How well does the L2501 steer with a load on the loader?

[Grateful11]

Our son is thinking about pulling the trigger on a L2501HST maybe tomorrow. One thing he was wondering about is with the older style steering, pitman arm and tie rods, does it steer harder with a heavy load on the loader than one with full hydrostatic steering cylinder? I'm fairly sure he's going with R4 tires. I've searched and didn't find a solid answer.

 

[Blondie70]

Mine does fine. Nary a problem.

 

[jeff9366]

How much weight is on the front axle will affect steering.

Weight in the rear tires and more importantly on the Three Point Hitch forming counterbalance will unload weight from the front axle.

 

[4570Man]

My L3800 doesn’t make tight turns very good with a load. My L3240 had the full hydraulic and wasn’t much better. The full hydraulic was a way better design but the actual steering wasn’t much different.

 

[sdquick]

Not to give anyone a hard time for diligence, but if your down to "how does it turn with a load in the FEL" it sounds like you made your decision!! I think it is a good decision. I have had a great time with my L2501!
To answer your specific question, I have never noticed a difference in turning with a full FEL load vs empty.

 

[Grateful11]

Thanks everyone that sounds encouraging. Basically he's wanting a small chore tractor without a DPF. They're in and out of large hay sheds and feeding areas and would prefer not to have something regening while doing these chores. We went to the NC farm show last week and even the district reps said it probably best to at the least delay a regen when working in dusty hay sheds and barns. Also no one wanted to hear, "keep it over 1800 rpms and you'll be fine". I know this DPF thing has been debated a zillion times but that is one of the key factors with going with the L2501, otherwise I think he would be looking at a little more HP.

He's looking at going ahead with a 3rd function, just has to decide on R1 or R4's but definitely going HST.

The steering is one thing his Mother didn't care for the look of. She grew up on dairy and has been driving tractors since she was about 8 yo and she notices things like the tie rods sticking way out. When I told her it was similar steering type as the IH 574 they used to have she was like I hope it doesn't steer like the 574 did with a load on the loader. At low rpms the 574 was a bear.

 

[Ortimber]

The one real compliant I have with my L3901 has to do with the steering design. With a load in the bucket it does take more effort to turn than any other modern tractor I’ve owned, especially when stopped or at very low speeds. I’ve also thought these little tractors have an unusually big turning radius for their size.

 

[Grateful11]

Well we went to the dealership and looked at an L2501 but the only one they had together didn't have a quick change loader on it, they have about 5 in crates. So they brought out a L3301 with forks. I wasn't expecting them to try move a full pallet load of net wrap, 83# per roll or 1328# of net wrap plus the weight of the medium duty forks. It picked it up no problem but would not steer sitting still, not surprising. That was so much weight we were almost afraid to even try and move it, it did steer with some difficulty when moving very slowly in Low range. When they went to park the net wrap back into place, it was a slight incline, they have to use 4wd to get it to move as the rear as basically unweighted. It only had methanol loaded R4's and no other ballast. I'm still shocked that it picked it up at all.

They're thinking about loaded R1's instead of loaded R4's, you can put 3 sets of wheel weights on the R1's and by my calculations that will add 220# of weight to the rear over the R4's.

 

[Fallon]

Economy Ls are very unsafe without proper ballast on the 3pt when using the loader. My former L3200 (same frame & weight as a L2501, L3301 or L3901) could pull the back end off the ground with loaded tires & heavy 3pt ballast. Fine machine, but the loader is stronger than the machine can readily be ballasted.

 

[Grateful11]

Economy Ls are very unsafe without proper ballast on the 3pt when using the loader. My former L3200 (same frame & weight as a L2501, L3301 or L3901) could pull the back end off the ground with loaded tires & heavy 3pt ballast. Fine machine, but the loader is stronger than the machine can readily be ballasted.

This was only a test. What we had asked for was something that weighed around 600-700# for a test, not over 1400#.