Quarter Inching..

[ChuckinNH]

I've been a member here for nearly 10 years now, and in that time have come to understand, appreciate, and curse various features (?) that Kubota, and other manufacturers offer. Sometimes it seems that these companies are determined to keep us upset by not changing things that many of us don't like, and complain about. Kubota's famous "quarter inching" adjustment of the 3pt hitch has probably come under as much fire as any "feature" ever has. I was certainly one of those who have been vocal about it because it just didn't seem to work as advertised......... or work at all that I couuld see. When I got my B2620 a slight movement of the control lever would have my rotary cutter jumping several inches fast enough to make the tractor bounce. Of course as we use our equipment we learn more about it, and how to adjust things, but that quarter inching just remained a pain to me when I was trying to grade, or use my middle buster, or even hitch up an implement. Then someone here asked what the adjustable stops in the fender opening were for, and I had to admit I didn't have a clue so I went off to play with them, and find out. In the picture we can see the slot the operating lever rides in, and the two "L" shaped sheet metal stops that are secured with a small bolt. The clearest one is the top one just above the arrow with those irrating hash marks that are supposed to indicate that wonderful quarter inching feature. What I found was that moving those stops (by loosening that bolt) and moving them up, or down in the slot not only changed the speed that the implement raised,(and lowered by the way), but also changed the amount that the implement raised, or lowered with each flick of the operating lever. To say I was surprised would sure be an understatement. Lately I have been doing a lot of grading on my inprocess woods trails the soil is full of large rocks, and it has been wonderful to be able to just tweak the box blade to drop just the right amount of dirt, etc. Moving either stop towards the middle both slows the rate of lift / drop, and decreases the distnce the implement will move with each flick of the lever. I was using mine yesterday, and have to adjust those stops since the amount my box blade was moving was actually too small for what i was doing. I will move those stops, starting with the top one (sometimes the only one you need to touch) away from the center of the slot so that I'm getting maybe an inch of movement with each flick. It isn't position control, but works very well from a reference surface. I find myself having to adjust the top link much less frequently (although I would still like a hydraulic top link) With the operating lever all the way down, the box blade will float, but as you make adjustments with the lever, you also have to manually adjust the height of the implement with the contour of the ground. It seems too simple to work, but it sure does. I only wish that either Kubota, or the dealer would set this feature up before delivery, or show buyers how to do it. While it doesn't give a repeatable position, it does move the implement the same amount from the reference surface (ground, etc.), and sometimes that is actually more convenient. I hope this has helped, or will help someone, and I will try to answer questions as they come up. Once you play with it a bit, it is pretty simple to do though, and can be set differently for different jobs as I'm going to do today. By changing the distance the implement travels with each flick you also change the speed it moves. Now I can get the blade up pretty quickly to dump dirt on one side of a rock, and then ramp that dirt up gently to, and over the rock by just holding the lever closer to the seat, and just bringing the lever up gently as I use the rear blade of the box blade to ramp dirt up, and over rocks that I can't, or don't want to move.

 

[Danner]

Very interesting.

BTW, I'll be dammed if I came make my BX2660 do any quarter-inching at all. I wish it would, that would help with my driveway work.


(BTW, OP, please put a few paragraph breaks in your post so it's easy to follow).

 

[jonyyuma]

Okay Chuck whats the silver key do? It looks to be a safety lock?

 

[magicheater]

Okay Chuck whats the silver key do? It looks to be a safety lock?

I would guess it is to hold the 3PT lever in the down position. And by the way ChuckiNH, that was a very good explanation of the 1/4 inching valve and may explain why so many have problems with it.

 

[bp fick]

Chuck, thanks so much for this post. Do you believe that "most" of these stops are not set accurately at the final assembly point, ie, the dealerships?

Would it then be your contention that these stops were designed to be adjusted by the owner/operator and thus, no true, singular adjustment, made by the dealer at assembly, could possibly be a "one size fits all" kind of deal?

Simply put, we owners should expect to adjust these and not just assume they were "factory set" at a best use position?

 

[hawkeye08]

I would expect that if it is the owners responsibility to set it, it would be covered in the owners manual.

 

[wdchyd]

Okay Chuck whats the silver key do? It looks to be a safety lock?

Mine came with one for keeping the 3PH valve in down position when the BH is in place......

To keep back pressure off the BH control valve (which has no PB)....

 

[jonyyuma]

Mine came with one for keeping the 3PH valve in down position when the BH is in place......

To keep back pressure off the BH control valve (which has no PB)....

Okay, I just had not seen one, nor- a purpose. But I don't use a BH. I thought I might want to Fab one up.....anyway----but -not..Thanks, I felt I would get the answer..

 

[wdchyd]

Okay, I just had not seen one, nor- a purpose. But I don't use a BH. I thought I might want to Fab one up.....anyway----but -not..Thanks, I felt I would get the answer..

Hey, I see you're from Memphis......I was born there and raised up here....

Nice place to be from........:thumbsup:

 

[crazyal]

Before I bought my 4240 I got some seat time on a 7800. At first I didn't like the QIV but then the owner showed me how he used it. He would just tap it quickly to raise and lower the box blade a slight bit. He then jumped on and "repaired" what I had graded and it was day and night how easy it was for him.

He told me it's like a gas pedal, if you treat it as on or off you are in for a seasick ride, if you feather it then it works real well. I never used it after he told me so I just stay out of threads talking about it. Since I decided I wanted a GL with the position valve I never really looked more into it.

 

[bstrom]

There is also this demonstration which helped me some but I never thought about adjusting the screw stops. Seems like a good idea if you want to change the amount you move with each flick of the lever against the stops.

YouTube - ‪Kubota B7610 Quarter Inch Valve versus Position Control‬‏

 

[Verticaltrx]

I would bet that over 75% of the B-seires with 1/4" valve are never adjusted properly by the dealer or factory. Mine was dysfunctional when I got it but after some adjustment got similar results as ChuckNH. Most dealers didn't even seem to know what the 1/4" valve did or how it worked when I was looking at tractors.

I do a lot of grading, leveling and finish work for my business and really have come to like the 1/4" valve for this type of work. I haven't used any tractor with position control that will give this finite control. This is especially nice because I can put my laser level on my box blade and lay a perfect grade with it. Also, I can't recall any piece of earth moving equipment I have ever run that used 'position control' for anything, lol :thumbsup:

With that said, for farm work position control is a lot nicer, but I get along fine with my little Kubota. One other little know feature on the 1/4" valve is the lower stop linkage that when adjusted will keep an implement from going below a set height (think no more bush hog sagging after a few rounds.) I've only fiddled with it a little but can see the potential. The stop I'm referring to is on a linkage connected to the rockshaft assy, and by loosening a set screw you can move it to adjust it. There is only brief mention of it in the manual with very little instruction on how to make it work, I'm still experimenting with it.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Chuck, thanks so much for this post. Do you believe that "most" of these stops are not set accurately at the final assembly point, ie, the dealerships?

Would it then be your contention that these stops were designed to be adjusted by the owner/operator and thus, no true, singular adjustment, made by the dealer at assembly, could possibly be a "one size fits all" kind of deal?

Simply put, we owners should expect to adjust these and not just assume they were "factory set" at a best use position?

Sorry about the long post without paragraph breaks. I haven't been feeling so hot lately, and sometimes my thoughts run just like my post did.

The "silver" "U" shaped part is just a lock that keeps the 3pt. from being used when a backhoe is mounted.

I do believe that "most" of these stops are never set correctly by Kubota, or the dealer, and I haven't found adjusting them in the manual, but there should be some pictures there. I have adjusted mine a couple of times when doing very different jobs, and wanted more, or less movement of the implement with each flick of the lever for each of those jobs. I have also used the lower limit stop one poster mentioned when using my rotary cutter, but the tight areas I mow don't give me much of an idea how well it works.

I think Kubota, or the dealer could adjust the stops so that many folks would be happy with that one setting, but I think it is also important that the owner be shown how that works, and how to adjust it. One really can't mess anything up by playing with it. Too close to the center, and the implement won't move when the lever is flicked, too close to the top, or bottom of the slot, and the implement wil move too fast, and too much. I have toyed with the idea of adjusting the top, and bottom much differently for those times you just want a lot of movement in one direction........say digging potatoes.

I do think that owners should plan on adjusting those stops when the tractor is new, and any time he wants the lift to work differently than it is.

 

[snpower]

Very interesting.

BTW, I'll be dammed if I came make my BX2660 do any quarter-inching at all. I wish it would, that would help with my driveway work.

(BTW, OP, please put a few paragraph breaks in your post so it's easy to follow).

Not to hijack the thread but my BX2360 doesn't appear to do quarter inching either.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I thought the BX series had the same stops mine does. Anyway, try just flicking the lever, and letting it return to center under the spring pressure. All the BX tractors I've tried are spring loaded both ways.

 

[BrierPatch]

Chuck,

Glad to see you on here. Hope you are feeling well, not sure if you are still getting treatments or not. We had some discussions about the 1/4 inching setups while you were gone. Glad to see you figured it out. I also adjust my 3pt lower speed knob to change how the 1/4 inching lowering works. This seems to work well with changing implements and not adjusting the lower stop on the lever.

Good Job ! :thumbsup:

 

[bp fick]

First, we are all wishing Chuck the very best health!!!

Second, I asked Chuck if he'd review this on a thread, again, because the 1/4" gets a ton of negative press here on TBN. I'm also convinced that an OEM like Kubota would not have developed and installed a system that is totally garbage as some like to call it. I'd like to believe it is a system that intended for small subcut and cuts to WORK. No, it isn't draft control, but how does it work best? I, for one, need these kinds of threads.

That said, the history of this system shows clearly that everyone from Kubota in their training and manuals right down through their dealership networks are quite ill-informed about the system. Thus, the consumer is adrift and left with a anti-Kubota gripe.

I thank Chuck for once again reviewing this much needed information. Hopefully, more and more owners will come to better understand the system and how to use it effectively, such as it is.

 

[TripleR]

Chuck as others, hope your health improves, nothing is much fun when you're sick.

The "stops" on the BX are different than on the B.

I am glad some have come to the happy place with their quarter inching 3PH, but I will never like it; position control is the only way to go for me. Maybe it's my farming background.

It appears that for some though, it is just the ticket which is always a good thing.

 

[kuboman]

I am one of those that could never understand the vehemence towards the QIV. I have both styles and find both styles work better in some cases than the other. I will say that I find the QIV more convenient more times than position control. But it is all personal preference. It should be adjusted properly though before a true opinion can be made.

 

[CHDinCT]

Not to hijack the thread but my BX2360 doesn't appear to do quarter inching either.

I'm sure it does. Did you look under the right rear wheel fender to see if you have adjustable stops? You have to pull the 3PH lever in toward the seat while you raise/lower it to engage the stops. Check it out.