I have had my new Kubota L3400 HST for a month now, and thought I would try to give back a little of the help I received on this site. Since I have never operated a tractor, I spend several months researching, asking questions and visiting all the major dealers. I am sure there are others in the same situation
I bought the L3400 HST with a Woods BH80X Backhoe with thumb, the bigger 513 loader, and a Woods 72" rake, blade and box scraper, to use on my 40 wooded acres in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I got about an hour of instruction (could have gone longer if I had known what to ask...)..and a few days later they delivered the tractor. They left, and I began the learning process (I had already forgotten most of what they told me). After no more than an hour with the loader and backhoe, I was actually feeling pretty comfortable. Although the left/right/up/down levers don't come naturally, I was getting it right more than half the time, within the first hour. The HST transmission took all the "work" out of moving forward/reverse, and the learning really centered around how to work the levers on the loader (pretty easy) and backhoe (many more levers). It was surprising how quickly you can pick it up.
My first project was to remove some trees and build a road to the lake. I was absolutely floored by how many 4-6" maples actually could be pushed over without any digging by this little tractor. Also, clearing large rocks and downed trees from the path was very easy to learn. Making a flat "grade" does not come so easy, but the road is already driveable. Finally ran into a 12" maple, which fell in about 20 minutes after digging up the roots with the backhoe. That thing is awesome. Talk about fun. The thumb can really lift some weight. The grade was pretty uneven and down hill, and I got stuck once when I pushed over the big tree and ran the front wheels into the hole where the stump had been. After a few minutes of pondering I was beginning to think about going to my neighbors to have him tow me out, when I figured out that if I lowered the front bucket I could raise the front wheels, throw a couple of rocks and a log under them, and drive out (yeah...I know....second nature for all you pros, but I was pretty proud when I figured it out myself).
Got about 150 feet of "road" done before my neighbor came by to see if I would help clean up a huge beaver dam that was causing the only road in to our lake to flood (we are 12 miles from the nearest paved road). My backhoe experience at this point was 20 minutes on the maple trees roots. He is a new tractor owner as well (but without a backhoe), and has the same amount of experience as I do (none). Drove the tractor about a half mile to the problem areas (most of it at a snail's pace in low, until I remembered I have Med and High speeds!). Spent about 30 minutes carefully removing hundreds of pounds of mud, sticks and other debris from the 36" drain pipe that runs under the load. By the time I was done I was almost never moving the wrong lever ("up" when I wanted it to go "down", etc.)
Came back to camp and started digging up the steep slope to the water, to put in some railroad tie steps. By now I was a "pro" on the backhoe.
Can't say enough about this "basic" tractor, and I look forward to every opportunity to get back on it. It is just WAY-Y-Y-Y too much fun!. Best advice I got from the dealer was to do everything SLOW.....do that, and you will be amazed how easy this is to learn.
I bought the L3400 HST with a Woods BH80X Backhoe with thumb, the bigger 513 loader, and a Woods 72" rake, blade and box scraper, to use on my 40 wooded acres in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I got about an hour of instruction (could have gone longer if I had known what to ask...)..and a few days later they delivered the tractor. They left, and I began the learning process (I had already forgotten most of what they told me). After no more than an hour with the loader and backhoe, I was actually feeling pretty comfortable. Although the left/right/up/down levers don't come naturally, I was getting it right more than half the time, within the first hour. The HST transmission took all the "work" out of moving forward/reverse, and the learning really centered around how to work the levers on the loader (pretty easy) and backhoe (many more levers). It was surprising how quickly you can pick it up.
My first project was to remove some trees and build a road to the lake. I was absolutely floored by how many 4-6" maples actually could be pushed over without any digging by this little tractor. Also, clearing large rocks and downed trees from the path was very easy to learn. Making a flat "grade" does not come so easy, but the road is already driveable. Finally ran into a 12" maple, which fell in about 20 minutes after digging up the roots with the backhoe. That thing is awesome. Talk about fun. The thumb can really lift some weight. The grade was pretty uneven and down hill, and I got stuck once when I pushed over the big tree and ran the front wheels into the hole where the stump had been. After a few minutes of pondering I was beginning to think about going to my neighbors to have him tow me out, when I figured out that if I lowered the front bucket I could raise the front wheels, throw a couple of rocks and a log under them, and drive out (yeah...I know....second nature for all you pros, but I was pretty proud when I figured it out myself).
Got about 150 feet of "road" done before my neighbor came by to see if I would help clean up a huge beaver dam that was causing the only road in to our lake to flood (we are 12 miles from the nearest paved road). My backhoe experience at this point was 20 minutes on the maple trees roots. He is a new tractor owner as well (but without a backhoe), and has the same amount of experience as I do (none). Drove the tractor about a half mile to the problem areas (most of it at a snail's pace in low, until I remembered I have Med and High speeds!). Spent about 30 minutes carefully removing hundreds of pounds of mud, sticks and other debris from the 36" drain pipe that runs under the load. By the time I was done I was almost never moving the wrong lever ("up" when I wanted it to go "down", etc.)
Came back to camp and started digging up the steep slope to the water, to put in some railroad tie steps. By now I was a "pro" on the backhoe.
Can't say enough about this "basic" tractor, and I look forward to every opportunity to get back on it. It is just WAY-Y-Y-Y too much fun!. Best advice I got from the dealer was to do everything SLOW.....do that, and you will be amazed how easy this is to learn.