Buying Advice Leaning Toward an L3200

[herefromthere]

After quite a bit of lurking and soaking up information here, posing the occasional question, talking to dealers, scouring Craigslist, and general pondering :confused2:, I've ended up leaning strongly toward buying an L3200. The only spoiler doubt in my mind is that I would love to have a B26 for the smaller size but strong hydraulics and hydraulic thumb, but those are about $8k more, and I just can't justify that. As for used ones, I haven't seen one around here for a long time that wasn't a dealer rental unit priced around $30k.

I have about 1/4 mile of driveway and share in maintenance of about 1/2 mile of 1 lane gravel road. My place is mostly wooded and has rolling topography with some steep slopes and tight quarters. It's been partially logged in the past, so there are some very brushy areas that I'll be trying to restore to mixed forest. No brush hog is planned, and I'll keep a small riding mower for mowing. For a while, I'll be doing a lot of work with a box scraper to level things and improve drainage in the yard and on the driveway. The L3200 is the upper end on size that I want for maneuverability around my buildings as well as the overall weight for my 7k gross car trailer. To be legal, I'm probably going to have to remove the front bucket and put it in my pickup bed to keep the trailer gross weight under limit for the occasional transport. Yup, it's that close.

A while back, I posted my initial thoughts and request for advice in the General Buying & Pricing forum:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/.../224196-30-ish-horsepower-tractor-loader.html
I appreciate the responses there, and by posting here in the Kubota Buying & Pricing forum, I hope some folks can help me finalize things.

Current plan is the L3200 with 4wd, HST, R4/Industrials (loaded), Q/R roundback loader bucket, BH77 backhoe w/manual thumb and 16" pin on bucket, rear work light kit, telescoping stabilizer kit, and bucket rod level indicator. I may or may not try to buy the Land Pride 5' box scraper with the initial financed purchase.

Questions:
Rear work light kit: Worthwhile? Can it power a ROPS mounted front light set too?
Telescoping Stabilizers (for 3pt): Worthwhile? Any cons? Dealer said not as precise.
Bucket Rod Level Indicator: Worthwhile? How does that decal on top edge work, anyway?
16" BH bucket: Is this appropriate size for general applications? Would 12" be better?

Would love to hear peoples' thoughts...Thanks!

 

[Ductape]

I'll throw out a few opinions.......

Most definitely get the telescoping stabilizers. The turnbuckles suck..... especially once they age a bit and the threads get rusty. You can get the telescoping stabilizers tight enough for anything you want to do.

Bucket level indicator.... heck yeah ! The flat thing on the bucket with a decal on it does give some reference..... but no where near as useful as the rod style indicator.

16" is a good general purpose bucket. 12" better for trenching, but takes alot longer to dig the same size hole as the 16.

 

[magicheater]

1.Rear work light kit: Worthwhile? Can it power a ROPS mounted front light set too?
2.Telescoping Stabilizers (for 3pt): Worthwhile? Any cons? Dealer said not as precise.
3.Bucket Rod Level Indicator: Worthwhile? How does that decal on top edge work, anyway?
4.16" BH bucket: Is this appropriate size for general applications? Would 12" be better?

1: The battery powers the lights and the load would be determined by the fuse size. Making sure you are within the current limits of your wires.
2: No experience with them. working on an alternative.
3: If you don't know where your bucket is you need more seat time.
4: I have had both, the first hoe I had had a 12" and a 16", I rarely used the 16". My larger replacement hoe has a 16", probably won't get a 24".

 

[namesray]

I'll throw out a few opinions.......

Most definitely get the telescoping stabilizers. The turnbuckles suck..... especially once they age a bit and the threads get rusty. You can get the telescoping stabilizers tight enough for anything you want to do.

Bucket level indicator.... heck yeah ! The flat thing on the bucket with a decal on it does give some reference..... but no where near as useful as the rod style indicator.

16" is a good general purpose bucket. 12" better for trenching, but takes alot longer to dig the same size hole as the 16.

i agree with this. these are good options for any tractor.

not to re change your mind, but did you look at the b3200 or b3300su tractors? i think they would be about as equally capable as the l3200 and be able to transport it on your 7k trailer without messing taking the loader on/off. they might even be less $$ then the l3200. the only downfall i can think of with the b series tractors and what you want to do is the weight of the tractors being a little less, (less weight, less ground force traction). the b3200/b3300su with fel weigh in around 2600lbs with rears loaded. the l3200 is going to be around 3300lbs on up. i have looked at all these models and feel you get more with the b series for your money then the lower l series tractors. i own a b7800, very simular to the b3200/b3300su tractors and i do a ton of different things with my 2600lb tractor and i trailer it alot with my 7k landscape trailer with attachments on too (bush hog, 3ph winch, log splitter, etc.). however this is just my opinion. all the models mentioned here are good tractors. just some more info for ya! good luck and enjoy your kubota!!!:thumbsup:

 

[herefromthere]

Looked at the B3200 and B3300SU tractors but find they're almost as expensive as the L3200. With the L3200, I can get the quick attach bucket on the loader, which I can't on the B-series, and I really like the QA setup. Not sure how critical it is, but the position control on the 3-pt sounds nicer vs. the 1/4 inching valve from what I've been reading on TBN. Of course, that means I run the risk of getting the jerky hitch syndrome. For the few times I see having to transport the machine, I can handle detaching the bucket and leaving it in the truck bed to keep me legal on trailer weight.

Couple more questions:
How universal are backhoe buckets? If I go with the 16", then what are the chances I can find a 12" (possibly used) at a later date?
Are the Land Pride box scrapers good units? I'm thinking of getting the BB15-60 with the purchase.

Thanks again for info/help!