Initial implements for L3560LE?

[ScottHam]

Here is another question in connection with my upcoming purchase of a Kubota 2501HST with FEL and 3rd function valve. I'm planning for R4 tires and rear wheel spacers. The primary intended use for my tractor is brush clearing and road maintenance. My property here in the Texas hill country is rocky and hilly, and my half-mile driveway is narrow and curvy and fairly steep in some places. The steep places are paved, and the rest is caliche/gravel/dirt. The brush consists of juniper/cedar bushes/trees including little saplings up to ~16-inch trunks.

Implement considerations:
Grapple - I've already received some excellent advice regarding types of grapples and their uses. Thank you to all who have commented.

Rear blade vs box blade - Given how curvy and hilly my driveway is, I'm leaning toward a rear blade because it seems like it will better pull the gravel back onto the road, but I am open to suggestions.

Tooth bar - I'm certainly going to be doing some digging in this rocky ground, and also hoping to tear out some saplings and bushes. Based on videos and comments I have seen the Piranha toothbar seems excellent for this sort of thing, but perhaps traditional teeth attached to my bucket is better.

Weights - I plan to get my rear tires filled, and will likely keep the rear blade on for additional rear weight......Not sure if I want to also get wheel weights or a ballast box.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

 

[jimh406]

I have a L2501HST as well. I prefer the grader/scraper(landplane) over the box blade. The advantage of the grader/scraper is that you don’t have to learn to nuance the lift to get a good result. Instead, you simply drive.

I do have a rear blade as well. I believe you can cut dirt/banks more accurately, and of course, many can be easily tilted to cut ditches. Do get a heavy enough rear blade though and wide enough to cover your tires. Also, do check out how easy it is to offset and angle from to back and top to bottom. My offset is almost unusable since I have to unbolt the blade to move it. That might not be an issue if it wasn’t heavy.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Here is another question in connection with my upcoming purchase of a Kubota 2501HST with FEL and 3rd function valve. I'm planning for R4 tires and rear wheel spacers. The primary intended use for my tractor is brush clearing and road maintenance. My property here in the Texas hill country is rocky and hilly, and my half-mile driveway is narrow and curvy and fairly steep in some places. The steep places are paved, and the rest is caliche/gravel/dirt. The brush consists of juniper/cedar bushes/trees including little saplings up to ~16-inch trunks.

Implement considerations:
Grapple - I've already received some excellent advice regarding types of grapples and their uses. Thank you to all who have commented.

Rear blade vs box blade - Given how curvy and hilly my driveway is, I'm leaning toward a rear blade because it seems like it will better pull the gravel back onto the road, but I am open to suggestions.

Tooth bar - I'm certainly going to be doing some digging in this rocky ground, and also hoping to tear out some saplings and bushes. Based on videos and comments I have seen the Piranha toothbar seems excellent for this sort of thing, but perhaps traditional teeth attached to my bucket is better.

Weights - I plan to get my rear tires filled, and will likely keep the rear blade on for additional rear weight......Not sure if I want to also get wheel weights or a ballast box.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

Kubota does not provide wheel weights for L01s with R4 tires. You have to have R1s for weights.

Dan

 

[JimmyJazz]

Those implements should keep you busy for years. Congratulations on your purchases, you will love having a Kubota.

 

[RalphVa]

Here is another question in connection with my upcoming purchase of a Kubota 2501HST with FEL and 3rd function valve. I'm planning for R4 tires and rear wheel spacers. The primary intended use for my tractor is brush clearing and road maintenance. My property here in the Texas hill country is rocky and hilly, and my half-mile driveway is narrow and curvy and fairly steep in some places. The steep places are paved, and the rest is caliche/gravel/dirt. The brush consists of juniper/cedar bushes/trees including little saplings up to ~16-inch trunks.

Implement considerations:
Grapple - I've already received some excellent advice regarding types of grapples and their uses. Thank you to all who have commented.

Rear blade vs box blade - Given how curvy and hilly my driveway is, I'm leaning toward a rear blade because it seems like it will better pull the gravel back onto the road, but I am open to suggestions.

Tooth bar - I'm certainly going to be doing some digging in this rocky ground, and also hoping to tear out some saplings and bushes. Based on videos and comments I have seen the Piranha toothbar seems excellent for this sort of thing, but perhaps traditional teeth attached to my bucket is better.

Weights - I plan to get my rear tires filled, and will likely keep the rear blade on for additional rear weight......Not sure if I want to also get wheel weights or a ballast box.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

If you have to grab/load tree parts and other stuff and don't have any help, a grapple is a big help to do by yourself.

The rear blade I have, a Frontier 5 footer, is way too light to do much other than to push or to pull snow. Great for that.

I'd vote for a Box blade for driveway work and would solve your perceived need for a tooth bar. Think the BB is much better for ripping stuff than a tooth bare. Just use without the rippers down for most driveway maintenance.

Definitely need filled tires. Rear blade isn't much weight. A BB is.

 

[jimh406]

Yeah, the R4 wheels don’t have weights. Fwiw, I usually leave my grader/scraper on when I’m doing loader work on uneven ground. I do have a ballast box, but it is almost never on. I find the width and weight of my grader/scraper adds a lot of stability that doesn’t exist with the ballast box.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Good day and congrats. I hope you are having fun. Personally I think a set of forks is most important and versatile attachment. If I only had money for one attachment it would bold be forks….you can lift logs/brush with forks but you can not move a pallet with a grapple very well. IMO. I use forks more than my bucket or grapple. Also depending on how you plan to use in addition to wheel weights and filling ballast box or something on the back is helpful. There are several links / strings you should be able to find with ideas…I think a ballast box is helpful if use forks or a grapple or a full bucket of wet soil sand or gravel…a ballast box combination as tool hauler (if going to cut wood and move logs with you grapple where will you put saw, tools and kit?) and a receiver for a trailer hitch is helpful built in to the box and or a separate carry all (helpful to have a receiver on this as well) but if you get a back blade it would work as well for ballast, but a blade will hang back a ways compared to a ballast box of tight quarters are a concern for you. Everyone has their own process and needs for implements…those are the couple I would be missing from your list. I hope this helps.

 

[woodman55]

If I could only have one attachment it would be pallet forks. There always seems to be something that needs to be moved.

 

[OrangeKrush]

If I could only have one attachment it would be pallet forks. There always seems to be something that needs to be moved.

I love my pallet forks but would trade em in on a grapple in a heart beat!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Here is another question in connection with my upcoming purchase of a Kubota 2501HST with FEL and 3rd function valve. I'm planning for R4 tires and rear wheel spacers. The primary intended use for my tractor is brush clearing and road maintenance. My property here in the Texas hill country is rocky and hilly, and my half-mile driveway is narrow and curvy and fairly steep in some places. The steep places are paved, and the rest is caliche/gravel/dirt. The brush consists of juniper/cedar bushes/trees including little saplings up to ~16-inch trunks.

Implement considerations:
Grapple - I've already received some excellent advice regarding types of grapples and their uses. Thank you to all who have commented.

Rear blade vs box blade - Given how curvy and hilly my driveway is, I'm leaning toward a rear blade because it seems like it will better pull the gravel back onto the road, but I am open to suggestions.

Tooth bar - I'm certainly going to be doing some digging in this rocky ground, and also hoping to tear out some saplings and bushes. Based on videos and comments I have seen the Piranha toothbar seems excellent for this sort of thing, but perhaps traditional teeth attached to my bucket is better.

Weights - I plan to get my rear tires filled, and will likely keep the rear blade on for additional rear weight......Not sure if I want to also get wheel weights or a ballast box.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

For your road, a land plane grading scraper (LPGS) will be the best implement for general maintenance of said road. But you may very well make good use of a rear blade dealing with the road.

A 5' or 6' LPGS as heavy as you can afford as well as a 7' rear blade also as heavy as you can afford. Be sure that the rear blade has a boom that pivots for the offset feature. Also be sure that the boom is long enough to allow for the blade to spin 360* while on the tractor. Get skid shoes if available for whatever blade you choose.

While a box blade is most definitely a useful implement and recommended to get at some time, not at the top of my list for road maintenance.

Good luck and enjoy the new equipment.

 

[old and tired]

Personally, I would skip the 3rd function valve and buy a 3 spool valve to operate a grapple and hydraulic top and side link. (might even save money and get more function). Wish I had those when I first bought the tractor. Makes learning how to use the box blade and the rear blade so much easier and quicker.

 

[Daferris]

I got my tires filled with RimGuard on the my LX2610 ( it has the bigger Std L series R4 tires 15-19.5) they hold about 310 pounds each of RimGuard and help a lot with traction and stability.
I also would strongly suggest getting 2 rear remotes in addition to the 3rd function for the loader.
Also if your looking at the L2501 take a look at the LX2610 (with the big tires) It has slightly less torque as it's a 3 vs 4 cylinder but the HP is the same and it's a nicer tractor to operate as the brakes are on the left.
The loader does not go as high but it lifts pretty much the same weight. Just my $0.02....

 

[bbxlr8]

FWIW - Way different state but very similar conditions w/ rocks & hills - I quickly ordered the pirana for the bucket (game changer) I thought I would get by with the bucket (no chance) and went with the 60" BB after my first real grading project. I have no experience with rear blade other than helping my friend use one for snow on an old ford... My vote is/was BB - I am 16 months in. Also I am very happy with the R14s.

• Grapple is 5 star in my book also.
• I am getting by manually but quickly appreciated the advice here re: top link (I will be adding it down the road but can't do rear side "tilt" due to BH)
• PF are on my wish list TBD

 

[ctfjr]

Having reached the point where it really is important to work smarter, not harder I now use:
Top N Tilt / Pats Easy Change - makes hook ups so easy on uneven ground, much more efficient with box blade or back blade

Although I have a set of forks I use the grapple 10X as much. There some times you can't beat forks tho (removing / reloading a 200lb borrowed power washer from / to the hatchback of my Mazda CX5)

The box blade is used mostly in maintaining my 500' gravel driveway or ripping clear areas in the woods.

The back blade, with offset, helps me to reposition new gravel to trim out the drive.

The grapple is my favorite to use. I move brush / trees in the woods, use it as a vise to buck firewood and move large rocks for clearing or use as landscape features.

I just gave my post hole digger to my son - could be useful for fencing (I used it for planting with a 12" auger).

Doubt you will need a snowblower but its the only implement I get to use in the winter

I find keeping the box blade on as ballast is a real loser in the woods. Too many things to hit A ballast box tucks in nicely

 

[nbryan]

Imo a box blade is so much more versatile than a scraper/grader blade, especially with top-n-tilt controls.

My BB1560 also serves as rear ballast, keeping the rear tires solidly engaged while hauling with the loader at full weight capacity.

I'm also getting more used to using the BB as a very effective "dozer" in reverse. It can also transfer material a-b way quicker than the front loader on many terrains, like gravel surfaced areas.

And of course the adjustable height rippers make quick work of stubborn ground.

And seconds on the several suggestions to get pallet forks. Indespensible, in my world, and they are the most attached implement I have. Great for logging!

Just my $2.

 

[fried1765]

Here is another question in connection with my upcoming purchase of a Kubota 2501HST with FEL and 3rd function valve. I'm planning for R4 tires and rear wheel spacers. The primary intended use for my tractor is brush clearing and road maintenance. My property here in the Texas hill country is rocky and hilly, and my half-mile driveway is narrow and curvy and fairly steep in some places. The steep places are paved, and the rest is caliche/gravel/dirt. The brush consists of juniper/cedar bushes/trees including little saplings up to ~16-inch trunks.

Implement considerations:
Grapple - I've already received some excellent advice regarding types of grapples and their uses. Thank you to all who have commented.

Rear blade vs box blade - Given how curvy and hilly my driveway is, I'm leaning toward a rear blade because it seems like it will better pull the gravel back onto the road, but I am open to suggestions.

Tooth bar - I'm certainly going to be doing some digging in this rocky ground, and also hoping to tear out some saplings and bushes. Based on videos and comments I have seen the Piranha toothbar seems excellent for this sort of thing, but perhaps traditional teeth attached to my bucket is better.

Weights - I plan to get my rear tires filled, and will likely keep the rear blade on for additional rear weight......Not sure if I want to also get wheel weights or a ballast box.

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thank you.

Check out the Everything Attachments...... 6 Way Deluxe Scrape Blade!
I think it is the best (most versatile) rear blade you can buy for a Cat. 1 tractor.

 

[NCL4701]

Rear remotes to run hydraulic top link and hydraulic side link. Hydraulic links on 3 point is a tremendous upgrade for grading work.

Forks. Definitely forks. As a bonus they’re relatively cheap.

Grapple and forks both pick stuff up but their function is very different. Wouldn’t want to be without either. Grapple v forks is kind of like disc harrow v plow; they do sort of similar stuff but not exactly so it isn’t an either/or. I use the grapple more than the forks but if you’re moving your wife’s swanky new 400lb stainless steel kitchen refrigerator from the back of your truck to the front porch with a grapple you might be sleeping on the couch for a while. If you’re tearing down a rotten garage and stuffing it in a dump truck with forks, good luck to you.

 

[nbryan]

If you’re tearing down a rotten garage and stuffing it in a dump truck with forks, good luck to you.

That's what I got the backhoe with thumb for.

 

[gmgmgm]

Pallet forks for the loader can have a "log grab" which acts as a grapple. Not as good as a grapple for small brush clearing, but worth looking at.

If you don't get pallet forks on the loader, get pallet forks for the 3pt. Very cheap, and allows you to move anything around, and carry some ballast easily if necessary.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Pallet forks for the loader can have a "log grab" which acts as a grapple. Not as good as a grapple for small brush clearing, but worth looking at.

If you don't get pallet forks on the loader, get pallet forks for the 3pt. Very cheap, and allows you to move anything around, and carry some ballast easily if necessary.

Be aware there is a 3pt attachment which reverse/adapted SSQA to the 3pt which would allow pallet forked to be as normal on the front and then with the adapted could be used in the 3pt. Gives a little more flexibility for lifting hauling and capabiltiy to the forks. It’s also a reason to get heavier ones as the 3pt can normally lift a bit more on the smaller tractors with stability. Compared to the fr loader.