My BX25D is here!

[millsan1]

Welcome!

I too, am a relatively new tractor owner, having purchased my BX25 last year.

I have a little over 200 hours on her now, and will give you my, unsolicited, opinion and advice.

My property is very steep and rocky. By steep, I mean we have a 200' drop over 800' distance. By rocky I mean, I have yet to pull up a bucket of earth without a boulder or large stone in it. Many places are pure boulders and stone.

Mods I have done, and would do again:
Skidplate
Wheel spacers
Toothbar
Thumb
Bro-tek stearing guard
3 point hitch

Mods I would not do again
Bro-tek tool box (it is a piece of PVC pipe with soft plastic caps on the ends. Torn off within 2 hours of install. Useless, and outrageously expensive at $50 for $3 worth of PVC)

Mods I think should be mandatory:
Fill the tires! At least the front. My front tires were forever going low or flat. My startig ritual included filling the front tires every time, and usually once or twice in a days work. I put tubes in, used slime and all other manner of tricks to try and get those little tires to stay full. Nothing worked. Since having the tires filled (and no, using great stuff is not the same), i could not be happier. I will be filling the rears when I can live without the tractor for a week or two.

Implements:
Bought a 4' box blade and used it a lot for gravel drive work and breaking up some land for planting. Great tool. I would not go larger than 4', as even that had me stopped in place a few times when the tines dig in.

Grapple: I just put on the SGC50 and I LOVE this thing. I have used it to pick up logs, grab debris, move thousands of board feet of old siding, rake leaves and underbrush, dig up small trees, the list goes on and one and I have only had it two weeks.

You will be pleasantly surprised by how much work this little guy can do. I saw you are in PA and I was going to invite you over to compare toys, but you are about 5 hours from me, so yeah....

 

[MonRiver]

I've been eyeing the Piranha tooth bar....

 

[millsan1]

I've been eyeing the Piranha tooth bar....

If you plan on digging with the loader, then you owe it to yourself to get one.

I took mine off for the winter, as I use the loader for snow removal.

Yesterday, I went to do a little digging and was confused as to why I was having such a hard time getting anything into the bucket. Aha! No toothbar. Put it on, and back to happy place. It really makes a huge difference.

 

[dragoneggs]

I've been eyeing the Piranha tooth bar....

Best add on in my opinion. Under armor should be on your list too.

 

[dragoneggs]

If you plan on digging with the loader, then you owe it to yourself to get one. I took mine off for the winter, as I use the loader for snow removal. Yesterday, I went to do a little digging and was confused as to why I was having such a hard time getting anything into the bucket. Aha! No toothbar. Put it on, and back to happy place. It really makes a huge difference.

Curious... does the Piranha not work as well for snow?

 

[millsan1]

Curious... does the Piranha not work as well for snow?

I use the bucket, tilted down, to scrape down to blacktop. Since the toothbar is jagged, it does not lend itself to this use.

 

[airbiscuit]

I had a 32hp gas bobcat with a smooth bucket and a tooth bucket. I never used the smooth bucket. Most of my digging was in sod and tree roots. I just didn't have enough hp with a smooth bucket (one wide cut all at once). A tooth bucket has a smaller surface area and penetrates the cut with less force.

As a side benefit, those teeth worked as rakes/scarifiers when I was trying to spread sod/root filled dirt. I could do my rough finishing with the teeth, and do a final smooth with the back of the bucket. My 40hp tractor has enough hp and weight so the smooth bucket works for me. I still miss the teeth sometimes to spread out the "trash".

 

[dragoneggs]

I use the bucket, tilted down, to scrape down to blacktop. Since the toothbar is jagged, it does not lend itself to this use.

Understand. I haven't moved snow yet with my BX so I was just thinking I would level the bucket and use the PTB bottom as the rub edge and the teeth would not gouge. Maybe that would not scrape enough?

 

[HeLa]

Understand. I haven't moved snow yet with my BX so I was just thinking I would level the bucket and use the PTB bottom as the rub edge and the teeth would not gouge. Maybe that would not scrape enough?

i ordered a "smooth version" of the toothbar to run in winter, for scraping ice off my driveway and saving the front edge of my bucket. works great!

 

[millsan1]

I have found, that in order to get down to blacktop, I have to angle the bucket down and put pressure on the leading edge. You can clear down to the last 1/4 inch or so without doing this, but my drive is very steep and curvy, and not all the cars are 4WD, so I have to get down to blacktop.