Buying Advice Kubota GL4240HST or L4400HST?

[crazyal]

Those notches are what I meant by they like to be all the way in or all the way out, but not really somewhere in between.

I'd probably put that drum of cement on a dolley, even though I have the extendable arms.

For me I put it outside on blocks over dirt, dolly's not going to help there. When I connect up the 3pt I just back up until they latch then lift it up.

 

[TripleR]

Hey TripleR...did you see the thread.." I have to buy a Yanmar tractor"???..if you haven't...you have to watch it. My wife was in stitches half way through the video and...you might get your grapple!!!????:thumbsup:

Thanks, I just watched it; funny stuff, but all I get from my wife is a blank stare when I mention a grapple. Do you think buying a new M8540 this year hurt my chances.:laughing:

The stall guard & auto-shift between rabbit & turtle is awesome. If you're gonna be putting a huge load on the tractor, turn on stall guard & I'm not sure you can stall the tractor even if you try. It downshifts & revs up as needed. And usually you don't even notice it. You just know your powerful tractor is kickin' butt without breakin' a sweat.

Of course, if you're one who actually wants to have driver input in such situations, you can simply turn it off ... & go ahead & stall the tractor if you want :laughing:

I will have to take your word for it as I can't even get a grapple, let alone a whole new tractor.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm really not all that impressed by the extendable arms. First, they don't really extend out very far. Second, it's kinda difficult to move them in & out; Or should I say, they like to be all the way in or all the way out, & not really moving smoothly somewhere in between where you usually need them to get lined up with pins. I guess they are better than not having them, though, I dunno.

Not picking on you here Beppington, just want to explain the use of extendable arms to those that might not have experienced them.

Back up to the implement with the tractor arms pinned at or a little wider than the implement pins. Stop with the arms just shy of the pins. Lock brake and dismount. Unpin the arms so they can swing in/out, unlock arms so they can extend. Slip arm end over implement pin and secure with clips. Repin arms at present width. Mount tractor and back up a couple inches until arms latch back in place. Lift implement and drive away. It's so easy the wife can do it without scuffing a nail. :thumbsup:

And if you don't want to use them you can always wrestle the implement or tractor in place and hook up manually.

 

[ovrszd]

Of course, if you're one who actually wants to have driver input in such situations, you can simply turn it off ... & go ahead & stall the tractor if you want :laughing:

I've had two tractors with HST and no "Stall-Guard". I've never stalled either tractor. It's pretty easy to listen to the tractor and adjust the treddle accordingly.

But in certain situations I can see the value of "Stall-Guard". Although I doubt that when engaged the tractor will be as productive as if controlled manually. It seems to control the tractor with a large cushion of protection. What I mean is it will take over the treddle control if the engine RPM drops more than 100-200 RPMs. With Auto Shift and Stall Guard on the engine is never pulling at capacity or even anywhere near capacity. In regards to my Brother's L3240 that makes it seem extremely underpowered.

The plus side is you can put any operator on the tractor, engage all those features and turn them loose. There's no way they can work the tractor hard enough to hurt anything. :thumbsup:

 

[beppington]

Not picking on you here Beppington, just want to explain the use of extendable arms to those that might not have experienced them.

Back up to the implement with the tractor arms pinned at or a little wider than the implement pins. Stop with the arms just shy of the pins. Lock brake and dismount. Unpin the arms so they can swing in/out, unlock arms so they can extend. Slip arm end over implement pin and secure with clips. Repin arms at present width. Mount tractor and back up a couple inches until arms latch back in place. Lift implement and drive away. It's so easy the wife can do it without scuffing a nail.

That's exactly the way I do it.

 

[beppington]

I doubt that when engaged the tractor will be as productive as if controlled manually.

IMO it's actually more productive.

It seems to control the tractor with a large cushion of protection. What I mean is it will take over the treddle control if the engine RPM drops more than 100-200 RPMs.

This reads as though the tractor's computer takes over control of the tractor to the extent that the operator has almost no control. Not my experience at all. It works great. After 80 hours with it now, I'm still very satisfied with it.

With Auto Shift and Stall Guard on the engine is never pulling at capacity or even anywhere near capacity.

Also not my experience at all. I only turn it on when I'm doing high-load tasks, & I feel it actually optimizes the tractor's usage/ production in those situations. Example: When I was chain pulling out saplings last weekend, I could set the RPM fairly low, say 1,500, turn on Stall Guard and Auto H-DS, & never bog or stall the tractor at all, even though the engine is just a little above idling & I'm asking it to pull some fairly big, tiring spinning loads on some of the larger diameter saplings. That's pretty efficient IMO.

In regards to my Brother's L3240 that makes it seem extremely underpowered.

Maybe that's the difference between his 3240 (32 HP net) & my 3940 (38.5 HP net). That's 20% more HP on a tractor weighing only 232 lbs (6.8%) more. He did get the smallest one.

 

[ovrszd]

Also not my experience at all. I only turn it on when I'm doing high-load tasks, & I feel it actually optimizes the tractor's usage/ production in those situations. Example: When I was chain pulling out saplings last weekend, I could set the RPM fairly low, say 1,500, turn on Stall Guard and Auto H-DS, & never bog or stall the tractor at all, even though the engine is just a little above idling & I'm asking it to pull some fairly big, tiring spinning loads on some of the larger diameter saplings. That's pretty efficient IMO.

That's what I mean. You can get the same result with those features turned off and pay attention to your tractor and your right foot. As I said earlier, I've never stalled either of my HST tractors.

I'm not dogging these features at all. I'm simply saying they shouldn't be portrayed as creating a more powerful, productive tractor. They simply do not. What they do accomplish is to stabilize the tractor's productivity with little or no input from the driver. A situation that compares to ABS on a vehicle. Great if conditions are right. Horrible if they are not.

 

[Jay4200]

I've owned my L4400DT for 18 months.

HEY! You have a cupholder built into your fender! Man, I need one of those on my L4200.

JayC

 

[beppington]

You can get the same result with those features turned off and pay attention to your tractor and your right foot.

To do what I described manually, a tractor operator would need to quickly & positively sense the load increasing, reach down to slightly increase RPM, reach over to manually switch from Rabbit (Hi) gear to Turtle (Low) gear, continue the high-load task until it is complete, then quickly reach down to reduce throttle back to where it was, & quickly manually switch back from Turtle to Rabbit.

I do not believe a human can do all of those tasks as quickly or as smoothly as the Kubota computer.

Without Stall Guard and Auto H-DS, the likely compromise would be to run the tractor at a higher RPM the entire time and/ or keep it in Turtle gear the entire time, both of which are less efficient.

 

[ovrszd]

Must be the season change,,,, some seem to be testy on here.