# twentynine's Kubota L3400 HST



## twentynine

Okay some of you guys have been following along. Friday morning 0900 my L3400 showed up. Right on time just as the dealer promised.

Pulled the new bushhog off and put my grader box on it. I made a pass or two with it then I had to leave it to go check on my dad, 84 years old, still doing pretty good but I like to visit with him everyday I am off of work.

Got back home at 1100, cranked that big orange thing up and played around for a minute, trying all the swithes, pulling all the levers, hydros up, hydros down, loader up, loader down, loader tilt, 4wd, cruise control. All checked out AOK.

Then with .6 hrs on the clock, the right front tie rod feel off the tire end. Right tire turn right, left tire turn left. SAY WHAT!!!!!!!!!:flyingdev

Took me all of about 2 seconds to diagnose the failure. No castle nut or pin was ever installed on the tie rod end. Paint was pristeen and a cob web in the pin hole. So out comes the cell phone IO call the dealership figuring--- why me? The reseptionist answers I ask to speek to my salesman and she tells me he is at lunch. I then go on to tell her that I had just had a tractor delivered and the tie rod had fallen off. She evidently went to shaking the trees cause in about 2 minutes I had three people on the line trying to help me. And I ain't even got mad. Net results, 45 minutes after my initial call I had a mechanic in my driveway with the parts. the dealership is 30 minutes aways, so I would say they did pretty good. He replaced the castle nut and pin after determining the rod was not bent. Then I drove the tractor up to his service truck, he produced a new dealership checklist. the checklist that is suppose to be completed before the tractor leaves the dealership. Gave me the list and a pencil, told me that he had instructions to go through the entire list, with me watching, if I so desired, but he had to go through the list never the less.

Lug nuts, oil, hydro oil, tranny, coolant, nuts bolts, air pressures, fuel level, lights, swithes, levers, seat, ROPs, drawbar, bumper, loader, the whole smear.

All checked out.

This morning I mover 28 yards of heavy clay fill. Man was that HST ever a good idea, I sure hope the fellah that invented that one is crapping in high cotton. The squeeling is going to take some getting used to, but with a gear tractor I'd still be out there right now. Moved 28 yards in 2 hrs, could have been much quicker, but I am a rookie on the loader, 50% of my trips were made with a 1/2 or less full bucket.

I did discover that I will have to figure my ballast better. I had figured that with the grader box on the back it would have sufficient counterweight, nope! I will have to either get me a piece of R&R iron to put on the box or water the tires. I am leaning towards the iron, I have never been a fan of adding weight to a tractor that I could not remove easily. 

I know have about 4 hours on the tractor, I have used all ranges on the HST, engaged the PTO (without load), used the 4wd extensively. Even though we had a rockie start things have turned around and got going good.

Note to self about 4WD. With 4wd engaged a tractor don't act like any tractor I ever drove, course I only drove 2wd up until now. Incident--- I was backing onto the clay pile, with my Yanmar I could back up to a point where I lost traction, lower the box and come on down. WITH 4WD YOU DON'T LOSE TRACTION, YOU CAN AND WILL GO COMPLETELY OVER THE PILE!!!!!!!!!!


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## Hoodoo Valley

I'm totally FREAKIN JEALOUS! I'm thinking about trading in my John Deere for a Kabota.


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## urednecku

NICE!!! And yea, those 2 extra wheels pushin' & pullin' make a world of difference!


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## Hoodoo Valley

Yup! I agree!


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## Kman

Now what you need on the front is a Loader Buddy and you will BE in high cotton!!


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## franny49

I have an L3400, basically the same tractor. I have been reading that the PTO system is the weak link on these tractors. My tractor currently has a PTO problem sounds like the clutch is slipping on my Woods Bush Hog. I hooked up my tiller and it does the same thing. Guess I will take it the dealer and see what the problem is. Only 120 hours on this machine. Any ideas appreciated


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