This is my first post in this forum and it concerns adding a loader to my B7610. I recently purchased this 2006 tractor from a local dealer with only 48 hours. My intention was to buy a tractor already equipped with a FEL but after looking the tractor over, the deal proved too tempting. I'll mostly use the tractor for bush-hogging and keeping up my 1,000' plus driveway. Still, the idea of a loader is appealing and the dealer said we could add one at any time. What he didn't say was how much it would cost. I have heard anywhere from $2700 to $5,000. So, I'm asking if anyone here could give me a rough idea. Thanks!
FEL For B7610
- Thread starter SmokeyBear20252
- Start date
Yep somewhere in that ball park sounds about right for a brand new loader. Weather its Kubota OEM or an after market loader. Used loaders are hard to come by because everyone wantes them and those that have them seldom sell theirs.
Thanks for the reply, Eric. I'm hoping it will be on the lower end (say in the 3k range). It's a lot to spend but I can definitely see it getting used a lot on our place here in the NC foothills.
I would guess it will be very difficult to find one on that low end unless it has been heavily used and coyote ugly. An FEL is the most useful implement a tractor can have in my opinion. If I were you...I would bite the bullet and get a matching Kubota loader mounted. The value of your tractor will increase and someday you will recover most of the $ when you trade it for a new one.
The fel doesn't have to be stamped Kubota for it to be good. There are plenty of quality after market manufactures that produce top notch loaders. Wood's is one of them so is Bush Hogg and Koyker.
pat331
New member
Equipment
L35, mower, bushhog, cement mixer, grader, boxblade, forks, posthole digger
I agree with bosshog. You'll never regret adding the FEL to your tractor. They are so handy. I use mine for all kinds of stuff. I don't own a wheel borrow because I use the FEL in place of one. If you get one, be sure to get the quick attach device. You can then acquire or make yourself a set of forks that are all kinds of handy. You can also buy a blank attachment to fit the FEL. I purchased one and made a trailer mover. I use it to move bumper pull trailers, my goose-neck trailer, and our 5th wheel camper. I also fixed a 10' boom pole that hooks to the trailer mover and can now lift stuff over 20' in the air. There is all kinds of ways the FEL will save your back. Good Luck!
Thanks for all the advice and opinions. I called a local dealer this morning and he said a Kubota FEL would run about $3,700 installed and that a Woods would probably come in about $400 less. That's a pretty good chunk of change on a firefighter's budget but at least I have an idea now. The most pressing first implements are a rotary cutter (which should be delivered next week) and a heavy duty box blade.
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/kubotagallery/?image=334
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/kubotagallery/?image=334
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Keep checking with surrounding Impliment Dealers as sometimes, don't know why, people actually take them off and sell them. For a price difference of $400, I would go with the matching orange. I will agree, there are very nice FELs from other manufactures as previously stated.
In the grand scheme of Kubota money, $400.00 is a drop in the bucket. Get the matching FEL. I wasn't going to get a FEL with my new BX. I thought I would buy one later but on a last minute decision, I added it to the package. Now, I can't believe I was ever even considering not having a FEL on all the time. I use it for everything. The possibilities are endless and it is like your a 5 year old again with a Tonka truck in the sandbox.
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Things a fel wil allow you to do. dig a hole, fill a hole, move dirt or gravel from one place to another, lift yourself up to trim trees or get on a building, get unstuck, spread gravel and dirt, with forks on the front, pick up lots of brush and move it or pile it up to burn, pick up logs and move or put them on top of a brush pile, used as an emergency brake on a steep hill, push over rotten stumps, pull brush and small trees up out of the ground, keep the burning brush pile tight for fast burning,( what I'm doing now), move the wifes big rocks from on flower garden to another, (Honey, we just move these 2 years ago), clean out ditches, pull fence posts up, and the list goes on. I'm sure Eric has done things we don't even want to know.
In my first week of ownership, I have smashed beer cans, moved some 3D targets, ripped trees out and cleared out a patch of woods, hauled everything from gas cans to chainsaws in the bucket, lifted the back end of my old garden tractor,flipped rocks on myself, used the front bucket as a scaffold to cut high tree branches, etc..... That's in only one week!