L3750-cab-7642.3 hours

[gordon]

That is very true I don't and won't baby a tractor if it needs to be treated like that I have no use for it. I have always tested any tractor I was on to it's max and then run it just below that and I feel that way I also get the most work out of it as well.

My friends are very reluctant to lend me their tractors because they know I run and don't baby them like some of them do. But the key is to keep up on the oil changes and such that way she will just keep on running. No sooner than I got mine back didn't even burn a half of a tank of fuel and the oil pressure sending unit started to drip had to shut it down for safty. Just something that happened sure I was mad but its no fault of the dealer or me just something that happened. So a friend of mine comes by the house and starts telling me about my orange lawn centerpeice. My reply With ten times the hours of your green machine it deserves to be the centerpiece.

Now I had the loaner tractor for about six weeks and put just over 100 hours on it. I would say that I ran the heck out of it and she came back for more. I wanted to buy the tractor but the dealer and I couldn't come together on price so it's now on his lot in need of a wash job. The thing about the hst is to drive it completly different than my gst once I got used to it very nice indeed. This is from someone who hated a hst (live and learn) trans before this. So what changed my mind about this important issue---time saved. I could work a dump truck load of dirt with the smaller bucket about as fast as my larger tractor now that is saying something. Also have a overall better control of the tractor for times of gentle movement getting up next to the house for grading and I would think hooking up on the three point would be much easier as well. I left the tractor in mid range for most of the time that I had it seemed low was to slow and high was to jumpy and lower on the powerband but mid was just right. Now lets get down to power loss on the hst--after about two or three hours of steady hard running that it would loose a slight amout of power maybe due to heat build up or maybe it was just me wanting a break can't honestly say but it wasn't enough to make a difference in overall power. I always listen to a tractor (they do talk to you if you listen) while running it's second nature I guess to anybody running a piece of equipment.

With all that said now I'm looking at the L3010 with an hst so for power loss you guys have no case I'm sorry but that is my feeling. Yes I would be down sizing but my mind is not made up yet on what L-series I'm going to get but it will have a hst, 4wd, Tip & Tilt and a loader, but I'm not going to get a cab on this one. So do you guys think that the 3010 has enough guts or should I go bigger? It's a very difficult decision for me to make.

Gordon

 

[raptor]

Gordon. What the heck do you do? Sounds like you're a commercial operator. A sincere question. Is a front end loader of any use on a tractor? Seems too slow and cumbersome (not worth the effort). If I had to do a great deal of loader work - I think I'd get a skid loader. I'm curious if a loader on a tractor isn't just more than a toy implement, for wanna be excavators?

Raptor

 

[gordon]

I do some logging some dirt pushing some grading and some brush hogging and cleanup. Oh yea and tree droppin stump grindin and whatever else people will pay me for. I do this part time. My full time job I'm a r/v tech.

Yes my front end loader is slower than a skidloaders but you see I'm a want a be excavator./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
I've never seen a skid loader skid logs out of the woods have you? So I'd say everything has trade offs. But we will see how fast the loader is on my new Kubota and go from there. AS for being useful best thing since sliced bread. Guess that says it all.

The wife told me to say this: When I go on my two day tractor binges (to much work and not enough time) won't leave the tractor except to use the restroom it comes in handy to pet the dog.

Gordon

 

[MChalkley]

Raptor - I use my tractor for a little bit of everything, and I find the loader to be the most useful implement there is, overall.

Mark

 

[W5FL]

It is definitely the most useful implement you will every have.

When Ferguson invented the 3 point he made it possible to have different implements interchange and be liftable on lots of tractors. If he had only believed in loaders, there would never have been a John Deere or Kubota tractor. We would all be driving Masseys. Unfortunately Massey was very late in the game with tractors with adequate hydraulics for using a loader. They still had several models in 1999 that were not equipped to use a loader or had antiquated hydraulic systems.

The loader allows people who could not handle many of the normal chores requiring extensive lifting to be able to do it as well as a much younger person. Unload 2000 pounds of feed every couple of weeks and put it in the barn. Being able to lift 2 1000# pallets makes it very easy. You can stack round bales with a hay spear attachment. It also lifts many items that would be impossible otherwise for most of us. I loaded and unloaded a 2000# loader a couple of weeks ago and set it on another truck. Easily moved 40 yards of manure and composte for a garden, level it, and then till it in a couple of hours. Roadbuilding becomes a possible task. Many homestead tasks and farming tasks can be accomplished easily with a loader. Works fine on smaller tractors, but the ones capable of handling over 2000# (3/4 yard) make short work of previously difficult or impossible tasks.

Nope, a tractor without a loader is rather limited in the work they can do and are very limited for many tasks. The ideal setup would be a small tracked loader and a small Kubota 4WD tractor for many homesteads, but we just can't afford both. While on that subject, a loader on a 2WD tractor is marginal all the way around, but still better than not having one. On a 4WD tractor it IS better than sliced bread.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I don't know why anyone buys a 2WD anything, I've seen 2WD Case 580's floundering on wet grass on a slight slope, and guys trying to back their RV trailers spinning all over the place and end up "getting a run at it" when a safe slow sure speed would be far safer.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Gordon,

Loved that post!

Only those of us that have worked in the woods have seen with our own eyes those trees that can jump up from nowhere an damage the tractor! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

And why do so many of us get small taps on the front end and do nothing, waiting for something to really bash it in before we put a guard on it? Ting Ting Ting WHAM..Ok, time to put a grill guard on it.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

del

 

[raptor]

Great post Wen.

You presented a logical and straight forward answer to my question. I have never used a loader on a tractor, and assumed (incorrectly it seems) that it was an overrated toy.
I have a strong mind set, and it takes someone with real experience to help me change it.

Have a good one, and happy and SAFE tractoring.

Raptor.

 

[W5FL]

raptor,

Thanks for the kind words. My dad farms 150 acres and only had a pension and his cattle for income to buy his loader. Now he says that he would have had to give up if it were not for his loader. It is on a 2WD John Deere and uses it for everything including digging and filling washes and bringing up wood for the fireplace.

He was as unsure as you were before we talked and he bought his. Now he absolutely could not do his daily work without it. He carried in over 400 bales of hay for a neighbor that had heart surgery and wouldn't take a dime for doing it. He was carrying two bales at a time out of the fields on home made hay forks that he made to fit the loader. He then unloaded his feed with a home made pallet fork that I helped him work out and he built. Sure hope when I am his age, that I can do half as much! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MChalkley]

Del - Back when I had an L2900 and a 2wd MF 40 hp tractor, the smaller Kubota would work the much larger MF into the ground. There were many things the Kubota would do that the MF wouldn't even think about doing. So, as you say, I don't know why anybody buys 2wd tractors, especially in these sizes. I mean, I know the money is important, but the only time a larger 2wd would have an advantage over a smaller 4wd for the same money is when using it exclusively for bushhogging on dry level ground or some other job where traction was unimportant but PTO hp was.

Mark