almost no brakes on bx25

[winedown]

Hey all,

Been reading this website for years. I bought a used bx25 and have been going over everything. One concern is the brake pedal which seems to have too much free travel. The manual says 1 to 1.4 inches of free travel. I have about 5 inches. Almost no braking at all. To adjust the pedal the manual says to loosen the RH locknut and extend th RH turnbuckle to the end of the thread. No problem there. Next, loosen LH locknut and turn LH turnbuckle to adjust LH rod length so pedal free travel is .8 inch. I cannot find a LH locknut, turnbuckle or rod. There is only one turnbukle and it is located on the right side. Has anybody ever adjusted their brake pedal? Has kubota changed the design and not updated the manual? I am at a loss as to how to fix this problem. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I will be watching for a solution also. I have the same problem. The service manager at the dealer says the brake disc is worn out from running with the brake on or too much downhill braking. They want $1K for the repair if the only problem they find is the brake disc. Going through the shop manual it does not appear to be a big project. I have not seen any brake residue in the oil during service though. My 1K hour service is due so will have in my shop; so will investigate doing the replacement myself. The adjustment I located will not solve the pedal travel. Mine goes almost to the floor. Yes, the hired help leave the brake on a lot. I catch myself once in awhile also. It is easy to have your foot over the lock catch when you brake. I have worked the crap out of BX hence 1K hours in less than 3 years and we are not gentle, push it to the max from time to time. Great machine for its size and HP.

Ron

 

[rick480]

Mine on a BX 1860 with less than 200 hours is suddenly the same. Happened almost overnight so I doubt wear. I have never driven with the brake on because the tractor won't move and hardly ever use the brakes. I was about ready to investigate for an adjustment.

 

[GolfAddict]

I had my brakes on my BX24 suddenly go from seeming to work fine, to almost no brakes - with brake pedal travel nearly to the floor. It was a bit bizarre, but I figured I must have used it at some point with the brake locked on or something, though it seemed unlikely. I have no idea otherwise.

I can't remember the hours exactly, but I'm sure this happened with less than a few hundred hours. I was surprised, and a little concerned that if the brakes wore that fast I may be needing brake repairs often. Well, I adjusted the brake pedal play with the linkage and have never had any issues with the bakes since (knock wood), with almost 850 hours now.

I too was confused when I did the adjustment - my BX24 is the previous version of yours, but they are pretty much the same. My manual also gives the direction for LH and RH adjustments. I came to the conclusion that when they created the manual, there was some cut-and-paste error from an Operator's manual for a different model that has split brakes, so it was giving directions to adjust both the left and right brake pedal play.

I just adjusted the one linkage there actually is, and all works fine. The one thing I seem to remember is that it took a fair amount of movement of the turnbuckle to get it adjusted to the correct pedal free play, as prior to adjustment the pedal was going almost to the floor.

 

[dougtrr2]

I adjusted the brake pedal on my BX24 also. To me it was pretty intuitive as to what to do. I glanced at the manual and glossed over everything except "turnbuckle" and "pedal travel". I just re-read it carefully and it is a disaster. It talks about adjusting LH to 13/16" and the RH to 7/16" and then goes on to have you verify the travel is between 13/16" and 1 -3/16". So I agree with GolfAddict that it is a cut and paste error and also think there is a translation issue.

Loosen the turnbuckle and adjust it until it seems right to you.

Take Care,
Doug in SW IA

 

[RaydaKub]

Just a question on the usage of brakes here. My BX2230 seems to have a rod on each side, although only the single pedal. When I was working on a hill last summer, I had trouble with my parking brake holding on the hill (about 25 degrees). I never did bother to adjust it, but it's on my to-do list. However, with these HST machines, when do you even use your brakes? I let off on the HST and it stops anyway. Is there any harm in this or could the back pressure cause the HST to fail? Seems it shouldn't if you just want to go down the hill more slowly than you were a moment ago.

 

[winedown]

I had my brakes on my BX24 suddenly go from seeming to work fine, to almost no brakes - with brake pedal travel nearly to the floor. It was a bit bizarre, but I figured I must have used it at some point with the brake locked on or something, though it seemed unlikely. I have no idea otherwise.

I can't remember the hours exactly, but I'm sure this happened with less than a few hundred hours. I was surprised, and a little concerned that if the brakes wore that fast I may be needing brake repairs often. Well, I adjusted the brake pedal play with the linkage and have never had any issues with the bakes since (knock wood), with almost 850 hours now.

I too was confused when I did the adjustment - my BX24 is the previous version of yours, but they are pretty much the same. My manual also gives the direction for LH and RH adjustments. I came to the conclusion that when they created the manual, there was some cut-and-paste error from an Operator's manual for a different model that has split brakes, so it was giving directions to adjust both the left and right brake pedal play.

I just adjusted the one linkage there actually is, and all works fine. The one thing I seem to remember is that it took a fair amount of movement of the turnbuckle to get it adjusted to the correct pedal free play, as prior to adjustment the pedal was going almost to the floor.

I have not had time to adjust anything yet, but thanks for the input. I hope that I can do the same thing that you did because I got a quote for repair of the disc. $1500 for labor plus parts. Maybe I can learn to drag a 2x4 for braking. Oh, one thing the service manager said to check was for a rock or mud caked under the linkage where it goes into the transmission. That is not my problem, but maybe that can help someone else

 

[winedown]

I adjusted the brake pedal on my BX24 also. To me it was pretty intuitive as to what to do. I glanced at the manual and glossed over everything except "turnbuckle" and "pedal travel". I just re-read it carefully and it is a disaster. It talks about adjusting LH to 13/16" and the RH to 7/16" and then goes on to have you verify the travel is between 13/16" and 1 -3/16". So I agree with GolfAddict that it is a cut and paste error and also think there is a translation issue.

Loosen the turnbuckle and adjust it until it seems right to you.

Take Care,
Doug in SW IA

Thanks. Hope to get back to fixing the problem Saturday.

 

[winedown]

Just a question on the usage of brakes here. My BX2230 seems to have a rod on each side, although only the single pedal. When I was working on a hill last summer, I had trouble with my parking brake holding on the hill (about 25 degrees). I never did bother to adjust it, but it's on my to-do list. However, with these HST machines, when do you even use your brakes? I let off on the HST and it stops anyway. Is there any harm in this or could the back pressure cause the HST to fail? Seems it shouldn't if you just want to go down the hill more slowly than you were a moment ago.

That may be an option for a while. Thanks

 

[winedown]

I will be watching for a solution also. I have the same problem. The service manager at the dealer says the brake disc is worn out from running with the brake on or too much downhill braking. They want $1K for the repair if the only problem they find is the brake disc. Going through the shop manual it does not appear to be a big project. I have not seen any brake residue in the oil during service though. My 1K hour service is due so will have in my shop; so will investigate doing the replacement myself. The adjustment I located will not solve the pedal travel. Mine goes almost to the floor. Yes, the hired help leave the brake on a lot. I catch myself once in awhile also. It is easy to have your foot over the lock catch when you brake. I have worked the crap out of BX hence 1K hours in less than 3 years and we are not gentle, push it to the max from time to time. Great machine for its size and HP.

Ron

My quote is $1500 for labor @ 30 hrs plus parts!