New to me G1800

[Isaac1]

I just bought a used Kubota G1800 overall I would consider it to be in fair to good condition. I bought it from someone that repairs and resells lawn mowers, small tractors and other similar items so I don't know much history about this machine other than it was previously owned by an older gentleman. It has a new seat, new headlight assembly, and new belts, the paint has been touched up, so cosmetically it looks good, there were no signs of leaks on the engine or radiator, but it has probably been pressure washed or steam cleaned based on its sparkling appearance. The hour meter shows 1800 hours, which I suspect is high, the stop solenoid has been replaced by a pull cable stop, and the guy I bought it from warned me that the hour meter will keep running if the key is left on when the cable is pulled to stop it. It has a few specific shortcomings that I would like to ask about, common causes, best place to buy parts, etc. They are:

The fuel gauge does not work, is there a common cause for this?

The headlight switch is broken, is there anything special about this, or will any generic weatherproof switch work?

The tires somewhat cracked and mower wheels are worn and will likely need replacement before too long, are there any issues I need to be concerned about here?

The foot pedal is somewhat stiff anything I should look for to fix?

thanks Ike

p.s. I bought it to have a diesel powered mower that can be kept on site at my business all our other trucks and equipment is diesel powered and we have an on site fuel tank, it will be used to mow the grass around the buildings, along the driveway, etc. probably 2-3 acres or grass or so total mostly due to a power line right of way that crosses the property. We have previously used a 35-40HP John Deere 990 with a 4 ft Bush Hog for most of this work (in addition to a push mower for around the buildings), but we are tired of the hassle of transporting it back and forth from the family farm 35 miles away.

 

[jinman]

So Ike, you have a G1800 with 1800 hours. Kind of a coincidence, don't you think?

I really like my G1800, but I think the first thing you need to do is to get the mower deck off of it and make sure all the grease fittings take grease and are well greased. Check the PTO shaft u-joints for grease and the gearbox for oil. Lots of folks just ignore regular maintenance on the deck and PTO components. Your engine has its own driveshaft with u-joints going to the HST transmission, but the u-joints on this shaft are not greasable. If the u-joints wear out, all you can do is replace them. It's not an easy job.

I also put a set of new blades on my deck and took the old ones off for sharpening. The next time I take the deck off, I'll swap the blades with the sharp ones. I have an air impact wrench that makes swapping blades a snap. I used to struggle with blade nuts using a ratchet, but with the impact wrench, the nuts spin right off. Check the condition of your belt while the deck is off. BTW: Once I had the deck loose and laying under the tractor, I just carefully drove the tractor over the top of the deck. It didn't bend any of the guards an made it easy to get the heavy deck off the tractor. When I went to reinstall the deck, I just backed the tractor over it again carefully.

My gas gage and temperature gage work perfectly. You also have an overtemperature audible alarm if things get completely out of whack with the engine coolant. You can test this by grounding the temp probe at the rear of the engine. You should hear the buzzer going off.

I would just suggest checking your fluids and changing fluids and filters as needed. I ordered extra filters (engine oil, HST, and two fuel filters) from messicks.com . Go to the Kubota section, put in G1800 and you will get a listing of common maintenance items. You can order for delivery. Of course, if you have a local Kubota dealer, you may wish to go to them, but Messicks is also an excellent source for parts. I also purchased an Operator Manual and Maintenance Manual for my G1800. I can't imagine owning a tractor like this without a manual. It's worth the money.:thumbsup:

 

[Isaac1]

Thanks, I mowed the back yard with the G1800, it looks like the fuel gauge works if the tank is full, shows empty at half a tank though, but that is not a bad thing. Also it looks like the alternator may not be charging right. I plan to do the full maintenance routine after the mowing season is over in a month or two.

Ike

 

[Isaac1]

Well now I have a new problem / big problem ,after a couple of days of mowing my G1800 developped a problem with the mower PTO shaft coming loose. So I took it to the local Kutota dealer, and they say the center of the mower deck where the gear box mounts is rusted out allowing the gear box to pivot and that it can't be fixed. I plan to take the mower to a local welding shop for a second oppinion, but before I do, I wanted to ask if anyone on here knows where I might be able to buy a replacement deck?

thanks Ike

 

[jinman]

Ike, that's really a bummer. You need to get the advice of the welding shop for sure. I've seen one deck rewelded on an old Gilson, but it wasn't nearly the deck that our G1800s have. If it turns out you have to replace the deck, you might get lucky and find another mower with a working deck that is not running. I suspect you will find a used mower with working deck is a whole lot cheaper than buying the entire deck shell and installing all your parts. Will you even consider buying a new one from Kubota? I believe the same deck has been used on several different mowers.

I just checked and your mower deck shell sells for a little over $1400 from Kubota. That's pretty expensive for a piece of sheet metal where you have to install all your parts.

 

[jas67]

Isaac,

You and I seem to like the same equipment. We corresponded about the MEP-016B (MEP-701A) and MEP-016E generators on both steelsoldiers and smokstak, and now you have a G1800. I also have a G1800 (and a B7610).

My G1800 also has a manual kill, as the stop solenoid died before I owned it. At something like $140 for a new solenoid, I'll keep it that way.

As for removing the deck, if you do it on a smooth concrete floor, the guide wheel assemblies have extra holes in their adjustment shafts drilled at a 90 degree angle, these allow you to put the wheels 90 degrees from the way the normally go on, this makes it easy to just drag out from under, once you'd disconnected the lift assy, and driveshaft coupling. There is no need to raise the mower, or drive over the deck.

As for the gas gage sending unit and other parts, your local Kubota dealer is probably as good a source as any. If you want to buy online, Messicks is a very good one. My gas gage shows empty on full, and then after I use a little, it works OK down to empty. It is a simple potentiometer. I might be able to clean it to make it work better. It might be just as easy to open the cap and look in, or just top it off after every 10 hours or so of operation. It shouldn't use any more than 1/2 GPH.

Kubota is very proud of the alternators that the sell for these (>$200 new). I was lucky to get a used one for about $70. The bearings on mine (original one) went bad about 10 hours after I bought it. I got new bearings for it, and they went (very) bad in less than ten hours, after which the stator was trashed. I've seen them on eBay for $40-$70. These use an external regulator, that may be your problem, and not the alternator.

Please do let us know what you do about the deck. I would think any decent welding shop can put you back in business for a couple hundred $.