Eye Opener: 11 hrs on a rental L2900 GST

[DAP]

I KNEW renting a machine (or 3) would go a long way towards revealing BOTH what size machine AND what tranny would be best for my situation. As the advice was passed on to me, I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH that renting or borrowing a machine for a coupla days will go a long way in helping SIZE a machine for anyone. In fact, I'll say it is the BEST way. EXPERIENCE. Way better than typed opinions on a message board.

That being said: here's the dope.

MISSION:
1. Turn and/or relocate 2 seasons worth of stall manure piles (2 mares worth)
2. Bust up, remove and relocated 2 seasons worth of paddock paddys
3. Dislodge and move antique 2 bottom plow from overgrown thicket to appropriate display stage (shale ledge near barn).
4. Make new garden bed out of composted manure
5. Try and clean up mess made by tractor doing 1 - 4.

Tool: L2900 GST with LA480 FEL and 7' Rake, Ag tires (R1).

Very quickly it became apparent that an L series frame was larger than I'd like. That 7' rake barely fit through a standard 8 foot paddock gate and I had to creep through them each time (dozens of times) to keep from hitting them (too much!).

2nd, I made some serious ruts out in an old hay field. I never got close to getting stuck but it CREATED more work to do at another time and probably manual work at that - a taboo from my perspective.

I'm gonna add my 2 cents about the GST and the work types in another post in Owning/Operating. Suffice it to say that an HST was sorely missed for what was 15% rake work and 85% loader work.

Most unfortunate was that I didn't have the box blade and it started raining before I could hit the calamity known as my driveway with this tractor. If I become assured that a B series tractor (was even pondering a BX) could tackle the drive then I could rule out the L series altogether.

The LA480 loader and 64" bucket worked wonderful on LARGE piles, but between the clutch work and the large bucket, I was not able to finesse small piles of stuff without taking 2-3 inches of topsoile with it. Operator error or laws of physics?

I kept on fanasizing about a backhoe too. Ouch. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Pks]

Hi Doug,

Since your doing comparison style homework, I'll assume I can give you my experiences with a B2400.

I muck out my neighbor's horse stalls using the 48" FEL bucket and a 48" box blade. This works great, even through a 60" door. I go slowly through the door, so I push everthing I can through the door with either the bucket or the box blade. That way I can minimize the traveling through the door. The ag tires, R1s, work better than the R4 tires in here...especially when things get wet. When on mud, the R4s are almost useless for pushing heavy material. The HST is a dream when digging in tight places. Low gear is very slow and the HST is very precise. When I'm not tired, I'm good for a 1/4 of an inch.

Once I've piled everything outside in the corral area, I take it all back to my house for the compost piles.

This light tractor rarely makes any large ruts. With the R1 ag tires, it will dig into the soil when under a lot of load. But the R4 tires are what I use for grass cutting and general running around the house. Any heavy digging or pushing is done with the R1s in place. To decrease the load on the grass, I remove the boxblade.

When I resurface the 1/4 mile gravel drive, I load the box blade up with rock to where the 3pt can just barely lift it (max weight), put on the R1s and use the teeth to pull up the hard stuff. Then I use a 6 ft rear blade to finish off the work. Low gear and the HST make this job much easier.

The B2400 also handles a 72" finish mower very well. I only cut grasses with it. And it only runs out of power when the field grass is 3ft high and really wet. Sharp blades make a big difference here.

For comparison purposes, I hope this helps a little bit. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[_RaT_]

Doug, I would venture to say that any tractor is going to make ruts, especially after you get to "pumping" the soil. It takes but 3 passes or so and your going to start rutting the ground when the conditions are right. R4's tend to be a little easier if only because they are a little wider and when they inevitably slip on wet surfaces, don't break it open as fast as R1's. The loader issue is pure operator error unless the front bucket has developed so much play that holding it's position is impossible to. I will position the bucket on the ground, dump it until the backend of the bucket is up off the ground, then roll it until the backend touches the ground and add a slight more roll to keep the cutting edge from getting aggresive. Once it is angled into the ground and you go forward, leverage takes over and it's going down.
You are correct, renting and having the time to experiment all on your own really clears up a lot of confusion and either validates or negates what opinions you pick up here. You will also find that after a number of hours, that 8' opening with a 7' rake gets bigger. You really tune into the peripheral size of the tractor. Good luck with your choice. HST certainly has it's advantages, you pointed out one of them.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Doug . . . I have said, dozens of times, a smaller tractor is often the better tool for the job. Your experiences proved that to you. I think we all look at tractors and have some Tim -the Tool Man- Taylor bravado lurking inside our heads that keeps urging MORE POWER and BIGGER IS BETTER. Quite often the reverse is true. A highly manuverable machine will get the work done faster, in MANY cases, than a big machine. It is nice you proved it to yourself before you spent the money! And is sounds like GEAR versus HYDRO was put to rest too!