L3901 Grill Guard: Just another home made version

MBinPA

New member

Equipment
L3901
Aug 1, 2021
10
18
3
Northeast, PA
So I think i have watched every You Tube Vid and seen so many versions. What you see here is my handy work, and I couldn't be happier. The whole time i was welding- i was thinking i am ruining this nice grill guard, but I am glad i did it. New grapple is coming and I wanted more protection, and a place to store my 20' 5/16 grade 70 chain. What do you guys think?

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MBinPA

New member

Equipment
L3901
Aug 1, 2021
10
18
3
Northeast, PA
So I think i have watched every You Tube Vid and seen so many versions. What you see here is my handy work, and I couldn't be happier. The whole time i was welding- i was thinking i am ruining this nice grill guard, but I am glad i did it. New grapple is coming and I wanted more protection, and a place to store my 20' 5/16 grade 70 chain. What do you guys think?

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Thanks for your support. I am not a welder, but my welding classes 30 years ago in High School helped for sure! Used a 110 v Mig welder with gas.
 

lynnmor

Well-known member

Equipment
B2601-1
May 3, 2021
1,293
998
113
Red Lion
The guards made by vendors all seem to have too much blockage of the headlights, yours should be good in that regard. One thing I would have done different is to make it bolt on in case it is seriously damaged.
 
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mcfarmall

Well-known member

Equipment
Kubota M5660SUHD, Farmall C
Sep 11, 2013
1,377
1,648
113
Kalamazoo, MI
Nice job! I went a different route and welded my grille guard to the grapple itself, filling in all the spaces so debris cannot pass through the grapple and into the grille area. Solves the problem with blocking the headlights.
 

bird dogger

Well-known member
Vendor Member

Equipment
Kubota B2650 and lots of other equipment
Feb 24, 2019
1,569
1,409
113
North Dakota
MB, I thought the same thing when welding my expanded metal to the B2650 grill guard. :ROFLMAO: But once in welded in place around those compound curves that expanded metal gets stiffer than all get out!!
Your guard turned out super NICE!
 
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TheOldHokie

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3901/LA525, B7200DT/B1630, G2160/RCK60, G2460/RCK60
Apr 6, 2021
6,667
3,213
113
Myersville, MD
windyridgefarm.us
So I think i have watched every You Tube Vid and seen so many versions. What you see here is my handy work, and I couldn't be happier. The whole time i was welding- i was thinking i am ruining this nice grill guard, but I am glad i did it. New grapple is coming and I wanted more protection, and a place to store my 20' 5/16 grade 70 chain. What do you guys think?

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I think you did real good. That "nice grille guard" Kubota provides is easy to ruin without a welder. I bent mine up pretty good when I got stuck on a down hill and had to push my way through a pile - fortunately replacements are less than $200 which is a lot less than the Loan grille guard that is bolted to it and also got battered.

Dan
 
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Borane4

Active member

Equipment
M4-071
Dec 16, 2020
105
113
43
Texas
Great job. The stock "grill guard" is really only a "big-object-collision-guard" and completely ineffective for brush (as you know). Yours will work great with the grapple.
 
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leveraddict

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Equipment
2017 BX23S 60" LP BoxBlade 54" mower 60" BackBlade EA 12" 1 bottom plow & Forks
Apr 1, 2019
906
580
93
NEPA
Nice job on the grill! Tunkhannock is great little country town!
 
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HVACRoger

Active member

Equipment
2021 L2501 Loader, Backhoe, LandPride Grapple, Tiller, Forks, Quick Connect
Dec 20, 2021
174
96
28
Wilson, NC
So I think i have watched every You Tube Vid and seen so many versions. What you see here is my handy work, and I couldn't be happier. The whole time i was welding- i was thinking i am ruining this nice grill guard, but I am glad i did it. New grapple is coming and I wanted more protection, and a place to store my 20' 5/16 grade 70 chain. What do you guys think?

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I have been doing the same thing as far as watching the videos. Your guard is awesome, exactly a style I like. I want something that doesn’t make my L2501 look like some cartoonish transformer character. Great job!!
 
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mcmxi

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
***Current*** M6060HDC, MX6000HSTC & GL7000 ***Sold*** MX6000HST & BX25TLB
Feb 9, 2021
4,066
4,620
113
NW Montana
The guards made by vendors all seem to have too much blockage of the headlights, yours should be good in that regard. One thing I would have done different is to make it bolt on in case it is seriously damaged.
This is such a non-issue for those of us with fabrication experience and plasma, cut-off wheels, welding machines, oxyacetylene etc. If something breaks that's welded in place we remove it, fix it or scrap it and weld something back in its place.

I don't like any of the current bolt on brush/grill guards. These designs are limited by the need to "drill a few holes and bolt on". They might be functional but I think they're hideous and ruin the aesthetics of the tractor. Since when was Mad Max a source of design inspiration? When you can fabricate you have the option to make something functional and aesthetically pleasing. Good job @MBinPA.
 
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B737

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
LX3310
Jun 9, 2019
2,024
2,194
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New Jersey
^^^ totally agree ^^^
I like the homegrown styles like OPs better than the off the shelf ones
 
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MBinPA

New member

Equipment
L3901
Aug 1, 2021
10
18
3
Northeast, PA
Nothing more humbling than to have all of your comments. I enjoy all of the good, not so good, i appreciate the interaction. Never was a blogger but I think I'll stick around- thanks guys!
 
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Henro

Well-known member

Equipment
B2910, BX2200, KX41-2V mini Ex.
May 24, 2019
5,116
2,341
113
North of Pittsburgh PA
Nothing more humbling than to have all of your comments. I enjoy all of the good, not so good, i appreciate the interaction. Never was a blogger but I think I'll stick around- thanks guys!
Just wondering. Did you paint it? It is a great job, but if that is the normal oxidized finish of the material, I would expect over time it will turn to rust brown.

Just curious, not being critical in an way... I would probably have primed and painted it orange to match the tractor...
 
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ken erickson

Well-known member

Equipment
B7100 hst, 2650 front mount snowblower, L2501 hst qa loader
Nov 21, 2010
974
1,485
93
Waupaca Wisconsin
Just wondering. Did you paint it? It is a great job, but if that is the normal oxidized finish of the material, I would expect over time it will turn to rust brown.

Just curious, not being critical in an way... I would probably have primed and painted it orange to match the tractor...
I could be wrong but on my monitor it looks like it may be painted Kubota grey.

Nice job on the guard!
 
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MBinPA

New member

Equipment
L3901
Aug 1, 2021
10
18
3
Northeast, PA
Just wondering. Did you paint it? It is a great job, but if that is the normal oxidized finish of the material, I would expect over time it will turn to rust brown.

Just curious, not being critical in an way... I would probably have primed and painted it orange to match the tractor...
Hey Henro! So i had 3 cans of paint: 1: New Kubota Orange enamel, 2: Rustolium gloss grey- super close to Kubota grey, & 3: Rustolium gloss black. Used newspaper and blue 3M paint masking tape. Painted the grey expanded metal first, dried overnight by the fire, masked off for the black, then the orange. And yes I had to touch up the overspray.

I just didn't want the expanded metal to distract from the front end of the tractor- so I went with grey in center.

Next, I just purchased a set of stickers and I think i'm going to use a piece of 16 gauge flat steel painted orange and stick a silver L3901 sticker to it and bolt on the expanded metal like an emblem in center grill...:unsure:
 
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