Questions about L4400 and Grand L's

   / Questions about L4400 and Grand L's #1  

Cargun

Bronze Member
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May 5, 2006
Messages
76
Questions about L4400 and Grand L\'s

Spent some time at the Kubota dealer today looking at tractors. I noticed the 3130 and 3830 that I drove were quieter than the L4400 that had a canopy on it. Are the engines in the GL's quieter, or was it the canopy making the L4400 sound loud?

On the standard transmission GL that I drove I wasn't able to downshift on the go... the shifter would refuse to go into gear. Upshifts happened fine and I could downshift as soon as the tractor came to a stop, or nearly stopped. Is this normal?

On the GST, which is the tranny I really want, the one I drove was acting horrible. The shifts were really slow and jerky, and several times it would just go into neutral and the tractor would come to a stop and I could feel a rhythmic jerking motion as it kept trying to engage the gear. This happened with many different gears, both upshifting and downshifting. Sometimes the only way to get it going again was to put both the gear lever and column shuttle in neutral, press in the clutch, but it back in gear and release the clutch. And while working the clutch trying to get the tranny to work I noticed the whole dashboard moves when I push in the clutch.

The salesman said this was "normal" for the first 2-3 hours due to sticky valves. Being an engineer in the auto industry, I say BS to that. If that is actually the case that means there is a complete lack of engineering and quality control on those valves. Another guy at the dealership (maybe the owner?) said that the problem on that particular tractor was because they did some work on it and didn't program it right? Anyone ever heard of this with the GST? I've had a lot of seat time in a JD 4020 with Powershift and love that type of tranny.... but the one on the JD worked and over 10 years the only repair was having to replace the worn out shift linkage.

Being that neither of the fancy transmissions worked right, it's making the L4400 look like the way to go if I get a Kubota.
 
   / Questions about L4400 and Grand L's #2  
Re: Questions about L4400 and Grand L\'s

Can't speak for the Grand L's, Cargun, never been on one. But the L4400 has a bigger engine than either of the Grand L's you drove. That might be one reason it's noisier. The L4400 engine is the same one used in the L4630.

I've got an L4300 and have been quite happy with it. Lotsa guts in a simple straightforward tractor. The L4400 is the improved version of the L4300. A little bigger, a little heavier, a much more user friendly transmission with 4 reverse gears instead of 2 (the L4300s worst fault) and better looking. If you can live without the Doodads, you won't go wrong with the L4400.
FWIW
Bob
 
   / Questions about L4400 and Grand L's #3  
Re: Questions about L4400 and Grand L\'s

Can't speak for the Grand L's, Cargun, never been on one. But the L4400 has a bigger engine than either of the Grand L's you drove. That might be one reason it's noisier. The L4400 engine is the same one used in the L4630.

I've got an L4300 and have been quite happy with it. Lotsa guts in a simple straightforward tractor. The L4400 is the improved version of the L4300. A little bigger, a little heavier, a much more user friendly transmission with 4 reverse gears instead of 2 (the L4300s worst fault) and better looking. If you can live without the Doodads, you won't go wrong with the L4400.
FWIW
Bob
 

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