Found the Achilles' Heel of my BX25 (HST Fan)

[Ken73]

Yep, had my BX25 now for a little over 6 months and love it. Sank it twice in the mud (that was fun) and done TONS with it. This Saturday I ran over a small section of my property that had some down tree limbs and wouldn't you know it - one found it right up in the nice guide (they call it a skid plate) that Kubota put under there smack dab into the fan. BZZZZZAAAPPPPTTTTT. Took about 3 seconds to shred all the blades off.

I've managed to find 9 of the 10 blades though - and after reading numerous threads here about the fan and how difficult it is to replace (pull the engine forward for a $10 at most plastic fan? Seriously?) I'm considering some alternative methods - I've already seen the thread about cutting a slit in it so you can slide it over as well as the other (nightmarish) threads of replacing it.

Has anyone tried fabbing up some simple metal blades out of say - a small sheet of stainless - and screwing those to the existing hub (which is still intact in my case?) I figured tin snips and pre-drilling then using some small stainless screws might do the trick.

Either that, or epoxying the original blades back on?

I was hoping my first post here would have been on a less sour note. I really do enjoy my little Kubota.

 

[Clint S]

Even if it would work you would never be able to balance the fan well enough to keeping it from vibrating itself into pieces. I would not even want to take the chance of it flying apart and puncturing the radiator or other important item.

 

[RTII]

Hey Ken, Sorry I can't help with fan repair suggestions but I traded in my BX2660 a while back. I still have the bro-tek skid plates and am going to sell them. If you think they will fit your tractor and are interested, PM me and we can discuss price. I live fairly close to you (College Station). I'm out of the country 'till around middle of Dec. though. Plates are in very good condition. If you read through the forums you'll see it's recommended by all who have a BX to install some sort of skid plate / fan guard. Some have had success building their own but the bro-teks come ready to mount.

By the way, BX's are great tractors. Amazing what they can do. Wish I could have afforded both.

 

[Ken73]

Hey Ken, Sorry I can't help with fan repair suggestions but I traded in my BX2660 a while back. I still have the bro-tek skid plates and am going to sell them. If you think they will fit your tractor and are interested, PM me and we can discuss price. I live fairly close to you (College Station). I'm out of the country 'till around middle of Dec. though. Plates are in very good condition. If you read through the forums you'll see it's recommended by all who have a BX to install some sort of skid plate / fan guard. Some have had success building their own but the bro-teks come ready to mount.

If I can find out if they fit - I just might be interested. I saw those in the various threads and unfortunately you don't really find out about them until your fan is ruined. My wife and I drive up to B/CS every once in a while for a change of scenery and something different to eat so it's really not far for us at all.

Clint - is there a radiator down there? I'm talking about the HST fan underneath the tractor. I believe it spins at the same speed as the engine (?) Not the radiator fan in the engine compartment.

 

[Scooby074]

There was a guy who was going to make an aftermarket split fan for the BX just because of the fan replacement issues this tractor has. I think it was going to be a metal fan:? cant remember now. Wonder if he ever got that project off the ground?

 

[Jeff F.]

I remember reading a post awhile back about someone using epoxy to put the blades back on. They also bought the replacement in case it did not work. I think he ran it with success with the epoxy blades.

 

[Scooby074]

I'd go with splitting a new fan in half over epoxying the blades. Much more chance for throwing a blade or having an out of balance situation by using glue IMHO. Some may have success but when labour and potential risk are considered, cutting the relatively cheap fan in half looks like a bargain.

 

[Zick]

I always wondered if you could fit a small electric fan in there blowing towards the same direction of the old one?

 

[gwdixon]

If I can find out if they fit - I just might be interested. I saw those in the various threads and unfortunately you don't really find out about them until your fan is ruined. My wife and I drive up to B/CS every once in a while for a change of scenery and something different to eat so it's really not far for us at all.

Clint - is there a radiator down there? I'm talking about the HST fan underneath the tractor. I believe it spins at the same speed as the engine (?) Not the radiator fan in the engine compartment.

You may want to check out the Bro-Tek website to see if the skid plates for a BX2660 will fit a BX25 (w/backhoe I assume). If the part numbers are the same then you are good to go.

There is no radiator by the HST fan. The case has some heat sink ridges in the air flow but that is it. It is amazing to me that the fan is any help at all. I'd bet there are thousand of BX models with the fan blades stripped off and the operator doesn't even know it. One would think that the overheating would be very minimal if at all.

I'm one of the ones that made my own skid plate out of expanded metal. Three nuts were welded on each side of the frame and the 6 bolts pushed though the expanded metal for securing. Not too bad to take off for servicing.

Some TBN thread a while ago had a method to replace that HST fan without splitting the tractor but I can't seem to find it.

 

[Clint S]

Sorry man I don't know, I guess I was generically speaking about any fan. I tried to repair a heater fan once and it exploded.