Anybody have experience with these machines? Was about to pull the trigger on a KX057-5 but am wondering if this could be a worthwhile step up? Will use for general forestry work, feeding an 18" chipper and running a brush cutter. Thoughts?
I have never run one. I do like the interior of the 300 series machines, and the spec sheet on the 370 is impressive, but I have yet to see one on a job at least here.
Spoke to the local Tak dealer we buy from and he said to stay away from them. He said they are too tippy, too wide to put on a between-the-fender trailer, and that the 260 and 280 were better machines all around. They haven’t sold many at all apparently. I ran a O57-5 and thought the cab had a ton of room and that Kubota made some really nice improvements over the -4 series.
I'd look at the TB260 if you are interested in at Takeuchi, I've run them quite a bit and they perform great. TB370 just seems like an odd in between size, might as well step up to a TB290 if you have to haul it with a deckover trailer and medium duty truck IMO.
The 370 I think is filling a hole from the 6T to the 8T. The CAT 306 is also in that same range.
I own a TB370...got it new during covid. I was looking for a 260 to run a mulcher I had bought...machines were REAL scarce with supply chain issues. The only one available at my dealer was a 370. It barely fit onto our trailer...we took it. So far it has been a very good buy. I'm glad I did not get the 260...the extra weight of the 370 makes mulching better. Lots of pictures of us doing work at our S. Georgia farm and a few other sites here. Rummage around in the 2021 and newer photos and you will see mulching, pond dredging on mud mats, bank climbs, etc. It has been very reliable so far. Farm - Hahira garylayton.smugmug.com Here are some of the first things we did with it: Things excavators can do - GaryLayton This gallery hosted by SmugMug; your photos look better here. garylayton.smugmug.com Land clearing and mulching pretty soon after we got it...still learning to use it: I have video of mulching at our farm but not posted up to youtube. Let me know if any questions.
I found some video youtube links I had forgotten -- LOTS of video here, all with a TB370:
For the forestry work, the best will be Tak. 1140 Series 2. It comes with 53 gpm high flow auxiliary pump already installed as standard. If you can use something of that size.