Rat,
That it would be. When whoodle got his 110, I had a BX and I thought to myself after taking it for a demo "what on earth does he need something like this for". I now know as my projects have expanded considerably. What's funny is, I remember him telling me when he got his 110 (before I saw it for the first time) "let me put it this way Jimmy, I could pick up that BX of yours and bury it with little trouble". I was shocked!
Moving on......To add to the creep comparison. The
L39 has creep! It's not factory, but it only costs a nickle. I have done this and DON'T suggest it to anybody else: I have disabled the safety switch that kills the engine if the seat is turned to the hoe postion and is in gear. This allows you to keep the gear selector in neutral and the shuttle in forward (or reverse). When you need to creep forward, you just reach back and pop it into first gear. The
L39 then creeps along until you pop it back to neutral just before you plant the stabilizers or the loader bucket. It's easy to control the speed of creep with the thottle too. 1st gear is very creepy on the
L39, especially around 1200 rpm or less. It works fantastic and I have yet to realize any major safety issues. Let me know of any if you think of some safety problems (aside from the obvious...neutral and not having a brake handy) This is likey not a good solution if you are on variable terrain. I kept the operator-present safety switch so I can stand a bit and kill the engine quickly if I get into trouble. All I did was use a zip tie to hold back the little finger. A couple of us discussed this over in the Kubota section. Not sure if anybody else tried it, but it works great from my experience on level ground.
As far as quickness of loader work.....I've gotten used to the GST and frankly like it a lot. I'm excavating a road right now and have done about 90 feet of over 1000. A lot of that was loader and hoe work the way I have to deal with this particular section (alley with trees on both sides). The GST has been great for loader work. It is faster, but it's not that much faster than GST in my opinion and I've had both. I'm not in that much of a hurry where minutes of productivity mean lost revenue. It's my personal machine and I enjoy using it.
A couple of other random comparisons:
L39 has a very tight turning radius, and I'm fairly certain it is tighter than the 110. It also weighs less, a full 1000lbs less so its easier to transport and less damaging to the earth (lawns). Whoodle has a huge trailer and dual axle Ram tubo diesel, so he's not concerned, but for the rest of us weight might be something to consider. The
L39 has three hydraulic pumps, one is specific to the hoe swing. I'm not sure the 110 has an independent hydro swing pump. The hoe is extremely accurate. The hydraulics are enclosed in the hoe and the belly is relatively clean. The 3 cyl diesel is very efficient. Attached is a picture of the
L39 on all three legs. As you can see the stabilizers give quite a bit of lift and they are massive cylinders.
Overall you'll be happy with either, although there are definite differences and you'll need to demo both and see for youself. Both machines are world class stuff....nothing finer available in their size range. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
