JD990 Questions

tarscraper · Jan 15, 2006

I sold my Kubota setup today to the first guy that came by to look at it. I got my asking price. After he left I called my Deere dealer and placed the order for the 990. I ordered MFWD, 300CX, 73HD Bucket, Loaded R4's, Power Beyond, and a Canopy. I think I am going to add the 8B backhoe with 18" bucket and a frontier rake Monday morning.

I have a question about hydraulics. I was quoted about $550.00 to have the extra lines and hoses installed that would allow me to use a 4in1 bucket at some point. Should I just wait to do this until later? Do any of you have this setup on the 990? How does it all look/work?

One more thing. Underhood horizontal exhaust is standard. I wanted the verticle exhaust and there is no kit for this. Anyone aware of a way I can have the verticle exhaust?

thanks

AK_Mike · Jan 15, 2006

What are your plans for the 4-way hydraulics on the bucket? Are you going to buy a grapple or something? If you are considering it for the snowblade attachment, save your money. The regular bucket, combined with a 7' rear blade works better. This is what I use. I have unloaded R1s and I have not found any snow that will stop it. As soon as someone here in Alaska starts selling RimGuard, I'm going to load them, however.

tarscraper · Jan 16, 2006

( What are your plans for the 4-way hydraulics on the bucket? Are you going to buy a grapple or something? If you are considering it for the snowblade attachment, save your money. The regular bucket, combined with a 7' rear blade works better. This is what I use. I have unloaded R1s and I have not found any snow that will stop it. As soon as someone here in Alaska starts selling RimGuard, I'm going to load them, however. )

Yes I was considering the need for a clamshell type bucket. Good for cleaning up brush and branches. I was considering it for a snowblade also..to angle it but now that I read your posting. Maybe not.

DK35vince · Jan 16, 2006

( I was considering it for a snowblade also..to angle it but now that I read your posting. Maybe not. )

I previously used a rear blade and the loader bucket for clearing snow.
I now use a front 7' angle blade on the loader and a 7' blade on the rear. In my opinion, I feel I can move snow considerably faster and easier with an angle blade on the loader than I could using a rear blade and the bucket..
My 2 cents..

AK_Mike · Jan 16, 2006

Well...I'll admit I have never used a front blade on my loader for snow. But I have moved a lot of snow with my backblade and bucket (we get a fair amount of the white stuff up here in Alaska). I would really miss that bucket if I could not have it for snow removal. I can set the loader on float and curl the bucket ever so slightly to keep the cutting edge out of the gravel, and I can push snow just as good as a front blade. The big benefit of the bucket, however, is that I can scoop the snow into the bucket at the end of the push, and put it wherever I want. With the blade, you end up with a big pile of snow at the end of the push. I clear a 200 ft driveway and 1/2 mile of road with the back blade. I find it real hard to believe that a front blade would do a better job than my RB2084. There...I reckon we have 4 cents between the two of us now. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

tarscraper · Jan 16, 2006

OK one more question. The 8B Backhoe. Does anyone know if Deere intends to make a 448 that works on the 990? It seems to me that this would be the next progression after the move to the 300CX loader. How well does the 8B compare to the 448? Should I consider a Woods instead?

Ok Ok that was more than one question..

DK35vince · Jan 16, 2006

If the rear blade and bucket works for you thats good. Everyone has differant opinions and theres nothing wrong with that.
I can give you a few reasons why I prefer using the front blade better than the rear blade.

1) With the front blade all my plowing is going on in front of me instead of behind looking backwards .
2) My rear blade is only around 14" high. With any amount of snow even with the rear blade angled, snow would go over the top of the blade so I would need to make multiple passes over the same area . My front blade is around 25" high so on the long straight area of my driveway I can angle the blade and roll much deeper snow off to the side in a single pass.
3)My front blade has trip springs so I plow at faster speeds without worrying about hitting something solid. If I hit something solid (frozen dirt/bank, chuck of ice, Etc.) the blade will just flip down and snap back up without trying to break my tractor or blade.
4)At the end of the pass with a rear blade the limited lift height of the 3 point restrickted how far I could shove the piles back out of my way. With the front blade mounted on the loader I can lift the blade to what ever height I need and can push the piles back much, much farther than I could using the rear blade.
With the front blade mounted on the loader I can usually push the piles back far enough that I never need the front bucket.

I have a skid steer style quick attach for my bucket, so I can drop the front blade and switch to the bucket in about 1 minute if I needed to. This is my 2nd winter using the front blade and so far I have never needed to remove my blade and switch over to the bucket.

AK_Mike · Jan 16, 2006

I plow going forward with the rear blade, so looking behind is not an issue. I just angle the blade to the side I want the snow to go, and let 'er rip. The RB2084 hangs out past the rear tire about a foot when angled, so I just put the outside edge of the rear tire on the side of the road, and the blade wings it out for me. Works great. I can usually plow the road in three passes...one down the center, and then one pass down each side to move the snow over into the ditch. The snow curls and rolls under and off to the side before it goes over the blade. It just follows the angle to the edge of the blade. Turning the blad around and plowing in reverse sounds like a bummer.

tarscraper · Jan 22, 2006

I am about a week away from delivery on the 990. I am looking at purchasing a box blade and a rake. I see no problem with going to a 72" rake. Any recommendations on the box blade?? The dealer is recommending a 5ft. Seems small to me. I think it might be that he has it in stock.

AK_Mike · Jan 23, 2006

You could go with an 84" rake. My 990 easily pulls an 84" backblade. Frontier Equipment makes a nice one. 5' or 6' would be a good box blade for the 990 according to the Frontier Equipment specs. You can see the Frontier stuff on the John Deere website.