I'm new to this forum, but I wanted to throw in another experience with Coldwater Tractor and their FEL.
I have been looking for a loader for about a year since giving up on my Mitsubishi 372D after it kept throwing clutches and I got tired of splitting it. 5 clutches in 5 years with the center splines on the clutch plate disappearing. The plate surfaces and flywheel, and jackshaft from the transmission were all fine. Just the splines on the plate would go away. Anyway... I bought a very used Kubota B7500 DT Narrow. Normally you don't put a FEL on a narrow tractor, but I'd like to think I am smart enough to not go running on a sidehill with the bucket up. I am a firm believer in the laws of physics having survived with a healthy respect for them for 60 some odd years.
I had talked to the three best local tractor sources about putting a loader on my rig. The quotes came in ranging from $3500 to $5000. The loader of choice would be a Woods with a more expensive option of a genuine Kubota but there was some reluctance by the Kubota dealer to put the Kubota loader on a Narrow for fear Kubota might become displeased with the dealership. So an "aftermarket" loader was what was probably going to be used. I had seen many good comments about the Coldwater Tractor FEL. I figured that I would look at them and see if the price was in the same range. I gave them a call since they are just a few hours from my place. They are in Hoquiam, Wa and I am in McMinnville, OR. We ended up also exchanging a couple of emails and all the communications was very friendly and down to earth.
I was given two options... they would palletize the loader and ship it to me. I would have to possibly do some fabrication to make it fit the narrow if it wasn't mounted the same as the standard B7500DT, The loader would cost me $1800 plus $200 for shipping. Or, if I wanted, I could trailer the tractor up to Hoquiam and they would install it for me. The price was the same $1800 with no extra charges. They said I could drop it off and pick it up a week later, or I could make an appointment and they would do it all in one day. Wow, take a three and a half hour drive, get there around 8:00 in the morning, and come home that night with a new loader INSTALLED. Done deal.
I made an appointment for this past thursday, Feb 20, 2014. I drove up in the rain leaving at 4:00 am. I arrived at about 8:10 am. They were waiting for me and had the loader already fabricated and the mounts tack welded, waiting to be sure my tractor wasn't what they expected. They set to work was soon as I had it out of the trailer. I spent the next three hours talking to the owner about various topics of mutual interst while his guys finished all the fabrication and installation. By lunch (12:00 noom) I was loading my tractor into the trailer with a fully welded, painted and mounted FEL. I was back home in McMinnville, OR by 4:30 in the afternoon.
A couple of things to fill in the information dialog. Coldwater makes the FEL at their facility. They have steel delivered from a vendor and they make everything in the frame and arms. The cylinders, fittings, hoses, etc. are all standard parts, nothing exotic or hard to find. Their philosophy is to build a very good quality loader at a very affordable price. It may not be space-age fancy to look at, but it is nuts and bolts solid and ready to go to work. I only had one decision to make... what size bucket to put it. I opted for the 42" instead of the 48" to make sure I didn't overload the tractor. That was my decision, the cost would have been the same with either bucket. I paid $1800.00 cash. No extras or hidden charges. Because I live in Oregon I didn't even have to worry about sales tax.
Now that I am home, how happy am I? Very. I just came in from spending 4 hours working the loader pretty hard. I put a 48" brush hog on the back and then went out to knock down an area of blackberry brush that was over 8 feet tall. The area I was working in covers about 1/2 acre. The ground was soggy and I managed to get the tractor stuck twice. Mind you, this is a 4 WD tractor, but that just means you have twice as much opportunity to bury a tractor if you don't know what you are doing. If you are experiences using a FEL it can be very indispensable in getting unstuck. I was impressed with the power of this FEL. The hydraulics were plenty powerful to assist in pushing the tractor backwards to where I could get enough traction to drive out. My old loader would run into a load where the hydraulics would squawk and not be able to tilt the bucket or raise the arms under a heavy load. No such issues with this loader. It appears to be well matched to the capabilities of the tractor.
Another comment and I will close. Putting the brush hog on the back was a great counterbalance for the loader. I was able to use the loader to knock down high weeds and then run over them with the mower to chop them up. You will need something like this or a box blade on the back if you put a loader on the tractor. Otherwise, you will find that a heavy front bucket full of stuff will make the back wheels hop if you are not smooth on the joy stick.
I am very happy with my Coldwater FEL. I paid less than 1/2 the price of the competition and got what I consider to be a superior piece of equipment. I would recommend earnest consideration of doing business with these guys if you need loader for your tractor. They were straight shooters with me and left me feeling that they honestly appreciated my business. Great product at a great price.
