narrowing the search

[yakima]

I am looking to buy a Kubota soon and am trying to narrow down the search. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I need to be able to move gravel and loam, dig up stumps, move rocks, build retaining walls, trench, and grade an 800' gravel driveway with an approx. 20 degree slope, among other things. I have 22 acres of mostly woods, many rock walls, and a small field. I imagine that something along the lines of the B2910 or the L3010 would do the job given what I have read on these posts. There are so many variables and things to consider that I want to make as educated a decision as I can. ANY help would be much appreciated!! Thanks.

 

[frank_f15]

the 3010 has a few more hp and is larger,it really comes dow to price and what fits your needs the best. which do u like? and have u taken them both out for a test drive?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi Yakima

I have not purchased yet but I can tell you that the soul searching that you are doing right now has been done by most of us. With me it was between the 3010 and the 3410, what I did was go for the cheaper of the two. My reasoning was that for the extra 2 grand I can hire some of the work out that I won't be able to perform and still have money left over for attachments. Your delima is a little different you are looking at two different classes altogether. (I looked at the weight of my two tractors and it only differed by 65lbs soooo) Ok now my words of wisdom (this comming from a person who doesn't own one yet) Everyone here advised me to go for the bigger tractor when I was undecided on the B or L series. That advise I am going to take because Everyone that I talked to stated that I would think of alot more things to do with it once I got it. I am a little different in that I don't have to worry about stumps/slopes/woods. I am the same boat in that I have concrete rubble to move and alot of gravel roads to maintain. I plan on using mine for mowing (might be a mistake) but thats going to be one of the major roles of my tractor. I am going with Kubota because of the reviews and the warrenty and most of all the price (one of the cheaper tractors out there price wise) and rebate. All of the dealers that I talked to stated they have never seen rebates this large before. That made up my mind to buy before the rebate ended. When I looked in all and I mean all of the service bays I visited I only seen one major job being done and this was because an elderly gentleman blew the water pump and kept driving it. Surly there are more problems out there but I did not see them when I went in the bays. That made me feel good about my choice of Kubota. My only apprehension is that its going to be to big for mowing. Ok now I must mention tires. I went with the R4's for their strength 6ply as opposed to AG or turf tires. AG tires are just to agressive and turf tires are not strong enough for heavy loader work (or so I am told) as they are only 2ply tires. Plus again from the dealers mouths they sell 80% of the tractors with R4's.
OK I know I have not addressed your problem of which tractor series to buy just why I am planning to buy the one I have picked out. If you are real specific on what you want to accomplish with the tractor I am sure these people will take you by the hand as they did me. But in all honesty I think its all in the price of what you can afford and if you want a big tractor to store or a little one. The last thing that I wanted was a tractor that I would always be saying "I wish I would have gotten a bigger one then I could do this or that" And on the other hand "I should have gone smaller I don't need all of this" I think its all in the personal soul searching as to what you decide on. The bad part of this forum is that you will ultimatly make the decision and you will pay for your purchase. Good luck and if you decide on the L3010 keep in touch maybe we can exchange the dumb questions before posting on this forum. Like the old saying goes "It's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think your an idiot than to open it and prove it"

 

[yakima]

Thanks for the replies Frank and Maker. I appreciate it.

 

[Boondox]

I have an L3010 with FEL, BH, rear blade, finish mower, york rake and logging winch. (Wow, it looks like a lot of stuff when you write it all down like that! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif) I use it on my 155 hillside acres for harvesting firewood and stone, trenching, transplanting trees (moved a 15' tall white birch today), grading/crowning 1/4 mile of dirt road, snowplowing two driveways, etc. I briefly considered the B2910, but really needed the extra mass of the L series. Sounds like you do too.

I was going to get R4s because Carver told me 90% of the tractors he sells use R4s. But Steve is a flatlander. A nice one, but a flatlander nevertheless. Around here, for the applications I use my tractor for, 99% of owners use aggies. My neighbor on the next hill got R4s and in similar conditions they loaded up with mud and spun a LOT. I sure would like the extra plies of the industrial tires, but traction seemed like such a good thing to have I stuck with the ags.

Whichever you choose, have them loaded. My meadow runs at a 22% slope, and in the forest it gets much steeper than that. The ballast has made working on angles much safer.

Pete

 

[yakima]

hey Boondox, thanks for the info.
What do you use for grading and crowning the dirt road?

 

[Boondox]

I use a rear blade w/ TNT. Does a pretty good job.

Pete

 

[yakima]

What is a rear blade with "TNT"? I'm not familiar with TNT related to a blade. Please enlighten me.

 

[TonyC]

TNT stands for Top 'N Tilt. Simply put it is when your top link and a side link are replaced with hydraulic cylinders that you can control from your seat. Some only replace the top link as it is the most beneficial. With this arrangement you can make adjustments to the implement very easily. If you do a search you will find a very large amount of information on TNT.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hey Tony how big is the blade on that TNT. The dealers are all telling me that I need to go with an 8' blade to get that option. I would like it but I don't need or want a blade that big. Thanks.