JD 110 TLB vs. ???

[littledenny]

I'd appreciate anyone's opinion on the Deere 110 TLB vs. other compact TLBs, like the Kobota L35/L48 or even compact "farm" tractors with a bucket and backhoe.

I've spent some time on rental Kabotas, and like them, but it looks to me that the 110 is a more substantial machine. I've considered getting a green Deere or a Massey of similar size/weight but I've just about convinced myself that the 110 is well worth the extra $$$ in terms of stoutness, and longevity.

I plan to use this as a sole piece of equipment for the kinds of jobs I tend to get and expect to hold onto it long enough to justify the initial investment. (Please, no advocates for skidsteers here, I've already taken a lump or two in my intro on the relative merits of TLBs vs. skidsteers as a sole piece of equipment.)

Is there anyone out there with 110 TLB ownership or rental experience interested in offering an opinion?

Littledenny

 

[Tigerotor77W]

There's a similar thread on Lawnsite (it was from about two months ago, I believe) and that user decided to go with a Kubota.
My impression is that the Deere is a bit better built, but whether you really need all that in one package really depends on your requirements and intentions.

 

[lamarbur]

depends on what you consider better built.. lot's of plastic on the deere 110's. They have a better FEL vision, however, it wasn't enough to sway me and therefore I have the Kubota L 48.. Other thing I didn't like about the 110 is the PTO HP is in the shy side.. As one mentioned, take into account ALL that you plan to use the machine for,,, I'm real happy with the 48 and wouldn't change for the world, they are both comparable in price,... I would suggest the poster really look into the new Kubota L 39.. It is almost dead on with the 110 in all respects and is advertised as cheaper than the deere

 

[Bob Horrell]

I took delivery of a JD 110 in mid January and currently have just shy of 1,000 hrs on it. It is one stout little machine. I too thought it might be lacking in power but it is not. I use the backhoe about 30% of the time (16 and 24 inch buckets) and an 80 inch high back commercial gannon the rest of the time. It will spill dirt over the top of the gannon going up hill. I filled the rear tires just above the rim with water and antifreeze and the added weight really helps it from getting moved around by the backhoe hydraulics. It will easily pick up the rear (with the tires full) and walk over a trench. When I need to dig deeper than 10 ft. I rent a JD 310 extend-a-hoe. I have found that the little 110 is suprisingly strong for a smaller machine. It's only limitations are the 10 foot digging depth and the fact that it doesn't weigh as much as the bigger ones and the hydraulics will move it around a little when meeting a lot of resistance. The hydraulics are way stronger than the weight of the machine can take. They are also very smooth to operate and rival the bigger machines.
My advice is to spend the extra to get the 4-in-1 bucket option. Once you have a piece of equipment with this option, you will never have one without it.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[huffmanmb]

Stay away from the "Farm tractors" if you want to be competive. Bob is right on, it is a stout machine in all aspects. We do utility installs, landscapes, foudations, land clearing, septics, truck loading, material spreading, road and driveway work, etc. I think I have some pictures of the two and three foot spruce and hemlock stumps that I have taken out with the hoe. Ditching performance is great, plus it will go where a 310 can't. The depth is its only draw back. We have both an excavator and this hoe, but the are versitale machines by themselves.

Before we bought this machine we were hardcore Kubota for over twenty years. My dad started with an 8200? in 79, then another 7100 in the 85, and then a another 8200 in 88 I think. All great machines but the were farm tractor like. In 91 we bought the third B20 on the oly peninsula and never looked back. Finally we needed some more power and started shopping. We looked at the L35 and the L48 very closely but niether has the factory front hyds, nor the hyds for a thumb/breaker/auger on the hoe. And you have to make a quick attach for both ends also. The 110 front loader has a Q/C on the front, and the hoe buckets also can be Q/C. The three point arms on the 110 can be made into a fully hyd package also, where on the kubota there manual adjust. All the hyd front and rear are run from the single control.

Question for Bob, have you experienced the bucket going limp when back dragging a pile, or back blading? We had this problem from the start, as well as a major leak that after some fighting deere replace the tractor itself. Other than that it has been a great machine. Any problem we have had we the dealer and parts are on our doorstep in less than to days. Also when you fill your tires how weight did it add? Did it take the front to rear bounce out added by the biger bucket?

On our 4/1 bucket we added a spoil lip and some lifting hooks on the top. Added some capacity and keeps the material off the hood. one problem that I found with the 4/1 is if you pinch something to large you can bend the floor.
:usa

 

[lamarbur]

I just got a new 48 and they do come with the third valve on the front... OF course it is an option.. They do not, or at least I do not beleive they have the hammer circuit on the hoe. Again, look at what your needs are and future needs will be,,, nothing wrong with the 110.. For me, I wanted more pto power and I was kind of afraid of some of the plastic,, They are an awesome machine for sure.. Plenty of them around me and I haven't heard anything "really" negative about them..

 

[Bob Horrell]

Huffmanmb, I have never had any backdragging problems with my bucket. It has performed flawlessly. The only problem I had with the machine is with the original battery which developed a crack and started leaking. They immediately replaced it.
If you fill the tires to just above the rim with fluid it will add just about 550lbs per side. If I remember right, I used 15 gal. of antifreeze and 55 gal. of water per side. This did help the porpoising somewhat. I found the best help is to keep the front tires to max pressure and if it starts, increase throttle position and then back off a little on the HST pedal which maintains the same speed but usually eliminates the porpoising.
I have the heavy duty bolt on front edge on my bucket and I think it helps the strength of the lower part of the bucket substantially. I had a job where I had to remove all the posts around a horse arena. They were 10ft. long railroad ties that were 4ft in the ground and the ground was hard. I grabbed them with the bucket and rocked back and forth while lifting to get them out. I had to rock back and forth pretty hard to get some of them loose (made pretty easy with HST). I always grip anything like that near the side of the bucket where it is strongest. I don't know what would happen if you did it in the middle. It could cause a problem. I was able to get 85 posts out in just over 2 and a half hrs. A good one third of that time was taking them over 300 ft. away and stacking them neatly.

 

[huffmanmb]

I was grabbing to large of a rock I think and thats why it bent. Sometimes it has more power than it should. A quick shove with the port-a-power fixed it right up.

About the hyd on the front of the 48 that was the first thing I inquired about and the rep said no. Did they ever comeup with a quick attch plate for front attachments?

The plastic threw us at first too, but I'll say its tough stuff. One about the kubota that I liked better was the way that the routed and harnessed some things. Details like on the deere the took a hose clamp arund the cylinder to tie up the hoses, where kubota used a maunfactured clamp. But deere exceled in area like the loader controls, two way creep feature when your on the hoe, and the over all hyd options and q/c features. Both great machines, far exceed the past products in the compact industry.

Speaking of the battery, one other glitch we had was the stop light switch came out of adjustment and the lights would come on after the machine was shut off at night and when we showed up the next morning that battery was dead. Called deere and we had a new switch the next day though, no questions asked.

The brute strength of the hystat drive system is great.Weload waste out quite often and the perfromance is a timesaver.I can load the either the five or the tenyard truck in under four minutes. The 14 yarder is just a little tall with the sloping box though and it slows production a bit.

The cost was a bit to bite on, but I couldnt do the jobs that I.m doing no without it. Spend it to make I guess...
:Banghead

 

[lamarbur]

Huffman

I ordered my 48 with a SSL attachment, QA bucket and a power angle snow plow. Yes, it came with the third valve,, another option of course. I'm pretty much in heavy tree limbs and such and was afraid of the plastic breaking.. I also needed the extra foot on the hoe,,, The 110's are very stout machines and I tested some.. I ended up the 48 as I need 11 ft hoe and as I mentioned before, I am not sure how strong the grill- hood rops would be..

 

[littledenny]

Thanks for all the comments.

I'm pretty well convinced at this point that a 110 will serve my purposes well. I've spent some time on JD equipment, have good dealer support here, and simply like the feel of it better than the Kubotas that I've recently rented.

I tend to do mostly driveway repair type work, with the usual culvert installation, pulling a few trees along the way, and grading ditches for drainage. (I live and work in the hills of north Georgia, so I have to contend with driveways up steep hills, and usually overhung with trees.)

I don't need deep ditch digging ability, and can always rent a bigger or different machine for those times when a diferent machine is the right answer.

I think I can live with the 110 size well. I do lots of work with RR ties, but certainly don't need to move a bundle at a time. It seems substantial enough to lift anything I'm likely to move - I tend to cut trees into 8 foot lengths to get them down the driveways, anyway. Rarely need to deal with a stump over 16'', rarely dig more than 6 foot deep for anything, and tend to stay home on the really rainy and muddy days.

I'm particularly glad to hear the experiences with a rear blade. Seems like that is the answer to most of my work, and sound like the 110 does well enough handle the six foot wide blade I'm likely to get in the package.

Littledenny

 

[Bob Horrell]

Littledenny, I would seriously consider something larger than a 6 foot blade. It will handle bigger and I think you will be disappointed with something that small. With the work you described, the 4-in-1 bucket would really be handy. Good luck.

 

[huffmanmb]

I agree with Bob, we have an eight foot York blade/rake combination. Its a York model RI with the fold down blade, rippers and rear wheels. We also ordered the extra hyds from deere and installed the Top and Tilt package which allows six way hydraulic operation of the rake instead of manualy changing postions. Its almost eleven hundred pounds muscle.

If we have a road were grading and need break the crust, drop the rippers and two passes with that monster and were in business. Fold them back up and you can pull the sides and establish a crowned, compeleted road in nothing flat. If you bring up alot of rock, flip the blade up and windrow the rocks out. Same if your prepping for a lawn, kick out the waste and your ready. We even used it for clearing snow on gravel so it doesnt rip the road like a blade.

The 4/1 bucket is also handier the a third hand. I grew up on the #2 loading the restof the pile we couldnt get with a standard bucket. Now I can pinch whats left, grab sticks and brush, rip posts and small trees out, the benefits are endless.

Check out Yorks webpage at http://www.yorkmodern.com for there products. Spendy investment with all the gadgets, but if you use the blade alot its worth it. :drinkup

 

[Bob Horrell]

Huffmanmb, I was doing a job today and I realized what you were talking about with the front bucket going limp. There are times when you start to backdrag and the bucket is limp. It's like you have to preload the cylinders and then it is OK. It doesn't do it all the time. I think it has something to do with the diverter valve system. I am going to start paying attention to what circumstances surround when it takes place and see it there is some correlation to other hydraulic functions. All I know is that they all do it.

 

[badranman]

This may sound dumb but does that have a float mode? On my Bobcat 430 mini-x when you put the blade handle down a little further than normal that puts it in float mode. Or is this just a glitch you guys are having?

 

[Bob Horrell]

The 110 has float on the front bucket and it works fine. It has a rather unique hydraulic system. It only has 43hp yet works like it has a lot more due to a hydraulic manifold and diverter valve system. Basically, the engine drives a large hydraulic pump and then the manifold and diverter put the fluid where it is being demanded at the time. Since it is HST, this included the drive function. Actually, the system works quite well and is extremely fuel efficient. I think the bucket thing we are talking about comes from the fact that the bucket cylinder isn't continuously "loaded" if not used and then when asked to backdrag, it has to catch up and supply fluid to the side of the cylinder that was dormant. Once the fluid is there all works well.

 

[huffmanmb]

badranman, that was our first thought when it happened and thatit what deere said also. The problem is I can set the bucket in the postion I want start moving and then it well happen.

After we found the problem our machine was taken back to the dealer, completely disassembled and put back together and still had the problem. After quite an ordeal, deere admitted it was a glitch in all deere 110's,similar to what said about the oil. The case is the return port does not allow the oil to escape to the other side to keep pressure on the cylinder.

We had a couple of other problems, and they ended up swapping the tractor portion for another machine after a 148 hours. It took a bit, but they finally made it right with us. Like I said before, what ever we need parts wise, they send it over night at there expense on warranty items.

 

[DKinWA]

Bob and huffmanmb,

I've got the same limp bucket problem on my NH TC30. My tractor didn't start doing it till recently and it's been driving me nuts. It's almost as Bob said when it seems the cylinders loose fluid on one side and you're basically refilling them before you can roll the bucket down. I was going to call my dealer and see if they can shed some light since it can be really frustrating when I'm in a hurry. If I find out anything, I'll pass along the information.

 

[littledenny]

Bob:

Thanks for the thought on a wider blade.

From my experiences in this area, I've mostly run onto driveways with widths of 9 to 11 feet at most, so I think that an 8 foot blade might be too wide in many situations. (I'm in the hills of north Georgia, and most of the rural properties have drives that can slope up to 40%, and most are cut across hills, so one side is cut and the other is the fill. Drainage is key to maintaining a drive in these parts.) Usually people want a drive no wider that necessary to maintain the canopy of tree cover. Makes them almost hidden .

I've been scoping 6 foot blades with enough tilt and an offset to enable the side ditching necessary to deal with the volumes of water that run down these drives in a heavy rainfall. I'm making a good living thus far in fixing drives someone else cut, but didn't properly ditch and culvert.

Still your point is well taken about the power of the 110, and it's ability to pull a larger blade. That will translate into me looking for a heavier blade, since the lighter ones simply don't "dig" well in the hard clay soils here. And I definately want to look into hydraulics, I'm really tired of fighting manual adjustments on the blades I've rented thus far. Can't wait to buy my own equipment, and get out of the business of renting equipment.


Littledenny