lilburr
Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2013
- Messages
- 47
- Tractor
- fordson, john deere
This is kinda long ...
I am in the market for a compact. Since the market is as it is, I have not bought yet. Not only is the pickins' slim, the price asking is not practical, and it is non-negotiable too.
So I rent for maintenance on my property (15ac) from our locally owned equip store. This is not the national type equip rental place, this is a local farmer/feed store/logger/haycutter family that opened a tool rental place.
My first usage of a 'modern' type tractor as I'm used to older iron; a Kubota L3901 with FEL, HST, and less than 200 hrs. This is two-fold as I can now judge things first hand.
First off, I always figured with my application of tractor use, HST would be not preferred and another possible expense. My use primarily is 1,000 ft drive that is on the side of a hill, going down thru a bottom, across a creek to dirt road. This maintenance has become fairly constant on the filled over culverts 'bridge' across that creek. Typical Ford3000 type and boxblade, mainly working surface while going down the hill. I do not see seriously working this grade uphill. Other uses are to clear small areas around homesite ect. No real farming.
First the HST. Wow, this is so easy, I would never have imagined. But the whine ! Learning here, I adjusted throttle slightly and the whine varied slightly. But dang, it just don't seem right for a newish $25k or $30k 'workhorse'.
Second the emission purge (or whatever it is). I received this rental with 192hrs. so @ 200hrs, the dashlights started blinking. Again, from learning here, it was no real shock; called the store, they said idle it up to top RPMs, and let it sit for 30 minutes. I did and the dashlights were gone when I mounted back up.
Now the most important discovery and flaw with this L3901; the three point hitch and 'swaybars' (as the rental guy called them) as it pertained to my 6ft boxblade. Any work in a just slightly uneven grade (like the crown on this driveway) and these extra bars hooked up to the three point connection would rub against the tires. These were not typical tractor tires, they were the 'industrial' tire low wide profiles. To the point of not really being able to work this dawg like I needed to. Again, I rented from a local guy and insurance for rental was not discussed much less used, so I can't take that kind of chance on any piece of equip, much less not my piece. So anyway, I could not really complete some of the grading like it needed.
Other than those points, it was a nice, small framed unit, I moved 40 tons sand/clay, 20 tons riprap and cleaned out my drainage chutes on driveway fairly nicely. Power steering is real nice. Easy on the fuel. 4WD is nice. Starts right up. Comfortable enough to where I could work on it til lunch, then come back out and do 2 or 3 more hours in evening (I'm 65 and not used to tractor work).
Hope this helps and I wonder if it was a L2501 or a little lesser than the 40hp, would the results be the same.
I am in the market for a compact. Since the market is as it is, I have not bought yet. Not only is the pickins' slim, the price asking is not practical, and it is non-negotiable too.
So I rent for maintenance on my property (15ac) from our locally owned equip store. This is not the national type equip rental place, this is a local farmer/feed store/logger/haycutter family that opened a tool rental place.
My first usage of a 'modern' type tractor as I'm used to older iron; a Kubota L3901 with FEL, HST, and less than 200 hrs. This is two-fold as I can now judge things first hand.
First off, I always figured with my application of tractor use, HST would be not preferred and another possible expense. My use primarily is 1,000 ft drive that is on the side of a hill, going down thru a bottom, across a creek to dirt road. This maintenance has become fairly constant on the filled over culverts 'bridge' across that creek. Typical Ford3000 type and boxblade, mainly working surface while going down the hill. I do not see seriously working this grade uphill. Other uses are to clear small areas around homesite ect. No real farming.
First the HST. Wow, this is so easy, I would never have imagined. But the whine ! Learning here, I adjusted throttle slightly and the whine varied slightly. But dang, it just don't seem right for a newish $25k or $30k 'workhorse'.
Second the emission purge (or whatever it is). I received this rental with 192hrs. so @ 200hrs, the dashlights started blinking. Again, from learning here, it was no real shock; called the store, they said idle it up to top RPMs, and let it sit for 30 minutes. I did and the dashlights were gone when I mounted back up.
Now the most important discovery and flaw with this L3901; the three point hitch and 'swaybars' (as the rental guy called them) as it pertained to my 6ft boxblade. Any work in a just slightly uneven grade (like the crown on this driveway) and these extra bars hooked up to the three point connection would rub against the tires. These were not typical tractor tires, they were the 'industrial' tire low wide profiles. To the point of not really being able to work this dawg like I needed to. Again, I rented from a local guy and insurance for rental was not discussed much less used, so I can't take that kind of chance on any piece of equip, much less not my piece. So anyway, I could not really complete some of the grading like it needed.
Other than those points, it was a nice, small framed unit, I moved 40 tons sand/clay, 20 tons riprap and cleaned out my drainage chutes on driveway fairly nicely. Power steering is real nice. Easy on the fuel. 4WD is nice. Starts right up. Comfortable enough to where I could work on it til lunch, then come back out and do 2 or 3 more hours in evening (I'm 65 and not used to tractor work).
Hope this helps and I wonder if it was a L2501 or a little lesser than the 40hp, would the results be the same.
