B3030 Purchase

[Jungo2]

Greetings to everyone.

I'm a new member and this is my first post of what I am certain will be many. I've been lurking here for the past few weeks and have acquired quite an education from the resources herein. Hopefully, I can reciprocate and contribute back to the forum in due time.

Over the past month, I've been sitting on the green/orange fence and often falling to one side or the other. However, I'm fairly certain that I'll be 'pulling the trigger' on a B3030 sometime next week. As I've received quotes from several dealers in the area (Chester County, PA.), my place of purchase will, of course, be based on price and service. I've been quoted on the following items:
B3030 w/403 Loader, 62" MMM and Ballast Box
Jeffers Quick Hitch (I'm thinking I might want the Speeco instead)
Woods LR72 - 6' landscape rake
Woods GB65 - 65" box scraper

I'll likely want to have a toothbar installed. I have 4.5 acres of property, half of which is heavily overgrown with thick brush and large trees. Gonna' need to clear most of that, hence the Rake and Box Blade. I have a great deal of large fallen timber and was wondering what the best method of management would be for this job. A grapple is too expensive. I was thinking of wrapping towing straps or chains around the entire loader bucket, looping the other ends around a fallen tree trunk and then transporting it to my burn pit. Would welded hooks on the bucket be a viable option for such a task? Can anyone offer any other suggestions re: the fallen timber or just for a new tractor purchase in general?

Thanks in advance.

Greg

 

[ronjhall]

Welcome to TBN.
I have a B2910. The B3030 is newer version.
The tractor should do the work you want fairly easy.
U have a grapple that I built for my bucket. Having this attachment is a great tool for clearing trees and shrubs. Here is a link to some pictures. Grapple. Check out the other pictures in my gallery for more upgrades. Biggest cost was the added valves. The B3030 now has these as an option. But still expensive.
Fill the Ballast box with cement. Makes it as heavy as it can get.
I have a 72"" MMM. Like the size because it gets the lawn cut faster and gets closer to the edge of lawn without hitting with tires.
My Landscape rake is 84" with gage wheels. These are almost a requirement to make leveling easy.
My box scraper is a 60". In my soil it's all the tractor can handle. The added weight is on a 65" is a plus. Top and tilt rear cylinders for 3PH helps a lot to make a box scraper easier to use.
I have a Speeco Quick Hitch. Had to modify every attachment to make them fit the hitch. Make sure the pins are included in purchase to make your attachments fit the QH.
I modified my Speeco to fit the Quick Coupler on my FEL. This allows me to use 3PH attachments on the FEL. Works great with the LR. See pictures in my gallery with link above.
Puttin hooks on the bucket is a great way to pull things and help lift. My bucket has places for 3 hooks. Here is link to a picture of them. Hooks.
There a quite a few B2910/B3030 owners here on TBN. They should be able to help with most questions.

 

[bigdad]

There are right/wrong and most effective places to have FEL hooks added. You are in a good place to find out where. Don't want to fold or distort that nice new bucket.

Best of luck and congrats on your B3030! Sounds like you are going to have some serious seat time this summer.

 

[amigauser]

I have a B3030 cab model and I love it.

It sounds like you have a good plan. I had the dealer add the ATI Tach-All to my LA430 FEL so that I could use skid steer type quick attach implements. I currently only have a bucket and pallet forks. Pallet forks would probably work well for moving logs as long as you have good rear ballast.

Norm

 

[cart99]

Greg,

If there is any possible way you can work the grapple into your budget, I would strongly recommend it. I had Messick's set my B3030 up with an ATI grapple and toothbar, because I also have (had!) lots of heavy brush and fallen trees to clear. That attachment was worth every single penny I spent on it, and I continue to be amazed at the things I can do with it. The hours it will save you will pay for itself.

 

[srossman]

Greetings to everyone.

I'm a new member and this is my first post of what I am certain will be many. I've been lurking here for the past few weeks and have acquired quite an education from the resources herein. Hopefully, I can reciprocate and contribute back to the forum in due time.

Over the past month, I've been sitting on the green/orange fence and often falling to one side or the other. However, I'm fairly certain that I'll be 'pulling the trigger' on a B3030 sometime next week. As I've received quotes from several dealers in the area (Chester County, PA.), my place of purchase will, of course, be based on price and service. I've been quoted on the following items:
B3030 w/403 Loader, 62" MMM and Ballast Box
Jeffers Quick Hitch (I'm thinking I might want the Speeco instead)
Woods LR72 - 6' landscape rake
Woods GB65 - 65" box scraper

I'll likely want to have a toothbar installed. I have 4.5 acres of property, half of which is heavily overgrown with thick brush and large trees. Gonna' need to clear most of that, hence the Rake and Box Blade. I have a great deal of large fallen timber and was wondering what the best method of management would be for this job. A grapple is too expensive. I was thinking of wrapping towing straps or chains around the entire loader bucket, looping the other ends around a fallen tree trunk and then transporting it to my burn pit. Would welded hooks on the bucket be a viable option for such a task? Can anyone offer any other suggestions re: the fallen timber or just for a new tractor purchase in general?

Thanks in advance.

Greg

Welcome to TBN. It's nice to have another Chester County, PA resident on the board. When ever I've pulled trees, we would wrap a chain around them and use the rear draw bar to drag them out or the woods. Much easier than going in reverse.

 

[Jungo2]

Thanks for all of the responses, Guys.

As previously mentioned, I have fairly rough ground - lots of ruts, roots, deadfall and trees to cut around. I like the idea of a drive over deck, however Kubota offers this feature only on the 72" deck. Does anyone have any experience with this deck and would this be considered too cumbersome for my application?

Thanks again.

Greg

 

[ronjhall]

Thanks for all of the responses, Guys.

As previously mentioned, I have fairly rough ground - lots of ruts, roots, deadfall and trees to cut around. I like the idea of a drive over deck, however Kubota offers this feature only on the 72" deck. Does anyone have any experience with this deck and would this be considered too cumbersome for my application?

Thanks again.

Greg

Using the drive over deck can be a pain. Gage wheels need to be adjusted to their lowest position to drive over deck. I have found using the FEL to raise front tires off ground is much easier. Just roll the disconnected deck out from under tractor. This method does require a hard flat surface.