Buying Advice What to pick 32 - 51Hp.......

[alaskakubota]

Boris,

I did load the rear tires and I either have on my 7' box blade in winter, or I have a 2300 lb ballast that I have on it. I have the front mounted snowblower right now. Really dont need 4x4 with the ballast, but got it for nothing. It helps. I have my R4's close instead of the wide position to fit in my dump trailer and I have never had any stability issues. I also havent been on too many sidehills with it. I also put chains front and rear on it as I wont see gravel for six months at a time, and when we get the warm chinooks, the snow turns to ice and they really help. Turfs wouldnt work for me as I see a lot of swamps and muddy trails to the cabin with this tractor. my 3130 would see water and mud over the front tires on occasion on the 2.5 mile trail to the cabin. Got stuck a few times and the backhoe really helped. I didnt want R1's as I do alot of loader work out there and they are too skinny. If the R1's were wider, I would have them. I like the R4's.

Kubo,

The 3130 was a real dog with both loader and hoe on it. Low range for many hours with loader work. Or go into pile in low and hope to pull medium with a load of alders in the grapple. There is a huge difference in power. I used the bushog this winter to clear some areas that I cant clear in the summer because of the swamps and the tractor didnt even bog. The old 3130 would bog mowing little things just backing up. THe snowblower was a real power robbing piece as well and this new one just purrs along. Complete different animal. I should have bought this 3 years ago. You pretty much double your HP going from the 3130 to the 5740. 24 pto to 52pto.

 

[kuboman]

Boris,



Kubo,

The 3130 was a real dog with both loader and hoe on it. Low range for many hours with loader work. Or go into pile in low and hope to pull medium with a load of alders in the grapple. There is a huge difference in power. I used the bushog this winter to clear some areas that I cant clear in the summer because of the swamps and the tractor didnt even bog. The old 3130 would bog mowing little things just backing up. THe snowblower was a real power robbing piece as well and this new one just purrs along. Complete different animal. I should have bought this 3 years ago. You pretty much double your HP going from the 3130 to the 5740. 24 pto to 52pto.

Did you notice the size difference when you went to the 5740?
And I should have done my homework better before I bought the 3130 although I got mostly for loader work and it does ok with that.

 

[alaskakubota]

The size of the tractor is roughly the same. I think the new one is 4" longer. I had to extend my subframe 4" or so to use my snowblower. The driveshaft was a little longer as well. What I do know is that medium range with high and low works great. It will be awesome for loader work. I also notice that I like heat when blowing snow. No more carhart jackets and pants. It actually burns you out in there if you leave it on high heat. The tractor is an animal. If you are thinking about bumping up, do it sooner rather that later because when you actually do it, you will ask yourself why you waited so long.

 

[big bubba]

if the real question is size, imho just get the biggest you can afford. not just hp but weight & lift cap. your property is big enough for that equation. now whether you want to sink extra $ into Grand L frill over the above, well, that's a subjective choice only you can answer.
all the best, new property and projects are always exciting. plus it's spring!

 

[Samandothers]

Congratulations on the 4240. I really enjoy mine and the LA854 loader. Have fun! That old house and property look like a good place to puncture a tire. Good luck.

 

[andyz171]

Here are some updates from recent work. As you might remember you could not even see the house from across the street before 3 weeks ago. I'm learning that slow and steady will win this race, when I get in a hurry things go bad.... Also the reason I purchased a 5' bush hog is it is a heavy duty model (over 1K lbs) and the weight on the trailer was my concern as I'm pulling this all with a 5.7 Toyota Tundra.

 

[TripleR]

Good job, it is truly amazing what a good tractor, some hard work and a bit of patience will accomplish. Also the more you do the better you get and more you can do.

 

[crazyal]

Here are some updates from recent work. As you might remember you could not even see the house from across the street before 3 weeks ago. I'm learning that slow and steady will win this race, when I get in a hurry things go bad.... Also the reason I purchased a 5' bush hog is it is a heavy duty model (over 1K lbs) and the weight on the trailer was my concern as I'm pulling this all with a 5.7 Toyota Tundra.

Your Tundra should have any problems at all. When I was racing I would pull a 26' enclosed trailer, the race car, and all the tools and spare parts 200 miles each with with my Tundra with the 4.7 in it. I'm guessing I was pulling over 8000 lbs. I used a weight distributing hitch. The only place I ever had an issue was trying to go above 70 on the interstate, the flat front face of the trailer was like a giant air brake.