Oh! This seems nice.

   / Oh! This seems nice. #1  

varmint

Elite Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2003
Messages
2,575
Location
Northern Maryland
Tractor
Kubota B8200, then a Kubota L3130 HST, now a Kubota L3400 HST
Okay, I will start this by saying I am a Kubota guy. But, I stumbled across this Deere video, watched it, and thought that Deere seems to have something pretty nice here! I don't know what they cost, (the dealer in the video stated they cost more) and I gotta admit I am not up on Kubota's equivalent tractors (looking at new tractors can be dangerous and costly; I try to avoid it) so maybe this machine simply represents CUT SOTA features, but I was impressed. Have at it, experts- I'm all for learning about tractors!

John Deere 3R series Tractor - YouTube
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #2  
They are nice tractors, but not anything remarkable in that size class. I think almost every brand has a few solid offerings in this size.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #3  
I was thinking just some more bells and whistles until he got to the auto throttle and roll out. Looks like great features and I haven't seen those on other compact tractors.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #4  
Looked at the 3 family a lot while comparing to Kubota and Massey. The E series they say cant have a back hoe from the factory. The R can. You should make a trip to your dealer and have a good look at them. Nice tractor, but mainly it is the electronics that make it so nice. Advanced cruise control on the Deere is awesome. But the driver station just feels cheap and under engineered. For every cool thing, there seems a blunder thing to counter it to keep the price in check.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #5  
Oooooh... SHINY! :dance1:

The roll-out stop feature is nice, as is the rev-increase/decrease.

The FEL attach demonstrated is what I have on my 300CX, but you're still going to have to get off your arse and remove the locking pins prior to dropping and then replace the locking pins when you're picked up the 'new' implement.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #6  
I was thinking just some more bells and whistles until he got to the auto throttle and roll out. Looks like great features and I haven't seen those on other compact tractors.

The Kubota HST+ includes both of those features plus many more. One of the more important ones on the HST+ is the ability to have a high and low "range" within a gear range that you can select on the go from a column mounted lever. This is accomplished with another variable swash plate on the motor side of the hydrostat. In actual usage most operators never need to change gear ranges for most loader work. Just stay in Med. range and use the high/low to change from more torque needed to push into the pile and switch on the fly to high range for higher speed transport. The Kubota HST+ is the most feature laden HST transmission on the market and as far as I know, no other manufacture comes close to offering all these kind of features.

He did not mention one important feature that tractor was lacking. Telescoping lower links. Of course they would be happy to sell you the JD quick hitch to get around that issue.:) Or perhaps the telescoping lower links are available as an option.

Also he did not get off of the tractor when demonstrating the ability to change from bucket to forks and back. Of course you would need to fasten the pins on the JD quick attach, just like you would need to get off of the tractor to operate the levers/lever of a SSQA system. My concern is that a newby would not realize that you must dismount and remount the tractor each time to change front implements.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #7  
Oooooh... SHINY! :dance1:

The roll-out stop feature is nice, as is the rev-increase/decrease.

The FEL attach demonstrated is what I have on my 300CX, but you're still going to have to get off your arse and remove the locking pins prior to dropping and then replace the locking pins when you're picked up the 'new' implement.

You beat me to it!:)
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #8  
I was thinking just some more bells and whistles until he got to the auto throttle and roll out. Looks like great features and I haven't seen those on other compact tractors.

Lots of fancy gee whiz goodies!
Does it have an electronically actuated heated/chilled cup holder too?
Better also buy a good quality equipment trailer, with a cash box attached.
Even the most minor repairs will require trips to the dealer! (fill the cash box first)
 
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   / Oh! This seems nice. #9  
Oooooh... SHINY! :dance1:

The roll-out stop feature is nice, as is the rev-increase/decrease.

The FEL attach demonstrated is what I have on my 300CX, but you're still going to have to get off your arse and remove the locking pins prior to dropping and then replace the locking pins when you're picked up the 'new' implement.

Exactly. Kubota has it all also. And you don't even have to get off the Grand L to change loader quick attach buckets, blades and forks if you get their optional hydraulic quick attach through your third function.
I also think the old Auto-Hitch and the new K-Connect front quick attach setups are a step above also.
 
   / Oh! This seems nice. #10  
I see more electric gee-gaws to corrode and screw up and at a higher price, too!
 
 
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