Comparison What's the difference between the GrandL and Not-So-Grand L?

[murphy1244]

Well, I'm just glad Kubota made my tractor well enough that they stuck a master, FEL, and 3ph releif valve in it. Yours must have been one of the earlier models.

How do you like the grand L? is it worth the extra money?

[PhilY]

I definitely think so! I've put almost 200hrs on it since I got it and its been a pleasure. Personally, the HST+ system alone would have sold me on it. Being able to adjust the HST response has been nice. Back when I was a kid working at the golf course, I just about flipped a front mower with HST. It only had reel mowers up front and when I pulled my foot of the go pedal, the fluid stopped flowing and the front drive tires locked up about the time I hit the bump that I wanted to slow down for. Between the bump and the tires not free wheeling, the tractor's back in came off the ground. Wasn't fun as it felt like I was looking almost straight down at the ground for a sec! Ever since then I haven't liked HST because none of them would coast to a stop if you just took your foot off the pedal. Also, they all seemed jerky going from forward to reverse. Then I got my L3540. With that response knob, you can set it anywhere from as jerky as you want to providing a nice smooth roll to a stop. I find myself adjusting it more than I thought. ie snow vs dry vs loader work versus hauling tipsy'er stuff on the forks. The dual speed HST lever is great, too. Use it all the time. Auto advance, fairly often. Nice when making a lot of frequent trips dropping off scraps and brush that I am hauling out of the woods. Turn it off when doing ground engagement. I also like the more open foot platform and the extra weight of the whole machine. I didn't have the tires loaded at first, big mistake. Never seemed to have any traction and a bunch of wasted HP. Loaded the tires and the machine felt twice as strong, but it still gets light in the rear with a full FEL (LA514) load despite 1200lbs of beat juice. So, I made a ballast box here to help out with that. It's a comfortable experience on it. Only things I would change is place lights in the front of the fendors, move the cupholder forward into the fendor and put the stearing brakes on the opposite side of the go pedal.