Mahindra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

[Roger66]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

My 2 cents which isn't worth much, between the L2501 and Mahindra 1626, I'll take the one with a bigger engine.

L2501 has a 100.47 ci [1.6 L] @ 2200 prm's.

1526 has a 80.4 ci [1.3 L] @ 2500 rpm's.

I'd agree with that logic more if there were aftermarket support for pumping up the HP. But for sure the Mitsubishi engine in the Mahindra is an excellent engine with a great reputation and at about .3 HP per cubic inch it's not breaking a sweat. Both are great engines! Both are great tractors. Price wasn't even much different. One big advantage for me on my Mahindra is the shorter roll bar fits in my shed. The Kubota roll bar is way over my head when I'm seated. I know I would fold it down and likely not put it back up. You could argue the taller roll bar is safer, but not when it's folded down or removed.

 

[Grandad4]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

Actually, the Kubota website indicates the L2501 3 pt lifts 1,918 lbs at the lift point and 1,389 lbs at 24" behind the lift point. Mahindra simply says the 1526 3 pt. lifts 2,646 lbs but doesn't state where measured. Just a guess, but maybe 1,918 vs. 2,646 is the apples to apples comparison.

 

[Roger66]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

Actually, the Kubota website indicates the L2501 3 pt lifts 1,918 lbs at the lift point and 1,389 lbs at 24" behind the lift point. Mahindra simply says the 1526 3 pt. lifts 2,646 lbs but doesn't state where measured. Just a guess, but maybe 1,918 vs. 2,646 is the apples to apples comparison.

According to the Kubota website both measurements are 24" behind the lift point.
https://www.kubotausa.com/docs/defa...rison-pdfs/l2501_comps.pdf?sfvrsn=79aac1d1_10

 

[Grandad4]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

2,600 lbs on the 3 pt of a 2,500 lb tractor is pretty extreme. With counterweight up front for balance, the whole tractor would be 7,000 lbs or more. If you ever get anywhere close to that in actual use, please be careful (and take a picture !).

 

[Roger66]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

2,600 lbs on the 3 pt of a 2,500 lb tractor is pretty extreme. With counterweight up front for balance, the whole tractor would be 7,000 lbs or more. If you ever get anywhere close to that in actual use, please be careful (and take a picture !).

I have picked up a 2,000 lbs pallet of wood pellets with the pallet forks on my loader. I would expect the 3 point to lift a bit more, but yes it's extreme and I'm super careful when lifting those loads. Without question I should have bought a bigger machine.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

as you guys are finding here, tractor companies are starting to make changes to geometry and travel to 'cook the books' on their spec sheets. Things like limiting loader lift heights so you have a higher lift capacity specification. Unfortunately all driven by people buying based on a spec sheet, and naive to how tractors and equipment really work.

 

[Roger66]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

as you guys are finding here, tractor companies are starting to make changes to geometry and travel to 'cook the books' on their spec sheets. Things like limiting loader lift heights so you have a higher lift capacity specification. Unfortunately all driven by people buying based on a spec sheet, and naive to how tractors and equipment really work.

I don't believe they are cheating on the numbers as I've lifted more than the machine is rated for. Perhaps Mahindra traded lift height for extra lift weight, but for my use that's totally fine. I need every bit of the lift weight I got. I don't farm, for my use loader lift was the purpose of buying the tractor. My Clark TW25 forklift only works on the concrete. This is my off-road forklift.

First time tractor buyers as I was have little to go on other than the spec sheet. Good salesmen can spin things, bad salesman can outright lie. For me Green was ruled out early. Red and Orange were the considerations. My mistake was, early on I was looking at the B series which is clearly a lesser tractor then the L. By the time I figured out I should be looking at the L series I was already planning on buying the Mahindra. Business travel prevented me from getting to the Kubota dealer before my delivery date. The Kubota competitive comparison web page convinced me to buy the Mahindra. This Kubota document showed that the Mahindra was shorter, wider, tighter turning radius, more lift, more hydraulic flow, slightly more HP although slightly less on the PTO. Even after actually closely looking at the L2501 my opinion did not change. The L is and feels like an economy tractor and the Mahindra feels a little more premium. There is a whole truckload of intangibles for the Kubota. Reputation, Larger lower revving engine which might last longer, better dealer network, possible better resale value, on and on. It does appear based on all of the posts that these two tractors are closer than the specs lead me to believe. I do think the Kubota marketing department needs to do a better job on their competitive comparisons! First time buyers will shop the spec sheet like it or not.

 

[mike69440]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

as you guys are finding here, tractor companies are starting to make changes to geometry and travel to 'cook the books' on their spec sheets. Things like limiting loader lift heights so you have a higher lift capacity specification. Unfortunately all driven by people buying based on a spec sheet, and naive to how tractors and equipment really work.

Even Kubota is playing this game now. For instance Kubota is now rating the loader capacity at the pins vs bucket center, so all the loader decals have bigger numbers.

Mahindra in their Brochure for the Max28 / Max26 uses a 3 Piont lift capacity of 2,205 lbs not stating where that value is measured. I assume at the pins.
Per
http://www.clapptractor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MAXT4-specs.pdf

However:
Per the OEM the lift is measured 24" behind the hitch at 1430 Lbs (650 KG) at a stated maximum pressure of 2063 Psig.
That is quite a bit for a small tractor.

The Loader is rated to lift 1402 lbs at the pins at 2175 Psi but both the loader and 3Pt work off the same main relief valve and in fact the main pump has a non adjustable relief set around 2,000 PSI

The Loader has an adjustable relief and it is set slightly below the main pump pressure. So at best you are seeing -200 Psig under the rated prssure.

So Mahindra stretches the specs, even though being able to lift full height at bucket center 900lbs. or so is quite a lot for a small tractor.

Also Mahindra limits the curl cylinder power to keep customers from doing bad things.

To get the 2,250-2,300 psig I operate at requires a 0.030" shim under the spring of the main pump relief.

So the actual performance of the L2501 is not that far off the 1526 in actual working conditions, but the L2501 will not dead lift what the 1526 will.
But a small 0.030" thick stainless washer would fix all of that. And yes, running your hydraulics at 2,500 psig does not hurt the pump, but does put more strain on the tractor, depending on the operator.

 

[Tractorable]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

Paint wear on the floor has not been an issue in the 4+ years I've had my L3200, although the areas on the step that get repeated use have the paint worn off and are shiny. This is one of those things where I have seen many people on TBN fret about paint wear on steps and floors, yet if you've been around equipment for very long you'll know these wear areas stay shiny and seem to defy rust. I have seen this for decades.

I have owned other tractors with a floor mat and honestly, I can't say one is better than the other, but they are easy to add if desired. However, you need to be prudent about cleaning under the mat periodically, because sand/grit will get trapped under there and wear through the paint worse than if you had no mat. And I think it could be even worse if the mat traps moisture there. Be sure to lift the mat periodically, hose out the grit, and take care of any wear/rust. If you are under the impression that a tractor with a floor mat will be better for wear/rust, well, you ought to adjust that thinking pronto.

I think the best solution is to have the deck sprayed with bed liner such as LineX -- seen several people here on TBN have that done, and it seems to be the best of both worlds.

It would be great if you could post the loader curves for your Mahindra here. I can overlay them on the L loader curves and we will see how they compare. Kubota always gets dinged because their ratings are at higher lift points, as they tend to have longer loader arms with more reach. Some of the tractors with extremely high lift ratings (ie, LS) have very stubby loader arms and very poor height/reach. If you use the loader curves to compare apples to apples, it tells a very different story. Down low, they will lift 2-3X the upper rating, and people miss that completely.

Good post

It'd be an interesting spec to have the distance measurement from the front axle forward to the loader pins to see how much reach the loader has. Kubota loaders seem to sit farther forward than other brands which would give better reach but on the downside more leverage to lift he rear wheels. Folks say the Kubota's are light in the rear but it could also be the longer loader arms leveraging up the rear. A positive is Kubota loaders lift higher than other brands.

 

[Grandad4]

Re: Mahendra 1526 Vs Kubota L2501

Kub sells about half the under-50 hp tractors in the US, which gives them a huge exposure to litigation and regulation. Makes sense they are a conservatively run company that puts a lot of effort into engineering an overall-rounded machine. Newer companies trying to build a position will need to be aggressive with price and marketing tactics. Overall, it's good that buyers get to choose. I'll bet it would have been way cheaper for Kub to simply gooch up its hydraulics a bit instead of developing that fancy HST+ tranny, but that would not fit in with its goal of industry leadership.