NEW JD 3038 Questions

[YANKEEDOWNUNDER]

I am living in Australia and recently purchased a 3038 to be used on our heavily Forested 90 acre property on the East Coast about 150 miles South of Brisbane,Queensland near Byron Bay.

I had a JD 2520 with a mid mount mower but was concerned with damaging it as the property has nearly 2 miles of boundary fencing which I must slash 5 Yards in from the fence according to our Conservation Agreement with the State of New South Wales. There are many very large roots along the the fence line thus the change to the 3038 with a Heavier Duty Rotary Mower (called a slasher here).

I took off the 200CX Loader and the bucket and put on a McCormack F30 (locally manufactured,quick release,with a 4 in 1 bucket (grapple). JD was most supportive and it was part of the sale. It is 60 inches wide,very heavy duty steel and holds nearly one third of a yard. Now the questions

I was practicing with the grapple bucket and not moving and the diesel fumes were overwhelming. I realize that the exhaust is not overhead. Is that the problem or is it that the tractor was standing still? Also, the engine noise was deafening as compared to the quiet 2520. Is this a negative feature of the 3038. Finally nearly all Compact & sub-compact tractors in Australia now come with the versatile 4 in 1 Buckets on only recently is JD offering them. How common are Grapple Buckets in the States?

I purchased the 2012 JD 2520 about six months ago privately and it had only 10 hours on it. I checked the PIN Number and found out that it was built in 2008. Apparently when they are released JD build many units and store them worldwide and when sold build more.The 2520 is no longer built and I believe that the 3038 is out of production or soon will be as well. My 3038 was built in May of 2013. Sorry about the digression. I await your advice and suggestions

 

[s219]

I have found, several times over, that going to a larger tractor means more noise. It can be deafening at first, but you get used to it.

One thing to keep in mind is that the 3038 is part of Deere's "budget" line of tractors (all the 30XX models are). These are slightly older no-frills designs that were kept in production because they compete well on price. One of my relatives has one, and it's a good tractor but definitely not as refined as the 2520 or something like a 3520 or 3720.

I do know from running both tractors that the 2520's poly floor mat would be better for damping noise and vibration, so that surely helped a little over the 3038's molded foot boards.

 

[gasbag]

I have a 3038e and a 2305, the 3038e has the 305 fel and rear remotes. I also have had problems with the exhaust fumes as have several other owners. There is a exhaust kit available from JD that converts it to a stack, I opted to live with it the way it is because it is more protected in its stock position.

 

[DKCDKC]

My last JD, a bigger 1974 2030, had a rear low exhaust that made it terrible to change attachments with the motor running. I've also used JDs with the vertical stack exhaust... And broke off some in the forest. But I have noticed less diesel smell and smoke with my 3038e than with either of the other type exhausts. The only time with any unit you really notice anything is when the tractor is standing still. Once moving all the systems seem to keep the exhaust fumes away from the operator.

 

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Wisconsin

 

[murphy1244]

Welcome from Wisconsin

He has been a Member since 2009

 

[Fossil Farm]

Just get used to wearing hearing protection, no matter what tractor you are using. It is well worth it. I wear them for just about all engines anymore. Weed wackers, chainsaws, tractors, mowers, etc. Should have started 40 years ago. Over the ear work best for me, the foam in ear are not comfortable for me after about 10 minutes.

 

[kcflhrc]

Just get used to wearing hearing protection, no matter what tractor you are using. It is well worth it. I wear them for just about all engines anymore. Weed wackers, chainsaws, tractors, mowers, etc. Should have started 40 years ago. Over the ear work best for me, the foam in ear are not comfortable for me after about 10 minutes.

What? I didn't hear you

 

[DKCDKC]

I wear big muff hearing protectors - otherwise used on the firing range - because they cover my ear and my small Bluetooth doodad in my ear. That way I can not only have less noise, I can actually hear when my phone rings. My wife gets disturbed if I am out too long and checks. She has images of my being stuck under a rolled tractor. I can actually also feed music to the Bluetooth, but find that's too distracting because I can't really hear the machinery and might not detect a problem. My 3038 really doesn't make that much more noise than other tractor's I've operated, but it is a higher pitch that I find annoying over long times.

 

[deerseeker001]

I was looking at post numbers

He has been a Member since 2009 egghead.