L45 or stay with B26

[powerstroke444e]

I am going to have to find one to play with this next week and see how the auto shift works. On the garage I made the doors 96.5 and had to use a rubber trim to seal it up so a 96 would fit but going real slow. I didn't know the roof was hollow. I will look at it an see what I can do. But I have 4 doors that I go through that I can not raise.

My dealer has not gotten back on price yet he was looking to see if another dealer had one to trade or if he has to order it both effect the price I guess.

L45 vs b26 is the digging power noticeable better?

 

[powerstroke444e]

Another question do they have the same quick attach backhoe buckets? Talked to the dealer yesterday and I forgot how pricey kubota backhoe buckets were.

 

[KubotaToy]

I drive my L45 into the shop thru an 8 foot tall door, I go real slow as to not bounce the tractor, it has about 1/4 inch clearance. Keep the air pressure in the rear tires at the min. After one time forgetting to lower the backhoe (very expensive oops) I hung a sign over my door to remind me to lay down the backhoe prior to entering.

 

[avc8130]

I drive my L45 into the shop thru an 8 foot tall door, I go real slow as to not bounce the tractor, it has about 1/4 inch clearance. Keep the air pressure in the rear tires at the min. After one time forgetting to lower the backhoe (very expensive oops) I hung a sign over my door to remind me to lay down the backhoe prior to entering.

I did that 2. I had 2 instances that caused damage to my trim:

1. Snow. I had the L45 in the garage so it would be warm to deal with snow. Sure enough, as I drove out the snow compacted and lifted the tractor that 1/4". New aluminum trim was necessary.

2. Backhoe. Not the way you think. I took the hoe OFF in the garage. This caused the tires not to sag so much. New aluminum trim again.

Now I just keep the machine outside. LOL

ac

 

[lhansman]

Hi Powerstroke

There is considerably more digging power with an L45 versus the B26. The swing is much more powerful too if you use that for finish grading and spreading light material.

Unfortunately the L45 QA buckets are not the same as those on the B26. That being said, the US L45's use a different QA system from the Canadian ones but I still think they are different buckets. I think the US system is better as it uses a hook and pin system similar to what the B26 uses so no tools are required for a hoe bucket change. The Canadian QA system uses a metal wedge and bolt so you need a drift punch, small mallet and a wrench to change buckets which I do not like. The L45 buckets are much heavier than the B26 ones too - no more picking a hoe bucket up in one hand and carrying it around. The weight tag on my L45 12" bucket is around 150 pounds, 24" is 200 pounds and the 36" ditching bucket is 250 pounds and that is before I added the cutting edge to it which probably weighs another 50 pounds.

You can purchase QA ears for the L45 that you can weld to your own attachments if you wish. When I purchased the B26 I purchased some QA ears because the dealer wasn't really giving me any additional trade in on the B21 buckets. I removed the teeth from my 24" B21 bucket, cut the B21 pin mounting brackets off and welded the B26 QA ears on and had a B26 ditching bucket for about $200. My only concern with doing this to fit a B26 bucket on an L45 is that the steel in the L45 buckets is much heavier and the L45 hoe might destroy a B26 bucket. The shape of the L45 buckets is such that the equivalent width bucket holds a lot more material. I was in a tight spot helping a neighbour to dig out their basement between houses last year and did not have much swing space for spoil placement so I was digging with the 12" L45 bucket and dumping into a wheelbarrow for them to move the spoil immediately and one 12" L45 scoop would fill the wheelbarrow.

Fortunately I got the dealer to throw in the L45 toolbox in the deal and so I have a place to keep the bucket changing tools.

Regards,

Lauren

 

[My Hoe]

Subscribed. I would like to hear if the ROPS on the B26 or the L45 is foldable--it does not appear so on the L45, but I'm hoping there are non-canopied models?

I too am interested in the canopy heights of the B26 and L45.

I'm actually interested only in the B26 myself, but that is one impressive L45--Congrats!

My Hoe

 

[lhansman]

Hi My Hoe

None of the Kubota TLB's have a folding ROPS unfortunately. They all have four post ROPS to support the included canopy.

Good luck with your B26 purchase. They are a great machine.

Lauren