Bulldog 287 My experience

[nuke]

I bought a refurbished vietnam (I think, because it looked near new with fresh paint and a broken hour meter) Shibaura SD3000 4wd with this loader on it. The tractor was fine, the loader was WAY underdesigned. I bent the bucket in the middle, broke one side support beam and bent the other, the joystick came off in my hand and the hydraulics were not shimmed properly (to get best speed and power). If you plan on putting a loader through some hard work, I would look at other brands. Light scooping of loose materials maybe, pushing brush piles not so much. I sold the tractor recently and I was happy to see it go.

I thought I would post so others could be aware of the potential problems, I'm sure others out there have had good service with theirs, but I didn't.

 

[DavesTractor]

So the loader is a Bull Dog? Did the dealer you bought it from help you with the loader breakage problems? Any pictures? I'm not familiar with the Bull Dog. Tough sounding name, all bark and no bite?

 

[mark777]

We've seen several on reconditioned Japanese tractors...

I have heard (and seen one) similar complaints about the Bulldog line of loaders. They are Chinese (I believe) and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but they are constructed from lighter materials, designed with stitch welds rather than continuous and probably OK for loose and light weight fill. I would not say that the loader is junk, just not heavy duty rated IMHO.

We repaired a broken ear off the loader bucket that the left ram snapped off. I would be reluctant to install a tooth bar on the 60" that was in my shop.

Mark

 

[LMTC]

From our limited experience seeing them (we don't sell, use, or otherwise adffiliate with them at all!) they seem to be the most commonly used loader on the vn recons. Not sure where they're made, but we are not impressed when comparing them to a Koyker 80 loader (which is warranted by a US company--great parts and technical support).