Mowing Kubota B2650 not enough power for FDR2572 mower?

[sandman2234]

I was wondering since it was a used mower, if the deck had been properly lubed, but you covered that very well in the second video. I would consider looking into a lighter oil in the gearbox, maybe synthetic if Kubota has any lighter oil recommendations. Having just lost a gearbox on a 8 foot Bush Hog brand mower, I wouldn't suggest playing with lighter oils if they aren't on the recommended list. (I didn't).
Remove the belt sometime and spin each of the blades by hand and see if one bearing is tighter than another. That might be part of your HP drain.
Consider looking for a slightly smaller pulley on the bottom of the gearbox. Most pto mowers are rated at 540 and you are turning 580 so you could stand just a little drop in speed of the blades. The difference in blade speed will save some HP, and coupled with what you have already found by removing weight, make your new toy a better fit.
David from jax (where we don't have hills!!)

 

[Rock Crawler]

I was wondering since it was a used mower, if the deck had been properly lubed, but you covered that very well in the second video. I would consider looking into a lighter oil in the gearbox, maybe synthetic if Kubota has any lighter oil recommendations. Having just lost a gearbox on a 8 foot Bush Hog brand mower, I wouldn't suggest playing with lighter oils if they aren't on the recommended list. (I didn't).
Remove the belt sometime and spin each of the blades by hand and see if one bearing is tighter than another. That might be part of your HP drain.
Consider looking for a slightly smaller pulley on the bottom of the gearbox. Most pto mowers are rated at 540 and you are turning 580 so you could stand just a little drop in speed of the blades. The difference in blade speed will save some HP, and coupled with what you have already found by removing weight, make your new toy a better fit.
David from jax (where we don't have hills!!)

How easy should the blades turn, like if you spin them with no belt, should the weight/momentum keep them spinning as they decrease speed over a few revolutions?

How hard should the driveshaft be to turn with the belt on? I can tell you that I have to use a small prybar in the U-joint to turn the shaft, I can not turn it by hand.

I changed the gear box fluid and put in new Valvoline synthetic 80-90 gear lube.

I pushed a TON of great into the blade/pulley pedestals, I pushed until it was smashing out the bottom at the blade mount. The great I used is the black stuff that the dealer used in my loader/backhoe as they assembled it, I asked what it was and they pointed to it, so I bought 3 tubes and a Kubota painted/labeled grease gun so that it will only be used on tractor stuff.

The pedestals could be dragging, I know it took over 15 pumps each to push grease out the bottom ends. I don't think that the previous owner was big into greasing things.... He was a wealthy software company and beer micro brewery owner, didn't come across as a guy that cares much about money.... He seemed to have enough money that these little things didn't mean much to him.

I did replace the belt and tension spring as well while I was there.

 

[SDT]

How easy should the blades turn, like if you spin them with no belt, should the weight/momentum keep them spinning as they decrease speed over a few revolutions?

How hard should the driveshaft be to turn with the belt on? I can tell you that I have to use a small prybar in the U-joint to turn the shaft, I can not turn it by hand.

I changed the gear box fluid and put in new Valvoline synthetic 80-90 gear lube.

I pushed a TON of great into the blade/pulley pedestals, I pushed until it was smashing out the bottom at the blade mount. The great I used is the black stuff that the dealer used in my loader/backhoe as they assembled it, I asked what it was and they pointed to it, so I bought 3 tubes and a Kubota painted/labeled grease gun so that it will only be used on tractor stuff.

The pedestals could be dragging, I know it took over 15 pumps each to push grease out the bottom ends. I don't think that the previous owner was big into greasing things.... He was a wealthy software company and beer micro brewery owner, didn't come across as a guy that cares much about money.... He seemed to have enough money that these little things didn't mean much to him.

I did replace the belt and tension spring as well while I was there.

New belts are stiff. It does not surprise me that you may not be able to turn the drive shaft with your hand but you should be able to turn it with a large screwdriver used as a bar.

With the belt removed you should be able to turn each blade with one finger.

This is not your problem.

You need more HP and less weight.

Even with less weight you will be at best marginal on HP with a 72" mower.

SDT

 

[Milo]

Just don't want scare off anyone considering a B2650 to mow with because I don't believe it's a "B2650 not strong enough to run a 72" mower up hill" issue. It's just that the combination of over size tires (I know from my old days putting oversized tires on a Bronco and Wrangler how the larger circumference and weight zap power), along with the additional weight filling them with liquid. I don't know but wouldn't think a rear finish mower would pull more power or weigh more than a mmm of equal width but perhaps it does?

Knowing that I was going to be mowing a lot and doing loader work with my B2650 I opted for turf tires filled with air and the 72" mmm. The deck is easy peasy to put on and off, and the tractor runs this mower just fine through fairly heavy grass up and down hill in mid range. For grass that's up around grill height I use low range. I only mow with the loader and ballast box off.

With all the objects to mow around, and in the interest of saving tractor hours, last Summer I purchased a Zero Turn dedicated mower with a 61" deck and it's actually a little faster mowing than the tractor with the larger deck so the deck just sits in the shed now.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I need the width for this property, even at 60" wide I've had some really sketchy moments. That was part of why I was willing to buy this machine, I wanted the width but not the weight of a CK2610 it L2501. This game me that same width with about 1,000 less grass destroying weight. I had a BX25D before this, you had to extend the backhoe out flat to the ground and swing it to the uphill side to cross my lawn and get to the trails. If I got off, I could push on the ROPS and the uphill rear tire would lift. Not cool.

With this wide B2650 and fluid filled tires I can cross the yard in high range and full throttle/HST while drinking a beer. It's stupidly stabilized by the tires. I'll take the lumps.... I'm not giving up these heavy and wide set tires. I'm picking up a Woods Heritage RD60 in a few weeks, so that should take care of the issue

Wide is good.

 

[sandman2234]

What would be nice is for someone with the original size tires to drop by and change them out for long enough to do a quick video. I am thinking it would make more than 7 per cent difference.
I know .370 rear end gears changed to . 355 in a 79 vette made a huge difference in performance. Less than what you have changed in the overall difference of tire circumference.
David from jax

 

[Rock Crawler]

What would be nice is for someone with the original size tires to drop by and change them out for long enough to do a quick video. I am thinking it would make more than 7 per cent difference.
I know .370 rear end gears changed to . 355 in a 79 vette made a huge difference in performance. Less than what you have changed in the overall difference of tire circumference.
David from jax

It's 7.5% no matter how you look at it. Math is math.

I don't blame the tires nearly as much as some of you do. The FDR2572 is the larger gearbox, heavier mower. It's minimum HP requirement is 25 at the shaft. I'm 19 at the shaft. Now that I know that, it's fairly easy to accept that I should have looked for the Land Pride standard (it light duty) 72" mower. But, it's all cool. I'll grab that Woods Heritage 60" and it should be fine.

 

[rkidd]

Just don't want scare off anyone considering a B2650 to mow with because I don't believe it's a "B2650 not strong enough to run a 72" mower up hill" issue. It's just that the combination of over size tires (I know from my old days putting oversized tires on a Bronco and Wrangler how the larger circumference and weight zap power), along with the additional weight filling them with liquid. I don't know but wouldn't think a rear finish mower would pull more power or weigh more than a mmm of equal width but perhaps it does?

Knowing that I was going to be mowing a lot and doing loader work with my B2650 I opted for turf tires filled with air and the 72" mmm. The deck is easy peasy to put on and off, and the tractor runs this mower just fine through fairly heavy grass up and down hill in mid range. For grass that's up around grill height I use low range. I only mow with the loader and ballast box off.

With all the objects to mow around, and in the interest of saving tractor hours, last Summer I purchased a Zero Turn dedicated mower with a 61" deck and it's actually a little faster mowing than the tractor with the larger deck so the deck just sits in the shed now.

Sure agree with this post! People should not be scared off from the B2650 set up with factory tires to run a 72" rfm. The 60" mmm doesnt even work it. I have several hundred hours running my Land Pride FDR 1672 rfm with no problem at all running out of power. It has been an awesome machine. I have also run some other implements early on that were oversized for my tractor that were borrowed due to not having one, and the tractor still handled them unbelievably well. I just did my 800 hr service on my B2650 today, and it has been an awesome tractor doing all types of tasks with running out of power not being a problem!!!

 

[Rock Crawler]

Sure agree with this post! People should not be scared off from the B2650 set up with factory tires to run a 72" rfm. The 60" mmm doesnt even work it. I have several hundred hours running my Land Pride FDR 1672 rfm with no problem at all running out of power. It has been an awesome machine. I have also run some other implements early on that were oversized for my tractor that were borrowed due to not having one, and the tractor still handled them unbelievably well. I just did my 800 hr service on my B2650 today, and it has been an awesome tractor doing all types of tasks with running out of power not being a problem!!!

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And... Your agreeing with what I just said. The light duty 72" mower that you have it's what I should have been looking for. That one is supposed to be fine for a machine like ours. I didn't learn all of this until just recently, I thought a 72" is a 72" is a 72". Land Pride says that it's not so and that the 2572 needs more umph than I have.

 

[rkidd]

And... Your agreeing with what I just said. The light duty 72" mower that you have it's what I should have been looking for. That one is supposed to be fine for a machine like ours. I didn't learn all of this until just recently, I thought a 72" is a 72" is a 72". Land Pride says that it's not so and that the 2572 needs more umph than I have.

I am not interested in agreeing with your statements. I am interested in conveying that with the tractor set up properly with standard tires and and the FDR 1672 rmf like I have, there is no problem with running out power and the B2650 handles it no problem, and that is what prospective buyers need to know. You have reasons for setting yours up like you did and that is surely fine, but as you have found out there are consequences. I just want to let people know that a stock B2650 is not an under powered tractor for its size.







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