Scott65
Silver Member
Hello all. I'm VERY new to the tractor world. My wife and I just bought 10 acres and decided to get a tractor to help out around the place. Bought a Kubota L3301 brand new with the DPF exhaust (jury is still out on this, very lengthy, loud, obnoxious burn off's required), and the hydrostatic drive. I love the hydrostatic drive but I'm totally ignorant as to its functionality. As a matter of fact, that goes for everything on this tractor. I've lurked around here on the forums quite a bit and absorbed what I could, but I want to ask before I mess something up. I am thinking about building my own grapple for the front bucket so I can scoop up things that are longer than the bucket is wide, like tree branches and old fence posts, without it all just falling back out on the ground. I'm a mechanic, and fairly handy with nuts, bolts, welders, torches, etc. It won't be pretty, but functional. In my line of work, I can accomplish anything with as long as I've got the schematics to show how the system is set up. I can't find such a thing on this new tractor, or at least not with the hydrostatic drive. Can anyone point me in the right direction for where I might hook in to add my hydraulic connections for a single ram to operate this grapple (and later on, a DIY hydro post hole digger)? I've seen terms such as Power Beyond, and I believe that the 3 point uses the same hydraulics. And possibly the power steering. So I'm very confused as to where I can hook in for pressure, and where I should hook back in to return. I'm not sure what kind of pressure would be coming back out of my system after operating the grapple ram. If it goes downstream to the 3 point, does it still have to be full pressure? See what I mean? Lots of questions about the design of the system that I can't quite wrap my head around yet. I've only ever worked on very simple systems, like the lifts at my shop. Pressures the rams to lift, relieves the pressure to lower. The return plumbing is literally just that, only a return. There is no sort of pressure, it just DUMPS back into a plastic reservoir. I assume this isn't the case on my tractor.
Any insight would be great!
Thanks in advance!
Scott
BTW,
Since nothing seems to be marked on any of the valve bodies, or manifolds, or whatever the industry calls them, I'm not even sure where the in's and outs and power beyonds, etc are coming and going from. Very confused. If anybody has any pictures to give me a frame of reference or starting point, that would be great! I would upload my own but I had to take the tractor to my mothers to do some work and won't have it back for a couple of days
Any insight would be great!
Thanks in advance!
Scott
BTW,
Since nothing seems to be marked on any of the valve bodies, or manifolds, or whatever the industry calls them, I'm not even sure where the in's and outs and power beyonds, etc are coming and going from. Very confused. If anybody has any pictures to give me a frame of reference or starting point, that would be great! I would upload my own but I had to take the tractor to my mothers to do some work and won't have it back for a couple of days