Thinking of trading in BX24 for B2320 DT am I crazy?

   / Thinking of trading in BX24 for B2320 DT am I crazy? #1  

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Gold Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
471
Location
NH, USA
Tractor
Kubota B2320 DT (Gear)
I really like my BX24 but I never use the back hoe.

I bought the tractor for two main purposes. Along with other random duties.

Maintaining a dirt road to and around my property with a box blade. It's done quite well at this but it wouldn't hurt to be bigger and faster.

Second pulling my boat out so I could have more choices on next vehicle and not be limite to only 4WD that can tow min 5000lbs. My jeep is rated at 6500lbs and pulling the boat out is takes all it has on some days.

The BX24 can almost do it and I could make it do it if I installed a cement ramp or something. But it has no room for error. Even on dry land it's a bit of strain. I want more buffer if I'm going to use it for this.

I'm also limited on storage space and now keep the back hoe off and box blade on all the time. I sure could use the space the back hoe is using.

Anyway I was at my dealer today and asked what I could switch too. I tested out a B2320 with non HST transmission. HOLLY CRAP !! I could not believe how much torque that thing had. 9 Forward speeds !!!

I have had quite a few machines with non Hydraulic vs Hydraulic. My current boat it Hydraulic (full inboard) vs the old boat was non hydraulic I/O with no clutch (you basically just jammed gears). The new boat is so nice for water skiing where your constantly going into forward and reverse to keep the ski rope tension correct for young skiiers (and great for when wife is pulling me :) ). Similar story on walk behind lawn mowers. had an old jacobson with HSt that was wonderful, then a deere with non hst I hated and now a honda with hst and I love it.

The BX24 I'm medium about it's HST. The jerky feeling is a pain but you learn to deal with it. But if you forget with the bucket up high in reverse it can be scary.

If I had to do a ton of work on the tractor I'd probably go for another HST. But the torque and reduced cost on the non HST is very tempting. It was very fast for zipping around which I need on the road and can be geared WAY down full throttle and it was crawling (i.e. yanking 4000lb boat out). The dealer said it is what he owns and he can do larger jobs with the 23HP DT than he could with the 29HP HST.

In low gear you can pop the clutch and it won't even jerk because it's so geared down. The gas peddle is really nice having.

But in practice when I'm going back and forth with box blade I may be forgetting how quick a reversal can be with the HST.

Please keep religious debate out of this. I think both transmissions have their place. For my application the DT may be better.

Main duties are a 1/2 mile of dirt road with box blade. Cleaning the beach (crap washes up like crazy, we are on our 4th heaping 12ft trailer load this season so far), launching boat. No lawns, no snow. But I may do snow if I ever retire. BX24 is fine except for the boat and the back hoe is more in the way than help.
 
 
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