I took delivery of a new L3901 HST today, with 5' medium duty cutter (RCR1860), 5' box blade (BB1260), and quick hitch (QH10). I went with R4 tires, and will be getting SSQA to swap for the pin-on bucket as soon as available. I plan to get some rear ballast and would like to add some pallet forks soon. Longer term wish list includes adding another loader valve and grapple. I put about 3.5 hours on it this afternoon doing some much needed bush hogging, and it performed amazingly well. I'm a first time tractor buyer and still new to this machine, but what a fantastic tool! I've read enough posts to know that newbies are supposed to post pics, but I'll have to take an IOU on that.
I took in a lot of great advice over the past several weeks as a guest to this forum, browsing many of the past 'which model should I buy?' threads. I decided that as a new owner, I should jump on board as a member to share my experiences and continue to learn from you all - this is a great community.
I'll share some of the factors that led me to choose the L3901 over an L2501 or L3301. I hope this post might be helpful to someone else facing a similar decision.
I was very interested in the L2501 because it's a great value in my opinion - L series frame/weight with HP low enough to not need DPF while still offering decent power, as well as good torque and traction. I like the L2501 a lot, and it probably would've been a good tractor for me and likely would've met many of my needs. But, ultimately I decided to go with an l3901 instead, and here are the main reasons:
One of my uses is bush hogging, sometimes thick/tall grass and woody growth, with some slopes. I wanted a 5' cutter because of the L's frame size, and although I read posts from several people who have had good experiences running a 5' cutter on the L2501, I was concerned that the combination of thick undergrowth and hills might lead to underpowered situations. On top of that, I liked the larger gear box and heavier gauge steel of the medium duty rotary cutter. I could've lived with a light duty cutter if I'd gone with the L2501, but jumping up to a 3301 or 3901 gave me the opportunity to get the heavier cutter without concern of being PTO HP-limited.
Although the L2501 is a good value, any new tractor was going to be a big investment for me. It takes such a chunk of money to get into this game at all, so even though the L3301 and L3901 were more $$, I decided I'd rather spend roughly 15% more for an L3301, or an additional 10% above the 3301 for an L3901, than buy a tractor that I wasn't completely sure would meet my PTO HP needs. The idea of spending thousands and then finding that I didn't have a machine that did all I wanted was a risk I didn't want to take. My needs were near the top of the L2501's capabilities, and I'd rather spend a bit more to ensure I had enough PTO HP.
I'm not a fan of Tier 4 and DPF, but they don't scare me either. I liked the simplicity and lower maintenance costs of no DPF and hoped to find that the L2501 would meet my needs. But after doing my homework, i don't think it would have. There don't appear to be issues with DPF so far on the L series, and they've been out long enough that if there was going to be a B3350-type issue with them, we'd know it by now. There is still a risk that problems could crop up, or that the DPFs won't meet their estimated 3000 hour life, but for me that risk was smaller than the risk of finding that the L2501 didn't meet my PTO HP needs. I think over time DPF will become the new normal and we'll chuckle at the 'old days' and struggle to remember what all the fuss was about with Tier 4 and DPF. Not that there won't be issues here and there along the way as the technology matures -- some of those issues being significant, like the B3350 -- but I don't think Tier 4 will present a problem for most tractors. People took a while to warm up to automatic, driverless building elevators too, but they turned out to be OK
Since the L2501 was close to meeting my needs, you might wonder why I didn't go with the L3301. That's a valid question, and perhaps I should have and saved some money. But for me, once I crossed the threshold into the DPF-equipped machines, I decided why not go ahead and get the L3901. Hopefully this first tractor is the last tractor purchase I'll make, so I decided to go for the 3901. I'm sure I would have been happy with the 3301 too, but after a few hours on it I love the 3901. And I don't anticipate ever asking myself "What if I had a few less HP?"
If you're in the market for one of the small L series, I hope this post has helped you think of some of the factors to consider. I don't think you can really go wrong with any of these L series tractors as long as you carefully consider your unique needs and match them up with the models. For example, if you have lighter duty PTO applications or plan to mainly do loader work, the L2501 would be a great machine at a good price in my opinion.
I took in a lot of great advice over the past several weeks as a guest to this forum, browsing many of the past 'which model should I buy?' threads. I decided that as a new owner, I should jump on board as a member to share my experiences and continue to learn from you all - this is a great community.
I'll share some of the factors that led me to choose the L3901 over an L2501 or L3301. I hope this post might be helpful to someone else facing a similar decision.
I was very interested in the L2501 because it's a great value in my opinion - L series frame/weight with HP low enough to not need DPF while still offering decent power, as well as good torque and traction. I like the L2501 a lot, and it probably would've been a good tractor for me and likely would've met many of my needs. But, ultimately I decided to go with an l3901 instead, and here are the main reasons:
One of my uses is bush hogging, sometimes thick/tall grass and woody growth, with some slopes. I wanted a 5' cutter because of the L's frame size, and although I read posts from several people who have had good experiences running a 5' cutter on the L2501, I was concerned that the combination of thick undergrowth and hills might lead to underpowered situations. On top of that, I liked the larger gear box and heavier gauge steel of the medium duty rotary cutter. I could've lived with a light duty cutter if I'd gone with the L2501, but jumping up to a 3301 or 3901 gave me the opportunity to get the heavier cutter without concern of being PTO HP-limited.
Although the L2501 is a good value, any new tractor was going to be a big investment for me. It takes such a chunk of money to get into this game at all, so even though the L3301 and L3901 were more $$, I decided I'd rather spend roughly 15% more for an L3301, or an additional 10% above the 3301 for an L3901, than buy a tractor that I wasn't completely sure would meet my PTO HP needs. The idea of spending thousands and then finding that I didn't have a machine that did all I wanted was a risk I didn't want to take. My needs were near the top of the L2501's capabilities, and I'd rather spend a bit more to ensure I had enough PTO HP.
I'm not a fan of Tier 4 and DPF, but they don't scare me either. I liked the simplicity and lower maintenance costs of no DPF and hoped to find that the L2501 would meet my needs. But after doing my homework, i don't think it would have. There don't appear to be issues with DPF so far on the L series, and they've been out long enough that if there was going to be a B3350-type issue with them, we'd know it by now. There is still a risk that problems could crop up, or that the DPFs won't meet their estimated 3000 hour life, but for me that risk was smaller than the risk of finding that the L2501 didn't meet my PTO HP needs. I think over time DPF will become the new normal and we'll chuckle at the 'old days' and struggle to remember what all the fuss was about with Tier 4 and DPF. Not that there won't be issues here and there along the way as the technology matures -- some of those issues being significant, like the B3350 -- but I don't think Tier 4 will present a problem for most tractors. People took a while to warm up to automatic, driverless building elevators too, but they turned out to be OK
Since the L2501 was close to meeting my needs, you might wonder why I didn't go with the L3301. That's a valid question, and perhaps I should have and saved some money. But for me, once I crossed the threshold into the DPF-equipped machines, I decided why not go ahead and get the L3901. Hopefully this first tractor is the last tractor purchase I'll make, so I decided to go for the 3901. I'm sure I would have been happy with the 3301 too, but after a few hours on it I love the 3901. And I don't anticipate ever asking myself "What if I had a few less HP?"
If you're in the market for one of the small L series, I hope this post has helped you think of some of the factors to consider. I don't think you can really go wrong with any of these L series tractors as long as you carefully consider your unique needs and match them up with the models. For example, if you have lighter duty PTO applications or plan to mainly do loader work, the L2501 would be a great machine at a good price in my opinion.
