L3400 3-point hitch adjustment

[LD1]

To be honest I get mad that you have had to go to such extreme lengths to try and repair a problem like this when you paid so much for the tractor in the first place. Its not right a consumer should have to teach themselves to be a mechanic with the skills Sean and LD1 have, to try and fix an issue that Kubota is responsible for, not the purchaser. (And I do admire your mechanical skills LDI and Sean.)

Mike

I dont know how sean or others feel, BUT.....I dont blame kubota for the hitch.

While it may not be the nicest on the market.....It is certainly functional and will do everything I want:thumbsup:

The only blame I can lay on kubota is not telling customers that "hey, we cut costs and the hitch might not be as smooth as you'd expect". Some can live with it, others cant. Only you can decide.

Personally, I can live with min just the way it is. I have no regrets at all. The ONLY reason I tore into it was because of this thread. I had the time and know-how to try to help out here. Unfortunatally I failed. But that doesnt make me blame kubota.

I guess IMO, it is like buying a tractor without 4wd, or without Powersteering, or without (insert whatever feature you want here___) etc and blaming the MFG because you wanted an affordable tractor and didnt want to pony up $$$ for the best.

The tractors you are comparing...If you bought the JD and couldnt remove the loader (like EVERY other new CUT), would you blame JD because of bad design??

I guess that is the great thing about the market and competition. THere are SOOO many choices in SOOO many price ranges. No two are identical. And no two are priced Identical. For each individual, it is about finding the tractor that has the features he wants and at a price he likes. And to get the price he likes, it may not have EVERY feature in the book, or even the best features on the market.

 

[k0ua]

I dont know how sean or others feel, BUT.....I dont blame kubota for the hitch.

While it may not be the nicest on the market.....It is certainly functional and will do everything I want:thumbsup:

The only blame I can lay on kubota is not telling customers that "hey, we cut costs and the hitch might not be as smooth as you'd expect". Some can live with it, others cant. Only you can decide.

Personally, I can live with min just the way it is. I have no regrets at all. The ONLY reason I tore into it was because of this thread. I had the time and know-how to try to help out here. Unfortunatally I failed. But that doesnt make me blame kubota.

I guess IMO, it is like buying a tractor without 4wd, or without Powersteering, or without (insert whatever feature you want here___) etc and blaming the MFG because you wanted an affordable tractor and didnt want to pony up $$$ for the best.

The tractors you are comparing...If you bought the JD and couldnt remove the loader (like EVERY other new CUT), would you blame JD because of bad design??

I guess that is the great thing about the market and competition. THere are SOOO many choices in SOOO many price ranges. No two are identical. And no two are priced Identical. For each individual, it is about finding the tractor that has the features he wants and at a price he likes. And to get the price he likes, it may not have EVERY feature in the book, or even the best features on the market.

You have stated this pretty well. I hate that Kubota and most dealers seem to want to deny this. It would be better to just admit that the hitch is not smooth in most cases and go on.. Like you have said I could have bought a Grand L or some other brand. But I spent what I spent and bought what I could afford. Otherwise I have no complaints at all about this tractor. It works very well and at 125 hours has been exceedingly reliable and powerful. What is ironic is that the way I use the tractor with only a mower and ballast weight on the back the jerky hitch does not even matter at all. But if I had a boom pole on the back.. well that would be a trip! I kinda wanted it fixed for the same reasons you would want a blemish on your car fixed.. not that it really hurts the use of the car or the tractor in this case but because you just want things to be complete. This is sure been a saga. Thanks guys for everyones input on this.

James K0UA

 

[LD1]

does anyone have a BACK HOE and advise how they performing with the KUBOTA?

DOES IT DO THE WORK EASILY...ANY ISSIES WITH OPERATING IT OR ANY MAJOR PROBLEMS?

I dont have a BH, so I cannot comment. But this thread is about the 3PH, not a BH. You may want to start a new thread and you would probabally get more results.:thumbsup:

 

[Chilly807]

I pretty much agree with James and LD1. Other than the hitch, the L3400 is easily the best tractor in the class in my opinion. The hitch, while a nuisance, isn't a do-or-die factor for me. If I'd known it was like that when I was shopping, it would have weighed into the decision to be sure, but it might not have turned the tide in favour of Deere, NH, etc.

It was what we could afford at the time, and still is in fact. A "good enough" machine that does everything we need it to, and has a feature that effectively shakes the dirt off the PHD auger automatically..:laughing:

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

Appreciate your input Sean, LD1 and Teg. I'll have to think on this one. A tractor is a big one time purchase for us before we go on a fixed retirement income. I'll check with the dealers and see if they can, like Teg suggests, provide a perfectly functioning model to a new buyer.

To be honest I get mad that you have had to go to such extreme lengths to try and repair a problem like this when you paid so much for the tractor in the first place. Its not right a consumer should have to teach themselves to be a mechanic with the skills Sean and LD1 have, to try and fix an issue that Kubota is responsible for, not the purchaser. (And I do admire your mechanical skills LDI and Sean.)

Kubota needs to be called to task for their "screw you attitude". Maybe the way that GM, Ford, and Chrysler were schooled back in the day when they lost so much market share to Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen, due to their crappy products and unresponsiveness to consumers. These big corporations give me a pain in the ***. I guess I'm still a product of the sixties, even though most of that angst is long since spent.

I wonder if Jeff's Homebrew Solution is working out for him. That would have to be the fall back position if I did find a perfectly working L3800 or L3400 and any problem did surface over time with the hitch. I'm going to look at a Kioti DK35SE HST in the meantime on this Presidents' Day holiday weekend. Or I could look at Jokergerm's perfectly functioning model now that he's selling it, except he lives near Seattle 3000 miles away.

Mike

I think it's more frustrating knowing the hitch can be a problem when you know it BEFORE you buy.. after the fact it's "Oh, well... I guess I'm stuck with it now , might as well make the best of it"

You find an ideal tractor size and price-wise, great company reputation, then discover they bailed out somewhere and left this problem to make your decision harder. Like LD1 said, don't let this stop you from buying an L3800 or leftover L3400 (newer model year anyway), it's workable as it is, which is why Kubota hasn't re-designed the thing to eliminate the problem.

Sean

 

[Fordman1981]

Sean and LD1. Thanks so much for all your efforts trying to fix this problem. You probably saved us a ton of hard earned money and aggravation. I will steer away from purchasing an Economy series Kubota now since this problem seems insoluable in spite of your best efforts.

Chilly (Sean), you had mentioned you were going to try Jeff's Homebrew Solution this winter. Do you think you might still give that a shot or are you over it at this point? If that solution passed your or LD1's muster, maybe I'd still give the L series a shot.

There's only one small Kioti dealer around here or I'd be more keen on them as second choice, and the equivalent JD models seemed to have FELs that didn't seem to detach much less be quick attached. I really don't feel like being gouged for thousands for features of the Grand L's I neither want nor need, just to get a decent 3 point hitch valve. Anyway, Thanks again. Your efforts were worth a lot to me and I'm sure everyone else who followed this saga. It's back to the tractor purchase drawing board.

Mike

One choice I would recommended is the L4400 I looked at the L3800 it was new on the lot and had a jerky hitch not real bad but not satisfactory to me either. So I looked at the L4400 not much more money than the L3800 and more tractor with a smooth hitch. Just sharing my experience hope it helps.

 

[sadie72]

I agree, don't shy away from the L3800. I can attest to the fact that the hitch can be adjusted to reasonable performance. I just hooked up my 30' camper to the adjusted 3ph and was pumped with the precise vertical motion. Really night and day from a week ago. I noticed today that with the heavy camper attached, the only time the hitch would 'hunt' or lower then re-establish original elevation, was when the FEL was maxed out during a curl or uncurl motion. Up or down FEL didn't matter a bit. Hard for me to understand this as raising the FEL still requires demand from hydraulic system. Maybe there's air trapped in the curl pistons??? Don't know. I can say that I'm really impressed with the 3ph performance now.

I put the 3ph away this morning and reattached the BH77. I agree, this is the topic for a seperate thread discussion, but also like it's performance, so far.

So, don't shy away from L3800, just make sure you're happy with 3ph before the money leaves your pocket. I felt a little 'exposed' by purchasing before knowing about the 3ph issue. Luckily, there was an adustment made which seems to me a reasonable compromise.

Also, Sean, this morning I looked into the RPM/FEL/3PH issue. I think it's safe to say that RPMs do not effect my 3ph. Maybe a result of a modified valve from your L3400?

 

[Chilly807]

I agree, don't shy away from the L3800. I can attest to the fact that the hitch can be adjusted to reasonable performance. I just hooked up my 30' camper to the adjusted 3ph and was pumped with the precise vertical motion. Really night and day from a week ago. I noticed today that with the heavy camper attached, the only time the hitch would 'hunt' or lower then re-establish original elevation, was when the FEL was maxed out during a curl or uncurl motion. Up or down FEL didn't matter a bit. Hard for me to understand this as raising the FEL still requires demand from hydraulic system. Maybe there's air trapped in the curl pistons??? Don't know. I can say that I'm really impressed with the 3ph performance now.

I put the 3ph away this morning and reattached the BH77. I agree, this is the topic for a seperate thread discussion, but also like it's performance, so far.

So, don't shy away from L3800, just make sure you're happy with 3ph before the money leaves your pocket. I felt a little 'exposed' by purchasing before knowing about the 3ph issue. Luckily, there was an adustment made which seems to me a reasonable compromise.

Also, Sean, this morning I looked into the RPM/FEL/3PH issue. I think it's safe to say that RPMs do not effect my 3ph. Maybe a result of a modified valve from your L3400?

Glad to hear it's behaving itself, I'd say there's a good chance you have a later generation valve than I do.

The reason the hitch doesn't drop when you raise or lower the loader may be that you didn't hold the valve fully open for maximum movement speed. When you do that, it diverts all the oil to whichever implement the valve serves. If you feather the lever, whatever flow remains unused by that valve is available for use by another valve downstream, in this case the 3 point hitch.

I plowed some snow with mine today, it's back to what passes for normal. Luckily the L3400 IS a very good compact tractor with a minor shortcoming that I can either work around or live with.

Nothing like 35 hp, 4wd and ice chains for moving heavy wet snow:thumbsup:

Sean

 

[oneillmj]

I appreciate what you are saying LDI, but have some other thoughts on the matter. In the auto world, my wife and I bought a Toyota Corolla for her use. It's an economy model. However, there is nothing on that vehicle that does not work properly. That's how any model of any car or tractor should work, even the most basic. We'd have liked a Mercedes or even a Camry, as well as would prefer a Grand L series. The Corolla gets my wife where she wants to go and functions perfectly in all regards. We shouldn't have had to upgrade to a better model to get that.

To me, the L3400 or L3800 is the equivalent of our Corolla, and is in our price range. Anything costing as much as our car, as economy model Kubotas do, should meet the same minimum standard; everything should work correctly. I don't think that's asking too much of Kubota, or any company for even their least expensive models. If the rear end of Corollas fishtailed, you'd be hearing about Toyota on both CNN and Fox News. I don't feel the alternative of having to upgrade to get a product that works as it should is justifiable.

Mike

 

[Goog]

I had not been to the site for awhile and was catching up on this current thread on the 3pt. jerk. I like TEG bought my L3400HST very early. May 2005. I had to wait a while to get one. The first job I did was post holes with my new auger. It was absolutely useless as all of the dirt would fall off when raising the auger. I was not happy!

This is my first tractor and I looked at green tractors and red tractors but came to a Kubota based on reputation and it looked like a very well built solid tractor. The Grand L did nothing for me as I did not want all of the extra bells and whistles. I did not know about the 3 pt. being jerky at the time of my purchase. I also did not ask the dealer if it worked properly. That would have been like asking if the engine runs on all 3 cylinders or not!

I knew it was an "economy" tractor but it was still alot of money to me. Along with the auger I purchased a box scraper and a chipper.

The next morning after my first experience using the auger I was on the phone to the dealer. At that time they were not aware of the issue but compared it to another one that came in with mine. Also very jerky. They called Kubota and did not get to much help and I was ready to return the tractor. They gave me the number for Kubota West Coast rep.

I called the rep and had a very pleasant talk. I told him what I was doing with the tractor and that it was unacceptable to me. He then offered that for people that had an issue they could install a different 3 pt. control valve. He sent the valve directly to the dealer. The dealer picked up the tractor from my house, installed the valve and returned the tractor.

What a difference. I believe it is the L3010 control valve? I have no paperwork that shows. All I know is that it was way smoother. Not perfect but very useable.

Tonight just for the heck of it I curled the loader against the relief valve and watched the three point with my heavy chipper. It did not move at all. When raising the 3 pt. it comes up in small increments depending on how much you raise it. When it stops it is abrubt but not a jerk.

I don't know if any of this applies to what you guy's are trying to accomplish but I think to get it where you want it you need a different control valve?

I cannot believe 7 years later this is still happening. I really like my tractor but the economy thing burns me up. It should work correctly!

I also had all of the pto issues but that is another subject. Brian