Kubota L3830 test drive

[riptides]

You mentioned comfort, stay with that thought. Now if your doing other work, not bushhogging, than open yourself up for suggestions.

You didn't mention that so get back to being comfortable.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[lablovers]

IMHO, buy what works for you. I drove both the HST and the shuttle shift. To me not enough of a difference to justify the cost difference and I bought the shuttle shift. If you can use a clutch then it "ain't no big thing."

 

[Laminarman]

Lablover

I have two chocolate labs and find that the HST stops immediately when my idiotic dogs run nearly under my tires. You have the yellow ones, and rumor has it they have more brains, so therefore gear drive or shuttle shift is okay for you, right?

 

[TNCHRIS]

having owned a massey ferguson 35 gas, and a massey ferguson 135 diesel rated at 35 and 37 pto hp both gear drive. i was in fear that my L3830HST (30.5 pto hp)would be a big loss of power. just the oposite it seems to have more. pto hp is rated with the tractor sitting still, so the hydros pump takes some power to idle, in this theory a tractor with power steering has less pto power than manual steering. this system of rating pto hp was created back in the early 1900s, most pto operations today are done with the tractor moving, so there is not that much if any differance in usable hp. kubota with 7 hp less than the massey will out work it in bush hogging and mowing. cut yard time from 3.5hrs to 2hrs. i could only see a hp differance in plowing but the 4x4 made up the differance. did you try using the cruise conrol lever? don't have to hold pedal down in foward. i'm sure i could use a hook to go to reverse and still use the hst with a broken foot as i never have to use the brakes, lift off the pedal and the tractor stops.
just my two cents.

 

[SteveH_CT]

My Chocolate takes offense at those remarks... he never runs in front of the tractor... He just decides to be right where I want to be... just standing there watching me - looks like he's saying "yeah man, just try to get me to move". Wasn't there a credit card commercial that said "It's everywhere you want to be". That's my Wally, everywhere I want to be.

Oh yeah - HST is great! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif The Deere has selectable stop-start, it will start and stop fast (my favorite) or lessen the acceleration and deceleration curve so it's more gradual.

 

[Moon]

If the GST feels good to you, I don't think your making a mistake not getting HST. HST has it's good points, that have been covered thoroughly in other threads. HST works for me, but before I had that I had a old Ford 8N, and a Mitsubishi 20hp 2wd tractor. Both were gear. Stick with your gut feeling on this one. If the GST feels better to you than the HST go for it. Many on here have, hence the HST vs anything else debates. One size does not fit all, and neither does one transmission.
Moon of Ohio

 

[hosejockey2002]

My dad's looking at an L4330. We both test drove an L4330 HST and I beleive an L3830 GST and we both liked the GST better. I liked the hydro well enough, but frankly I do not care for the foot controls for forward and reverse. I am sure others will disagree but I felt I had much better overall control of the machine with the GST. My dad is also looking at a JD 4610, and the fact that they have nothing that compares directly with the GST is making him lean towards Kubota.

 

[RedRocker]

How exactly does the GST work? Do you use the clutch to start, then shift it like an automatic? Do you have to clutch to reverse? The HST pedal doesn't look all that appealing to me either, but I've yet to drive any of them.

 

[Gerald]

Dave, I have a 3010 HST and a 4330 GST. The 3010 has a FEL. The HST makes using the FEL much easier . Other than that I like the GST as well or better, a lot less heat while driving it. I think you would like either one.
Gerald

 

[_RaT_]

Horsejockey, for what it is worth, here is my version of how HST worked out for me. I have a twin pedal JD 510 mower, it's kind of a zero turn radius type. When I went looking for a tractor, I test drove several brands, Kubota included. Being familiar with the twin pedal on JD made it a natural for me to get on a JD 4600 HST and manuever almost like my mower. I tried the Kubota L4310 at that time and found the "treadle" type pedal definitely different. My first impression was one of "well this is strange". After fooling around for about 30 minutes at the gracious dealers lot, I become pretty familiar with the treadle pedal. Long story short, the smoothness of the Kubota engine/HST combination sold me on Kubota. Now, about 3 years latter, I find control of the Kubota to be superior to that of my JD 510 only from the perspective of actively being able to control the speed while on rough terrain (kind of a "seat of the pant's" type thing). Other then that, I find the use of either to be a non issue Only one time can I say that the single pedal was of great assitance was when I was digging around a culvert with my L48. Suddenly the front end dropped out from under me and I was going down into the ditch. I instinctively hit the reverse on the pedal just quick enough to hold my position, all four tires spinning wildly while I lowered the bucket and anchored myself. The whole process took maybe 1 second of time. Had it been a twin pedal like my JD mower, I may and I may not have hit the right pedal, there was no time to think, just do. After using the new design pedal on my L3830 HST now for a year, I love it. When folks try out my tractor, some put their entire foot on the pedal. That's a mistake. Place only toe or ball of your foot on the forward motion with your heel on the matte. Rat...

PS. GST and shuttle shift are also great choices. The days of full manual are over for me. I have a full manual transmission with my International 454. While it's still a great tractor, using shuttle or HST makes me appreciate what the engineers have done.