L3301 with M Series Canopy

[NF6X]

I got my brand new L3301HST yesterday, and to my surprise, it came pre-customized!

The dealer's shop accidentally mounted a larger M series deluxe fiberglass canopy on it instead of the L series one. The sales guy said that it fit so nicely that he decided to leave it that way, and that they'll probably stop ordering L series canopies and just put the larger M series canopies on L series tractors from now on. I sure won't mind having a little extra shade.



I kept the forks from my old Bobcat 753, and they fit on the loader just fine. We immediately put them to use to unload my implements from the trailer.

I have many more modifications planned for the future, and I'll be playing with my new tractor all weekend. This is my first tractor, and I call it The Orange Dragon. One of my co-workers decided to call it The Orange Chicken, which naturally led me to crave orange chicken for dinner. Sadly, the tiny parking lot at Panda Express was completely packed last night, and I had to settle for some delicious Greek food instead.

 

[ItBmine]

Wow, that looks nice. That canopy is also a very good match in my opinion.

 

[mdhughes]

Nice looking tractor, I wish I could get by with a canopy, but the first time I took it down in the wood to work on firewood I would rip it off.

Take pictures of your mods and keep us up to date. We all love pictures.

 

[NF6X]

Thanks for the compliments! I'm liking my new tractor a lot.

Today I set up the brush cutter and did a little bit of work on my weeds. I barely made a dent in them, but I already think that the brush cutter is an improvement over how I just scraped them off with my Bobcat's bucket before. I took a few swipes through the yard, until I started running low on both fuel and nerve. My property is hilly and still has remnants of terracing from when it was a grapefruit orchard. Not being able to see the ground under the weeds and just finding rocks, humps, drop-offs and the like by feel, all on a new and unfamiliar implement, is a bit nerve-wracking! I need to get some more fuel, and I want to load up the rear tires before I continue. I'm sure it will get a lot easier with practice, just like my old Bobcat did.

I don't like the stock top link and leveling link much, and I hope to add hydraulics eventually. I also would like to add either a rear-view mirror or a backup camera, both to monitor what the rear implement is doing and to see where I'm going when I back up. My weak back and neck complained about having to twist around a lot to see behind me. I've already ordered a 3-spool valve so I can fiddle around and decide where it will fit nicely, but I think it'll be a while before I implement the rest of the rear hydraulics. I'm kind of in shock over how much money I spent buying this tractor yesterday morning!

 

[NF6X]

I forgot to mention that the big traffic cone that I used to mark the location of my leach field's junction box was completely hidden in the weeds. The brush cutter found it, and chewed it up like it was made of jello!