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!

 

[LD1]

Another vote for MX. Owned and L3400, now a MX5100. And for what you want, the MX will be twice as productive.

I'd go R1's too. R4's IMO will be too slippery on hills, especially if any moisture is present. R1's can be set as wide as you can with R4's. And the added traction is gonna be huge for the hills.

 

[RickB]

Another vote for MX. Owned and L3400, now a MX5100. And for what you want, the MX will be twice as productive.

I'd go R1's too. R4's IMO will be too slippery on hills, especially if any moisture is present. R1's can be set as wide as you can with R4's. And the added traction is gonna be huge for the hills.

I agree.

 

[ericm979]

I had R1s on the old tractor and got R4s on the new one. The R4s on this tractor are significantly wider than R1s would be. Obviously this is tractor dependent. We get a lot of rain (60 inches this winter, 100 inches two winters ago). I have not noticed the R4s being slippery. Maybe they would be on clay but we don't have that. Or if I was plowing fields but I'm not, and it sounds like Montandave isn't either. If I bought another tractor it'd have R4s.

While Kubotas are fine machines there are other companies that make good tractors, sometimes they cost significantly less. But with hundreds of acres you're going to have a lot of work to do. The tractor and attachments will pay for themselves eventually.

You should always be aware of where your loader is. I adjust mine often to keep it low.

 

[big bubba]

Dr G
you have a choice location, love the central coast, lived north & south of PR for many yrs in my youth
definitely would go the MX series, get the largest model that you can afford as Triple R suggests.
what sort of fire hazard prevention plan will you have for your land/residence, & what kind of tractor work will that involve. the land looks very dry in the photos, know there is seasonal dry/wet times of yr. best regards

 

[LD1]

I had R1s on the old tractor and got R4s on the new one. The R4s on this tractor are significantly wider than R1s would be. Obviously this is tractor dependent. We get a lot of rain (60 inches this winter, 100 inches two winters ago). I have not noticed the R4s being slippery. Maybe they would be on clay but we don't have that. Or if I was plowing fields but I'm not, and it sounds like Montandave isn't either. If I bought another tractor it'd have R4s.

While Kubotas are fine machines there are other companies that make good tractors, sometimes they cost significantly less. But with hundreds of acres you're going to have a lot of work to do. The tractor and attachments will pay for themselves eventually.

You should always be aware of where your loader is. I adjust mine often to keep it low.

R1's usually are NOT adjusted to the widest setting from the factory. And many don't even know they can be set wider.

The tires themselves are wider for r4's.....but outside to outside......I don't think there are many tractors that r1's cannot be adjusted at least as wide. And many will probably surpass the r4's.


Flat ground +wet isn't slippery with r4's.

It's hills + wet + anything other than straight up and down. The lugs aren't as deep, and 3x as wide....with a good portion going straight perpendicular to the sides. Meaning they slide sideways MUCH easier

 

[Dr G]

Dr G
you have a choice location, love the central coast, lived north & south of PR for many yrs in my youth
what sort of fire hazard prevention plan will you have for your land/residence, & what kind of tractor work will that involve. the land looks very dry in the photos, know there is seasonal dry/wet times of yr. best regards

Big Bubba - in the winter the grass is so green you'd think you were in Ireland. But in summer it is dry as a bone. I see folks in the area either simply cut the grass, or turn the soil over to expose dirt. A certain radius around the house has to be cleared by fire code. Also the first 5 ft or land next to a road. But many folks clear more than that. One saving grace of this area as it pertains to fires is that we do not get the massive off-shore winds (Santa Ana's) that they get in the LA area. We also do not have dense brush or trees, at least on the East side of the 101 Hwy. Just grassland sprinkled with Oak trees. And a ton of vineyards.

Here is a pic from the top of our property in Autumn. You can see the leaves on all the vineyards turning colors.

 

[Code54]

Great view!!
Im with the crowd that sys get R1's. I have an MX with R4's and work a lot on the hills here in WV and they do slip a good deal when wet. Most of my work can wait until it drys out so it is not a huge issue for me. I run the tractor on gravel and the roads a fair amount and the R4s are excellent for loader work on both of those surfaces.

 

[Dr G]

Thank you all for the additional input.

At this point I have settled on an MX 5200.

I've had all the same thoughts about tires. The only time I will need to be imitating a mountain goat with the tractor is in the summer, to cut the grass. At this time it is dry. I don't anticipate needing to maneuver around on steep slopes with wet grass. I will need to drive on a paved road quite a bit, as well as our gravel driveway. I'm not sure there is a clear cut best choice. I realize that although the R4's are a wider tire, that the overall track width to the outside of the tires could be made the same with R1's. And what I need is a wide track with a low center of gravity.

Btw, do R1 tires require different wheels than R4's? For a car a wider tire would require a wider wheel. Not sure if it is the same for a tractor?

Another question. When driving a tractor directly up and/or down a slope (as opposed to driving across it), is it better to have the nose pointed downhill or uphill? Which is more stable?

Also, do any of the grass cutting implements work when going in reverse? Or only when moving in the forward direction?

Thank you - Gustave

 

[Dr G]

I think I answered my own question on wheel sizes. To some extent anyway. In the process of building an MX 5200 online there are 3 tire choices. Two for R1's and one for R4's. Each choice for the rear tires uses a different rim diameter. It would be nice to know the outside diameter of the tires. Maybe I can find that somewhere online. Here is a comparison of the lug pattern of the R1 vs. the R4, in the brand and size offered by Kubota for the MX 5200:

Indeed the R1 lug pattern would appear to be better at resisting sideways forces than the R4.

 

[RickB]

Most, if not all tire manufacturers have extensive dimensional data online for all current offerings.