L47TLB vs L4701

[RichM752]

I just notice you have a 4 in 1 bucket, so why the big need for a Grapple?

CAL FIRE - Why 1 Feet?

Lots of maintenance work here. Once fire defensive boundaries are established, I believe the EA grapple will make yearly clean up quicker/easier than 4in 1.

 

[mike69440]

Last year we had a drought in NH. Two fires in our town, really tiny. Heck, your fires are bigger than our entire state. It was scary however to see choppers dropping water less than 1/2 mile from our place. Don't see that much around here.
Maybe you should get a Piranha Tooth Bar for taking out brush and a small heavy duty rotaty or flail cutter and rake.

 

[RichM752]

So very close to finalizing the deal. Drove up today to test load the L47 on my dump trailer. Good fit, backhoe bucket overhang was 35", front bucket secured over trailer tongue looked better after turning bucket up, to better prevent hitting tailgate of truck.
A few details need to be addressed regarding the location and installation rear hydraulics. Seems as though the valve/lever assembly must be mounted on ROPS, which could result in hose routing conflict with enclosed cab.

 

[lhansman]

Hi Rich

Congratulations on the new L47. Having put approximately 1,400 hours on my L45 over the past five years I can confirm (as others have already said) that the Kubota TLB's are tough, agile workers in tight quarters. I finally purchased the L45 after graduating from a B21 followed by a B26 and they have all done an impressive amount of work for the diminutive size.

I am concerned with your photos of your L47 in the trailer though. Driving the L47 into the trailer puts most of the weight at the rear of your trailer and this can lead to trailer sway if your tongue weight is not at least 10-15% of the total trailer weight. When I picked up my first B21 the dealer had me drive it into the dumping trailer I had at the time despite my protestations that there would not be enough tongue weight. I should have insisted but didn't and got up to about 50 mph less than five miles from the dealer and the trailer sway was so bad that I barely got my truck and trailer stopped safely. I then had to unload the B21 on the side of the road and reload it by backing into the trailer. I never had a problem after that and continued to back in both the B26 and now the L45.

I actually prefer backing in for a few reasons:

1) It puts the rad at the rear so as you drive down the highway bugs and other debris won't plug the fins. Now that I have added the A/C to the L45 cab it also keeps debris out of the A/C cooling fins too.

2) If you don't have a cab and you flip the seat up when it is loaded the seat will remain flipped forward and will be dry when you arrive and the seat back won't be covered in bug guts or other road debris.

3) Most importantly it guarantees that you will have adequate tongue weight to prevent trailer sway.

The downside is that you can't close the doors on your trailer because the bucket will be in the way. I just strap my rear doors under the forks as you can see in the attached photos.

The trailer in the photo is my third and favourite dumping trailer - it's almost like I had to get a new trailer with each Kubota! The trailer in the photo is a 16' LoadTrail deck over dumper with flip down sides. I like the drop down sides because I no longer have to crouch in the front corners of the trailer box to secure the chains there. I always bring my forks with me so they travel on the L45. In the front of the trailer I put my 12", 24" hoe buckets plus my ripper in my 4-in-1 bucket and set that at the front of the trailer and chain it in place. I then back the L45 in and raise the hoe stick to back over the 4-in-1 and then bring the stick forward before shutting off the L45. I purchased forks that allow me to hydraulically adjust the width of the forks because I do a lot of work with random sized rocks so I close the forks tight together and than put a strap across to hold the doors against the forks.

Note that the forks will leak down over time so I attach a chain from the L45 front bumper to the fork frame to prevent the forks from dropping too far in transit. I also place the strap securing the doors above the forks so that the forks sagging will not put any pressure on the strap and thus the door hinges.

I strongly urge you to check your total trailer weight and your tongue weight with the L47 loaded before towing with it loaded per your photos as I think you will have trailer sway loaded that way.

All the best with your new machine.

Regards,

Lauren

 

[lhansman]

I forgot a couple of points Rich. If you search for previous posts of mine you will find some photos of how my dealer installed the rear auxiliary hydraulic levers so they would fit in my Laurin cab. It was a fair bit of additional work and required some custom fabrication but it has worked well for me the last few years with my rear snow blower. There is nothing better than clearing snow in shirt sleeves in the comfort of a heated cab.

The final advantage to backing your machine in is if you have a cab you don't arrive with the windshield covered in road debris.

Regards,

Lauren

 

[RichM752]

Hey Lauren, Thanks for the info on the hydraulic set up. I'll be reading the thread on your L45 real soon.

And I do appreciate the concern as to the loading of tractor on my trailer. Looking at his photo, you can see the majority of weight, 5,545# is over the fwd portion of the two axles, each rated @ 7000#. The loader weighs 960#,tractor 4585#, and back hoe 1660#. And I've got another 12" I can move forward if desired. I had 65psi in trailer tires, and the fwd tires on each side had a slight bulge at the road, which indicated to me the weight was well forward. I'll add 10# more when I pick the tractor up. The 14' PJ is a low profile with 24" deck height, which adds to stability. GTW with L47 loaded right around 11,600. I'm guessing at least 12-15% of that on the tongue, which is adequate. See the rear tire of tractor to get a perspective.
My old 12' PJ dump was loaded wrong one time. That was a a scary ride. I've dumped loads, and had them reloaded a couple of times after that fiasco.
Right now I need to get my bag packed. Leaving for Baha tomorrow. A week of fishing, eating, Pacifico Beer drinking, and guitar playing. An old buddy of mine lives down there.
Picking up new tractor when I return on the 24th.

 

[mike69440]

Hey Lauren, Thanks for the info on the hydraulic set up. I'll be reading the thread on your L45 real soon.
View attachment 498802
And I do appreciate the concern as to the loading of tractor on my trailer. Looking at his photo, you can see the majority of weight, 5,545# is over the fwd portion of the two axles, each rated @ 7000#. The loader weighs 960#,tractor 4585#, and back hoe 1660#. And I've got another 12" I can move forward if desired. I had 65psi in trailer tires, and the fwd tires on each side had a slight bulge at the road, which indicated to me the weight was well forward. I'll add 10# more when I pick the tractor up. The 14' PJ is a low profile with 24" deck height, which adds to stability. GTW with L47 loaded right around 11,600. I'm guessing at least 12-15% of that on the tongue, which is adequate. See the rear tire of tractor to get a perspective.
My old 12' PJ dump was loade y bag packed. Leaving for Baha tomorrow. A week of fishing, eating, Pacifico Beer drinking, and guitar playing. An old buddy of mine lives down there.
Picking up new tractor when I return on the 24th.

Your 4 in one bucket adds about 150 Lbs to the loader weight, the thumb and bigger BH bucket add maybe another 135-150 Lbs. I suspect the cab will add another 400 Lbs or so. One you use the machine you may want to load the tires and add spacers.
Don't believe the owners manual, loading the rear helps a lot with stability. Point is your looking at over 8000 Lbs.

 

[RichM752]

Your 4 in one bucket adds about 150 Lbs to the loader weight, the thumb and bigger BH bucket add maybe another 135-150 Lbs. I suspect the cab will add another 400 Lbs or so. One you use the machine you may want to load the tires and add spacers.
Don't believe the owners manual, loading the rear helps a lot with stability. Point is your looking at over 8000 Lbs.

Bravo Zulu Mike. You are most correct. I will put a equipment trailer on the radar for the future.

 

[beckmurph]

You really need to rethink loading your L47 on a dump trailer. That short of a dump trailer.
There is no way for you to secure your fel or backhoe.
IF your only moving it around on your own property, there would be no problem.
On a public road in California, your asking for trouble.
1 Your looking at fines for insure load.
2 If your are in an accident and your L47 is not properly secured, your problems will get worse.

I am not the safety police, but you are putting yourself in a bad situation with this set up.:2cents:

 

[lhansman]

Hi Rich

I have to agree with all the comments the Mike made regarding weight. I don't think you appreciate you rear biased the weight of an L45 is with the hoe on it. The hoe is ~1,500 pounds but that weight is centered at least two feet behind the rear axle. This counter balances most if not all of the weight of the portion of the front end loader and bucket which extends beyond the front axle. I have 900 pounds of foam in the four tires on my L45 in addition to the additional weight of the cab which is at least an additional 500 pounds I believe with the heat and A/C. The disadvantage to my deck over dump trailer is that it sits higher so I had eight foot ramps made to get the L45 in it rather than the six foot ones I used with my previous 14' dump trailer. When I drive up the ramps with nothing on the FEL to pick up my 4-in-1 bucket, I have to be very careful on the accelerator as there is almost no weight on the front axle and the L45 will do a wheelie very easily. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, when driving or backing the L45 into a trailer I always put it in low range (turtle mode) as if it auto downshifts as you are going up a ramp the machine can unexpected suddenly move very fast. You will find that going up a steep hill with an empty front bucket the L45 is very light at the front end. Rather than calculating static weights I would definitely get you truck and trailer weighed before and after loading to be safe.

Wrt to securing the machine in the trailer, there are loops in the rear stabilizer mounting brackets to secure the rear and for the front I had two chain grab hooks welded to either side of the front bumper down low and I run chains from there to the rear corners of the trailer. To secure the FEL, I run a chain through the hollow tube between the loader arms and secure it behind the front wheels. However in looking at your photo of the L47 it looks like Kubota has welded the ends of the hollow tube closed so that would not be an option for you. My understanding is that if a machine weighs less than 10,000 pounds you don't have to secure the backhoe and I have been across the Ontario scales many times and never been tagged for not having it secured.

I would be careful about moving your L47 forward any further as it could start to restrict how much you can turn your truck when loaded. That is another advantage of backing in as the hoe is much narrower than the loader bucket and so much less likely to hit the tow vehicle during a sharp turn.

Enjoy Baja and all the best with your new L47.

Regards,

Lauren