I purchased a L 4300DT a few months ago with no loader, now it has a loader on it. I came across a guy that had an older m1820 loader for sale. I gave $400 for it. It didn’t come with any mounting brackets. It came with an external hydraulic pump and tank and a dual handle Cross control valve. For some reason, he wanted to keep the mounting brackets on his old tractor to rig up something else. I don’t remember what. Had to do a lot of fabricating. I built the brackets and crossmember for it using a pattern off his brackets on his tractor. I built it very heavy duty. The loader is a little oversize. You just have to remember the limits of the tractor. Got it all put together and working. It works great! Still have to paint the bucket. Pushed out some wild plum thickets with it. Only ran into one problem. I’m going to have to raise the low end of the lift cylinders up because if the bucket is a few inches below ground level and you turn sharp, the front tires rub the cylinders. I was concerned about that when I built it. I should’ve just moved them up then. But it won’t be that big a deal. Probably just make some new bushings for the pin and raise them about 6 inches or so.
I didn’t use the external hydraulics that came with it. I bought a new four-way joystick valve from Summit, instead of using the cross valve that came with it. I wanted a joystick control but found out later you can get a joystick conversion for the two handle Cross valves. I went ahead and hooked it to the tractor hydraulics. Raising is little slow, but I can live with it. Lowering is pretty quick though! 7-8 seconds to fully raise. I didn’t put any bracing from the loader upright frame mount to the front of the tractor. Personally , I don’t think it needs it. The tractor has its own main frame and its tied together at two different points in front of and behind the bell housing. I have bracing running from the main crossmember bracket to the rear axle housing on both sides with 4”x 1/2” flat metal and again with bracing from main frame crossmember bracket underneath to transmission housing, behind the bell housing, with bolts. It’s very solid. I noticed some Kubotas and even the 4300s don’t have any bracing going to the front of the tractor frame. I rebuilt all four cylinders. And replaced all the hoses with new. It’s a strong loader. It was a lot of work, but I like doing that kind of stuff. But like I said, I’m just gonna have to remember the limits of the tractor. Mainly lifting heavy loads. I think the loader is rated at 2500 pound lift. But I rarely lift very heavy loads. I certainly wouldn’t try to lift that much. But I talked to Koyker loader. They recommend their model 220 for that tractor. And it has a 2500 pound lift capacity. But that’s the one they recommended for it. Still haven’t found a right side engine cover for it. It was missing when I bought it. It fell off while the previous owner was mowing and he ran over it. But I’ve been too busy with the loader. I’ll eventually find one.
I didn’t use the external hydraulics that came with it. I bought a new four-way joystick valve from Summit, instead of using the cross valve that came with it. I wanted a joystick control but found out later you can get a joystick conversion for the two handle Cross valves. I went ahead and hooked it to the tractor hydraulics. Raising is little slow, but I can live with it. Lowering is pretty quick though! 7-8 seconds to fully raise. I didn’t put any bracing from the loader upright frame mount to the front of the tractor. Personally , I don’t think it needs it. The tractor has its own main frame and its tied together at two different points in front of and behind the bell housing. I have bracing running from the main crossmember bracket to the rear axle housing on both sides with 4”x 1/2” flat metal and again with bracing from main frame crossmember bracket underneath to transmission housing, behind the bell housing, with bolts. It’s very solid. I noticed some Kubotas and even the 4300s don’t have any bracing going to the front of the tractor frame. I rebuilt all four cylinders. And replaced all the hoses with new. It’s a strong loader. It was a lot of work, but I like doing that kind of stuff. But like I said, I’m just gonna have to remember the limits of the tractor. Mainly lifting heavy loads. I think the loader is rated at 2500 pound lift. But I rarely lift very heavy loads. I certainly wouldn’t try to lift that much. But I talked to Koyker loader. They recommend their model 220 for that tractor. And it has a 2500 pound lift capacity. But that’s the one they recommended for it. Still haven’t found a right side engine cover for it. It was missing when I bought it. It fell off while the previous owner was mowing and he ran over it. But I’ve been too busy with the loader. I’ll eventually find one.
