Ramon49's post about his L3130!

RayH · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

What I dont think he is understanding is that a good deal of the work that a tractor can accomplish has to do with its weight.
Just for fun, lets see what happens if he trades his 3130 in on a 3830. If he does any loader work, hes going to want the tires filled. His new 3830 weighs 3300lbs. Add in filled tires and hes at about 4200lbs. That translates to about 107lbs/HP. Ooops!! Now hes more underpowered than he was when he had his 3130. Although no doubt he will get more work out of his ballasted 3830 than he did his 3130.
Whats that proove? That the 3830 is a heavier and more powerful tractor, well NO $HIT. It also prooves that a filled 3830 is underpowered (weight/HP) compared to the 3130. Looks like he may have to jump up to a 4330 to get that weight ratio down some.

sneaky_pete · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

( OK, I'm no english major, but isn't this just a different way to say that it is underpowered... that there is too much tractor for the engine /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

Optimist: The glass is half-full.

Pessimist: The glass is half-empty.

Management Consultant: Looks like you have twice as much glass as you need!

slowzuki · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

The power to weight thing is vicous circle. A good spot to start is 1 horse. An average sized horse has by definition 1 hp. It can lift 550 lbs of weight upwards at 1 foot per second, the same as producing 746 watts.

That horse weighs say 1800 lbs. It is slow, it can't move stuff fast based on its power to weight, but it can move heavy things slowly because of his weight. Underpowered? Maybe.

Now take your average ride on mower. It weighs maybe 150 lbs and has 12 hp. With rider it weighs say 325 lbs. With the right gearing that thing can fly but it can't move heavy objects now matter how much hp you add to it. Overpowered? Maybe.

I think there is something wrong with his tractor. I have driven a 3130 and in low range, the engine didn't even notice what I was doing with the HST pedal. I drove it done into a ditch and backed out checking out the creep when stopped.

I've also driven a 4310 with backhoe and loader, in low it felt no different, it was on a steep driveway 10% grade or so. In high range you had to be really gentle starting out or it over loaded the engine.

Both had similar power to weight ratios but it shouldn't even come down to hp until into high range pulling at speed.

The 50 hp tractor we use for farming weighs 9000 lbs or so, it can't get out of its own way on the road. On steep hills you need to use low gears of high range, more so when pulling say the 4000 lb baler or an 8000 lb load of hay. But low range is only needed to slow it down for working, not power reasons.

DaNag · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

( But still...although it has become a bit tiring, I think there is some worth to be found...)

Agreed...

Must admit, when first reading Ramon's posts I became a bit concerned. I've got a gentle slope over most of my property, and I'm picking up my 3130 next week. However, as time progressed and more facts came out (particularly the elevation issue), I pretty much dismissed his problems as something unique to him.

The main thing I took from this thread - there are so many more folks happy with the 3130 than not, and my needs are pretty much in line with those of the satisfied owners. So I'm fairly confident I got the right tractor, but I should have held off on filling the R4's until I had some seat time on the tractor with just air. Hopefully the added weight won't be a problem, but if it is, at least it's not a huge waste of money, and easily fixed...

_RaT_ · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

The L3130 HST

Satisified owners- Harley97, Skypup, Theowegian, Bugstruck, Slowzuki, CTyler, RayH and farmerEd.

Dissatisfied owners- Kybota, Freds, Ramon49.

A quick perusing of a couple of posts came up with this list DaNag. It is not guaranteed accurate. It was based on their reply(s) Your chances of being satisfied are greater then being disatisfied. Understand that it will take some time to become familiar with how your tractor works so your judgement should at least be backed up with some time at the wheel.

Bob_Skurka · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

I think it is also fair to point out that OTHER BRANDS of tractors have had posts on their forums complaining about almost exactly what Ramon is complaining about.

4 recent examples, but certinaly not limited to these 3 different brands are:
--My xxxx HST tractor won't go over a 2x4!
--Or my even larger xxxx HST tractor won't go up my small incline on my driveway!
--It seems the xxxx has one major inadequacy: power.
--farmers who purchased the xxxx complained that it was underpowered for its size

There is a place for HST, there is a place for a heavy tractor, there is a place for HST on a heavy tractor. While most of the complaints about underpowered tractors involve heavy tractors with modest HP, the real question is did you get the right tractor for your own use? I don't blame Ramone for being upset. However I don't agree with him that all of the 3130's sould be condemed because his didn't suit his needs.

Gatorboy · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

 I think it's been great to see this kind of post. 

Perhaps a link to the post you are talking about would help.

shoppintractors · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

 Or my even larger xxxx HST tractor won't go up my small incline on my driveway!

Bob, Simply increasing the throttle/RPM's solved this issue you refer too.

Don

Bob_Skurka · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

Shoppingtractors, I think we are thinking of two different instances.

The point is the same. People often don't know what to expect.

_RaT_ · Feb 3, 2005

Re: Ramon49\'s post about his L3130!

I see the confusion. The whole underpowered 3130 threads. At some point it got a bit fatiguing. It was yesterday at:

"Clearly stated:3130 underpowered! More than once
#577586 - 02/02/05 02:02 PM"

At that point I can see where many of us gave up.