Can a L2501 Lift a 1200lb large bale 6 inches off of the ground.

[Goz63]

I think you should get a bale and see what it does. I get hay cubes, which are 21x65lb bales banded together. This fall I will be seeing what number the tractor will lift and just move 30ft into the barn. All flat ground. Environment will play a factor.

 

[Luckyman84]

I certainly won't preach that he not try it with the loader, especially if he is lifting so close to the ground, just to do so very carefully until he finds out the limits of both he and the tractor. If you guys haven't seen it, NetMagi did a very interesting test and posted his results here and on YouTube. While I'm not advocating that you raise your hydraulic pressure as he did, what I appreciate the most about his experiment was that he showed real world numbers on his loader's performance using a crane scale and pallet forks. I would recommend checking it out, it's an interesting read and or watch.

 

[Nicfin36]

I certainly won't preach that he not try it with the loader, especially if he is lifting so close to the ground, just to do so very carefully until he finds out the limits of both he and the tractor. If you guys haven't seen it, NetMagi did a very interesting test and posted his results here and on YouTube. While I'm not advocating that you raise your hydraulic pressure as he did, what I appreciate the most about his experiment was that he showed real world numbers on his loader's performance using a crane scale and pallet forks. I would recommend checking it out, it's an interesting read and or watch.

Messick's also has a video showing a L3901 exceeding 1800 lbs on their test scale, and the loader was about mid height at start of test. Also, the L3901 had a land leveler on it for ballast and they parked the rear or another tractor on the land leveler, so it wasn't going anywhere. (4:00 mark)

 

[jimh406]

I watch youtube probably more than I should. L1s definitely lift some pretty large round bales in some of the videos. My neighbor feeds his steers with round bales with his L3400. I haven’t asked him if he had an issue or not. He regularly moves them on his property which is hilly. He doesn’t move them very far.

That being said, there is a big difference between barely moving a large round and doing it over and over in all types of weather. Also, round bales can vary a lot depending on if they are dry or not and how tight they were baled.

I would have bought an MX if I was going to feed or regularly move large round bales. I have another issue as well living on a slope. It seems to me that square bales would be much safer to move and eliminate the possibility of rolling down my hill only to be stopped by a tree or other large object like a house/barn.

 

[nbryan]

Kubota L2501 LA525 Front Loader Specifications
No code has to be inserted here.

 

[BigG]

It is amazing to me how you think that it is safe to use a small tractor to move a large round bale. Sitting on a dry flat piece of ground and lifting a round bale is not the same as trying to pick up a round bale and move it thru the mud and snow to feed in the middle of the winter.

A very good friend and a very good farmer that I grew up working with and for was severely injured by a round bale. It ended up killing him. They were moving round bales with a New Holland TL80A at 8000 plus pounds and a FEL capacity of nearly 5000 pounds. And yet the bale got away from them and pinned the man against the barn.



The L2501 MAY VERY WELL lift the bale but it is too small narrow and light to use as a feeding tractor. You might get away with it but it is not a good practice.


I can drive a 16 penny nail with a 12 ounce hammer. But a 24 ounce framing hammer will do a better job.

JMHO

 

[jimh406]

It is amazing to me how you think that it is safe to use a small tractor to move a large round bale.

Who is “you”?

It seems like most are saying don’t do it.

 

[Tornado]

The L2501 MAY VERY WELL lift the bale but it is too small narrow and light to use as a feeding tractor. You might get away with it but it is not a good practice.


I can drive a 16 penny nail with a 12 ounce hammer. But a 24 ounce framing hammer will do a better job.

JMHO

You of course are entitled to your opinion. My opinion is that you are making moving a round bale far more dramatic than it needs to be.

This has been a sticking point with me on these forums since I joined. Someone posts a thread asking a specific question, and everyone responds with stuff thats totally irrelevent to the mans question. The person who created this thread asked can an L2501 Lift a 1200lb Round Bale 6 inches off the ground. Period. The answer to his question is 100% yes it will lift that bale 6 inches off the ground without even much strain on the tractor. 1200lbs at 6 inches is roughly only half the loader capacity at that height. I would also argue that most round bales are not actually 1200lbs. I bet if you weighed most of them they would come in under that, but even if they didnt. YES the L2501 will lift it. Yes you can use the L2501 to move round bales with the FEL. It is 100% safe to do so.

Why do we insist as a community on seemingly always giving lackluster advice to people who ask basic questions. I would hate to know that this person would take all this advice and then go look for some other way to move his round bales because people on these forums made him think his L2501 couldnt move them with the FEL. I bet if he ever tires to do it, and once he realizes how easy the tractor handles it, he will wonder why he got all these responses. Some folks even suggesting expensive trailers and junk just to move a round bale. What the guy is trying to do is 100% within spec of the tractor and the loader he already owns. Someone even posted a video of the exact loader on a near identical capacity tractor lifting bales not just 6 inches but stacking them... Why are we making him think otherwise? Or suggesting he needs another piece of equipment for this task? OP if you ever come back to this thread do yourself a favor and ignore the replies here. Go look at your LA525 loader owners manual. Look up the loader capacity charts, then make your decision. Or, just go buy you some hay spikes for the loader and start moving round bales, because you wont have a bit of trouble.

When you do buy the spikes and move them without issue, please respond back here and let people know your tractor did it and it was much less dramatic than anticipated.

 

[BigG]

You of course are entitled to your opinion. My opinion is that you are making moving a round bale far more dramatic than it needs to be.

This has been a sticking point with me on these forums since I joined. Someone posts a thread asking a specific question, and everyone responds with stuff thats totally irrelevent to the mans question. The person who created this thread asked can an L2501 Lift a 1200lb Round Bale 6 inches off the ground. Period. The answer to his question is 100% yes it will lift that bale 6 inches off the ground without even much strain on the tractor. 1200lbs at 6 inches is roughly only half the loader capacity at that height. I would also argue that most round bales are not actually 1200lbs. I bet if you weighed most of them they would come in under that, but even if they didnt. YES the L2501 will lift it. Yes you can use the L2501 to move round bales with the FEL. It is 100% safe to do so.
Why do we insist as a community on seemingly always giving lackluster advice to people who ask basic questions. I would hate to know that this person would take all this advice and then go look for some other way to move his round bales because people on these forums made him think his L2501 couldnt move them with the FEL. I bet if he ever tires to do it, and once he realizes how easy the tractor handles it, he will wonder why he got all these responses. Some folks even suggesting expensive trailers and junk just to move a round bale. What the guy is trying to do is 100% within spec of the tractor and the loader he already owns. Someone even posted a video of the exact loader on a near identical capacity tractor lifting bales not just 6 inches but stacking them... Why are we making him think otherwise? Or suggesting he needs another piece of equipment for this task? OP if you ever come back to this thread do yourself a favor and ignore the replies here. Go look at your LA525 loader owners manual. Look up the loader capacity charts, then make your decision. Or, just go buy you some hay spikes for the loader and start moving round bales, because you wont have a bit of trouble.When you do buy the spikes and move them without issue, please respond back here and let people know your tractor did it and it was much less dramatic than anticipated.

Let me think for a moment, why would someone want to pick up a round bale with a tractor? Just maybe, maybe to move it? And if you go back and look I said that it would pick it up. I also questioned should you use it to pick it up.

After growing up in Southeastern Ohio on some pretty step hills and some pretty cold winters with just a little bit of mud snow and ice. Trying to feed cattle when then ground is frozen and the top layer of the earth is a wet snotty sticky mud that you could hardly drive through with out a bale on the FEL let alone a 1200 pound bale on a 2600 pound tractor I used a little judgement to state that the tractor is to small for that amount of weight.

If you would be so kind as to open the operators manual to page 4 the lift capacity at 1500 mm at the pivot point is 1431 pounds while the tractor owner's manual states the maximum lift capacity is 1014 pounds on page 7. Kubota can not agree with itself about the capcity.. Nowhere does it give 2000 pounds for a lifting capacity. The break out number is 2000 plus but that is not a lifting capacity. So I do not know how you state that you lift and work with a 2000 pound load but if you can and want to do it good for you.

I owned and used a 1528 Massey. Very close in size to my L2501 with just a small increase in HP. I used it and I used it hard. I did some tree work and used it to cut and bale hay. The front axle broke out from under it 3 times. The gear on the PTO shaft broke off and the rear axle housing failed on it. Yet I never abused it but the tractor was limited to what it could withstand over time. As will any tractor.

Buying a smaller bale that the tractor can handle a bit easier might coast him a few dollars more per a ton of hay but it will save him money by saving the wear and tear on the tractor.

And here is a quote from a guy with a L3301 as his video was about moving round bales with a rear spear. "I got on the tractor and turned the RPM's way up and I ripped the hole back end of the tractor off"


This is the link for his video:

And my last question is if you pay for a 1200 pound bale and it does not weigh 1200 pounds why would you continue to buy them?

So I will apologize if my sharing my experiences offends you. I would hate to see someone overwork his tractor causing damage to the tractor or injury to someone. That is why I answered the OP's question the way I did.

 

[Jchonline]

You of course are entitled to your opinion. My opinion is that you are making moving a round bale far more dramatic than it needs to be.

This has been a sticking point with me on these forums since I joined. Someone posts a thread asking a specific question, and everyone responds with stuff thats totally irrelevent to the mans question. The person who created this thread asked can an L2501 Lift a 1200lb Round Bale 6 inches off the ground. Period. The answer to his question is 100% yes it will lift that bale 6 inches off the ground without even much strain on the tractor. 1200lbs at 6 inches is roughly only half the loader capacity at that height. I would also argue that most round bales are not actually 1200lbs. I bet if you weighed most of them they would come in under that, but even if they didnt. YES the L2501 will lift it. Yes you can use the L2501 to move round bales with the FEL. It is 100% safe to do so.

Why do we insist as a community on seemingly always giving lackluster advice to people who ask basic questions. I would hate to know that this person would take all this advice and then go look for some other way to move his round bales because people on these forums made him think his L2501 couldnt move them with the FEL. I bet if he ever tires to do it, and once he realizes how easy the tractor handles it, he will wonder why he got all these responses. Some folks even suggesting expensive trailers and junk just to move a round bale. What the guy is trying to do is 100% within spec of the tractor and the loader he already owns. Someone even posted a video of the exact loader on a near identical capacity tractor lifting bales not just 6 inches but stacking them... Why are we making him think otherwise? Or suggesting he needs another piece of equipment for this task? OP if you ever come back to this thread do yourself a favor and ignore the replies here. Go look at your LA525 loader owners manual. Look up the loader capacity charts, then make your decision. Or, just go buy you some hay spikes for the loader and start moving round bales, because you wont have a bit of trouble.

When you do buy the spikes and move them without issue, please respond back here and let people know your tractor did it and it was much less dramatic than anticipated.

May I ask how many bales you have moved? What have your experiences been moving bales? It sounds like you just look at a manual lift curves and say “yes its fine” which is unsafe. You haven’t considered ballast, terrain, transport length, actual lift height throughout this entire process.

First you might think looking at that curve in the manual that you can lift 2200#.

https://www.rentalex.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/op-man-la525.pdf

That would be a very big mistake. That curve is at the pin. A bale will stick out 5 or 6 feet. This is WAY past the pin.
This is why we comment. Common sense would dictate there is NO ONE on the planet that is just lifting a bale 6 inches off the ground then setting it right back down.

The OP might have no experience with transporting bales. I learned the hard way….trying to lift and move bales with small machines. You quickly start to feel just how far that weight is out front of the machine and how much it unbalances the tractor. It just isnt safe. We don’t do “hold my beer and watch this” very often when someone can get killed. You may think that is an overreaction but farming is a dangerous business. That said OP can make their own decisions.

 

[Tornado]

Not going to argue, as is often common on these forums - getting into pissing matches over basic daily tasks like this. Some people are overly cautious and think of every reason why something shouldnt be done. Others, like myself, are simple realists. I will simply restate my point to the OP that I think if he gets a hay spike for the FEL, he will find he can do what he wants with his hay bales pretty easily. He asked if his tractor could lift them, obviously to move them. We could think of 100 scenarios why he cant and shouldn't do so. What if he is on a steep hill, in a blizzard, with ice covering the ground...we can envision scenarios of the tractor tipping over, crushing him, killing someone, all manner of terrible tragedy and drama. Or, we can think of the most likely scenario - that he just go fork the bale and drive it across his field and drops it where he wants it. Dont go waste money on something else just to move your bales. The L2501 you own will do it for you, and likely how you want to do it. Just use basic common sense and you will be just fine.

 

[Ikc1990]

Not going to argue, as is often common on these forums - getting into pissing matches over basic daily tasks like this. Some people are overly cautious and think of every reason why something shouldnt be done. Others, like myself, are simple realists. I will simply restate my point to the OP that I think if he gets a hay spike for the FEL, he will find he can do what he wants with his hay bales pretty easily. He asked if his tractor could lift them, obviously to move them. We could think of 100 scenarios why he cant and shouldn't do so. What if he is on a steep hill, in a blizzard, with ice covering the ground...we can envision scenarios of the tractor tipping over, crushing him, killing someone, all manner of terrible tragedy and drama. Or, we can think of the most likely scenario - that he just go fork the bale and drive it across his field and drops it where he wants it. Dont go waste money on something else just to move your bales. The L2501 you own will do it for you, and likely how you want to do it. Just use basic common sense and you will be just fine.

Well said tornado like I stated uneven muddy icy terrain hilly slopy. And I move round bales with by kubota b2710 no issues. I just watch and am careful what I do, and how i do it?

 

[Tornado]

Well said tornado like I stated uneven muddy icy terrain hilly slopy. And I move round bales with by kubota b2710 no issues. I just watch and am careful what I do, and how i do it?

Yep, you should always employ basic common sense. I don't think anyone here would argue against that. I would for example always suggest to the OP in this case that when moving these bales he should keep them low to the ground while moving them from one place to another, because that's good common sense. If you're moving a lot of bales I would even suggest a rear ballast.

I've moved ~2,000lb log loads with my L2501 FEL - same tractor as the OP here. When I move these loads though I make sure to keep them low to the ground, often just 6 or 8 inches high. If you keep the lifting under 3 feet or so the L2501 can lift a lot of weight. I posted the lifting capacity curves in a previous post, and it shows the lifting capacity both at the pin and 500mm forward of the pin.

 

[minthral]

Lots of 'theory talk' on forums...

I don't move round bales, but from my practical experience using pallet forks (48 inch wooden pallet loaded evenly), my L3301 CAN move ~2000 LB of material off the ground some inches. Around this amount of weight, the curl function loses steam, so you must plan for that (it wont curl while lifted).

Normal 'comfortable transport height' is less than ~2 feet and ~1500 LB is doable. It can unload and move a ~1000 LB skid from a ~4 feet high truck bed. Moving ~1000 LB is EASY, but lift starts to max out if you try lifting too high.

Again these numbers are for using pallet forks. I have been unable to put anything in the bucket that it can't lift to max height... the limitation is the amount of material the bucket can hold and not lift. It holds ~ 10 cubic feet completely heaped to top...or 8 cubic feet more realistically. The heaviest thing you could put in there is gravel, which is ~100 LB per cubic foot and then you're still around 800-1000 LB which is in the LA525 max lift height spec. Any type of soil or other material will be lighter.

With a backhoe for ballast and tires filled, it has the power and stability to move this weight on a slope less than 10 degrees, however at 15 degree+ I wouldn't feel comfortable...though at this type of steep slope I'm not too comfortable driving a tractor on it period.

The lift charts from the LA525 manual are posted in this thread. Those numbers include the ~350 LB bucket, which they assume is used (not pallet forks). If you're moving with a bale spear, I'm sure that weighs less than a bucket, but it will be further out than the specs.

The L2501 is basically same tractor with only slightly less pressure for reduced loader capacity.

In summary, with proper ballast, these tractors can move a ~1200 LB round bale no problem. They wont be able to lift it to max height though. I think people are looking at the loader spec and forgetting that it actually lifts more...the spec is for MAX height.

The talk of 'well if can do it, but is it safe' is silly. The loader was designed to match the capability of the tractor so if it can lift it, it is safe. If it can't lift it or you have a more powerful aftermarket loader (or mod it by increasing pressure), then it becomes unsafe. They key part is you HAVE to have ~800 LB rear ballast (pref + tires filled)... putting a 300 LB box blade in the back and using some ag tires wont work well.

Last point about any other 'is it safe talk,' is an L2501/3301/3901 weighs around ~4000 LB with loader and filled tires. Add at least around 1000 for subframe/backhoe or whatever you got on 3PT. That's a 5000 LB tractor and question is can move a 1200 LB object out front...physics of this says yes and question becomes more if the loader is designed to be capable of it. Kubota designed the loader to be capable well under the limit of the tractor once its ballasted (without ballast, it will easily overwhelm the tractor). So basically if the hydraulics run out of steam, it's not safe to move it. If hydraulics DONT run out of steam and you have proper ballast, its safe to move it.

L2501 is marketed as an entry to moving round bales. It's the smallest tractor in the lineup that can do it. What I see is often people with bigger equipment underestimate smaller tractors and are always surprised when they see what they are capable of. The L series is NOT a tiny subcompact tractor...and even those are capable of much more than people think.

 

[Goz63]

I think you should get a bale and see what it does. I get hay cubes, which are 21x65lb bales banded together. This fall I will be seeing what number the tractor will lift and just move 30ft into the barn. All flat ground. Environment will play a factor.

Well this was my post then, this is now. No sweat.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Well this was my post then, this is now. No sweat. View attachment 72751

Don't know why I read this thread, but I was going to suggest making sure the lift cylinders were in the 'power' holes. Someone above posted the chart with both curves, but your picture doesn't seem to show but one set. I wonder if they've modified the design?

 

[minthral]

Don't know why I read this thread, but I was going to suggest making sure the lift cylinders were in the 'power' holes. Someone above posted the chart with both curves, but your picture doesn't seem to show but one set. I wonder if they've modified the design?

? Wut ?

 

[PoTreeBoy]

My guess is it probably can do it. The loader lift specs for getting something a few inches off the ground can be pretty surprising.

However, you'd really be taxing/overdoing it on your machine. If it were me, from a safety and not abusing my equipment standpoint, I would go with the smaller bails or come up with an alternative strategy (3 point, etc).

? Wut ?

My bad. I thought the 2 curves on the graph showed the capacity at 2 cylinder positions. (Probably showing cap. at the pins and at 24"?)
Some loaders have 2 places the cylinder can be pinned - one gives higher lift and one gives more weight capacity. This may be only on the larger loaders like the LA1154 below.

 

[greg86z28]

My bad. I thought the 2 curves on the graph showed the capacity at 2 cylinder positions. (Probably showing cap. at the pins and at 24"?)
Some loaders have 2 places the cylinder can be pinned - one gives higher lift and one gives more weight capacity. This may be only on the larger loaders like the LA1154 below.

View attachment 72812 View attachment 72812

Hey that's pretty cool.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Hay Goz63..
gotta ask, did you defeat the seat switch ?? cause HOW do you see 'over' the load ! My luck, engine would shut off EVERY time I'd get up to make sure the way is clear.
also , are those a bunch of small squares ? maybe 12 ??