Buying Advice L3560HSTC suggestions for recommended options

[AllByteNoBark]

Hello,

New here but have been using the site to do research the last month or so. Lots of good information. I am looking at possibly purchasing an L3560HSTC LE. Currently I own a John Deere 950 (31 hp, 2,750 lbs) from the 1980s. Not a bad tractor but think I would like to update. Getting to old for the bugs and heat.

We have 20 acres which is flat and about 120 feet above sea level. Soil is fine sand/dirt mix for first 12 inches then heavy clay. When it rains much it turns to soup, anything with any weight goes straight to the clay. My main uses will be mowing, moving a little dirt here and there and clearing and stacking some brush. We do not have heavy brush like some in south Texas, but I would like to clean it up a bit more. Will also be maintaining about 1,000 feet of gravel drive. I plan on mowing a couple of times a year to help keep the brush down and clean things up.

My current equipment besides the tractor consist of:

6 foot TSC brush hog
5 foot landplane for the drive
a carry-all I built to tote things around, used the TSC frame
20 foot 12k trailer for hauling tractor as needed​

The things I am thinking about adding with the tractor are:

Loader (of course) 805 with 66 in bucket
brush grapple
front remote for above
two rear remotes for top & tilt eventually
wheel weights or fill tires?
​

May add a box blade though I am not sure I need it with the land plane and the loader. Main reason I am considering it is that I thought about adding a ballast box. Then looking at the price of it thought maybe I should just add the box blade and use it for ballast. Any recommendations on this?

Items I would like to add eventually:

Disc/harrow
Sprayer
Fertilizer spreader
Quick hitch
Top & Tilt
Tiller
Radio
Work lights (probably an led light bar)
​

Some of the above items like the disc I will watch for on Craigslist and other local used stuff.

So what did I miss?

What don't I need? (Well I suppose I don't need any of the above, but...)

 

[Fallon]

Make sure your dealer gets good valves for your rear remotes. I have 3 & have been through over 5 separate valves trying to get ones that don't leak down. The L4060 is going back to the dealer again here when I have some down time for them to try to get another one that works. All under warranty & they are hauling it next time but still tedious.

Fit Rite Hydraulics - fitritehydraulics.com is a long wait & not cheap, but worth it for your TnT.

At my elevation my L4060 probably performs similar to a L3560 at sea level. With loaded tires my power to traction ratio is about right. I wish I had a bit more power for mowing at times (8' flail), or roading the machine up hills but not often running the box blade or land plane.

Any car radio can be put in. Easy DIY & the wiring harness is already there. There is some farm store selling adapter plugs you can find with some Googling. I got a cheap generic plug & figured out the wires myself. Would get the plug from the farm store & save the hassle if I had to do it over. https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ng/372739-anybody-have-radio-plug-pinout.html

I wired in my own fuse box & a pair of LED bars. The OEM wire & fuses may be enough for even my big bars though. The front lights are pre-wired & just need a switch. https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/376458-let-there-light-l4060-light.html both cheap bars cause radio interference & the front one recently started leaking & letting in water.

 

[jeff9366]

wheel weights or fill tires?

The cab on a Kubota L3560 will add about 700 pounds, with most of the weight over the rear tires.
That is enough. I would inflate rear tires with air, the simplest option.

Maintaining traction is usually only an issue with ground engagement work. The only moderately demanding ground engagement work you foresee is pulling a LPGS. The 700 pound cab will put sufficient weight on the rear tires to maintain traction driven by modest 37-horsepower.

The rear R4 tires on the Grand Ls are, unusually, on two part wheels. L3560 rear wheels/tires can be spread to any of three width increments: 52.2", 53.5" or 57.7" tread width. Tread width is from CENTER of one rear tire to CENTER of other rear tire. Tread width is published because tire suppliers change tire configurations but tread width is always tread width.

Spreading the rear wheel/tire stance increases tractor stability more than any other individual option. Consider rear wheel spread first.

My L3560 with R4/industrial tires set at 52.2" tread width has an outside-to-outside tire width of 62". Tire marks in soil are about 59", outside to outside. Buy a 10' stick of 1-1/4" PVC pipe. Cut pipe at max tire width. Mark narrower widths on pipe. Walk around your land, comparing pipe to tree spreads, gates, etc.


My OPEN STATION L3560 with R4 tires inflated with air pulls a 620 pound Rollover Box Blade, full of dirt, uphill, fine. Don't fill the rear tires; it is pointless.

Soil is fine sand/dirt mix for first 12 inches then heavy clay. When it rains much it turns to soup, anything with any weight goes straight to the clay.

 

[TripleR]

Sounds pretty good to me and jeff9366 owns one. We own tractors with 2WD, 4WD, loader, no loader, fluid, no fluid and one with fluid and cast centers and one with fluid and wheel weights; also two cabbed. We don't have any with a cab and no fluid. The good thing is you can try without and add if needed. With the grader, I would certainly wait on a box scraper. Only you can tell on the other items for me not worth it would be a tiller. We have a 3PH sprayer and spreader, but we have quite few acres.

I didn't get a float remote and wish I had.

 

[Fallon]

My L4060HSTC has slightly bigger tires than a L3560 weighs maybe 200lbs more than an equivalently equipped L3560. I loaded my rear tires & havent regretted it.

Doing some serious regrading of my front drive with a 6' Gannon box blade put my traction to the limit. I can usually get away with M low for most work. I sometimes have to switch to low range, but as often as not I run out of traction first.

Interestingly my 5' LPGS can almost stop the machine as well as the 6' Gannon in a good few situations. No action photos of the Gannon & minimal ones of the LPGS apparently.

You can probably read between the lines on the tractor photo for the biggest reason not to load the rear tires (loading the fronts isn't recomended & doesnt help stability). I havent had any issues though.

My machine is stable at max loader lift with minimal 3pt ballast. Way more stable than my L3200 with loaded rears & heavy 3pt ballast. Loaded tires dont unload the front axle like 3pt ballast does. But it does help stability & traction. You feel the extra weight going up hills though. I road my machine between jobs a lot & moderate hills are 15mph down, 6-7mph up.

I'm happy with my rear track set at 72", 74ish if you count sidewall bulge. I think I could go wider & know I could go narrower. I'm happy with the compromise of stability & manuverability though. It also makes a good target for impliment width (ignore the 5' LPGS & 8' flail mower behind the curtain).

 

[BRMyers]

I really like my L3560HSTC. As you can see by the pictures below, I use mine for mowing, moving dirt and concrete debris, along with clearing trees.

 

[mikescruggs]

I think your choice of tractor is good for the size of the property and weight concern for the mud/clay soil. My thoughts are still to load the tires to help you manage loads. I have a L4240 and use a box blade with 4 cinder blocks filled with concrete on a rack I made...it allows me to carry the loads better. I would think that most rear blades, even with pistons in place, would not give you much of a weight gain. Still more useful than a block of concrete.

I would recommend two or three rear remotes and a third function on the loader for a grapple. I'm not familiar with your type of soil. I have run R4 and R1 tires. I prefer R1 tires with chains year round. I don't like putting the chains on several times a year so they stay unless they absolutely have to come off. Sounds like R4 tires may not be the best choice. My R1 front tires are ok on my lawn unless I make tight turns then the chains help aerate the soil too.

Under the older tractor series I would have recommended a L4240 so you can have the larger loader...but I think in the new series you have to step up a fair amount.

Mike

 

[Fallon]

I think your choice of tractor is good for the size of the property and weight concern for the mud/clay soil. My thoughts are still to load the tires to help you manage loads. I have a L4240 and use a box blade with 4 cinder blocks filled with concrete on a rack I made...it allows me to carry the loads better. I would think that most rear blades, even with pistons in place, would not give you much of a weight gain. Still more useful than a block of concrete.

I would recommend two or three rear remotes and a third function on the loader for a grapple. I'm not familiar with your type of soil. I have run R4 and R1 tires. I prefer R1 tires with chains year round. I don't like putting the chains on several times a year so they stay unless they absolutely have to come off. Sounds like R4 tires may not be the best choice. My R1 front tires are ok on my lawn unless I make tight turns then the chains help aerate the soil too.

Under the older tractor series I would have recommended a L4240 so you can have the larger loader...but I think in the new series you have to step up a fair amount.

Mike

L4760 to get the big loader.

I prefer R4s. Higher carying capacity & more durable at the expense of a little traction. Less turf damage too. I get good traction on dirt & ok traction on snow. I only occasionally need chains on snow. The R4s are smoother & longer lasting doing lots of roading too. But definitely go R1s for sure if you have a lot of mud or pull a plow in soft dirt.

 

[jjp8182]

I would suggest going ahead and adding the third remote since you're already planning on the top & tilt kit. Having the 3rd rear remote would permit using a hydraulic line for any implements without having to disconnect/remove the top&tilt cylinders.

Granted I'm a bit biased as that's what I did on mine, and I've looked at implements that could (if all hydraulic options were added) result in needing as many as 6 rear remotes if the top & tilt kit were left on the tractor. The EA Land Shark rear scrape blade: 84" Land Shark Deluxe Scrape Blade With Hydraulic Options being an example.

Personally I went with all float valves, though at times I've wondered if going with a self-canceling valve on one of the three would have been a better move. However, given most of my (foreseeable) uses involve more in the way of hydraulic cylinders, rather than continuous run hydraulic motors (latter being where a SCD valve would really shine).

Edit: as far as rear ballast option, it might be worth looking at a Heavy Hitch. It may not be as cheap as a ballast box when it's all said and done, but having the 2" receiver hitch (and all the flexibility it offers for tool-mounting in addition to trailer hitches) in addition to weight plates has put one on my implement wish list.

 

[jeff9366]

We have 20 acres which is flat and about 120 feet above sea level. Soil is fine sand/dirt mix for first 12 inches then heavy clay.

My current equipment besides the tractor consist of:

6 foot TSC brush hog
5 foot landplane for the drive
a carry-all I built to tote things around, used the TSC frame
20 foot 12k trailer for hauling tractor as needed​

The things I am thinking about adding with the tractor are:

Loader (of course) 805 with 66 in bucket
brush grapple
front remote for above
two rear remotes for top & tilt eventually
wheel weights or fill tires?
​

May add a box blade though I am not sure I need it with the land plane and the loader.

Items I would like to add eventually:

Disc/harrow
Sprayer
Fertilizer spreader
Quick hitch
Top & Tilt
Tiller
Radio
Work lights (probably an led light bar)
​

A Bush Hog makes pretty good Three Point Hitch counterbalance for max FEL loads. Because of its length behind the rear axle leverage amplify its value pound-for-pound as counterbalance. However, FEL-TRACTOR-BUSH HOG makes a long unit, limiting maneuverability in tight places.

Tillers, being short and heavy, are often used as TPH counterbalance.

Tiller and Disc Harrow are both soil mixing implements. You may need one. Few need both.

Top & Tilt is especially nice for cab equipped tractors. It is time consuming to get in and out of a cab.

You will like find plenty of use for a clevis grab hook attached to rear center drawbar. PHOTO

MORE: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/316605-kubota-l3560-rear-storage.html