Hello Friends,
I've had the B2710 for close to a year and I wanted to close the loop on this thread for anyone else looking to make a decision on a similar sized tractor . I've put about 40 hours on her this season.
I picked up the tractor just a few weeks before the first snow last year. I noticed that it wouldn't stay in 4WD when running in around my property. I didn't think much of it at first but when the first snow fell I couldn't keep it in 4WD for more than a couple feet. I had already rolled one of the front tires off the bead so I decided to send the tractor to the local dealer to have the front tires tubed (per TBN thread advice), the rears loaded, a full fluid service, and to troubleshoot the 4WD issue. I called my local dealer (had done previous business with them on my Toro ZTR) and the shop closest to me was not a Rim Guard dealer but their parent shop about an hour away had a relationship with an adjacent tire shop that was a Rim Guard dealer.
The dealer,
More's Farm Store in Columbia City, IN was running a winter service special including free pickup and delivery. Within about a week they repaired the 4WD (lever bar was bent) and performed all of the service I requested. I was pleasantly surprised how affordable the service was.
That was the only snow we got last season that was worth plowing so I can't really attest to how well she moves snow. I did apply the
horse-stall-mat-squeegee trick to my back blade. If you need longer plow bolts to make room for the rubber mat ASC has them. I'll admit, I'm looking forward to some fluffy stuff to give it another try.
The only other problem I've had was vermin related. The tractor would not charge the battery. At first I thought it might be the dynamo but the service manager at More's in Fort Wayne helped me rule that out. I found a
thread here on TBN that helped me to diagnose the problem. Whoever had the tractor before me had mice. The space under the dash panel makes a nice place for them to nest. Once I got the panel off it was obvious that many of the wires connected to the regulator were chewed bare and one was severed. I picked up a soldering gun on Amazon and repaired the wires. Still no luck. I ended up ordering a regulator from Messick's and now the battery charges perfectly.
This season I planted a lawn. The box blade from ETA worked very well with this machine for moving and smoothing dirt around the property. Adding the
BXPanded Piranha Toothbar greatly improved my ability to dig into a large pile of dirt I was spreading over the lawn. I also cut a swale ditch where my sump pump drains to get the water away from where it drains out (had been a soggy mess). The ETA rear blade was great for cutting the ditch.
I used the ETA subsoiler several times to cut roots around trees I pulled. It worked quite well on my heavy clay soil. I was able to lower the subsoiler to it's lowest setting in two passes. I plan to use this implement a lot next spring planting trees (keyline subsoiling).
The
WoodMaxx FM62 Flail Mower has been great. The epic
"Let's talk flail mowers" thread was very helpful. I decided to give the
Woodmaxx a try and am very pleased with the product. It's highly over-engineered and I doubt I can break it with my little CUT. I can cut pretty much anything I've thrown at it, I just have to slow down a bit when things are really thick. I was mowing down bushes that were 15 feet tall with roughly 2 inch diameter stems last week by raising the flail and pushing the bush over in reverse, then lowering the flail and very slowly mulching the stems. The 2 pound duck-foot flails definitely resemble something a wood
chipper company would come up with. It's wicked what that thing can do on my Kubota! It also does a nice job pseudo-finish mowing. We mowed 4 acres this season and occasionally we'd let it go a bit too long for the ZTR to get through it effectively. The flail did a near finish quality job and didn't slow a bit on turf grass.
The
clamp-on pallet forks are one of my favorite implements. I use them more than I ever imagined. Last week I unloaded a 10' long 700# pallet from an Old Dominion freight truck at the end of my driveway containing a swing set. I also had a huge pile of cottonwood rounds I moved with them that I could never have hoped to move with 3 or 4 grown men. They're heavy enough you wouldn't want to move them far but I can manage mounting and un-mounting them myself with no trouble.
Last but not least is the Pat's Easy Change system. I opted for Pat's in case I end up with an implement that's not compatible with a standard quick hitch. This makes hooking up implements a breeze. There is a slight learning curve, but after a few hookups I only have to get off to connect the top link and PTO shaft. DON'T leave the bar that spaces the lift arms on while Flail Mowing...
A few pieces of advice I'll volunteer for anyone getting ready to make their first purchase:
* Your dealer is a lifeline. I underestimated how valuable a good dealer was until I had the 4WD repaired and made several calls to my local service manager. That man has walked me through several rounds of troubleshooting over the phone without looking at the service manual. I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference it makes to know you have someone with that much experience in your corner. If you can, have a local shop work on something else to see how it goes. If it takes 3 weeks to get a mower into their shop, you might want to keep looking. I had some mice related issues with my ZTR last summer and was able to "test" the service at More's before committing to a Kubota. I was partial to orange so it was a good fit for me. I was very close to buying a new LS tractor from our local Bobcat dealer. They only sell a dozen tractors a year and I'm confident I made the right decision working with a higher volume shop.
* Make a budget for everything including attachments and put it in a spreadsheet. I could have bought a shiny new tractor or an older tractor with implements but not both. I'm very glad I went the route I did.
* Cash is king on used purchases. It's a lot of fun to pay for a tractor with hundred dollar bills and you'll get a much better deal if you know the market and aren't afraid to haggle.
* Don't settle. Once you've posted your needs/desires/requirements and you have an idea of how much tractor you need, stick to it. An appropriately sized older machine will serve you much better than a new machine that is too small or out of spec. I had several opportunities to purchase a geared machine and I'm so glad I held out for a hydrostatic transmission.
* Skip the wood splitter. I really
thought I wanted one. No way I could purchase one that performs as well as a standard gasoline powered splitter with a small CUT. It's just not worth the hours on the machine for a splitter. I was able to work out a good deal to borrow a neighbor's when I need one for the stuff that's too gnarly to split by hand.
Thanks to everyone who's contributed to TBN, this is a wonderful resource!
