Thoughts on this guy’s experiences

[LS Tractor Owner]

These little 3 point hitch backhoes are not made to take a beating. Grabbing and yanking roots and trying to dig in Rocky clay will not make your Lil backhoe happy. Not on any of these Sub Compacts

These are not 3 point BH's..... they have mounting subframes. The 3 point just hangs there

 

[hornett22]

Go a little larger on tractor. If you have a Mahindra dealer nearby, I can highly recommend the 1626. The backhoe is impressive.

 

[joesco]

I have owned more than a dozen tractors over the last 40 years! KIOTI, Kubota, New Holland, JOHN DEERE, FORD, FARMALL and believe it or not a BELARUS!

I recently sold a Kubota 2230 and purchased an LS MT122. 6 months of research and there is no doubt now I made the right decision!

Power from the bullet-proof Yanmar, lift capacity of the Loader and a frame and undercarriage built like a tank puts all the above units to shame! LS makes New Holland and I believe it's the third largest tractor manufacturer in the world. Based out of South Korea.

The only issue that I had is the front tires loose air. So the dealer gave me some rim guard sealent, just haven't gotten around to applying it. I also replaced the cheap toolbox with an Ammo box and added a QA. The QA upgrade was only $495.00, it a mini QA, but my dealer came up with the ingenious idea of just welding some angle iron on MY new SSQA Receiver Plate, it fits perfectly on any SSQA attachment. I'm going to use for my Snowsport Plow and Grapple Toe Hook / Tow Ball!


It's a 2022 model and I've got about 25 hours on it. Love it!

As far as a backhoe attachment, IMO it's a total waste of money unless you want a 50+hp unit and have $75K to spend.

Every few years, what I do is rent a trackhoe for about $350.00 a day and take care of on backhoe work on my 7 Acres!

 

[shooterdon]

With 5 acres do you really need a backhoe? Give that some thought. I have 20 acres and have done less than $1000 of backhoe work in the 10 years I have lived here.

You can run a lot of trench in a day with a rental trencher. How many stumps and rocks will you need to dig up that a $1000 stump bucket will not handle?

And if you do a lot of 3PH work, the BH needs to come off and get stored somewhere out of the elements.

Btw, 260 hours on my LS. No regrets but I do not do abuse it.

Ignore the parts dig by one poster. Would have applied to Kubota years ago when they entered the market LOL. Also, LS makes tractors for New Holland. Same parts.

 

[mred2]

I have the XR4150 with the backhoe. Love it. But only use it for what it is designed for. I dig small stumps and dig dirt. Know the limits of all equipment. Had a friend run a mower over a lot of stumps, way fast, bent stuff, lost pens, broke stuff on tractor. Mower was fine. You can break anything if you try.

 

[Avenger]

I broke down and watched one or two of his videos. I agree with what most everyone has stated, its operator error. He was abusing it, likely didn't know he was abusing it. Inexperience operating equipment mixed with attempting to do something the machine is not designed for, will equal failure.
However, some of the lower end materials are used in these machines and implements. Maybe the steel is thin to keep weight down? Corners are cut to keep costs down? Quality control is minimized? You do get what you pay for, but that doesnt mean it's complete junk. Even the expensive models that are "Made in America" will fail when abused.

 

[JoelD]

Agree with both comments alxepops and crashz - especially the size of the tractor vs the BH, and these aren't really a TLB - they are a tractor with a backhoe attached.

The true TLB with the full frame construction commercial grade are really only in the Kubota lineup - the B21, B26, and L39/47, M62 TLB with dedicated loader backhoe setup.

Although other smaller units like the LS M225, and Kioti 2420, and Yanmar 3 or 424 series are very close with the tight 4 point mount, and then Kubota offers the BH77 with a subframe and 4Point mount set up that works well. These are all good machines too for general BH work.

So if you want the most rugged, go for a commercial TLB series in Kubota - you can find them used too.

One thing I really like about my Kioti lk3054xs is the four point backhoe Mount. Tight to the tractor and tied into the frame.

 

[GeneV]

You know what, whatever brand, LS or Kubota, Massey or whatever, they're all decent quality tractors. You just have to realize the limits to what they could be pushed to. They're not bulldozers/excavators, and you'll eff up something or other if you treat them as such.

With that in mind, it's just a matter of figuring out which brand fits your needs/wants, because nearly all of them offer something the other doesn't. Speaking of SCUTS for instance, My GC1710 can run the loader/hoe at lower RPM, whereas the others you gotta rev up. The Kubota BX has a convenient hydraulic hookup for the loader, and also you could dismount the loader from the seat. John Deere has some Cadillac-level luxury features. As for the LS, from what I recall it has some cool stuff too...like whereas all others have a pin to hold the boom up (for stowage), the LS instead has a lever that you could release from the seat. I remember there was something else pretty nice about it which impressed me, but it just doesn't come to mind now.

 

[M59]

The true TLB with the full frame construction commercial grade are really only in the Kubota lineup - the B21, B26, and L39/47, M62 TLB with dedicated loader backhoe setup.

Carl_NH,

I think I'm offended. You didn't mention the M59 TLB, pre cursor to the M62 TLB.

 

[M59]

I am new to tractors and have spent time looking at Kubota, JD, Kioti and now LS tractors. i have 5 acres and have settled on a Compact TLB to help me maintain it. I need a brush hog to cut the back 3 acres and the backhoe to dig some water line trenches, pull stumps, etc.

Due to the current times, neither Kubota dealerships I visited can tell me when they can get a backhoe for a B2601. The JD 2025R seemed like a lot of money for a smaller tractor than the Kubota. Being an engineer, I also didn’t like the fact that the gooseneck arms of the HST pedals were plastic. Wasn’t really impressed with Kioti, not sure why. This led me to LS. I really liked the MT225S. The pricing was good and the size seem perfect for my projects.

Being an engineer, I started Searching the net for reviews on LS tractors. Overall everything seems top notch. Then I found this guy‘s videos. He has experience 4 structural failures of his backhoe. 4 Videos of LS Backhoe failures. His 1st, 3rd and 4th video are also major structural failures. It seems like his backhoe is made from very low grade of carbon steel and maybe on the thin side the way it buckles. The 2nd failure video is a weld on the actuator.

What are your thoughts on his experiences? He hasn’t experienced the same failure twice which kind of surprises me considering how severely they failed. Each failure is a different component and different failure mechanics. Buckling failure versus bearing (load, not an actual bearing) failure, versus cracking (fatigue?).

To be honest, all of this is scaring me away from LS.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Carey

85txaggie,

The 1st "failure" (

) is likely the root cause of the remaining 3 failures ( #2 ripped end of hydraulic ram, #3 broke lower boom pivot, #4 broke backhoe undercarriage frame ). To get that kind of bending force on the dipper, the operator probably hooked the bucket under the stump and then tried to drive the machine, in low gear, away from the stump and probably at a pretty severe angle. I have seen inexperienced operators hook a backhoe up the stump and then take running start to yank it out of the ground instead of digging it out. All of the various joints from the backhoe carriage frame mounts all the way out to bucket took a severe amount of abuse and the dipper to boom pivot was the first to give up the struggle. I suspect all the other subsequent failures were initiated at that time and failed as the machine continued to be worked. Most hydraulically operated machines have relief valves which prevent the king of forces neccessary to produce failures 2, 3, 4 and would have prevented #1 if the operator had been swinging the boom under hydraulic power to cause the failure. I am certain every contributor here has heard the high pitched squeel when the hydraulic overpressure valve kicks in because the load is higher than what the operator is asking the equipment to do.

While the LS equipment is not commercial grade it is most likely a capable machine so long as it is NOT abused. I have no direct experience with LS so I can not comment on machine quality or engineering.

Hope this helps.