upgrading to larger tractor/ possibly with hoe

[garycz]

Guys
New to this site, but have owned Kubota (now 3 working on 4) since 1987. Time to cut loose the original L3750 with Bradco 9' hoe. Tractor getting tired, hoe barely used in the last 20 years. Tried to get frame kit from Bradco to attach hoe to new tractor, not easy to do because Kubota makes there own hoes with frame kits except for the M5660SUHD. Bradco has frame kit for about $3300, too much money, and it reduces clearance due to frame kit to 4". So, even though it would make a great pair, the money is too much and clearance would kill me in the woods. The clearance on the 3750 is 12", and from what I can see Kubota hoe (BH92) also gives me 12" clearance. So, plan B is get new rig that will take a Kubota hoe and sell 3750 and Bradco, the turn around and get BH92 at later time. So, I am looking at Grand 5060 glide shift shuttle, Grand 5460 HST, and MX5800 HST. My second kubota is a B7800 with HST, love it, the L3750 was 4+4 gear, ok but crude and a pain mowing hilly pastures. I want to stay in the 50-60 hp (45-50 pto) range because the 3750 was a bit weak on power when mowing. All options will have front loader, rear remotes and fork lift attachment Any feeling on what is the best of the breed? Out the door prices including New York sales tax, minus rebates and 0% interest are: MX5800 $35364; Grand 5060 $40083, and Grand 5460 $41,582. My use around my 70 acres (mainly hills and woods) are to mow pastures, skid logs for 13 full cord of heat, run my 3 point hitch American splitter, lift the unliftable stuff, move half cords of fire wood in my hand made pallet boxes and general boy toy stuff in the dirt. Any comments on HST versus glideshift? Dealer advises against running splitter due to "heat build up" in fluid, works fine on my 3750, any suggestions on how to get hydraulics to it on a new rig that wont heat fluid up.

 

[virginiavenom]

Guys
New to this site, but have owned Kubota (now 3 working on 4) since 1987. Time to cut loose the original L3750 with Bradco 9' hoe. Tractor getting tired, hoe barely used in the last 20 years. Tried to get frame kit from Bradco to attach hoe to new tractor, not easy to do because Kubota makes there own hoes with frame kits except for the M5660SUHD. Bradco has frame kit for about $3300, too much money, and it reduces clearance due to frame kit to 4". So, even though it would make a great pair, the money is too much and clearance would kill me in the woods. The clearance on the 3750 is 12", and from what I can see Kubota hoe (BH92) also gives me 12" clearance. So, plan B is get new rig that will take a Kubota hoe and sell 3750 and Bradco, the turn around and get BH92 at later time. So, I am looking at Grand 5060 glide shift shuttle, Grand 5460 HST, and MX5800 HST. My second kubota is a B7800 with HST, love it, the L3750 was 4+4 gear, ok but crude and a pain mowing hilly pastures. I want to stay in the 50-60 hp (45-50 pto) range because the 3750 was a bit weak on power when mowing. All options will have front loader, rear remotes and fork lift attachment Any feeling on what is the best of the breed? Out the door prices including New York sales tax, minus rebates and 0% interest are: MX5800 $35364; Grand 5060 $40083, and Grand 5460 $41,582. My use around my 70 acres (mainly hills and woods) are to mow pastures, skid logs for 13 full cord of heat, run my 3 point hitch American splitter, lift the unliftable stuff, move half cords of fire wood in my hand made pallet boxes and general boy toy stuff in the dirt. Any comments on HST versus glideshift? Dealer advises against running splitter due to "heat build up" in fluid, works fine on my 3750, any suggestions on how to get hydraulics to it on a new rig that wont heat fluid up.

I still haven't decided myself, but I can tell you my likes and dislikes of each. the MX5800 is simple, but to a fault in my opinion. I hate the location of the FEL stick. getting in and out with a FEL from passenger side is not going to happen. seat is better, but still sucks compared to grand seat. auxilary controls are in a cumbersome spot, much better in the grand L. weight difference isn't massive. all control layouts including the HST pedal in the grandL are superior in my opinion. gauge cluster has way more info....my only concern is something going wrong in that system. I despise operating a tractor with any gauge malfunctioning or non-op. 3rd function seems to also not be a seemless thing for the 5800.....my dealer told me they aren't available unless you go aftermarket on the 5800....seemed like BS to me. the L is easier to get in and out of. the L seemed like it had much smoother HST in it. could have just not been driving a great 5800. the 5800 had gobs of power and more, the L felt like the 6060 was the way to go if you were going to spend the money on the L in the 50 range anyway. what I mean to say is the MX5800 felt more powerful than the 5460 did, not by much but low end grunt, don't know if that's motor, gearing, HST or what. the 5800 seems like a good deal.....if money is tight, 5k will get you a few attachments. I also liked the flooring and what not of the grand L....and the steering wheel. fuck I liked pretty much everything the grand L had over the 5800. personal opinion. more care and thought was put into the grand L by far, and seemingly in all aspects.

also, hate having to fill fuel up on top of the tractor over the hood....plus I never thought fuel being over the top of a heat source was a good idea.

 

[garycz]

I still haven't decided myself, but I can tell you my likes and dislikes of each. the MX5800 is simple, but to a fault in my opinion. I hate the location of the FEL stick. getting in and out with a FEL from passenger side is not going to happen. seat is better, but still sucks compared to grand seat. auxilary controls are in a cumbersome spot, much better in the grand L. weight difference isn't massive. all control layouts including the HST pedal in the grandL are superior in my opinion. gauge cluster has way more info....my only concern is something going wrong in that system. I despise operating a tractor with any gauge malfunctioning or non-op. 3rd function seems to also not be a seemless thing for the 5800.....my dealer told me they aren't available unless you go aftermarket on the 5800....seemed like BS to me. the L is easier to get in and out of. the L seemed like it had much smoother HST in it. could have just not been driving a great 5800. the 5800 had gobs of power and more, the L felt like the 6060 was the way to go if you were going to spend the money on the L in the 50 range anyway. what I mean to say is the MX5800 felt more powerful than the 5460 did, not by much but low end grunt, don't know if that's motor, gearing, HST or what. the 5800 seems like a good deal.....if money is tight, 5k will get you a few attachments. I also liked the flooring and what not of the grand L....and the steering wheel. fuck I liked pretty much everything the grand L had over the 5800. personal opinion. more care and thought was put into the grand L by far, and seemingly in all aspects.

also, hate having to fill fuel up on top of the tractor over the hood....plus I never thought fuel being over the top of a heat source was a good idea.

Well, all roads appear to lead back to the M5660SUHD. After too much time in trying to figure out the backhoe issue, new one to fit tractor, kit to fit above tractor, or keeping old tractor and Bradco hoe, looks as if I may be doing the last, keeping my old friend and getting new M5660SUHD. Still working with Bradco to confirm why they would design a frame kit and give up 12" of the 16" clearance the tractor came with, this may be a miscommunication error on both our parts. Getting rid of an old friend, the L3750 is pretty traumatic! What I like about the M5660 is it is in the bigger class, heavier all the way around, more HP, and not as complicated as the Grand L, of course price is also a concern, $34,000 with loader plus tax, versus $42000 for the Grand. I still need to figure a way how to run my 3pt splitter that does not cause hydraulic issues (seen lots of this on this site), but I think that may be done by following the lead of Bradco/Kubota for their backhoe hydraulics where they get the pressure flow from the loader valve power beyond port and run a direct return to the return port tee. If all else fails I could just get a PTO pump and tank. I am still not understanding the different hydrauic options, this tractor comes standard with SCD (self cancel detent) option is extra FD (float detent). I think my 3750 has FD, natural position is center, I use bungie to operate splitter and return oil via a custom line I made to the belly tank fill plug.

 

[Bulldog]

I've never seen one in person but what I just read about the M5660SUHD sounds good. I liked what I saw and in my opinion that's a heck of a tractor. Seems to be packed with some great features that most don't have as standard equ. I never found anything to confirm this but every picture had it with cast iron rear wheel centers. I ordered those on my M9000 and love them. Puts a lot of weight down low and then you still have the option of fluid filling to add even more weight.

I'm not a HST fan so Kubota has pretty much cut out everything below the M series tractors for me. I think the M will be a nice upgrade for you.

 

[Bulldog]

Did some more reading, it says 3 remotes are offered one being a flow control. Might be worth checking about that for the wood splitter. I don't know if it would help on the overheating oil or not but it would be worth asking.