BX25 - Who really works their machine? Feedback requested

[Fendbass22]

I've always said don't ever buy anything I've owned. I use it to the extent it would make the engineers who designed it cringe.

I've got a G1800 now and love the machine. Might even cry when I sell it. I use it to mow and blow snow. I have a 450' driveway in NH with two large parking areas and I'm looking for a little more power. Right now I run my machine until a little diesel smoke comes out and I know she is loaded up! Takes me a little longer than I expected when I bought this house a year ago. Have had the G1800 for about 5 years.

I have a relatives 80 acre tree farm that I will be getting firewood from for two households. I use a Kawasaki Brute Force 750 to pull full length trees on trails that are fairly clean to my harvest area. I'd like to stop replacing drive belts and get a tractor to do the job.

Been looking at BX25 tractors used and with the price and implements I need (mower and front snowblower) buying new seems to be the better way. I've been looking at YouTube videos for people using them but don't really see any tough work. I see quarter cut trees been hauled and small ditches cleaned out.

Uses:
- land finishing
- snow blowing very large driveway
- tree hauling and 3pt log splitter
- mowing 1+ acre
- lots of misc stuff

Anyone have any good stories with their BXs working hard they are willing to share? I am aware of the short ground clearance, roads on property are pretty level. I originally wanted a B series but the price and the terrain of my lawn is a bit much.

Thanks!

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I've had several Kubotas Bs and BXs. The BX25 was the most versatile for its size of all of them. Used it more than the others except for a B7800 I previously owned. The BX25 will do most jobs as long as you have ground clearance and traction. The B2320/2620/2920/3200 will do it faster and dig deeper with a BH than a sub compact. I just traded my BX25 and B2320 to a B2620 FEL BH and miss the BX25. I bought some hillside, rocky, gullied, treed property 10 years ago and bought my first Kubota, a BX2200 FEL MMM and used it for 1 year and it was a tractor. Traded to a B7800 FEL and BX1500 MMM and used them for 3 years mowing and doing bigger landscaping, excavating work in my early stages of taming the land. Traded several times after that and even went to a L3240 at one time but it was to high off the ground for my butt and I was a bit scared on it so went back to a B3200.
Money dofference between BXs and Bs equally equipped are usually not that much and can bring buyers remorse sometimes when the job is to big for the machine on a regular basis. Ocassionally any machine will be to small and then is the time to pay someone with the skills and proper sized machine to do that one or two jobs to big for a compact or subcompact tractor. They are tractors and not excavators like we sometimes want to treat them or expect from them.

 

[Deano]

I have used my BX hard and have 940 hours on it. Had a couple acres cleared by an excavator and the trees stacked. Pulled all the trees from the 3 piles they stacked and finished off the land and now have a pasture. A few times I bordered on abuse. I know the way some of the people on here talk, it would be abuse, but it really is a work horse!
These pictures were when i first bought my BX24.

 

[RaydaKub]

Had a couple acres cleared by an excavator and the trees stacked.

You should have just said you stacked those trees with your BX. Then we'd have known it was really abuse.

 

[oldballs]

My 2009 BX had only 300 hours on it when traded up to a B. Yet it was used to move maybe 30 tons of gravel and native stone. Tons of dirt that had sat for about 10 years in mounds. Some native stone were bigger than the bucket but were moved to make a rock wall (ballast of course). It mowed three acres regularly and moved a lot of snow at my place and the neighbors (FEL + RB) in those years. It moved and pushed over many dead 40 year old pine trees. I just needed more ground clearance to do some more serious plowing for very large gardens. Good luck on your choice.

 

[dodge man]

I've used mine pretty hard and it won't let you down. I'm not going to say you can't break one, but you will have to try pretty hard. Mowing works the engine the hardest, but moving a lot of stuff with the end loader works the chasis the hardest. I moved about 14 tons of gravel about 1000 feet in distance a few weeks ago. At about 500 lbs a bucket load, it took some where around 60 trips, it just wasn't a problem at all for it. The only thing I wouldn't do is use a 3 point log splitter on one. It will be pretty slow. I priced out a 3 point splitter and a set of rear remotes for mine, it was much cheaper to get a stand alone unit with its own engine. Lots of old threads on this subject if you do some searching on here.

I tell people a BX looks small and almost like a toy when you park it next to a larger farm tractor or a piece of construction equipment, but when you park it next to a shovel and a wheel barrow, it starts looking pretty large.

 

[Grandad4]

We're going on 8 years of trouble-free operation from our BX, and we've worked it pretty hard at various times, although we have larger equipment for the heaviest work. So far the only repair has been to the air filter bracket, which was not designed well on the earlier models like ours. It is used for some mowing... we typically use it on a 2 acre patch by the road and for trimming and it's just very handy for any kind of small chores at the farm. But where it really saves the day for us is for use off-location since it's easily trailerable, unlike the larger machines. Remove some trees behind my son's house in town? Piece of cake. Tear out an old patio at a friend's place? Bring it on. Need to level and grade 10 tandem dump truck loads at a buddy's place for a massive landscaping project? What you talkin' 'bout? Done, done and done, no worries.

I have pushed stumps weighing nearly a ton with it (they were already out of the ground), pulled 50 ft. trees we were dropping to make sure they fell in the right place - using 60 ft. of chain, of course, pulled the neighbors pickup truck that wouldn't start, plowed our own and neighbor's drives of our infrequent snows, well, the list goes on and on. People who think it's a garden tractor just don't have a clue.

Regrets? Yup. I didn't get the one with the backhoe because we have a larger one and didn't think a second BH would be useful. Wish I had a "do over" on that.

A BX will pull anything your Kawasaki can and more, and if a B sized unit is out of reach, you'll still love the BX. Tips: Highly recommend bar tires instead of turfs, put ballast in the rears, don't run over sticks that can damage the underside (skid plate is worth adding), be careful about tip-overs when the loader is on, keep it in low range for any heavy work.

Good luck shopping.

 

[LBrown59]

I have pushed stumps weighing nearly a ton with it (they were already out of the ground), pulled 50 ft. trees we were dropping to make sure they fell in the right place - using 60 ft. of chain, of course, pulled the neighbors pickup truck that wouldn't start, plowed our own and neighbor's drives of our infrequent snows, well, the list goes on and on. People who think it's a garden tractor just don't have a clue.
.

Boy that's an understatement.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I work my BDX25 hard. Put 800 hours on in 2 years I've had it. Performs great. I use the BH almost as much as the FEL. I am always working both at max capacity, even raised the HYD pressure to 2000 PSI to get a little more umph. I never run at max rpm though except when rototilling or brush hogging or the heaviest lifts. Need that top RPM to max out those implements and get better results. I have dug out a lot of red alder and willow stumps, they are considered weeds up here, alder is good fire wood though. Willow we save for the next burn pile. largest I have tackled is 18" dia. The 8" bucket is a good root chopper. The bigger ones I have to use the 1 ton dully truck to yank out of the hole. Working the stumps to the top of the burn pile is a challenge but the FEL gradually pushes them up. I've drug 70' long trees with branches on with the BX to get them into the wood lot. Chain them to the 3PT, lift, drag and run. I am building some custom implements to get more work out of it. Just finished a set of pallet forks for the 3PT that slide on a pipe support for width adjustment. The forks are 4' long and anchor to the QH in four points, the two lower hooks and two pins at the top. It will lift 1/4 cord of fresh fir, no sweat. Building an attachment to go in place of the FEL bucket that will be adapted to the pallet forks and a brush fork unit w/grapple. Getting that 2'closer to the tractor will increase weight capacity I figure 25%. Also in the works is a tooth bar for the FEL that will increase the digging function in my sandy rocky soil by a bunch. This all will increase versatility and probably increase my annual hours 25%.

That BX 25 is one nice machine. Has been trouble free except for maintenance and breaking/ losing little pieces hear and there. I keep a lot of pins and bushings on hand. I have a well equipped mech shop and welding shop so do most of my own work.

Ron

 

[sandyc]

I have a B2620 and have about the same needs you do. I use the front blower and switch it out for my blade when the ground is too soft. My FEL and backhoe come in handy for dragging tress and digging stumps! The main reason I went with the 2620 is that it has more ground clearance and the hoe can dig down to 6.5 ft which is good for burying stumps and the usual spring crop of rocks.
All of the implements on the 2620 can be changed in a few minutes.