Good day to all! I manage a church camp, and we have recently received a "donated" L3301 tractor. It has a FEL with quick attach and a bucket and forks. My primary use of the tractor is pulling a Woods 84" finish mower. We also have a Massey Ferguson 255 tractor (pre-1981 age). That tractor is a fantastic machine, but with a dry weight around 6500, filled 16.9/24 tires, massive wheel weights and a FEL, it is just a touch heavy for use with the finish mower...it just tears up to much grass and leaves ruts anywhere I want the pretty finish of the mower. That is where the L3301 comes into play. With it, we have the opposite problem, not enough weight when using the FEL. I do not want to mess with a ballast box, because I want to be able keep the mower installed. I did install a quick hitch on the 3 point which does make changes easier, but I still don't want to mess with it constantly. I believe we have the R14 tires, 15/19.5 size, and apparently no wheel weight options. So I am thinking that filled rear tires is going to be my best option for more weight. Does anyone here have experience with filled rear tires on their L? My biggest fear is that I spend the bread on filling my tires only to find out that it has not added enough weight to do what I want. It is actually scary to me how unstable this tractor is with even a small amount of weight in the bucket or on the forks. Personal history moment here...My father in law was killed when he overloaded the front bucket on his Kubota tractor and it tipped over and threw him off of it. I am very paranoid about unstable equipment, and I have volunteers using this tractor on a regular basis, so preventing tipping accidents is a foremost concern with the use of this machine.
New Owner, L3301...looking for more weight in the tail
- Thread starter MountainManRobb
- Start date
I have an L2501. I can move full buckets of dirt and rock mixes with no issues with grader/scraper on and filled with Rimguard rear R4 tires. I have the 72 inch Land Pride grader/scraper on more than the 72 inch Land Pride rotary cutter.
Filling with something like Rimguard would be a good option. I also have 1 inch Kubota spacers. It would also be worth considering adding rear spacers from Bora or similar. They come in pretty wide widths. I’m sure the rear spacers I have at least help with installing chains, and it was painless since the dealer installed them. But, otherwise, I think I would have been better off going a bit wider … maybe 3 inches. Then again, who’s to say if 3 inches is that much better than 1.
Filling with something like Rimguard would be a good option. I also have 1 inch Kubota spacers. It would also be worth considering adding rear spacers from Bora or similar. They come in pretty wide widths. I’m sure the rear spacers I have at least help with installing chains, and it was painless since the dealer installed them. But, otherwise, I think I would have been better off going a bit wider … maybe 3 inches. Then again, who’s to say if 3 inches is that much better than 1.
Thank you for the reply! Correction needed, I think I am R4 tire package, not R14. As far as spacers go, I need to measure the overall width right now, as I want it to stay narrower than my finish mower, as well as a couple of other implements I will use with it.
I recently helped our trash service provider unload and set empty dumpsters at our camp as well as the neighboring camp. It really caught me off guard when I felt a rear tire coming off the ground while carrying an empty dumpster barely off the ground and nothing on the 3 pt.
I recently helped our trash service provider unload and set empty dumpsters at our camp as well as the neighboring camp. It really caught me off guard when I felt a rear tire coming off the ground while carrying an empty dumpster barely off the ground and nothing on the 3 pt.
I have an L2501 with filled R4s. I have moved some heavy loads on the forks with just my rear blade on the back. That being said I’ve also felt my rear wheels get light a time or two. The more weight the better. Mowers are pretty heavy. With a mower and filled tires plus the quick hitch you should have plenty of ballast for most tasks. As for not tearing up grass that depends on how wet it is and how sharp you need to turn. R4s aren’t very aggressive.
TheOldHokie
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3901/LA525, B7200DT/B1630, G2160/RCK60, G2460/RCK60
Fill the tires - it will give you 500-600 pounds of optimally placed ballast. An 01 with a loader and no ballast is a really poor and unstable configuration that dealers should never allow out the door.
Kubota also did the customers a disservice when they decided to only provide wheel weights for the R1 wheels. Thats 400 pounds of additional CG lowering wheel ballast that industrial and turf tire equipped machines could definitely benefit from. Loader work demands substantial ballast and in that application a ballast box or 3pt attachment are less than ideal substitutes.
Dan
With washer fluid-filled rear R4s and a 315# box blade hanging off the back, I recently used my forks (with my 3301) to take a 575# shipment on pallet off the back of the Fedex Freight truck—no problem.
I’ve also had the 66” QA FEL filled to the gills with limestone on several occasions with the same smallish rear Box Blade (weight unknown of the rock) and have never had it lift up the back.
Just keep it slow and the front low while moving and if on a surface that’s slick or going downhill, also have it in 4WD and you’ll have no issues.
I’ve also had the 66” QA FEL filled to the gills with limestone on several occasions with the same smallish rear Box Blade (weight unknown of the rock) and have never had it lift up the back.
Just keep it slow and the front low while moving and if on a surface that’s slick or going downhill, also have it in 4WD and you’ll have no issues.
BigG
Well-known member
Equipment
l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
Talk to one of the local tractor dealers to find out what they use in the tires for ballast. Rim Guard is a little heavier then water but it does have some drawbacks. It is expensive and make sure you have the correct valves in the rims. You might look at RV antifreeze as a good ballast. It is an easy thing to do yourself. Lots of videos on youtube. Might ask on Sunday if someone in the church runs a tire store and they could help you out.
The thing I do not understand is you express your fear of the tractor being to light and you have the knowledge, using a ballast box, and yet you resist. Weight the tires an see if it is enough.
If you need the stronger FEL why not just use the Massey?
The thing I do not understand is you express your fear of the tractor being to light and you have the knowledge, using a ballast box, and yet you resist. Weight the tires an see if it is enough.
If you need the stronger FEL why not just use the Massey?
Needing to move bigger things is the reason I want to keep the old tractor around, but as of right now, no quick attach or forks for the FEL. Eventually I plan to get a universal quick plate and make the Massey quick attach. It is nice to be able to use the little tractor to do dirt work around my buildings, not to mention that the HST is so much easier when moving dirt around than the old gear unit.
I have already talked to the local Co-op about filling the tires, and it is cheap enough. They do meth/water. It will cost me around $100, so that is cheap enough. I am going to call another tire shop in the area though that will come to me and do it. The decision is pretty much made at this point to fill, just have to decide who is going to do it.
I have already talked to the local Co-op about filling the tires, and it is cheap enough. They do meth/water. It will cost me around $100, so that is cheap enough. I am going to call another tire shop in the area though that will come to me and do it. The decision is pretty much made at this point to fill, just have to decide who is going to do it.