Gordon - I started to reply to your message in the other L48 thread and say that my '99 L4310HST is getting a littlong long in the tooth, anyway... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
I'm really interested in looking at one, but we all knew that. I especially want to see how the backhoe attaches to the tractor and whether it's as useful as my Bradco mount, how the power of the two backhoes compares, etc. It certainly appears that the L48 loader is a better design than my modified L4310 one, even though mine has more lift capacity. The L48 one has much better bucket breakout force, higher overall lift, etc.
The hydraulics on the L48 are, of course, incredibly better. I'm interested in seeing if the engine is the same, though, because it has the right specs to be, but the Kubota factory service guy told me not to put a front-mounted hydraulic pump on my L4310 because the front crankshaft bearing isn't designed for the side-load. So, the question is: Did they do something to the engine in the L48 to compensate for this? (I'm assuming the hydraulic pump is a front-mounted one like the L35 here.)
But, for once in my life, I think I'm going to take the practical approach that my L4310HST does all I need or would want it to do. And as I find situations where it doesn't, as I have in the past, it can be fixed. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
MarkC