Just Bought New L-3400

[DesertRose]

In the last few days I have been able to log about 5 hours on my new tractor. I bought the L3400 with the HST transmission. That was mainly because that was what the dealer had in stock. All the tractors I had operated in the past had gear transmissions and I was leery of the HST until I read posts on TBN. I am glad I went with the HST. I am still getting used to not having to shift the transmission but I am quickly becoming spoiled by the HST.

I have been using the FEL to pile up snow and lots of horse manure. I have even been able to use the backhoe a little to clean out layers of hard packed manure inside some of the run-in sheds for the horses.

The more I use this tractor the more I like it. I had 30 years experience operating John Deere and Kubota tractors with FEL's in underground coal mines but could never lift the buckets higher than about 7 feet without hitting the roof of the coal mine. What a treat it is to be able to lift the FEL to it's full height to pile up snow and manure on my little horse farm.

When the tractor was delivered a week ago I had planned to take off the backhoe and hook up the mower to cut my overgrown pastures but it looks like that will have to wait until spring. But that's OK. I am getting a lot of FEL time and we sure need the snow so I can have nice green pastures next year.

Tom

 

[Racer71]

I have 35 hours on my L3400 and love them all. It hasn't really snowed here yet though.

 

[Bob_Young]

Well it's certainly snowed here Stan, and more's on the way. When the weather's warm, we visit the Lake (Ontario); when it's cold, the Lake visits us. Wading through snow to your knees, slows things down. I'd love to send some your way.

Tom, congrats on your L3400. Looks like you did your homework and picked a very practical machine. The L3400 really appeals to me for its size, power & price. Dealer's got a couple on the lot (gear w/R1s & an HST w/R4s). They always catch my eye coming and going.

Don't make us bug you about pictures like we bug Lbrown. You know how we are.....
Bob

 

[DesertRose]

I now have 22 hours on my L3400. I would have more but it has been very cold here the last week and I didn't need to operate it on some days so I didn't. The temperature hasn't been above freezing for the high in the last week and it gets to about zero at night. We had a couple more snow storms in the last week week. I have been using the tractor's FEL to pick up snow out of the paddocks and lift it over my 4' to 5' high fences. I used the back-hoe a few times to pop up frozen snow that had slid off the roof of the barn and was blocking the doors into the stalls.

The one good thing about the cold weather is that it has delayed me from doing some of the large projects I have in mind for the tractor so I am actually able to follow the recommended break in recommendations. I have been able to work the tractor at lower RPM's than if I had been operating PTO driven equipment. So I have been able to vary the speed of the engine and I don't think I have operated the tractor above 2000 RPM yet. If I had bought the tractor a month earlier I would have removed the back-hoe and been using the PTO equipment a lot.

I sure am glad I ordered the tractor with the block heater. I don't know if it makes the engine start any easier but it sure does save on warm-up time. The temperature gauge raises off of cold very quickly.

Each time I back into the garage to park the tractor or drive through the barn to get to the horse pastures I am so glad I measured the ROPS height on different models and bought the L3400 since I don't have to lower the ROPS.

I don't have many hours on the tractor yet but I am very pleased with the performance of the L3400.

Tom

 

[ccsial]

Glad to hear your enjoying your L3400. I use my block heater too. It just sounds much less stressed when it wakes up.

 

[Texas Dodge]

My L3400 has 24 hours on it and she is still running great with no problems.

 

[DesertRose]

Every time I think I am through with snow removal for a while it snows again! Today I had the last of my paddocks and driveways clear of snow and then it snowed heavily again this evening. So I'll spend a lot of Christmas Day moving snow.

Where I live in Eastern Utah we often go years without two heavy snow storms in the same month. We have had 4 or 5 big snow storms this month and several small ones. When I ordered the tractor snow removal was not an issue. I didn't order it with any blades.

After this last month and a lot of hours moving snow I have decided if I had it to do over I still wouldn't order any blades for moving snow or a snow blower.

A snow blower would be useless since it would just move it from one area in the middle of my horse paddocks and blow it into another. Unless it could shoot snow straight up about 15 feet and horizontally about 50 feet without dropping any of the snow along the way it wouldn't help me at all.

I have found my 4-wheeler with a blade is much faster than the tractor at plowing snow. The luxury I have this year is I can use the 4-wheeler to push the snow into large piles and then use the tractor FEL to pick up the snow and move it to areas where I can pile it up where it won't cause a lot of mud holes when it melts this spring.

Although I hadn't planned on the tractor being used for snow removal it has helped immensely. In the past when we had lots of snow back in the horse paddocks I had no way to lift it over the fences. Now I can. "Mud season" this spring will not be nearly so bad since I can remove the piles of snow.

Tom

 

[DesertRose]

What a way to run a desert! We just keep getting snow. I now have 33 hours on my tractor and most of it is moving snow. I don't plow the snow with tractor. I just move the piles of snow I have pushed with my ATV.

We have been in a drought for about 7 years now and I had become spoiled in years past because of the mild winters. When I bought the tractor I had no idea that I would spend any hours moving snow. I am getting lots of practice using the tractor and FEL in very tight quarters. I need to really pay attention so that I don't turn the tractor tightly as I back up and hit a run in shed or fence with the bucket or back into a fence with the back-hoe.

As I write this we are getting another heavy snow storm. Our second in 12 hours. So in the morning I get to move snow again I'm not complaining. We NEED the water and I NEED the practice of moving snow.

Tom

 

[billblough]

I have 45 Hrs on my 3400 and I really like it. Tomorrow I will go to my local dealer and get filters, oil, udt for 50 hour service.

I have thought about calling and complaining that my tractor doesn't seem to use enough fuel. If they made it any more efficient, I'd have to take fuel out of it everytime I fire it up.

 

[Adam23]

With all the tractor time you are getting - you should break away for a minute or two and snap some pictures. We all would love to see the beast!