Wow, now that's a tractor!

[sandman2234]

I can understand it having to stay in one place, since my tractor is also too large to haul with my p/u. I built a trailer that might handle it, but my p/u isn't going to pull it safely, so if I can't road it, it just stays home.
David from jax

 

[Tom_H]

The trailer is a 7000 GVW trailer that I used to haul around my B2910. I think the L5740 would simply crush it.

OK, that explains it. I had been scratchin' my head a bit wondering how you got that Mega Machine on there. Have Fun!!!

 

[smfcpacfp]

You are the envy of every tractor guy here, obviously.

I think I might be able to manage the cost of your tractor setup, but I don't think I could afford the farm to justify it.

 

[hayden]

You are the envy of every tractor guy here, obviously.

I think I might be able to manage the cost of your tractor setup, but I don't think I could afford the farm to justify it.

To really give you fits.....my Grandfather paid $500 for the farm back when he bought it.

 

[smfcpacfp]

To really give you fits.....my Grandfather paid $500 for the farm back when he bought it.

I could swing that, now. That was probably a lot of bucks back then.

 

[hayden]

It's been 6 months and almost 100 hrs on the new tractor and various implements, and I thought I'd give a "review" of how everything works.

First, I can't believe I've put 100 hrs on it. I only put about 350 on my other tractor over almost 8 years. Part of it is the difference in how the "hour" meters work. The 5740 is an actual clock counting time. As many know, and some probably don't, the B series and lots of other tractor's "hour" meters are actually engine revolution counters calibrated to tick over once per hour when the engine is running at 540 PTO speed. The net result is that for loader work and other lower-RPM tasks the "clock" runs real slow. On the L40 an hour idling is the same as an hour blowing 2 feet of snow.

The bottom line is I love the tractor. It seemed huge when I first got it and I was worried about maneuvering around in tight spots, but it's all second nature now and the thing turns on a dime. I have no regrets about the size.

The 50 hour service went fine, and as discussed in other threads, changing the hydraulic and trans filters without first draining the oil DOES NOT result in all the oil dumping on the ground. All in all the service was easy and straight forward.

The L40's have the HST-plus transmission which has a bunch of new-fangled features. Here's my take on them so far:

Auto-throttle advance. This links the HST peddle to the engine speed control so that pressing the HST peddle both activates the HST and revs up the engine. At first I hated it because the engine would over-rev for my tastes. I don't need 2000 PRM to creap forward. Someone on TBN figured out how to adjust the linkage to tone down the revs, and it makes all the difference in the world. Making this adjustment transformed this from a feature that I would never use to one I never turn off. Once adjusted, it's great to just leave it on. With the column lever you essentially set the min RPMs. Then you operate the HST as normal, and if caled for the engine will rev up further, then back down when you back off the HST. For simple shuttling around, I leave the column lever at idle and the engine revs up only in proportion to how fast I'm driving, then idles back down when I stop. For loader work, I'll set the column to 1200 or 1400 RPM to give a little more hydraulic flow for the loader when diging into a pile. When shuttling the load around, the revs will automatically climb up further if needed. I love it and never turn it off.

I also really like the column-controlled high and low setting in each speed range. It makes it real easy to shift ranges on the fly for extra power or extra speed.

The Auto down shift feature I don't find real useful and have it turned off. This feature will downshift from high range to low if the load increase too much. I've found in practice that it will down shift when I don't want it to and upshift when I don't want it to. I'll be doing some heavy loader work in the next few weeks and will try it again. That's really what it's designed for so it downshifts when you push into a pile of material. Maybe I'll come to like it.

The last is the stall guard. This backs off on the HST if the engine bogs down too much. I leave it on, but don't think it has activated yet. To me you'd have to be in the wrong gear range for this to ever kick in, but it's otrherwise beneign so I leave it on.

The cab is great. The heat and AC work well and the visibility is excellent. I was worried that always entering and exiting from only one side would be confining, but in practice it hasn't been a problem.

Issues: Not many really. One thing I've noticed is that the fuel guage is way off. Big surprise, you might say, but it's off in the opposite direction from what I've always experienced. To get it to read "full" I need to really top off the tank. If I only fill until my automatic nozzle clicks off the guage reads down one bar right from the get go. I guess if you have to be off it's better to under-estimate fuel level than to over-estimate it.

To break things up, I'll talk about the implements in the next post.

 

[canoetrpr]

Hayden:

Thanks for the update. Glad to see that you are enjoying your machine. I find it a bit odd I have to say that Kubota set the GL up to record the actual clock time. I thought the hrs at PTO speed was a more accurate indication of how much work the engine has actually done.

The HST+ features sure sound nice.

 

[hayden]

Here's what I've experienced so far with the implements.

I used the snow blower a lot this winter and it worked great. I used to blow out sheer bolts all the time with my other blower but never blew a single one this year. I can't say why it's different - perhaps I just got lucky. I did pick up a big rock and broke the auger drive chain. The local JD shop had a replacement chain, and now I have the old one tucked away as a spare. I love the hydraulic chute rotation - it's fast and doesn't get jambed by snow buildup which my other blower did. I also really like the extra width. Unless I'm trimming back the snow banks, I can now clear my road in one run out and back. Before it took at least two full runs if not more. Snow blowing is also one place where the heated cab really shines.

The back hoe works great and has received a lot of use this spring. The rod on one of the cylinders was gouged by a shipping strap, but that was replaced by the dealer under warranty. I also had trouble from the start with the thumb foot peddle hydraulic control. It would not reliably pop back to an "off" position. At first I thought the linkage was just cruded up, but after more investigation it became clear that the control valve was sticking. My dealer was very helpful in walking me through a few experiments to see if we could free up the valve, but they did not work and Bradco just sent a replacement valve. I installed it the other day and it works great. This particular hoe sat in the dealer's yard for some time before I bought it and I think that valve just got cruded up.

Now that the valve is working, however, I have another problem. While diging out a big rock I managed to clamp the rock against the thumb cylinder and crack the welded hydraulic line fitting. The rock protruded just right, and next thing I knew hydrailic fluid was spraying all over the place. This one was all my fault and I'm still trying to sort out whether it can be welded or if I should just replace the cylinder. In the mean time I have removed the cylinder and pinned up the thumb.

I also just finished swapping out the seat on the backhoe. I'm 6' 2" and have long legs and the seating position is pretty cramped for me. I don't fit in a lot of cars either. Plus, I'm not a super flexible person (no Yoga here) and my legs just don't bend the right way to sit comfortably and operate the thumb foot peddle. I found a seat that sits up almost 8-10 inches higher than the original and it's a much more comfortable position now. I'll be doing more digging in the next weeks and will get some real seat time on it.

So, I've had some backhoe issues, but two are my problems, not the backhoes, one was shipping/handling damage and was taken care of, and the other was a left-out-and-not-used-for-too-long issue and was taken care of.

As for operations and performance, I remain very happy. I love the extra reach of the 11' hoe, and the digging power is the most you can get without going to a dedicated TLB or excavator.

Oh, one other thing - I figured out how to attach the hoe without dismantling and removing the tractor 3PH. All that was needed was to replace the two pins/cotter pins that anchor the sway links with a pin that has a handle on the end and can take a snap clip so it can be removed easily. To put on the hoe, you pull the two new pins and bring the draws bars and swaylinks together in a bundle and strap them with a bungie. In this position they fit easily in the space between the 4 point hoe mount frame. There is even room to leave the hydraulic top link attached. This makes getting the hoe on and off MUCH easier.

I've only used the chipper a few times, but so far so good. The larger chipper coupled with 50 PTO HP kicks butt. However, we did manage to feed it some real big hard maple and get the feed control to pause a few times to let the tractor catch up.

The quick-hitch loader is excellent too. It's great being able to switch easily between the bucket, forks, and grapple.

I haven't used the mower yet, and probably won't until July after the ground nesting birds have done their thing and are out of the grass. That should be around the 200 hr report card if thinks keep going as they have......

 

[hayden]

I find it a bit odd I have to say that Kubota set the GL up to record the actual clock time. I thought the hrs at PTO speed was a more accurate indication of how much work the engine has actually done.

I had really gotten used to the "rev counter" too, and still find the actual clock takes getting used to. I think as machinery gets bigger and is more likely to be used for commercial work the more likely the clock will be a real clock so it can be used to keep track of work hours for billing. My dozer, for example, is a real clock. I don't know about other construction equipment, but I expect it's all real clock time.

 

[hayden]

Wow, it's been a long time. Three years since this thread.

I remain very happy with the tractor and implements. The ultimate test is that I'm not feeling any lust for something else .

I did, however, recently sell the Bradco backhoe attachment and got a mini excavator. I continue to believe the Bradco is the best tractor-attached backhoe out there, but it's still night and day compared to an excavator. The maneuverability of the excavator I think is what trumps all.

I also sold my grapple. I know many people love them, but I found I was using mine very, very little. Pulling stumps and roots is better done with the backhoe or excavator, I prefer moving logs with forks, and brush I just mow down.