Well...she's here!

[yamhat]

Hi,

I just wanted to post back and thank everyone again for helping us decide...our L3700 came a few days ago (during my stretch at work so I didn't really get to play much)

I also picked up a rusty, crusty old Lorenz snowblower locally for quite cheap =D so I decided to give taking the backhoe off a try and hooking her up a try and all went well

I promised pictures, so here they are. first one was the day it came, it started raining like mad about 30 seconds after I took it so I had to run the camera inside and didn't get anymore. second is today after I got the snowblower hooked up.

I do have a couple odd little questions:

The dealer lost the manual and didn't notice 'till delivery day, they're ordering me a new one, but in the meantime is there somewhere I can get a PDF or something online? barring that is there any critical maintainance I need to worry about before the 50 hour?

I thought it was supposed to be possible to run the PTO without your butt in the seat. I wanted to see the blower running but the only way I could get it to stay running was to put a bag of gravel in the seat (yes, trans was in neutral). how do people run stuff like chippers and generators? do they just throw something heavy in the seat or bypass the safety?

also, the PTO makes a godawful rattling noise if you engage it at idle. it completely goes away once it's over 1200 rpm or so, and it seems to work perfectly fine. it seems to be coming from under the seat...thought it might be the blower, so I disconnected the shaft and it still does the same thing. is this normal?

Thanks yet again!

 

[peterc38]

Looks great congratulations! :thumbsup:

What's with the black FEL bucket? I have only seen orange ones on Kubotas.

 

[CHDinCT]

On running the rear PTO while off the tractor, normally you need to have the seat tilted up. Did you try that?

Oh, and congrat's on the new tractor. Looks cool with the black bucket. Have not seen many Kubota's with black buckets.

 

[thavil]

Congrats on your purchase!! I agree with the others, I like the look of your black bucket.

I don't think you will find an owners manual in .pdf format. Others have asked many times and one isn't to be found. I would assume it's a copyright issue. One item to check before you get your manual is to check your front axle fluid level after a few hours of use. It is common for it to be lower than it was at delivery after a few hours of operation. It's in the manual to check but a lot of people (me included) missed that it's a daily check. Don't be surprised if it's up to a quart low and not even touching the dip stick.

As already mentioned, tilt your seat forward and resting on your steering wheel and you should be able to operate your PTO off the tractor.

 

[yamhat]

the bucket is actually from a new holland, it originally had a 66" bucket but I told them at the last minute i wanted a 60 (we have some tight trails and that's already cutting it close). it's skidsteer QA so you can put whatever on it and that was the only 60" bucket he had handy.

 

[yamhat]

the pto does work with the seat flipped, thanks...one of the pitfalls of not having the manual I guess

 

[teg]

...picked up a rusty, crusty old Lorenz snowblower...

Looks pretty darn good from here... I can show you rusty and crust!!! :thumbsup:

...the PTO makes a godawful rattling noise if you engage it at idle...

What kind of noise are we talking about??? Does it not do it at, say... 1500 rpms??

 

[yamhat]

yep on the clutch, metallic rattling sound, like BBs in a tin can or something. it gradually goes away as you rev up from idle and is completely gone by 1200-1400 rpm or so, so yes it's quiet at 1500. it's quite loud, so I'm certain it's not just the engine noise drowning it out. I searched for "pto rattle" after I posted and it looks like several other people have it too on 3400 and 3700s, some say it's normal, some say it isn't, who knows? at least I'm not the only one.

 

[Code54]

Should be able to flip the seat up and the PTO will keep running. On my 3700 I run my chipper and just turn it on, then stand up and flip the set in one motion (or it does try and shut off) - needs to be in one motion to work best.
I dont seem to have much of a rattle but I mostly turn the PTO on at slightly higher rpms and just smoothly engage the clutch.
I like your smaller bucket - I want to look around and buy a spare smaller one myself and add a toothbar to it for digging and use my factory one for moving loose materials.
Congrats on your new workhorse!

 

[teg]

I never engage the pto at idle (or low speed, for that matter) always above 1500 and let the clutch out slow...