Drove L48 today

[Newkirk]

Hello, all:

I fired up an L48 for the first time at our local dealer. It seems like a great unit. I practiced using the backhoe and FEL on their demo dirt pile.

It's solid and powerful, but I can think of at least 2 things I'll be wishing for:

1) Mid-PTO. I know we can't have it all, but I do wish I could mount a forward snowblower to this thing. I can't see driving backwards for 3/4 mile with a rear-mount. Then again, I'm not sure I'd want a snowblower without a cab, either.

2) $$$ - My quotes for the L48 TLB are all around the $40,000 mark! For $3000 less, I can get a full-sized industrial Case or New Holland backhoe with only a couple hundred hours. Of course, I wouldn't have the versatility of a compact tractor. I guess in this case less costs more.

Our altitude is 8000 feet. I'm told this amounts to about 32% less horsepower than at sea level. I'd like to go with the L3710HST, but I'm afraid it would be underpowered up here.

Any other L48/L3710 comments appreciated,

-Newkirk

 

[JATO_RaT]

Your going to be stuck with no larger then a Kubota 3710 if you want a mid pto. Sure would not know how much demand the front snow blower adds. I would think it would be no more, possibly less then a large mower. Certainly altitude is a big consideration for normally aspirated diesels. My diesel truck suffers from it pretty bad up at Tahoe and the pass there maxs out at 7200'. The price of the L48 is my major obstacle to purchasing one, you begin to wonder about industrial tractors and their practicality up in this price range. The L48 though has some super features over the L35 like HST, much higher loader lift and a pump dedicated to the backhoe swing, as well as one for loader/hoe, and yet another for power steering. Would love to try this tractor out. Rat...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

As far as power demands by snowblowers on tractors I have had four different machines in the past ten years and there is no attachment that creates horsepower demand like a snowblower. I have managed to at some point stall everyone of the units I have operated. Hydrostatic transmissions are a real plus with the ability to infinately control the feed rate with varying snow conditions and depths thereby being able to keep engine loads more consistant. I think the L48 has a pretty good auxilary hydralic flow rate and may be capable of running a hydralically operated blower mounted on the front loader. I had this arrangement on a L245DT, 5 ft with a large 25gpm pump running off the front of the engine and it worked well. Sure beat having it on the back with only one gear choice which was too high and no live pto. I did crank up the fuel pump a bit though and if I were at 8000ft I might have been looking for a turbo!

 

[Newkirk]

Fellow Diesel Afficianados:

I wonder if some might consider my using an L48 to blow snow a little like using a meat axe to shave - i.e. a bit of overkill - but I do want to use any tractor I buy for everything from excavating to hay cutting to plowing to forest work to road grading and snow moving.

I like the idea of using a quick hitch on the FEL. I'll be having a manual valve up there anyway for the 4n1, and with the quick hitch I'd be able to use most Skid Steer implements like post hole diggers, plalette forks, etc.

Does anyone know of a manufacturer of a FEL-mounted snow blower that would work with the L48's 26 gpm hydraulic capacity?

-Newkirk

 

[JATO_RaT]

Newkirk, I did notice that you do not get all 25.9 gpm's available from the pump(s) for all in one use. 12.7 for the loader/backhoe, 7.3 for the boom swing and 5.9 for the steering. So snowblowers eat up horsepower. I could see where HST wouold be a huge bonus. Rat...

 

[Newkirk]

So I wonder - if the backhoe is not attached while blowing snow, do I get all that extra capacity for the FEL and other hydraulics?

Somehow I wouldn't think so, but I'm not really sure why not...

-Newkirk

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hydralic driven snowblowers are common attachments for bobcats. I think they even sell them in Northern Tool &Equipment catalogs. The most important factor to keep in mind is to match the flow of the hydralic system to the hyd motor on the blower so it will turn at the proper rpm. Too large of a displacement on the motor will cause it to run slow and too small will run too fast and not have enough torque. This will all have to be worked out hopefully with the help of your dealer if you decide to go this route. One other nice feature to the hydralic snowblower is that if the pressure relief is set proper it will stall if something jams it rather than breaking a shear bolt most of the time, but sometimes that still happens.

 

[JATO_RaT]

You'll get 12.7 gpm for either the Loader or the hoe, attached or not since I would suspect the system simply shares the plumbing from that portion of the pump figuring the likely hood of simaltaneous use of the loader and hoe is going to occur only in rare instances. 12.7 gpm is a good flow rate for operating hydraulic attachments that one might find on Bobcat equipment. In fact, there is a skid steer attachment available for many loaders that allow a quick attach for Bobcat accessories. Rat...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Too Spoiled for an L48

Visited an L48 today.

If you have room to manuever such a beast might be nice, the extra width allows turning the seat around much easier then the L35. Getting the L48 to actually go where you want it to (to fit between trees and turn around etc) might be tough.

Like someone else mentioned, a used BIG backhoe might make more sense unless you had some need to 3pt stuff

The big drawback, the bigger cylinders that are on it to give the loader it's extra lift capabilities are not powered by the equivalent flow per Sq inch that the L35 has, the loader is much slower.

The loader on the L35 I am used to, to the point that when using the loader on my Ford NH I bring a long a book or crossword puzzle /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif.

I love being able to grade with the bucket and instanteously change the bucket level at low rpm.

And I still like the throttle (engine speed) attached to my foot so I don't have to have the rpm higher then necessary. It doesn't bother me so much on the BX or my lawn equipment, on a big tractor I'm stuck in the past I guess.

If I could master that goofy stir stick Kubota uses to control the GST I'd really be happy. Seems like I'm always fighting it.

Of course it could be worse, if everything was perfect, I'd probably lose my job and marriage due to the fact that I never could be found anywhere but on my tractor! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

del

 

[Thomas]

Re: Too Spoiled for an L48

del,
Since you have tried the L35&L48 and compare them which model{for the home owner & small farmer} for projects and dollars would you say the best buy.

I yet to try the L48 out at the dealers,but to me it looks like the unit made for construction contractors and the price tad high...at least in this region.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif