Kubota L3901, L4701 or MX4800 for Sloped 10 Acre Parcel and Home Build

[tradosaurus]

I vote for the MX Kubota size tractor. I have the L3301 but part of me wishes I would have gotten the MX4800 instead.

Make sure your Kubota dealer brings the rear tires as far apart as possible for stability.

Kubota and a great dealer? You hit the motherlode! :laughing:

 

[art]

The price difference of the L-4701 and MX is small and I would go with the MX. Land pride builds a 84" twin spindle brush hog and I would recommend that. We are on hills much more then yours for an average and with twin tail wheels they travel much smoother and they only stick behind the tractor as much as a 48" brush hog so they are good for stability.

 

[Dr G]

implements ~ Implements ~ IMPLEMENTS:

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/~/media...aa214276e14dacb/pub2917tractorimplements1.pdf

everything attachments videos - YouTube

Iowa Farm Equipment

Jeff - thank you for taking the time to craft such a detailed response. I'll study your info (drinking from a firehose). Gustave

 

[Dr G]

Thank you to everyone who posted with advice. I appreciate it. Looks like I was not nuts for including the MX class in my selections.

 

[Dr G]

If you're going to drive on pavement much don't get R1 tires. R4s have a wider track on many tractors, making for better stability. Most people prefer R4s.

I studied the difference between R1 and R4 tires and was thinking that very thing, that the R4's are wider and could be more stable. And I will be driving on a paved road for some of the time also. Gustave

 

[Code54]

Thank you Code54 and Cathy. Two votes for the MX4800.

Is the BX92 backhoe a bad proposition? How comparable is to a mini-ex in capability?

Gustave

The backhoe is nice and fairly strong BUT compared to a Mini Ex not even close to being in the same category. I have one small tractor backhoe and have owned a larger one in the past, we also have a 7500lbs mini ex. The mini will out dig the tractor by a long shot. 360 rotation, way more power, tracked, hydro thumb. -really no comparison - if your digging, stacking logs/wood etc the mini wins hands down. The backhoes big advantage is it moves much quicker.

 

[Dr G]

The backhoe is nice and fairly strong BUT compared to a Mini Ex not even close to being in the same category. I have one small tractor backhoe and have owned a larger one in the past, we also have a 7500lbs mini ex. The mini will out dig the tractor by a long shot. 360 rotation, way more power, tracked, hydro thumb. -really no comparison - if your digging, stacking logs/wood etc the mini wins hands down. The backhoes big advantage is it moves much quicker.

Thanks Code54.

I was sort of curious what a mini-ex really was. This link to the CAT website shows a fairly large variation, all the way up to over 22,000 lbs.

Cat | Mini Excavators | Caterpillar

I rented a small mini-excavator one time for some landscaping. It was tiny, but quite handy. Very maneuverable. But I wonder what weight of mini-ex actually makes an apples-to-apples comparison to a backhoe on a tractor? I guess technically one would have to consider weight, power and price?

Gustave

 

[jeff9366]

Tractor Backhoes work only through 180 degrees. EX can swivel 360 degrees.
EX has more than triple tractor Backhoe working area.

Bucket reach on an EX is much longer/deeper than bucket reach with a Backhoe.
Hence you can dump spoil further away with an EX.
Less frequent equipment movement with an EX.

Hydraulic flow (digging power) on an EX is several times greater than limited hydraulic flow on tractor.

Ground loading with tracks is lower than ground loading with tires.
An EX can work where a tractor will mire. (usually)

Equipment stability is much greater with tracks relative to tires.

An EX is slow moving over ground on tracks.

 

[montanadave]

Periodic lurker. First post.

I've been chewing on purchasing a MX4800 for a while. I own approx. 200 acres (2/3 grassland, 1/3 timber) in south-central Montana. Have owned the property for seven years and have finally gotten our dream cabin built. So now I'm thinking I want to have the necessary equipment to do the majority of our maintenance work ourselves. We have a mile of private gravel road coming in from the county road which needs regular grading to keep in good shape, as well as plowing during the winter. We have also been involved in a wildfire mitigation program for several years, which has entailed significant thinning of overcrowded stands of Ponderosa Pine and Juniper.

So I sat down with the local Kubota dealer and came up with a package built around a MX4800 with FEL which includes an assortment of Land Pride implements (a 6' rotary cutter, 6' grading scraper, skeleton grapple, and a 74" rear mount PTO snow blower). It's close to a $50K investment.

I've been staring at the quote for about two weeks now waiting for my self-control to go into complete meltdown. :laughing: I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I think if I'm going to do it, I might as well step up and have the equipment on hand to use as the summer rolls in.

 

[goeduck]

Wide wheels is very important as others have said. Particularly with a loader if you forget and have it too high. You could be on your side in a heartbeat with that slope and a load up high. Beautiful setting, by the way!