Input needed (What to Get) Looking at MX5200 / L4901

[sjm1580]

If resale is a high concern of yours, stop looking and just buy the Kubota. If you want to get the most work done, then get the Mahindra. I personally would get the machine that fit me the best, meaning what tractor I was the most comfortable on and liked where the controls are the best. I can't see purchasing something that you plan on keeping, but may have to sell if stuff changes, so want to have the best resale. So you have a tractor for 20 years that may or may not fit you, but it will be the best machine to sell IF you have to. That's fine if you plan on selling it as businesses do every few years, otherwise get the one that fits you the best is my line of thinking.

If you have just about any grading to do, doing it with the loader is not the way to do it. You really should have some sort of a grading implement, even a good landscape rake. That would serve double duty, help clean up stuff as well as being able to grade with it.

All things to consider.

I have always done very well having Kubotas and it would be very difficult for me to buy one of the others, also due to the proximity of orange dealers to me.

Do you think I would have enough machine with the MX5200 for removing 3" - 4" pines?

Thanks for the tip on the landscape rake, I just don't see how I can get around the need for a grapple though.

You learn more on this site in a shorter period of time than spending hours searching the internet. Nothing like getting tips from guys that use their equipment.

Thanks

 

[sjm1580]

At the risk of stating the obvious, you're gonna want SSQA option for the FEL and 3rd function valve for grapple.

Before picking up, I would ask dealer to pressure test the FEL valve and shim as necessary. Some have reported coming new under spec.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have always done very well having Kubotas and it would be very difficult for me to buy one of the others, also due to the proximity of orange dealers to me.

Do you think I would have enough machine with the MX5200 for removing 3" - 4" pines?

Thanks for the tip on the landscape rake, I just don't see how I can get around the need for a grapple though.

You learn more on this site in a shorter period of time than spending hours searching the internet. Nothing like getting tips from guys that use their equipment.

Thanks

I 100% agree as far as the grapple. Grapple is a must have for your situation-conditions. If you feel the way that you do about Kubota, which is fine, why even bring up the other brands? :confused3:

I can't help with the pine question, I don't really do much grapple work and the little that I do is with a 12,000lb tractor and is with oaks, sorry. :sorry:

The landscape rake is what I would consider the minimum for your 3pt clean up and grading work.

Just my :2cents:

 

[Grandad4]

These are just my opinions based on having an older Kubota similar to the L4901 and having done a fair amount of tree removal and clearing with it... either the MX or the L you're looking at would do what you want, particularly if you've got sandy soil conditions. You should be able to knock down 3-4" pines pretty well. However the stumps and roots sometimes don't cooperate and come loose when a tree drops, so you're left to dig them out with the FEL, which can often get to be a lot of work. You end up with a pretty big crater due to the width of the loader. In our clay soil conditions, we added a backhoe to our tractor, which has been way more productive for removing stumps. Going to a bigger tractor would only make bigger craters when doing the same work, and you might find it would be too much tractor for your nursery operation once the land clearing is done.

The backhoe was pricey but has been very effective and convenient. Alternatively, you may find it more economical to get someone with a dozer or trackhoe to do basically all the rough clearing and use your grapple setup for cleaning it up. Also, I'd put in a plug for a good box blade, which is much more effective for levelling and finish grading vs. just using the FEL and also puts needed ballast on the back for traction and balance when using the loader.

 

[jeff9366]

I have 10 acres to clear of palmettos, brush, small trees and the like and then use the machine on the property for a nursery business. Need to buy with FEL and probably a Bradco grapple.

Bradco grapples are very heavy, which reduces FEL lifting capacity.


I have done quite a bit or research and am considering a grapple from The Rake Shop, in Deland, Florida:

www.TheRakeShop.com / Root Rakes Grapples Attachments & Skid Steers


I have a Kubota SSQA 72" Heavy Duty Round Back Bucket (L2296) which I recommend to you in itself but it also makes a rigid mount for a Bucket Spade which will be very useful to you in nursery work. Bucket Spade pops out Palmettos in ten seconds each.

Tractor and Skidsteer bucket spade shovel

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...da-planting-sand-pears-kubota.html?highlight=

Two of my highest value attachments are the Bucket Spade and Ratchet Rake. Both go on/off the L2296 bucket in a couple minutes.

 

[sjm1580]

Bradco grapples are very heavy, which reduces FEL lifting capacity.


I have done quite a bit or research and am considering a grapple from The Rake Shop, in Deland, Florida:

www.TheRakeShop.com / Root Rakes Grapples Attachments & Skid Steers


I have a Kubota SSQA 72" Heavy Duty Round Back Bucket (L2296) which I recommend to you in itself but it also makes a rigid mount for a Bucket Spade which will be very useful to you in nursery work. Bucket Spade pops out Palmettos in ten seconds each.

Tractor and Skidsteer bucket spade shovel

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...da-planting-sand-pears-kubota.html?highlight=

Two of my highest value attachments are the Bucket Spade and Ratchet Rake. Both go on/off the L2296 bucket in a couple minutes.

Have you used your bucket spade to take out trees? I am looking to take out quite a few 3" -4" slash pines on the property?

I was looking at the Everything Attachments grapple. They have an interesting video that you might want to take a look at that describes the thought behind how they designed/manufacture it.

Everything Attachments Wicked Root Grapple for Compact Tractors

I will be sure to check out The Rake Shop.

Thanks for your help.

 

[sjm1580]

These are just my opinions based on having an older Kubota similar to the L4901 and having done a fair amount of tree removal and clearing with it... either the MX or the L you're looking at would do what you want, particularly if you've got sandy soil conditions. You should be able to knock down 3-4" pines pretty well. However the stumps and roots sometimes don't cooperate and come loose when a tree drops, so you're left to dig them out with the FEL, which can often get to be a lot of work. You end up with a pretty big crater due to the width of the loader. In our clay soil conditions, we added a backhoe to our tractor, which has been way more productive for removing stumps. Going to a bigger tractor would only make bigger craters when doing the same work, and you might find it would be too much tractor for your nursery operation once the land clearing is done.

The backhoe was pricey but has been very effective and convenient. Alternatively, you may find it more economical to get someone with a dozer or trackhoe to do basically all the rough clearing and use your grapple setup for cleaning it up. Also, I'd put in a plug for a good box blade, which is much more effective for levelling and finish grading vs. just using the FEL and also puts needed ballast on the back for traction and balance when using the loader.

My main concern is what you bring up, being stuck with a bunch of stumps. That is my dilemma, renting a trackhoe for a week and getting it all out and clean up with my new machine with a grapple of plug along as best I can with the Kubota and maybe some attachments to help. I had a B3200 with the backhoe attachment but it was so time consuming moving from place to place, rotating the seat, putting the outriggers down... I'm afraid I would be out there for years.

I was thinking about a something like a bucket spade to help. I know I will need to rent a trackhoe for the bigger stuff, but I would really like to do as much as I can with the future new machine.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[jeff9366]

Have you used your bucket spade to take out trees? I am looking to take out quite a few 3" -4" slash pines on the property?

Have you opened and read the third LINK I provided in post #15?

I have used my Bucket Spade to take out Oaks; generally satisfactory up to 3" diameter, then the roots get too hard, too plaited and too deep. I think softwood Pines would be easier. The spade weighs 100 pounds and it arrives sharp and remains sharp; high quality steel.

The Bucket Spade weights 100 pounds. It is rigidly mounted on HDRB bucket which is 397 pounds, which is mounted on LA805 FEL which weighs 1,279 pounds, so total static weight on the Bucket Spade as I position it to go into the dirt is 1,776 pounds, more or less. Then, you can begin to wiggle the FEL, or push the Bucket Spade into the ground with tire traction. You can understand while I prefer the HDRB Bucket over Kubota's standard bucket for mounting the Bucket Spade rigidly.

Bucket Spade is NOT a Backhoe but it does 50% of what a Backhoe does and may be equal for tree planting-----for $400. I believe in keeping attachments simple, and the Bucket Solutions (brand) Bucket Spade is SIMPLE, SIMPLE, SIMPLE.

(pictures show my prior Kubota B3300SU)

I am a repeat customer for ETA, their Landscape Rake being particularly fine. (I complained about paint being banged up on arrival of my Cultipacker in 2012. My 2013 purchase arrived padded with cardboard with paint intact.)

ETA is growing rapidly at present and I have a nebulous feeling that build may be a bit rushed as ETA expands and trains new personnel.

 

[jeff9366]

My main concern is what you bring up, being stuck with a bunch of stumps. That is my dilemma, renting a trackhoe for a week and getting it all out and clean up with my new machine with a grapple of plug along as best I can with the Kubota and maybe some attachments to help.

In north Florida, stump rot out time is about three years if you spray fresh cut stump with herbicide to make sure it dies rather than regenerates. Why not clean up primary area 100%, then wait for stumps in secondary and tertiary areas to rot out?

You can burn out larger stumps by ringing them with 40-50 pounds of charcoal briquets within an earth dam.

 

[Grandad4]

I'm afraid I would be out there for years.

I think your concerns are well-founded. A larger backhoe such as fits on the MX or L sized machines would be an improvement over your B3200's BH, but it's still slow work. It took me weeks with the loader and backhoe to clear an acre of all the trees and stumps for a new building, working in my spare time. I've concluded that getting any significant acreage cleared of trees in a fairly short time frame requires the big iron; it's just not a job for a compact or utility tractor. I don't know about your area at the moment, but when the construction business tanked not long ago, there were dozer guys around here who'd do work like that for pretty reasonable rates just to get some work.

Jeff's comments make sense to me, particularly because he's down in your region and has some specific experience doing similar work.