New B2601 grill guard

[Kevinc2004]

I took delivery of a new B2601 with a Canopy, 54 inch MMM, Quick Attatch LA434 loader with 54 in bucket, and a set of Woods QA pallet forks. It was kinda sad to see my BX1860 leave, but the power of this B2601 while chopping up 10 to 12 inches of wet leaves was wonderful.
My only problem is the grill guard that was put on the tractor does not allow the hood to open! I am going to get into the opening to see if there are other holes to mount the grill guard further forward, because the hood raises up about 2 inches, then stops against the guard! Is there anyone who has run into this before? I am going to call my salesman and tell him about it Monday, but if there is a special guard for the new B2301/2601 tractors I would like to know about it. Thank you in advance.

 

[Mysfyt]

The guard on my L3901 has a latch on the lower left corner (as you are facing it) that allows it to tilt forward so the hood will clear when opening. Kind of an 'L' shaped lever that is spring loaded.

 

[Kevinc2004]

Mine is solid bolted, but I see 2 more holes in the frame hat will allow the grill guard to go forward and up about 2 inches. This will also get the cross bar out from in front of the headlights. I have family coming tomorrow, so I have no time to test out my theory yet.

 

[Mysfyt]

You're right. I just looked at some images of your tractor and the guard appears to be bolted on the upper holes as you have observed. Good luck!

 

[grandall4]

Here's a pic of mine. No issues with hood.

 

[Kevinc2004]

Thank you. Mine is bolted in lower holes right up against the exhaust! I will move my bolts and guard tomorrow.

 

[sleepybozo]

Can you replace one set of bolts with pins and hairpin clips? Then you could just pull the pins, swing the guard down (pivoting on the remaining bolts) and open the hood. Maybe use nylock nuts on the remaining bolts not quite tightened down to allow the pivoting.

 

[mshumack]

The BX series have this issue too - and it looks like it is the same grill guard. I was thinking of making a spacer to go between the guard and the front frame (mounting point) to provide enough clearance. I think it only needs 2 or 3 inches to clear (but I haven't investigated fully yet). My tractor has less than 10 hours on it, so I have plenty of time to figure something out.

When I asked about this on the OrangeTractorTalks forum, everyone said they just take the bolts out and remove the grill guard when needed (and it's not needed very often).

 

[mshumack]

The BX series have this issue too - and it looks like it is the same grill guard. I was thinking of making a spacer to go between the guard and the front frame (mounting point) to provide enough clearance. I think it only needs 2 or 3 inches to clear (but I haven't investigated fully yet). My tractor has less than 10 hours on it, so I have plenty of time to figure something out.

When I asked about this on the OrangeTractorTalks forum, everyone said they just take the bolts out and remove the grill guard when needed (and it's not needed very often).

 

[prichard]

Is this the guard that came new on the B2601? I have same tractor with guard and there is no issue opening the hood. Guard I think is part of the loader package. Id need be I can probably get some pics this weekend.