B6100 / B7100 Front end loader

Hello all, new to posting on here but have been running to OTT for a good while now for info. I just wrapped up the install of a new loader tonight and heres my story and thoughts: I wasnt in the market for a tractor, but diesel's sure do make cool noise. LOL . I ran into a pretty good deal on a 1000 hour b6100e with a blower hanging on the back and sure enough it ended up sitting in the garage by the end of the week. The more i played with the tractor (painting, cleaning, giving it long over-due maintainence) it was pretty clear I'd get far more use out of it with a FEL. I started reading on here and happened to find tons of other guys in my shoes, is it really worth throwing $5k into a FEL on a tractor only worth half that? Local kubota dealer flat out told me, just junk my "worthless" 2 wheel drive tractor and buy a new BX and get in on some great financing! Fed up i went digging deeper and came across COLDWATER TRACTORS, contacted them and they quoted me $2250 shipped for everything ready to install. Well i pondered this for a few weeks and came close to buying a newer tractor with a FEL but at the end of the day I'd still be spending far more money. So, all that being said three weeks ago I called Coldwater up and ordered a loader. I picked it up from the fed-ex depot last night and went to work bolting it on to my 6100. Installation was a breeze, hardest part was the heavy lifting of picking the mount bracket up to the tractor. Everything went together easy, they even included the bolts and fittings to finish the job. I finished it up this evening, topped of my hydro fluid, fired the tractor up and the injector driven hydro pump does a mighty fine job of running the loader, its not super fast but its a million times better than a shovel. Checked everything for leaks(none) and took it outside and played for an hour or so just moving snow piles around and what not. Over-all everything is sized good to the machine and bolted up easy enough. Also the guys at Coldwater actually answer their phones, have tons of tractor knowledge, and answered any question I threw at em' during my pre-buy process and installation. I'll post up a few pictures as soon as i get time. Just figured I'd throw my 2 cents out for all of the guys that are up in the air on buying or upgrading to an FEL.

Just an update: Ran 3-4 hours onto the hour meter this weekend, pushing snowpiles around and looking for trouble to get into with the FEL, everything is working great and being 2 wheel drive doesnt seem to affect the tractors over-all performance. I'll post some pictures and maybe even a video here in a few days. Now onto buying some new turfs, hmmm.....

Got the chance to take some pictures, if anyone needs specific pictures and full size just PM me and I can take what ever shots you need. Only real complaint, its not much of one but; thier paint job isnt anything to write home about, but thats easy fixed by a fresh Kubota orange base coat/clear coat job and some Kubota decals and maybe even some 1640 decals ...

Just updating this post, 10 plus hours on the loader now and everything is working great. Power steering would be nice, but s++t in one hand and wish in the other, although I've used machines that were much harder to steer. Still giving it two thumbs up.