New kubota tractor advice

[dodge man]

I keep feel like I’m missing something here. Why would you not just dig around a rock with the FEL, expose most of it, and pop it out of the ground. I keep seeing all this stuff about a grapple. A grapple isn’t going to pluck it out of the ground if most of its buried, maybe you can slide under and pluck it out. I’m not knocking a grapple, they are just pricey and I think for getting rocks out the FEL will work fine.

 

[RSR]

It really depends on the ground. Mine is such hard clay, and with so many rocks, you can't dig with the bucket to get one rock out, without a different part of the bucket hitting a rock someplace else, and hanging up.

If you just have an occasional rock here are there, that should work. But it doesn't take too many rocks in hard ground to where digging with the bucket quickly becomes a futile exercise.

 

[thunder86]

The frostbite style grapples have an easily removed plate that spans the two lower tines (see picture). That allows you to pinch, and pick up rocks the size of softballs (depending on operator skill ). In the picture, the top clamshell is contacting the lower plate in it's current orientation. A camera mounted to the grapple makes it much easier to see what you are doing.

Or it can be removed to make the tines dig in easier. I leave my plate on pretty much all of the time as I've had no problem getting under rocks and popping them out with it on, and it makes it easy to get the smaller ones out.

I have a similar sized tractor (LS XR4145) with a loader with max lift capacity of 2,700 lbs at full height. With the grapple I've never been worried about twisting the loader. The tines are spaced close enough it's almost a non-issue (I imagine if you tried to pick up a massive rock so it's cantilevered out on one end, you could run into problems).

View attachment 689996

I like that plate between the bottom teeth but I cannot find one like that. Where did you buy yours?

 

[RSR]

I like that plate between the bottom teeth but I cannot find one like that. Where did you buy yours?

My dealer ordered the Sundown GR-20 grapple for me when I bought my tractor. It came with it.

I think if you inquire directly to the manufacturer or a distributor, you will find that, while not shown, a cross plate like that is available for either the Sundown, Igland, or Frostbite grapples.

 

[the old grind]

The plate seems to be an option with makes that offer it. I'd add it for rocks, might remove for grubbing olive & honeysuckle depending on the bite I could get.

 

[Grandad4]

It really depends on the ground. Mine is such hard clay, and with so many rocks, you can't dig with the bucket to get one rock out, without a different part of the bucket hitting a rock someplace else, and hanging up.

If you just have an occasional rock here are there, that should work. But it doesn't take too many rocks in hard ground to where digging with the bucket quickly becomes a futile exercise.

That was my experience also. Digging things out of the ground with the FEL "looks" like it should be easy until you actually try it. Like digging with a snow shovel. And if you try using just one side to dig, you risk racking the FEL arms on anything that puts up a fight.

 

[Cranblue]

What size do recommend? The L series is 1,000 pounds heavy than what I'm used to.

I went with L4701 with BH 92 hoe very pleased with its capabilities ran JD 410 BH,Ford 555 and Case 530CK this Kubota pound for pound is my Orange Little Beast !!! I’ve removed 100s of trees with 4701 and dug the stumps out obviously chainsawed bigger trees first.Personally I think you’ll get better leverage with hoe vs grapple I just use pallet forks to move trees and debris my tree work is winding down grapple great for picking up loose debris just didn’t appeal to me as much as BH.

 

[sea2summit]

I keep feel like I’m missing something here. Why would you not just dig around a rock with the FEL, expose most of it, and pop it out of the ground. I keep seeing all this stuff about a grapple. A grapple isn’t going to pluck it out of the ground if most of its buried, maybe you can slide under and pluck it out. I’m not knocking a grapple, they are just pricey and I think for getting rocks out the FEL will work fine.

FELs are designed to do exactly zero digging. The are designed to scoop material.

 

[SylvainG]

And a backhoe is designed for digging.

 

[dodge man]

I guess I’m misusing mine then.

 

[SylvainG]

Actually, my loader manual says:

Digging Depth Below Grade ........................................135mm............................................. 5.5"

So, it can dig, but not much.

 

[5030]

You are expecting WAY too much from a little unit, especially one with those tires. I see you already bent your brush guard. Go rent a track machine,

 

[Doc G]

FELs are designed to do exactly zero digging. The are designed to scoop material.

^^^ Yep. Seems some members live on soil that is fairly loose and "nice" to work with, but many of us (including me) work with heavy clay or rock-infested soils where CUT FELs can do basically no digging*. Rabbit trail: I'm generally dismayed at how many implements do not work well or at all in heavy clay soils.

On occasion, I will use the disc plow, or box blade rippers (and the blade itself) to loosen and push around soil so the FEL can scoop it up. That's about the extent of its "digging" abilities.

(*Disclaimer: have not tried a tooth bar yet.)

 

[SylvainG]

I think that's what the tooth bar is exactly for, loosen the soil so it can be scooped up.

 

[the old grind]

I've used the box blade several times as a 5-shank sub-soiler, usually where the chisel plow's teeth deflect upward vs digging in.

Rocks and roots in most places just take another pass or two before I hop a seat to clear brush & BS with the landscape rake.

 

[Rock Crawler]

^^^ Yep. Seems some members live on soil that is fairly loose and "nice" to work with, but many of us (including me) work with heavy clay or rock-infested soils where CUT FELs can do basically no digging*. Rabbit trail: I'm generally dismayed at how many implements do not work well or at all in heavy clay soils.

On occasion, I will use the disc plow, or box blade rippers (and the blade itself) to loosen and push around soil so the FEL can scoop it up. That's about the extent of its "digging" abilities.

(*Disclaimer: have not tried a tooth bar yet.)

Speaking of a box blade... I have a 300 lb box with 500 lb of plate on it and I'll have my father pull it with the mighty Kubota while I stand on the box (I'm 210 lbs) with the teeth down one notch and it pretty much skips over the clay and shale mix when dry out.

It works fine after wet weather before the ground dries up, but once it's dry..... useless. The front loader here with the tooth bar..... useless as a digging tool. The backhoe works great, break into the ground and get to the naturally damp and softer material.

 

[big bubba]

boy, you've got a lot going on & multiple decisions to make. 84 mo is a long time to be encumbered
wise move to post here, most members probably have better advice than me
hire out all that you can on the big projects before you buy a tractor/equip. then decide equipment that best suits your needs after that, keeping in mind big projects that may not be in the picture now.....

more importantly, shy away from the "buy it now, gotta have it" compulsion, it will save you in long run.
definitely been there myself. continue to post your progress & best of luck

 

[Bullwinkle123]

If only there were 10 ton excavators that could pull rotary cutters, tractor sales would plummet

 

[Doc G]

Speaking of a box blade... I have a 300 lb box with 500 lb of plate on it and I'll have my father pull it with the mighty Kubota while I stand on the box (I'm 210 lbs) with the teeth down one notch and it pretty much skips over the clay and shale mix when dry out.

It works fine after wet weather before the ground dries up, but once it's dry..... useless. The front loader here with the tooth bar..... useless as a digging tool. The backhoe works great, break into the ground and get to the naturally damp and softer material.

Boy, you got that right. There's a limited window between "sticky tar" and "hard as a brick" in which you can do anything with clay. That window is exactly when you have to put in 80 hours at work.

 

[dodge man]

I told someone I could dig a basement with my FEL. It would maybe take me two weeks or a month to do something that would take a tracked excavator a day or two. Where I live most of the area has black topsoil but there are pockets that don’t. I live where I don’t have the nice topsoil but have timber soil. You can usually dig it though. The trick is you have to get your front wheels headed downhill into the ground so you can keep digging deeper.

So how do you get rocks out with a grapple? Do the bottom teeth slice into the soil so you can get under the rock? I can say I’m glad I live somewhere there aren’t a lot of rocks to fight.