1600-1800lb bales, which tractor/loader combo?

[Wild and Free]

My brother in law wants to upgrade to a more modern FWA tractor that will handle 1600-1800lb round bales with ease. The old 1968 4020 JD is about shot.

He is Looking for a used Kubota front wheel assist with a loader. Wants to stay as small as possible the 4020 is too big to get into and clean a couple barns and corals, he wants to stay under $20K.

I was thinking a large L series, doesn't need a cab, would prefer HST but manual tranny would work too.

What are your thought on a tractor loader setup to handle 1800 lbs. Quick tach for bucket and 3 spool valve a must for a grapple.

Has a small hobby farm and buys hay and nobody locally puts up any smaller bales anymore, a lot of them are well over a ton now days.

I am thinking along the lines of an L4610 with LA852 loader, size HP and loader capacity fall into his needs.

 

[Bulldog]

I believe I would go just a little bigger than that. If you're handling 1800lb bales and that's the max for the loader then you are going to be working at the upper limit of the loader all the time. If it was me I would go a size or two bigger just to be safe.

 

[Drew584]

I agree with bulldog, I would definitly go bigger than the 852 loader, Its one thing to grab a bale on the ground and drive a 100yards or so too feed. But if your using it to load and offload bales and having to transport them any distance at all i would want something more than borderline when it comes to weight.

 

[rparkinson]

The guy I work with has one. Great machine. It will pick up exactly 2200 lbs with the pallet forks. No more. We know this beacuse his wife had a grain business and when they delivered the grain they used the l4610 to unload it...

 

[KenKubota]

I have a M7040 with the large loader and quick attach bucket. I installed wheel weights and find a working limit of 2500 lbs. The M740 has a hyd shuttle so you can work quickly in a gear. I use mine for a small hay farm and it works great. They also have 6040 & 5040 with the same frame just less hp. This would be a much better set up for the big bales.