary plans in the woods and for snow clearing. I'd really like not to end up with a broken neck trying to clear and retrieve wood from my favorite trails. This being my first (and preferably only) tractor, I'm unsure how much to worry. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jchonline]

I think you will be hard pressed to not mess up your lawn outside of it being frozen with all of these machines. They are not meant to go across a lawn unless you have turf tires.
Hills are no joke in a tractor. Widen the paths if you need to. Front blower via PTO on a Grand L is super expensive and a pain to take on/off. You are going to be rear blowing if anything. How much snowfall per year? How many acres overall?

 

[ericm979]

For tractors like Kubotas that come with R1s, the width is usually the width of the narrow R1s in their narrowest position. R4s are usually wider. The best thing is to measure a tractor with the tires you want. If the wheels are adjustable you can probably find the offsets for the different wheel positions and use that to calculate the minimum or maximum width depending on what you are interested in.

Of course the wider the rear track the more stable the tractor will be on a slope.


I'm on 20 steep acres. The avg slope is 33% from top to bottom, but it's flatter around the house and barn so it's steeper elsewhere. About half woods and half mixed brush and trees. Most of the woods part is too steep to operate on even if it wasn't wooded but there's a road that cuts across it.

My first tractor was a Kubota B7100. I set the wheels as wide as they go and it was tippy even though it's a small 17hp tractor. For my second tractor I got a Branson 3725 with several modifications for slope duty: slightly smaller diameter wheels and tires from a different Branson model, 2" spacers (these wheels are not adjustable), and rear tires filled with Rimguard. Bransons come with R4s so I did not have to change that. The smaller tires lower the tractor an inch or so which lowers the center of gravity and makes it more stable. With the spacers and 18 psi in the rear tires the outside tire bulge to bulge is 72". The tread track is 70".

I don't operate in the woods but I do on the rest, where it's not too steep or the brush too thick. While the wider wheels and lower chassis are a compromise, I feel that they were right for my situation.

I've been using chains to pull logs out of the woods. I'm assembling some cables so I can reach farther back into the woods from the road. Might need some pulleys to redirect the pull. A PTO driven forestry winch would be a better way to do that but I don't pull out enough trees to justify one.

 

[jeff9366]

I've mostly spoken with a dealer about an L3901. Here are the specified (default) widths of the Kubotas I mention in the title:

• L3901 - 55.1"
• L4701 - 62.4"
• L4060 - 66.5"
• MX5400 - 69.7"

So the L4060 'Grand' model is more than 11 inches wider than the L3901!

One of the features that makes an L4060 'grand' are the unusual two part wheels supplied with rear R4/industrial tires. L4060 rear R4 tires can be spread to 52.8", 54.3" or 58.7" tread width.

L4060 R1/ag tires can be spread to 50.6", 56.5" or 60.2" tread width.

The adjustments are made by raising rear tires off the ground, then assembling rim components in different orders.

TREAD WIDTH = tire spread from center of one tire to center of opposite tire. Overall tire spread, outside-to-outside, depends on tires selected but is always wider than tread width.

 

[jeff9366]

I've mostly spoken with a dealer about an L3901. Here are the specified (default) widths of the Kubotas I mention in the title:

• 
  L3901
• L4701 - 62.4"
• L4060
• MX5400 - 69.7"

So the L4060 'Grand' model is more than 11 inches wider than the L3901!

The ground clearance on a L3901 is 13.4"

The ground clearance on a L4060 is 14.4"

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Interesting situation... I have a L3301 and an MX 5100. They are two totally different machines. I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains on 95 acres, mostly woods, where I have "hollers" that drop 100 ft and "ridges" that I drive along. I have built trails to transverse certain areas, but some are just too steep. My MX is my favorite for most tasks here as it is wider, heavier, and just feels better. I loaded the tires AND put 400lbs of weights on the tires, AND almost always have an implement on the back. I also use it to plow my driveway that is 1/2 mile and path clearing with a box blade or a landscape rake. I LOVE MY MX. The 3301 I use primarily at my farm property of 55 acres of nice, rolling hills and pastures. It also has loaded tires and wheel weights. It seems a bit "tippier" than the MX, but still stable if I'm not stupid. I never mow or bush hog sideways cause I don't like the feel. Both of mine are gear drive, which I prefer to hst. The MX is much heavier, twice the size, and more $. If I had one to choose, the MX for sure. You always need more tractor!

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I think you will be hard pressed to not mess up your lawn outside of it being frozen with all of these machines. They are not meant to go across a lawn unless you have turf tires.
Hills are no joke in a tractor. Widen the paths if you need to. Front blower via PTO on a Grand L is super expensive and a pain to take on/off. You are going to be rear blowing if anything. How much snowfall per year? How many acres overall?

Hi, answers/observations to your questions:

Re: lawn, I expect mostly to restrict it to cleaning up downed trees, so maybe one or two a year, and spring and fall cleanups and mulching of flower beds (i.e. driving stuff to/from the beds). The rest of the time I should be able to remain off the lawn, so I'm hoping it will survive R4's on this. L3901 still too much for it to hack that? I can't go with turf treads, I need the traction elsewhere.

Re: front blower expense, yeah. I'm naively under the impression there are three front blower options. 1) PTO power transfer device that goes from rear to front. 2) Mid PTO to front. 3) Auxiliiary hydraulics. I'm most interested in the rear pull-type blower if I go with a blower, though I guess there's plenty of issues there. Amount of snow varies, it's Vermont, and snow has been decreasing in recent years. Still, could be 2 wet unblowable inches. Could be 20.

Re: acreage, I have 188 acres, but easily 1/3 of it is not reachable by tractor, heck, humans can barely climb some of the banks. There's a lot of history here though, the house is 230 years old, and there's plenty of evidence of past cart and/or logging paths that cover some pretty steep terrain. Weird to think of horses managing it when tractors can't. So I'm resigned to a lot of it being unreachable, but am hoping to access what's left. Some of what I want is to reach the leftovers from the professional logging operations that are carried out periodically, but I'm also resigned to the fact that they use heavy equipment that goes places my tractor won't go. I'm just hoping to do the best I can with the environment I described, and am trying to figure out if there's any legitimate reason I should go up from the L3901.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

The tread width thing is useful. What is the width they give in all the Kubota specifications? They use the phrase "Overall width (min. tread)". Are they using the inside edge of the tires as the boundary?

 

[Jchonline]

Hi, answers/observations to your questions:

Re: lawn, I expect mostly to restrict it to cleaning up downed trees, so maybe one or two a year, and spring and fall cleanups and mulching of flower beds (i.e. driving stuff to/from the beds). The rest of the time I should be able to remain off the lawn, so I'm hoping it will survive R4's on this. L3901 still too much for it to hack that? I can't go with turf treads, I need the traction elsewhere.
Yes I am afraid so. If you went straight in a line maybe not but once you start turning around or have implements or loaded tires it will be too heavy in my opinion. Perhaps others do drive their L equivalent size/weight tractors over a nicely cut lawn and can chime in.
Re: front blower expense, yeah. I'm naively under the impression there are three front blower options. 1) PTO power transfer device that goes from rear to front. 2) Mid PTO to front. 3) Auxiliiary hydraulics. I'm most interested in the rear pull-type blower if I go with a blower, though I guess there's plenty of issues there. Amount of snow varies, it's Vermont, and snow has been decreasing in recent years. Still, could be 2 wet unblowable inches. Could be 20.
20 Total for the season? Sorry that is what I was getting at. Hydraulic driven on a tractor is a no go. Not enough flow unless you add a completely separate pump on the 3 PT hitch that is run by your PTO (expensive). Most do have a rear blower and some use a pull. I dont have one (but have looked into them quite a bit). Others with more experience can chime in.

Re: acreage, I have 188 acres, but easily 1/3 of it is not reachable by tractor, heck, humans can barely climb some of the banks. There's a lot of history here though, the house is 230 years old, and there's plenty of evidence of past cart and/or logging paths that cover some pretty steep terrain. Weird to think of horses managing it when tractors can't. So I'm resigned to a lot of it being unreachable, but am hoping to access what's left. Some of what I want is to reach the leftovers from the professional logging operations that are carried out periodically, but I'm also resigned to the fact that they use heavy equipment that goes places my tractor won't go. I'm just hoping to do the best I can with the environment I described, and am trying to figure out if there's any legitimate reason I should go up from the L3901.

Nice chunk of land! Congrats. Some would say you might end up with multiple machines to accomplish everything on such a large property. However it is probably best to start with one and see what gaps you end up with. From what you have described the L series should be adequate. Considerations for a Grand L: need more weight, want HST+ transmission.I would not consider midPTO desirable. More loader capacity.

 

[Citydude]

The dealer is wrong on rear spacers. I had 6" spacers on my L2501 which I previously had on an L3400. 600 hours between the two tractors with 0 issues.