kubota fel vs wood's fel

[vtfrank]

kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

Hi all, I'm a nw user and a new tractor owner-kubota L3000DT, and have a question regarding the purchase of a fel.
I didn;t get a fel when I bought the tractor, thought I needed the time to weigh different brands. here's my question- I'm considering the kubota fel (LA452) vs a Wood's 1012. The Wood's lifts 1653 lbs 100 inches vs 883 and 92 inches for the Kubota. The Wopod's has a 2000 lb breakout force vs 1653 for the Kubota. The wood's is about $75 more expensive. What am I missing here- the wood's seems like a no brainer.Does anyone have experience with either of these products?

 

[Harv]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

Frank -

I have the L2500DT with the Kubota LB400 loader, all just a step down from you.

I frequently wish my loader had bigger muscles, but at least I know it's matched to the tractor. The question you might want to ask is, how much loader can your tractor safely handle? If you lift twice the load using the Woods unit, you will be putting twice the strain on the front end of your L3000. You will also need considerably more rear ballast.

You might also check to see if the L3000 has enough hydraulic power and flow to operate the Woods loader. Maybe it does -- I just don't happen to know.

Hopefully some of the smart people here will be able to tell you more about the issue of matching loaders to your tractor. I will be following with interest.

 

[JerryG]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

vtfrank,
As Harv said the more you lift the more strain on your tractor. Now, I don’t know how much the engineers designed the tractor to withstand and Kubota would not tell you or me. The increase in load that the Woods is rated for, has been made available through either a change of geometry or increased cylinder diameter. If it was through increased cylinder diameter, then the loader will work at a slower pace (big cylinders = slower & more power // small cylinders = less power & faster speed). It would still have the increase in lifting power; though it would just do it slower.

 

[BeeBop]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

Go w/the woods, as you said it's a no brainer. I had the woods loader on my L-2900 and loved it and woods knows a lot more about what your tractor will withstand than we do from a liability standpoint.

 

[Turfman]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

I have a B2710 with a Kubota loader. I am very happy with it, but sometimes wish I had more lifting capacity. Had I known what I know now, I’d have seriously looked at a Woods loader. The tractor has metric bolts, the loader has inch bolts and I think it was made in the US in Georgia. This makes me wonder if a third party made the Kubota loader to Kubota specs or if Kubota makes them here. Don't know.

I hear great things about Woods products and my bet is that they will recommends a loader that will fit your tractor to a T.

Another issue would be resale, with an aftermarket loader; you may not get quite the resale as with an OEM.

On the forum I hear that many of the backhoes and other attachments we buy from dealers are made by independent companies like Woods and re-badged for the tractor company.

 

[JeffRey30747]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

I'll throw my $0.02 worth in regardless of whether it is worth it or not...
Two things to look for that I found when comparing Bush Hog and Great Bend to Kubota loaders. I ended up with Kubota by the way.
(1) Look at the max psi in the aftermarket loader specs and compare it to the specs of your hydraulic system. If your tractor can't produce up to the max psi listed, I wouldn't think that you could acheive the performance listed.
(2) Try to find one of each of the loaders you are looking at actually on a tractor and get a good idea of the view from the seat. What you can and cannot see while operating the loader will seem much more important after 30 to 50 hours of loader work than it does now.
BTW, Woods FELs must be a pretty good alternative to Kubota as several of my pulpwooding relatives run them on their Kubotas.

 

[theboman]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

I have a Woods 1006 on my B7500, got both new last June and now with 135+ hours I have no complaints with the FEL. I haven't had or used the Kubota FEL.

 

[rocky2]

Re: kubota fel vs wood\'s fel

My B2100 had a Woods DuAl FEL. It was a workhorse. The only cons (and not necessarily the loaders problem) were; the dropping lift arms/bucket rollback were not simultaneous, so the backing up/dropping/rollback was a tad slower in the cycle time. And even with an empt bucket mine had a considerable amount of bucket creep down. Both could have been dealt with at the valve body, but I got used to it and lived with it. The pros were as you already stated; higher lift/capacity. Now I have a Kubota 402 loader and thus far I'm pleased with it. Loading height isn't all that big a deal since I'm not loading anything other than a pickup on occasion. You can't go wrong with either.