L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing

   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #1  

Maibox

Silver Member
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
125
Location
Winona, MN
Tractor
Kubota L3940; 1942 Farmall H (for sale)
I started a thread awhile ago (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-buying-pricing/245116-new-l3800-vs-2008-l4240.html) and want to thank everyone that provided great information. (Background on my property and planned uses from previous post at the end of this post).

I'm right on the cusp of moving forward and while I was looking at a L3800 and a used L4240 back in May, after much more lurking and research, I think I've settled on a L3940.

Here's what I'm planning on getting: L3940, R4's filled rears, FEL with QA, regular bucket, 3rd function value, 2 remotes (one reg, one float), LP RC 1872, for grapple-WR Long OBG 272.

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to finalizing and buying by the end of this week!

Some questions:

-The quote is for water/methane to fill the rears. Thoughts on this?
-As I'm buying some implements right now, anything I'm missing? I'm thinking it may be good to get a rear blade for snow plowing (right now I pay to have the 1/3 mile blacktopped driveway plowed). Thoughts, recommendations on size/brand?
-Anything else I should consider?

Background: We've got 43 acres that is mostly wooded. The house is at the back of a narrow valley in a bowl with hills that are about 300' higher than the house. We have an acre or so around the house, 1/3 mile blacktop driveway (with 8-10' of grass on either side and some larger areas of grass) that climbs 120 feet from the road to the house--most of the climb is in the first 3rd of the driveway from the road. We have a 2 acre pasture, mostly flat (small hill), on one side of the driveway where the 4 stall horse barn is located. The other side is about 1-1.5 acres of grassy pasture and another 3 or so acres of currently overgrown "wooded" pasture. The rest of the area is steep wooded old forest. Our neighbor is currently rotating two horses through the 2 acre pasture. We will likely get 2 horse of our own and rotate our horses between the two pastures (we will only have the two horses--neighbor's horses are short term).

We have a tremendous amount of brush/downed trees on the property. Previous owner would just block the trees and pile the brush on the edge of the woods or in the middle of the pasture. The fence around the larger, wooded pasture needs to be rebuilt before we can use it (lots of down trees, plus barbed).

I'm looking for an all around tractor, with FEL and enough PTO power to run a 6' rotary cutter. Planned use is to brush cut the pastures as needed; haul wood for wood fireplace; haul manure and wood chips, bark, sand; reclaim the 3 acres of wooded pasture, clean up brush (may get a chipper) and other general maintenance (fencing).

After reading a lot of posts, I'll probably hire out the main work of reclaiming the pasture and the fence lines and then use the tractor to maintain.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #2  
You really don't need or want a 72 inch grapple with your set up. A light duty 48 will do the job as well and is more maneuverable, less weight, less cost etc etc.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thanks. I was going on sales recommendation, but what you say makes sense.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #4  
Thanks. I was going on sales recommendation, but what you say makes sense.

For some reason I have never understood, dealers tend to recommend grapples the same width as standard buckets. It just doesn't make sense for what the vast majority of CUT owners will do with their grapples. It makes sense if you are a skidsteer owner using it to clean up construction debris but not for routine tractor tasks by an individual cleaning up his overgrown pastures etc. You can actually lift more with a smaller grapple due to the weight and you can hold any load as securely as with a wider grapple too. I suspect that while most dealers have experience with mowers and other 3PT implements, there are relatively few who have actually used grapples. That is the only reasonable explanation I can come up with.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Most of what I'll be doing is clearing brush and pulling logs. Do you think the OBG248 (open bottom) or the RBG248 (root rake brush) would be better for my planned use.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #6  
Most of what I'll be doing is clearing brush and pulling logs. Do you think the OBG248 (open bottom) or the RBG248 (root rake brush) would be better for my planned use.

OBG248 would be better of those two. Is that the lightest duty one they sell? I'd get the lightest. Ignore WRLong's size recommendations as they are too conservative. (I own a WRLong 4n1). My grapple is a very light duty 48" by Millonzi (no longer in business) which is now 7 years old and has been beaten on by both my older CK20 and my current DK40se. It is functioning just fine. Total waste of money to buy a heavy duty grapple for use on a CUT. Those heavy duty models are designed and built for commercial skidsteers.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Dealer where I'm looking at buying the CUT carries WR Long and it looks like the OBG-2 48 is their smallest open bottom. Weighs about 357 lbs vs. 520 lbs for the 72.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #8  
Dealer where I'm looking at buying the CUT carries WR Long and it looks like the OBG-2 48 is their smallest open bottom. Weighs about 357 lbs vs. 520 lbs for the 72.

357lbs is a good weight. I'd classify that as light duty and very appropriate match for the L3940. My DK40 is much heavier and has a stronger loader and my 300lb Millonzi has done fine.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #9  
-As I'm buying some implements right now, anything I'm missing? I'm thinking it may be good to get a rear blade for snow plowing (right now I pay to have the 1/3 mile blacktopped driveway plowed). Thoughts, recommendations on size/brand?
-Anything else I should consider?....

Background: We've got 43 acres that is mostly wooded. .....

The rest of the area is steep wooded old forest. ....

We have a tremendous amount of brush/downed trees on the property. Previous owner would just block the trees and pile the brush on the edge of the woods or in the middle of the pasture. The fence around the larger, wooded pasture needs to be rebuilt before we can use it (lots of down trees, plus barbed).

I'm looking for an all around tractor, with FEL and enough PTO power to run a 6' rotary cutter. Planned use is to brush cut the pastures as needed; haul wood for wood fireplace; haul manure and wood chips, bark, sand; reclaim the 3 acres of wooded pasture, clean up brush (may get a chipper) and other general maintenance (fencing).

After reading a lot of posts, I'll probably hire out the main work of reclaiming the pasture and the fence lines and then use the tractor to maintain.

Since you're seeking suggestions, I'll toss this into the pot. We likewise have a large amount of deadfall timber that needs to be selectively removed from uneven, sloping ground. We have found a logging winch to be invaluable for that work. It's an expensive implement, but nothing compared to hiring it out. If your land is to be completely cleared, hire a dozer, but if you need to selectively retain healthy timber while removing the bad stuff, which most dozer operators can't/won't do well, the winch will work a hillside much safer than trying to get your tractor in between the trees you want to keep. Just something to consider.
 
   / L3940 - Order Spec - Tell me what I'm missing #10  
I'll second Grandad's recommendation for the winch. We bought one last year, the previous owner had bought it and never used it. ?? Anyway, they are a real time and work saver. We've used it for hauling firewood, cutting "problem trees", hauling an old car out of the woods, even pulling alder stumps.

I'd recommend something along the same size we have, which is a Norse 290. The Farmi 290 is a good choice as well, although Farmi has made noises about not continuing the 290 model.

A set of pallet forks might be handy. If you can stack your firewood on pallets to dry, then move it inside with the tractor as you need it, it saves some work during the winters.

Usually you can apply cheap financing for the tractor to implements you buy at the same time, so now is often the best time to buy them.

The Land Pride rotary cutters are pretty good, if your dealer sells them. We bought a RCR1860 when we got the tractor, and it's been used a fair bit in the past three years. Only problem I've had was the rear gearbox plug rusting through and leaking. Replacing it was a $2 job.

A block heater won't go astray either, usually you can get the dealer to throw it into the deal at no cost.

Enjoy the new tractor, and we DO expect pics!

Sean
 
 
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