Are you happy with the hydraulic lift capacity of your Kubota?

[thedevilyoulove]

I have an L3901 and although I really LOVE the tractor overall, the one thing that disappoints me is the lift capacity of the factory kubota LA525 FEL. It seems like it should lift A LOT more than it does. The other day I sold a two bottom plow and lifted it into a pickup truck. The plow prolly weighed about 350 pounds, not too stupid heavy. I had to lift it a good ways up to get in into a 3/4 ton 4x4 truck, loader was prolly 3/4 up as far as it would go, and I started to lose power steering. Seems like that should been an easy lift for the tractor considering there are guys with backhoes on smaller units.

Are my expectations too high?

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[85Hokie]

something aint right ifn your calc's are correct :

FEL

Lift to full height (at pin): 1131 lbs [513 kg]
Lift to full height (at 500mm): 855 lbs [387 k]

 

[thedevilyoulove]

something aint right ifn your calc's are correct :

FEL

Lift to full height (at pin): 1131 lbs [513 kg]
Lift to full height (at 500mm): 855 lbs [387 k]

Ah, maybe the issue is that the forks are so long, the physics of having all the load at the end of the long forks makes the load feel way heavier to the loader. 500mm is only 20 inches, the plow was prolly 2.5-3 feet past the pin.

 

[Benhameen]

Something seems off, I have lifted my 6ft tiller onto a trailer numerous times and the only issue I've had is that I didn't have enough weight on the backend of the tractor. I'm assuming the tiller weighs more than a two bottom plow.

 

[bcp]

Mine has about half your lift, but keeps impressing me.

Brush cutter, and 600+ pounds of blocks to full height.

Bruce

 

[D2Cat]

An old 2 bottom Dearborn plow will weigh in the neighborhood of 300# max, even rust and loaded with dirt! Probably closer to 225-250.

I loaded a New Englander stove last fall with my B8200 that probably weighed twice the weight of a 2 bottom plow. I couldn't even scoot it by hand on smooth concrete.

You have something not functioning correctly. I'd be disappointed to.

 

[meackerman]

you running the tractor at a reasonably high RPM?
I noticed the other day pulling t-posts out of the ground that one of them wasn't budging....then realized I didn't increase the RPM's after hooking the chain on it. Ramped up the RPM's and the post came flying out of the ground.

 

[cerlawson]

Look at the dimensions of the loader arms, the lever arm distance for the hydraulic cylinder's and the load at different positions. At lower position, adding to the lever arm for the weight to the end of the forks is a much lower percentage of the lever arm when at the pins than at top positron where the lever arm of the pins to the hinge is much smaller, making that added lever arm to the end of the forks maybe twice or more of the pin lever arm. At full height even the cylinder's lever arm is much smaller there.

However, the hydraulic pump doesn't care where the arms are and it only is involved with resistance and flow rate. This then sounds like loss of pressure is more due to a leak somewhere, as in the cylinders or a weak pump.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Brand and model of the forks?

My bet is the forks appear to be very long and heavy, that alone will drop your lift amount tremendously!
They appear to be true skid steer forks and will very easily out do the loaders capacity.

If you really want to make sure the loader is functioning up to par, get a hydraulic pressure gauge and test the pressure.

 

[TripleR]

Pretty much what North Idaho Wolfman, I use the same 48" forks on my 5740 as well as M8540 and was a bit surprised on how much it affects load capacity loading further out. I had my pressures check and they were fine, so I'd look at both.

It appears there are two loaders available for that tractor, the one you have and a LA765.

 

[dennyf]

I wasn't impressed with the lifting capacity of my L3901 either. My pressure relief valve was set right at 2000 psi, so after measuring I bumped it up to 2700 psi..quite a difference! You need to move you load toward the tractor away from the tips of the forks for max lift. Now I had to build a 1000 lb ballast box to counter the logs I'm picking up.

 

[MadMax31]

The forks are the problem. These FEL are not in the same class as Wheel Loaders or Backhoes. Having 350 lbs 3 feet from the loader arm ends is like having 1800 lbs right at the pins. My little B is rated at 770? So I ditched the QA idea as it would only derate my already weak FEL.

My next Bota will be the largest HST L-Cab I can afford. FEL around 2K lbs should suffice what I intend to do with it.

 

[Bulldog]

Not only the fork length but look how far the forks mount. From that angle it appears the QA sets the back plate another foot forward. It may not really be a foot but it's obvious it's a long way from the loader arm pins.

 

[thedevilyoulove]

Brand and model of the forks?

My bet is the forks appear to be very long and heavy, that alone will drop your lift amount tremendously!
They appear to be true skid steer forks and will very easily out do the loaders capacity.

If you really want to make sure the loader is functioning up to par, get a hydraulic pressure gauge and test the pressure.

Good point, the forks themselves are quite hefty. Easily +200 pounds

 

[thedevilyoulove]

I wasn't impressed with the lifting capacity of my L3901 either. My pressure relief valve was set right at 2000 psi, so after measuring I bumped it up to 2700 psi..quite a difference! You need to move you load toward the tractor away from the tips of the forks for max lift. Now I had to build a 1000 lb ballast box to counter the logs I'm picking up.

I'll look into that. Is it safe? Seems like they would do that at the factory if it was recommended by Kubota?

 

[chieffan]

Brand and model of the forks?

My bet is the forks appear to be very long and heavy, that alone will drop your lift amount tremendously!
They appear to be true skid steer forks and will very easily out do the loaders capacity.

If you really want to make sure the loader is functioning up to par, get a hydraulic pressure gauge and test the pressure.

My opinion also. It all about leverage. Look at it this way. Lift a 50 lb weight with your hand. No problem. Now take a 2' rod and put the weight on one end and lift it with both hand on the other end of the rod. Won't work so well. Same thing with your loader.

 

[lugbolt]

The LA525's lift capacity is 1050 lbs, measured at the bucket pivot pin. The further away from the pin, the less the lift capacity. This is a somewhat common question I get from owners especially with quick-attach implements such as forks. Forks put the load a long way out. It's a tractor, not a fork lift...I know one guy who has turned his tractor over by lifting a pallet full of landscape rocks about 5 feet high and trying to drive the tractor around like that. Oh and on that note, if you turn an L3301 or L3901 (or any tractor with a DPF) over, the engine can run on it's own oil that is drawn in from the crankcase ventilation system, and if it does, it can't be shut off until it's either smothered out or the oil supply runs out...and in the process, it can coat the DPF with oil, basically ruining it. Expensive mistake, and please don't do it. That or make sure you have Kubota insurance.

OP mentioned that he lost power steering while lifting. The power steering is a separate system than the loader lift but shares the same sump. So this tells me that the entire hydrualic system has something going on. Kubota had a few L01 tractors that had issues with the hydraulic fluid and/or filters. Call your dealer with your serial number, tell them that your power steering is jerky and sometimes the loader acts up, and ask them to reference bulletin #PSB-2014-052 which addresses this issue on certain serial numbered tractors.

If yours is affected, Kubota will pay to have your hydraulic fluid and both filters (on HST's) or single filter (DT's) flushed and replaced, and make sure you ask the dealer to do it with Super UDT2 and not regular UDT since Kubota will pay for it no problem IF your tractor is affected.

 

[dennyf]

I'll look into that. Is it safe? Seems like they would do that at the factory if it was recommended by Kubota?

The factory pressure for the L3901 is 2410 PSI (from the shop manual). If you search for shimming pressure relief valve you will see that many people have been running 2700 PSI with no problem for years. I don't need that lifting power very often, but when I do I'll risk a possible broken hose.

 

[lugbolt]

I would not shim it any more than 2500 psi. I won't say why, you'll have to find out on your own. Kubota engineered the loader and tractor at a certain PSI for a reason....

If you need more lift capacity, a bigger tractor is right up your alley. Similar to using a crescent wrench to drive nails. Wrong tool.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I am late to this party but I agree with nearly everything that has been said. I posted a similar issue/discovery on the "What did you do with your Kubota today?" thread.

I just got a pair of pallet forks and would like to warn folks of a few things I learned:

1. Heavy forks eat into your lift capacity.
2. The moment arm created by adding the forks kills your lift capability.
3. Bolt-on fork arms will bend your lower bucket edge if you are not careful.

We have hauled nearly 35,000lbs of heavy stone over the last ten days with my L3800. We started out trying to put a couple of pieces flat on the pallet which is on the bolt-on forks. Very dangerous. We had maybe 800 lbs including pallet forks and lifting capacity was nearly gone and the flexing of the lower bucket lip was nasty. I thought for sure i was going to deform the bucket.

We changed our technique which now requires me and a helper to "dance" the pieces off the delivery pallet and onto a specially reinforced pallet where we lean the stone against the upper bucket edge. This gets the weight back to only 12-24" out in front of the bucket.... far less stress than before.

I have no idea what I'll use these forks for. The cannot lift anything heavy on a pallet. I have tons of stack stone going in and will have to break those pallets down as they weigh upwards of 1800 lbs, way more than what my capacity will allow with forks.

Ray