New M9540HD12-1

[ovrszd]

Nice thread ovrszd! I have exactly the same tractor, the only diff is I got the front wt. bracket instead of that (lacking) bumper, as you also describe, and 3 pr. of rear outlets. I've had it for 4 years but only have 40 hrs on it, not because I don't use it, but because I can't! It's 650 miles away from here at my old place. I have decided to bring it home to our new place, hopefully this month. My buddy teases me telling me that I have more hours on my owners manual than on the tractor. He is right, but for the last 4 years, that's all I had to remind me of it other than a few photos.

Rusty, I hear stories of guys in your situation often. Fortunately my farm is only six miles from my residence. I just turned 150 hours and lack two days of owning it two months. It'll get some relief now that Winter weather is on us. If we have another open, mild Winter like last year I'll get to use it off and on all Winter.


We rented out my old farm where the tractor is waiting for the R.E. market to rebound to sell it, I had hoped that we would just have to wait out 4 years for a new president........... That did not go well! I'm bringing my "new" tractor home! I'll get the rest of my stuff at the farm loaded some other way when and if we sell it!

Yeah, I don't see the market getting much better soon. But in four years we'll have more important issues to worry about anyway....

Thanks for pics. I'll be doing some of your same mods. for a saw and misc. storage for the allways necessary pins & stuff and a legnth of chain. Do you have any suggestions for designing a bumper/grill guard? That black metal that has the tiny holes in it is (grill/hood area) can be dented by a butterfly! How often do you need to tilt the hood? I'll be using it in the woods mostly up here also.

I modified the original guard. In hindsight I might start fresh. I first thought I didn't need it to tilt, I'd just move it forward. Then I realized it would be WAY forward to clear the hood. I only tilt my hood to check the cleanliness of the radiator or change the oil. So it's no problem to have to deal with the guard. My guard has paint knocked off it and some minor dents to the metal screen already. I'd have destroyed the black metal and knocked out the headlights by now. It's extremely hard to pile brush without getting some of it against the tractor.


I have a bunch of hyd. attachments for my skid steer that fortunately is actually heavier, wider and more hp than the tractor so they will all work well, I hope. The extra forward reach of the tractor should be handy for stacking brush, I'm just not looking forward to that first scratch, working in the woods is hard on any machine.

My Brother has a Bobcat T300. Between the two of us we have 9 front attachments, four of them use 3rd function hydraulics. If I'm leveling/smoothing dirt or digging in a confined area I prefer his Bobcat. Otherwise I prefer the tractor. As you mentioned, it's especially better when piling or moving brush. I don't abuse my tractor as in ramming it into brush which will obviously scratch or dent it, but you still get scratches. That's just the nature of brush work. I've also replaced all the spring clips that hold the pins in the 3pt. Lost a couple of the factory ones the first day. Kubota did a pretty good job of trying to protect some of them, spring clip with the end of the pin drilled and a cotter pin installed as a backup. But anything they thought you might frequently use, they didn't protect. I'd rather take an extra few seconds unfastening a secured clip rather than have it be lost and the device it secures coming loose with a load on it.

Good luck with your farm sale!!!

 

[TripleR]

I wish I had your attachments!!! :thumbsup:

I gotta find a brush cutter first. Looking for an 8 or 10 ft multi spindle mounted used, preferrably Bush Hog or Land Pride. If you see any in our state let me know. I don't mind travelling for the right price.

Well, we thought about selling our Woods 121 which is a 3PH 10' cutter, but decided to keep it, but will let you know if I hear of one. We actually prefer the pull type such as our Woods DS1260, but it is not as maneuverable as a 3PH type. It will cut thicker stuff up to 3", but still gives a nice quality cut on grass. A ten foot cutter is really handy to have; real time saver.

 

[ovrszd]

Well, we thought about selling our Woods 121 which is a 3PH 10' cutter, but decided to keep it, but will let you know if I hear of one. We actually prefer the pull type such as our Woods DS1260, but it is not as maneuverable as a 3PH type. It will cut thicker stuff up to 3", but still gives a nice quality cut on grass. A ten foot cutter is really handy to have; real time saver.

I would prefer a pull type when cutting CRP. But I do a lot of work in and around timber and think the mounted would better serve me. That's also why I need to stay 10' or narrower. We don't see many Woods cutters up here, not sure why. We see Land Pride because we have a dealer in the county. Mostly Bush Hog here. I have a 6' Rhino that I really like but it's not heavy enough to use with the bigger tractor, afraid I'll tear it up so it's for sale.

 

[TripleR]

I would prefer a pull type when cutting CRP. But I do a lot of work in and around timber and think the mounted would better serve me. That's also why I need to stay 10' or narrower. We don't see many Woods cutters up here, not sure why. We see Land Pride because we have a dealer in the county. Mostly Bush Hog here. I have a 6' Rhino that I really like but it's not heavy enough to use with the bigger tractor, afraid I'll tear it up so it's for sale.

I know what you mean, we used the 10' 121 3PH a lot when we reforested about forty or fifty acres to keep the growth under control until the trees got up too high to fit through or worry about and the maneuverability was great.

We wanted something heavier duty for some land clearing as we tore the 121 up a couple of times using it beyond its design parameters and the tractor we had at the time, a Case CX80 wouldn't lift a 3PH Woods DS1260, so we had to go with a pull type. We found we liked the pull type and just use the 6' on our L5740 in the woods.

rjkobbeman uses a LPRCR2672 on his open station M8540, but I don't know how it compares to the 6' Rhino.