L3830 Trailer Options

[ChrisBWJ]

Loaded tires, FEL, and Backhoe. Delear says 8300 pounds.

Who trailers their L3830 (or one of the Grand L series)? What is the GVWR of the trailer you use? How far do you usually trailer it?

What do you tow it with? What is it's tow rating?

 

[_RaT_]

That sounds high on the weight. I don't ballast my tires, quite frankly for my needs I don't see that I ever will as I don't think the unballasted weight/power/traction is bad. I think the L48 comes out under 8000lbs unballasted and it is a much heavier tractor. Kubota attempted to keep the L48 TLB under that to help a contractor avoid the licensing issues involved with going over 10,000lbs as I recall. I think a 9999lb tractor and trailer should be do able especially if that is the cutoff for having to go to a different license class rating. To avoid the need for a higher class trailer, I would surely remove ballast from the tires, especailly with a hoe.

 

[LarryRB]

I have a hard time believing 8300 pounds. But, this aside, I have a mahindra 4110-FEL-and a Bradco 511 hoe with extra buckets, a PTO pump system w/15 gallon reservoir and all together it weighs in at 6400 pounds. I have a BRi-Mar 12,000 GVW trailer at 18 ft length.. I do hual around other TBN tractor owners who have much larger machines than mine.. You can easily haul your equipment on a 10GVW , 18 ft without problems, providing you have a 3/4 ton rated pickup and most important, the "RIGHT" class hitch.. When I ordered this Dodge diesel it had the heavy tow pkg.. Still wasn't enough tongue weight to be legal and had to change the hitch to a 1200 lb hitch.. IF you go over 10,000 trailer this puts you in a CDL class license, so be careful there unless you really need to go higher.

 

[Kytractor]

I was looking at buying one last year for my L3830 with a 509 bradco backhoe. I've still not bought one yet, but some one had a good thread on trailers. I believe it was an anderson 18ft 2ft dovetail two 6000 Lb axels for around $1800. Wieght of the tractor I'm not sure, but I believe around 6500lbs.

 

[ChrisBWJ]

From what I've been told in Michigan at least, anything above 10k lbs requires a CDL if used for commercial purposes. If used for non-commercial, no CDL is required.

I thought the 8300 figure was a little high too. But as he was rattling off all the weights for frame brackets, buckets, even the hydraulic controls, it sounded pretty close. Maybe those numbers are Kubota max weights, and reality is much lower. I'm kinda hoping that's the case. My wife has already said that I'm going to want a big truck now to haul that trailer and tractor!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[etgjr]

Hi Chris,

I have a L4330 HST with filled tires and FEL but no backhoe. I went with a 20 foot 14k trailer. I was originally going to get a 10k to avoid the CDL issue, even though I trailer for my own use not for hire. My supplier ended up getting shipped 14k trailers and didn't get the 10k's so he offered me a good deal on the 14k. I took him up on it and am glad I did, tractors are heavy! I would strongly suggest getting a 20 foot trailer, this will give you some room to get your tongue weight correct.

My 4330 with the filled tires is about 5500 lbs and the trailer is 3500 lbs. With a backhoe I would be over 10k easy. Remember that GVWR of a trailer includes the trailers weight. So my 14k trailer less its own weight of 3500 lbs leaves me with an available load of 11500 lbs. Not that I would trailer that load with my current suburban.

I tow with a 1/2 ton Suburban. I'm a little over the rating but I'm on backroads for about 35 miles. Tow at the most 45 to 50 mph and everything feels fine.

Good luck.

-Ed

 

[grandad]

Just to give you another reference point, when the dealer installed the BH on my L4610 earlier this year, the mechanic who installed it and personally delivered it commented that the tractor, FEL, loaded tires and BH weighs in the ballpark of 8,000 lbs. Now, the L10 series was a tad lighter than the new L30's like you have, but the backhoe that fit the old model looks to be a bit heavier than the new BH90, so it's probably about even.

I'm going to say that you really do have 4 tons of tractor there and you need to operate and transport accordingly. But enjoy... you have a fine unit there.

 

[GeneD14]

For my L4330 HSTC I use a tilt bed H & H trailer with 10,000 GVW and a 20' long bed. The trailer weighs 2,800 lbs. See picture.

 

[GeneD14]

I usually trailer it 400 miles round trip about once per month. I've hauled lots of tractors and safety is #1. Make sure your tow vehicle is sized for the task. I've seen quite a few people use a 1/2 ton pick-up to tow over 10K and it is hard on the truck and it is very dangerous. I tow with an F350 Powerstoke rated at 12,900 lbs tow capacity.

 

[GeneD14]

I appologize for the story but here it goes: 2 years ago I had a big Allis Chalmers 210 that weighed over 14,500 lbs. I sold it to a farmer from New Mexico. He came all the way to Michigan to pick it up with a fairly new 1/2 ton Chevy pickup pulling a tri-axle gooseneck that weighed nearly 6,000 lbs. I thought that I was on "Candid Camera". The total load was over 20,000 lbs!!! He loaded it on the trailer, and chained it with 2 old rusty log chains. The truck engine strained to pull out of the drive and he was off.
He called later in the week to tell me he made it. No brake downs but he couldn't get it up over 45 mph.
I couldn't believe the state police didn't catch him. I'm also grateful that he didn't have to stop quick or swerve suddenly. Althought the truck was tuff as nails I'd hate to be the next owner.
Attached is a picture of the tractor.
Sorry for the long winded post.