cart99
Silver Member
New B3030 - my first post to Owner\'s Forum!
I received my B3030 a couple weeks ago from Messick's (thanks Neil!!) and am finally getting around to posting. Here is what I got, with my thoughts on each after 10 hours of use.
1. B3030 tractor - Very glad I got the B3030 over the B7800. Three of my tractor owner neighbors (B7800, L-series, and NH24DA) have looked it over thorough and are particularly impressed with the overall control layout, rear 3ph positioning foldable ROPS, and telescoping 3ph. The B7800 owner says it takes him about 30 minutes to get his bush hog on his, and the second time I put mine on I did it in 10, all because of the telescoping feature.
2. ATI grapple (bolted on to bucket) I will do a separate post with pictures of the great install job Messick's did on this. The grapple operates off a diverter on the bucket curl/uncurl, with a button on the end of the joystick that controls it. It's easy to use and intuitive, and I love it love it love it. A pile of brush that would've taken me an hour to haul to my burn pile, I picked up in one grab and moved in about 3 minutes AND NEVER HAD TO TOUCH ANY OF IT. I had very high expectations for what I could do with the grapple, and so far, it has met them.
3. Bucket Teeth - also glad I invested in this. Dug up a bunch of small stumps and levelled some pass thru areas in a tree line i cleared. I seriously doubt I would've gotten any kind of penetration into this hard clay Virginia dirt without the teeth. The teeth also give me a bit more bite when using the grapple.
4. Work lights - I'll admit it, the work lights I wanted primarily because I thought they would look cool, but I ended up working in the dark the other night scooping up clippings. If you do any kind of fel work, the standard headlights all but USELESS, and the grapple on there only makes it worse. All you get is glare (especially if your bucket is still shiny new) I ended turning the headlights off and just using the worklights and could see MUCH better. And having one front and one rear facing is also fantastic, again especially when doing FEL work. I would consider the worklights an absolute NECESSITY if you plan to do anything in low light conditions.
5. Heavy Duty Alternator - I really don't know if I needed this, but I got it. I can say that the lights do not dim AT ALL under any conditions no matter what RPM and/or load the engine is under.
6. Woods rear blade - The blade was almost an afterthought, but I've already used it several times and I am very impressed with how well constructed the Woods unit is, especially its variety of adjustments and replaceable blade. It also makes for a more manuevarable rear ballast piece than the brush-cutter. Glad I bought it.
7. Woods 5' brush cutter - I mowed 8 acres in about 4.5 hours and was not rushing. Another very heavy-duty well-engineered piece of equipment.
Thanks to all who offered their opinions on the questions I posted in the buying forums. Glad to be here amongst the owners!!
I received my B3030 a couple weeks ago from Messick's (thanks Neil!!) and am finally getting around to posting. Here is what I got, with my thoughts on each after 10 hours of use.
1. B3030 tractor - Very glad I got the B3030 over the B7800. Three of my tractor owner neighbors (B7800, L-series, and NH24DA) have looked it over thorough and are particularly impressed with the overall control layout, rear 3ph positioning foldable ROPS, and telescoping 3ph. The B7800 owner says it takes him about 30 minutes to get his bush hog on his, and the second time I put mine on I did it in 10, all because of the telescoping feature.
2. ATI grapple (bolted on to bucket) I will do a separate post with pictures of the great install job Messick's did on this. The grapple operates off a diverter on the bucket curl/uncurl, with a button on the end of the joystick that controls it. It's easy to use and intuitive, and I love it love it love it. A pile of brush that would've taken me an hour to haul to my burn pile, I picked up in one grab and moved in about 3 minutes AND NEVER HAD TO TOUCH ANY OF IT. I had very high expectations for what I could do with the grapple, and so far, it has met them.
3. Bucket Teeth - also glad I invested in this. Dug up a bunch of small stumps and levelled some pass thru areas in a tree line i cleared. I seriously doubt I would've gotten any kind of penetration into this hard clay Virginia dirt without the teeth. The teeth also give me a bit more bite when using the grapple.
4. Work lights - I'll admit it, the work lights I wanted primarily because I thought they would look cool, but I ended up working in the dark the other night scooping up clippings. If you do any kind of fel work, the standard headlights all but USELESS, and the grapple on there only makes it worse. All you get is glare (especially if your bucket is still shiny new) I ended turning the headlights off and just using the worklights and could see MUCH better. And having one front and one rear facing is also fantastic, again especially when doing FEL work. I would consider the worklights an absolute NECESSITY if you plan to do anything in low light conditions.
5. Heavy Duty Alternator - I really don't know if I needed this, but I got it. I can say that the lights do not dim AT ALL under any conditions no matter what RPM and/or load the engine is under.
6. Woods rear blade - The blade was almost an afterthought, but I've already used it several times and I am very impressed with how well constructed the Woods unit is, especially its variety of adjustments and replaceable blade. It also makes for a more manuevarable rear ballast piece than the brush-cutter. Glad I bought it.
7. Woods 5' brush cutter - I mowed 8 acres in about 4.5 hours and was not rushing. Another very heavy-duty well-engineered piece of equipment.
Thanks to all who offered their opinions on the questions I posted in the buying forums. Glad to be here amongst the owners!!
