paph said:
I had the
L39 for this whole season, using it for my landscape business and what I have noticed is in line with other posts being that the fel is a little weak and the hoe is quite a beast. One thing that has been a problem is lack of traction. Tires load up in wet soil and and the machine wont even steer in the direction you want which I think is becuase the hoe is too big for the machine and the front end is too light as well as the tire design is skid steer like, no ag type tires where available when I ordered mine just what I got and turf. One more minor gripe is the fel is way too long which has to affect lifting power.It seems it could be 2 feet shorter than it is. I almost went with a 110 but the jd dealer was reluntant to give me a good price with out a long drawn out negotiation. I like my machine and would recommend it. I like the gst far better then the hst on the
L48 which I tried. It was too big to be versatile and would put you over the 10,000gvwr. I paid 37,500 with quick connect backhoe bucket with thumb, and pallet forks, work lights, tool box.
I just got my L-39 back this weekend. It was at the dealer for 6 weeks due to a blown quad ring seal in the oil pump and a small leak in the transmission.
I was told the custom molded quad seal was not available as a separate replacement part and that a new pump had to be ordered. Wait till I call the dealer back and tell them they lost the button insert and rubber boot to the front remote on the joystick.
In any case I echo "paph's" comments on the L-39. I was sliding all over the side of a hill in a light rain today.
JD ought to call Kubota to the carpet where Kubota makes their spec comparison against the JD-110 loader. No way is the Kubota loader as strong as the Deere overall. At the extremes of travel, the Kubota loader's curl is limp wristed. The linkage has no leverage.
The L-39 is very maneuverable, a feature that should be copied by any manufactures entering this market.
The GST suits my needs, as I am not doing close quarter loading that much. More often I am running loads up to a 1/2 Mile. Typically load carry is between 100-300 Ft. This rules out a track steer type machine. Why Kubota chose the close ratios between the 12 speeds for rages 4 through 9, I imagine had to do with the economies of transmission design as opposed to utility. Ratios are too close.
For my use a tractor has it over a skid steer with the 3 pt and rear PTO for land maintenance.
So why can't someone market a machine like the following?
I want a small do all TLB rather than a full size commercial sized machine. I just need a heavier machine for my tasks. I don't need a monster. The
L48 & JD-110, size wise is borderline to big, but it is still not heavy enough. The new Yammer is only got 500 LBS on the L-39.
It really does not cost that much overall to put more steel in a tractor. Maybe $4,000? If there was a machine with the L-39 dimensions except add 5-6" in track for stability, keeping the existing 6' bucket except an inch or two deeper, and put a killer front axle in the machine along with 12.5-18 front tires and 17.5-24 rears, I would be trading the L-39. I imagine a machine weight just under 9,000 Lbs, and it would need low fifty something hp for power.
Offer both a GST and HST transmission.
If Kubota were to produce a machine like the above it would be the L-48 replacement or should I say displacement. Does this make room for a top dog machine could target just beneath the smaller commercial TLB's? Right now I only know of two machines in this category, the JCB 2CX and IR-570. An L-60 something might take a good chunk of the TLB market.
