Thinking of going from Kioti CS2410 to Kubota B2301, questions on lift and price.

[ShowroomShine]

The CS2410 does everything I ask it to, with the exception of the loader. The only thing I use the loader for is to move hay, and the small loader will neither lift enough or high enough to do what I want. I'm usually feeding large squares or small rounds which are less than 900lbs. the 2410 wont lift them and it makes life pretty difficult. The only other thing the tractor does is mow the yard, with some light box blade and finish mower work.

Thinking of the B2301, dont think the extra 2hp of the 2601 is worth the extra $1200. The loader on the B2301 should be large enough and high enough to move a 900lb bale, plus the whole tractor only weighs like 300lbs or so more than my CS2410 so it should still do fine on the grass.

Do you think the tractor would lift a 900lb bale with forks with relative ease? Wont be all the time or anything, we feed maybe 4-5 bales a year.

I'm looking for turfs, 60" deck, Loader with QA. What prices are you guys seeing on this combo? It has a $21,000 list. I was quoted about $18K from an online dealer, I feel like thats pretty high for this combo.

 

[s219]

Specs are on the Kubota website -- loader is rated for 948# at the pin, so that means it's going to be quite a bit less as you move the load forward with forks or a consider lifting a large round bale that will be far forward of the pins. The B2301 is a pretty small tractor, and even the 2601 isn't much bigger. I think you should be looking at a B2650 for starters.

 

[DK35vince]

I agree, I think you are looking to small for what you are wanting to lift.

 

[tman1020]

Agreed. You will need a larger tractor than the ones you are looking at to safely move those loads. I wouldn't go much smaller than something about the size of a Kioti ck 3510.

 

[gladehound]

The CS2410 does everything I ask it to, with the exception of the loader. The only thing I use the loader for is to move hay, and the small loader will neither lift enough or high enough to do what I want. I'm usually feeding large squares or small rounds which are less than 900lbs. the 2410 wont lift them and it makes life pretty difficult. The only other thing the tractor does is mow the yard, with some light box blade and finish mower work.

Thinking of the B2301, dont think the extra 2hp of the 2601 is worth the extra $1200. The loader on the B2301 should be large enough and high enough to move a 900lb bale, plus the whole tractor only weighs like 300lbs or so more than my CS2410 so it should still do fine on the grass.

Do you think the tractor would lift a 900lb bale with forks with relative ease? Wont be all the time or anything, we feed maybe 4-5 bales a year.

I'm looking for turfs, 60" deck, Loader with QA. What prices are you guys seeing on this combo? It has a $21,000 list. I was quoted about $18K from an online dealer, I feel like thats pretty high for this combo.

I agree with the others here that you are looking at the wrong size tractor for the task of moving ~900lb bales on forks.

Think of it this way, If a bale is 4ft long, and you have a foot from the front of the bail to the pin, the center of mass is 3 foot past the pin. The loaders you are looking at have loader arms in the 5-6 foot range. Assuming 6 ft loader arm length, the location of your center of mass is ~50% further forward. So you need a loader that can lift 50% more than the bale's weight at the pins. I wouldn't consider anything that can't lift 1350 pounds at least as high as you want to lift the bales. There are other unknowns as well. Is the tractor rated at the pins with the bucket or without? How much does the bale spear or fork weigh compared to the bucket. How even is the floor? is stability an issue?

Some tractors in the 35 hp range (like the aforementioned Kioti CK3510) will have a loader strong enough to do the job, for a little margin (both loader capacity and stability) I'd go with something in the 40+ hp range like a JD 4000 series; Kioti DK, DS, NX; Kubota L or MX and lots of others.

 

[4570Man]

I agree you are looking at too small a tractor, but I don't think you need to go 40 HP big. Here is what a L3800 can do with 1000 pounds. I realize it is nearly 40 hp, but there are plenty of tractors that can match the lifting ability ( which isn't that great ) with way less HP. My tractor is only 32 hp and lifts 1800 pounds at the pins to full height.

 

[gladehound]

I think the price for a CK3510 will be in the same ball park that you are seeing for the B2301. This is really the smallest size tractor that I see you being satisfied with in terms of lift capacity. But it is also small enough to mow with since that also seems to be on your chore list.

 

[ShowroomShine]

Whew, man I really hate to move up to that large of a tractor. I know I'm trying to do 2 things with one machine, but I just really think a 2500lb tractor (as compared to my 1700lb tractor) on a yard will just really make things worse and not mow as well. As it is, the CS2410 is just "ok" at mowing, its not nearly as good as the zero turn I had.

 

[tman1020]

A lot of guys choose to keep two machines around one for work and one for mowing and that's a great way to go. It gives you the best of both worlds. But you could always go with turfs or r4 tires and not load up the tires and just use a dedicated counterweight when you want to use the loader and I would think you would be OK on most Grass situations if it wasn't wet.

 

[s219]

In this situation, you won't find a machine that does everything well, and it's especially challenging if you're worried about tearing up your yard. Hard to beat a dedicated mower and larger tractor. That's what I have, and know very well the two cannot overlap and I couldn't replace both with one machine.