JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota

   / JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota #1  

ecoscaper

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Dec 21, 2009
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I'm researching the heck out of my tractor upgrade, upgrading from a Kubota L3830 40hp to a 50-60 hp tractor, have drove a L57, looked at the M6040, drove a JD 4520, Case 55, . I'm pretty happy w/ Kubota, no real problems with my L38 for 6yrs. But I'm noticing in the specs the hydraulic flow is less in the Kubota vs JD and Case. The L57 is around 14 the JD is 17, the M6040 down to 11,. I'm no mechanic, does this make a big difference in the performance of the loader? Is it more for attachements? The bucket in my L38 always seemed pretty responsive, but as I was talking to the JD dealer he said there's a big difference in JD's hydraulics vs. Kubota, the tranny and loader units are seperate in the JD, the Kubota all the same. I never ran anything that needed hydraulic flow but I will be getting a grapple bucket, possible other attachments that'll need flow. Is there a big difference here or am I overanalizing?
There were a few things I liked on the JD vs Kubota, the Cab was sealed and tight, tractor overall looked a little heavier duty, the hydro pedals were easier to use, hard to admit I may go green but after test driving both I'm leaning towards green.

Thanks for any info!
 
   / JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota #2  
More flow will make the loader operate faster. As for a grapple, it uses very little flow. You might want to try moving the loader to two funtions at once and see how it reponds. If you do a lot of loader work and use two functions a lot more flow would be good.

I do not have any experience with hi flow attachments like you hear about for a skidsteer. Maybe things using a hydraulic motor.
 
   / JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota #3  
I've seen this many times before but it really doesn't mean to much. Many times I've seen tractors with bigger hydraulic systems by the numbers of gallons but yet the tractor might not be able to lift any more and might even be slower doing it!

You just need to to at the three point hitch lift of the two models.

This means that you actually waste fuel to spin a big pump that has less performance and no place to go!

As far as the cab I'm baffled being around both makes and knowing the noise levels of the two the deeres are normally noiser(everyone I've heard) in and outside the cab.
 
   / JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota #4  
As far as the cab I'm baffled being around both makes and knowing the noise levels of the two the deeres are normally noiser(everyone I've heard) .


Opposite from my point of view
 
   / JD's hydraulic flow vs. Kubota #5  
........ The L57 is around 14 the JD is 17, the M6040 down to 11,. I'm no mechanic, does this make a big difference in the performance of the loader? ........... ............ Thanks for any info!

The answer is yes. You have it figured out pretty well.

But, give both a good demo, and then decide.

A side story, if interested.
I've a friend very happy with his L Kubota. He had me loading his sawmill with his logs and I was most surprised coming up to logs that my Deere 4300 (32 hp) with 430 FEL would pick up with ease, but couldn't get them off the ground with the Kub. I never said anything to him, as didn't want to get into a discussion.

One day he brought his portable mill to my place to get lumber out of a large elm log. Right off he said we'd have to cut it back in length to get it on his mill. I said that his mill was long enough for the log. His response was "yes, but you can't lift that log onto the mill". Well Johnnie did just that. But we had to remove the log and cut off the butt swell, as the mill couldn't open wide enough to get by it.

He still likes Kubota, and now has upgraded to an M series. :D
 
 
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