Advise to avoid damage

[MacTractor]

I bought a BX25 almost a month ago and I have been happily working it in my yard ever since. The majority of my yard is heavily treed and I have been using the tractor to cleanup the dead trees and remove some other trees. It is an amazing machine.

My issue comes with the vulnerabilty of the HST Fan for my tractor. I was planning on picking up the BroTek skidplate as I thought there was just one and it would eliminate the problem. Now I find out that there are 2. The rear plate and the front plate. I have a 54" MMM for my tractor and so far I have been using it with this in place to help mitigate the risk of putting a stick through the HST fan. I am told that I can't have the front plate installed on the tractor with the MMM in place. I am afraid that with just the rear plate without the MMM on I will end up with a damaged HST Fan.

How many of you just keep the MMM on all the time? What are the risks to the MMM if I were to do this? Do you guys think I will be ok with just the rear plate without the MMM?

I wasn't planning on keeping the MMM on when in the woods but that is what I have been doing because I am worried about the breaking the fan.

Any words of wisdom?

Cheers,

 

[rdsaustintx]

I agree the fan is a pain if damaged (and fairly amazed Kubota made it worse on the newer BX's), but I gotta drop my deck ASAFP. Tractor is a bumper car with that thing on.

How much ground clearance you got with the MMM on? If the ground is rough, how long until you damage the mower deck or linkages? (If the ground ain't rough why worry?)

How many skidplates could you buy for what the MMM cost? Heck, you could pay a dealer to replace the fan 5x.

Most of the fan stories here involve long sticks or foreign objects getting jammed in there. It ain't like things jump in there, it's gotta be a little freaky. Skid plates help, but nothing is foolproof. Guys with skid plates tater fans too.

My impression is that if you are on enough rough/overgrown land to put the fan at undue risk, then you are likely to trash a perfectly good MMM. Just my .02

 

[LBrown59]

Any words of wisdom?

Cheers,

I've never had the 60'' MMM off my BX23 works fine with no problems for me.

 

[Egon]

I have a different tractor but going into the woods with the MMM on would definitely not be feasible.

Perhaps look your situation over with the intentions of fabricating your own skid/protection plate. You may be able to go larger and have one that is easily removed if it interferes with the MMM.

Maybe something that can be mounted to the same places as the MMM but much smaller and having no tendency to grab every bump in site and keep you high centered. You may even be able to design a plate that covers more than just the fan and will give you superior protection for other items that are on the belly of the tractor.

The fabricating and design does not have to be complicated. Chances are two pins and a front hanger will do it.

 

[savageactor7]

Mac it's a real bad idea to go into the woods with your MMM...there's are so many things that can go wrong. I know it's a hassle putting it back on but the more times you do it pretty soon it's not big deal.

Easy for me to say cause I have a 3PH mower...but it's off and back on all the time.

The one thing I do when driving in the woods is to keep my bucket low, that way I get a feel for hazards.

Also and I know it of little comfort those fiber glass like fans do have some give in them...next time you're pulling maintaince grab 'em and you'll notice some give...but that's no guarantee you can bounce over stumps without consequence.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

My first tractor 4 years ago was a BX2200. With the FEL I started thinking I could go anywhere. I never removed my MMM. I had/have a brush pile of rocks, trees and stumps near the bottom of a hill. I was shoving the brush/trees forward and got hung up on my MMM. Couldn't get it out. A couple of days later Roy showed up to do some more major clearing for me with his Cat front loader. I told him to go get my tractor out of the brush pile. He got quite a charge out of that. A year later I traded for a B7800 with higher ground clearance and got a 6' RFM. I now mow mostly with a BX2350 with MMM and have a L3240HST with FEL for loader work and occasionally mow with the RFM on it.

 

[mentat30]

I have both skid plates from Bro-Tek, You can put the deck on with both plates, you just can't raise the deck all the way up. Basically you lose about an inch or two at the top end. Or you can take the front plate off when using the deck. The front plate is bolted on with four bolts, takes like 5 minutes to take off and about the same to put on.

 

[mpowrd]

I'll add the fact that the rear Bro-Tek skid plate provides most of the coverage for the HST fan. The front plate protects some other items further forward.

I can also attest that the front plate would take all of 5 minutes to take off or put back on if you wanted to mount it just when the MMM is off.

If you regularily use the MMM, I'd just get the rear skid plate as that provides most of the protection.

Maybe Richard from Bro-Tek will chime in as well with his advice...

 

[bird1968]

I'll add the fact that the rear Bro-Tek skid plate provides most of the coverage for the HST fan. The front plate protects some other items further forward.

I can also attest that the front plate would take all of 5 minutes to take off or put back on if you wanted to mount it just when the MMM is off.

If you regularily use the MMM, I'd just get the rear skid plate as that provides most of the protection.

Maybe Richard from Bro-Tek will chime in as well with his advice...

Chime away.... I fully agree with Mpowrd above statement ... thanks for all the help, all of you guys.

I was busy Today testing the new Toy... works great

Richard

 

[Eightpoint]

Hi. New here. Not much to add to the original topic other than I have a BX2230 and routinely do work in the woods and have been meaning to get the skid plates for a couple years now. Guess I need to bust a fan in order to get around to doing it

Bird1968 (aka Bro-Tek) - what is the story on the backhoe mounted PHD?