Snow B7510 keeps surprising.

[Rod in Forfar]

My 2WD tractor could barely move without chains in the 8" of wet snow which fell overnight, so I decided to try the Kubota I had bought privately last June. So far it has outperformed my other tractors on lawn mowing, bush hogging (4') and block splitting, so I decided to try it on the Lucknow 5' snow blower to see if the 4WD would make a difference. The tractor already carries three suitcase weights on the front, left over from the rotary mower.

My 35 hp TAFE has a cab and a good loader. Otherwise there wouldn't be much reason to keep it after I was able to clean the 650' driveway with the B7510. Mind you, I did get wet and it wasn't very cold out.

 

[herringchoker]

Yikes Rod, it looks like winter there!
And yes, the little B-series can do surprising things.

 

[Mendonsy]

I have used a B7500HST with a 54" blower to clean my driveway for 10 years. It works best when there is a LOT of snow to move.

 

[Firefighter Kubota]

Love my 7510. This will the first year with a rear snowblower, but look at my sig you can see it has served me well...

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Love my 7510. This will the first year with a rear snowblower, but look at my sig you can see it has served me well...

I see both Mendonsy and Firefighter use 54" blowers. The last two days when I've used the Bota to move frozen snow I have found the 60" blower is working the motor pretty hard in heavy cutting, even in low range. With HST, of course, I can reduce ground speed to compensate. The previous owner of my Lucknow blower used an 18 hp New Holland 2WD on it for years.

This morning it was 12F or -11C. The little engine wasn't quick to start. After an 18 second glow plug interval it fired regularly, but not enough to pick up. A couple of more seconds of pre-heating and it started on the second try. -11C is not a cold winter morning here in Leeds County. Looks as though I either need a block heater or I'll have to prepare a stall for the 'Bota in a heated building. That's a problem because the blower-tractor typically finishes its work covered with snow, which makes a mess in the shop.

I'm using 15-40 Rotella dino, BTW. For my other compact I use 5W40 Rotella Synthetic, with little improvement in starting performance, but the Bolens has a stick-on 125w heating patch on the oil pan.

Has anyone prepared a set of instructions for a block heater installation? Any ordering advice?

 

[Mendonsy]

Just saw a thread on OTT about installing a block heater in a B7500. I think they are the same.
B7500 upgrades - OrangeTractorTalks - Everything Kubota
Are you adding fuel conditioner?? Anything below about 15^F it helps with starting.

 

[Firefighter Kubota]

Just saw a thread on OTT about installing a block heater in a B7500. I think they are the same.
B7500 upgrades - OrangeTractorTalks - Everything Kubota
Are you adding fuel conditioner?? Anything below about 15^F it helps with starting.

Great idea on Both!!! 15 min on the block heater or less, makes a huge difference...

 

[Firefighter Kubota]

I see both Mendonsy and Firefighter use 54" blowers. The last two days when I've used the Bota to move frozen snow I have found the 60" blower is working the motor pretty hard in heavy cutting, even in low range. With HST, of course, I can reduce ground speed to compensate. The previous owner of my Lucknow blower used an 18 hp New Holland 2WD on it for years.

This morning it was 12F or -11C. The little engine wasn't quick to start. After an 18 second glow plug interval it fired regularly, but not enough to pick up. A couple of more seconds of pre-heating and it started on the second try. -11C is not a cold winter morning here in Leeds County. Looks as though I either need a block heater or I'll have to prepare a stall for the 'Bota in a heated building. That's a problem because the blower-tractor typically finishes its work covered with snow, which makes a mess in the shop.

I'm using 15-40 Rotella dino, BTW. For my other compact I use 5W40 Rotella Synthetic, with little improvement in starting performance, but the Bolens has a stick-on 125w heating patch on the oil pan.

Has anyone prepared a set of instructions for a block heater installation? Any ordering advice?

All the recommendations I've seen and read on our tractor , (dealer too) was for a 50" - 54". they say the extra 6" can make a difference (insert jokes here) in poor performance with hard or heavy snow...

 

[newbury]

Although I've only used it a couple of times I've a magnetic oil pan heater that works fine and is just a "slap it on" deal. I've swapped it between tractor and van on occasion. After I get the vehicle running I take it off.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Has anyone prepared a set of instructions for a block heater installation? Any ordering advice?

I stopped by the local dealer and picked up a screw-in heater. The instructions for installation in the box were totally bogus in that they involved cutting a hose. A dealership service guy took one look and told me to destroy them. Then he took me out to a new B-series on the lot, swept the snow off the hood, and showed me how to unbolt the large Allen wrench and quickly twist the plug in before too much coolant runs out, taking care to treat the new threads with a sealant before completely removing the plug. He told me it takes two minutes to do the job.

We'll see.

 

[Mendonsy]

I stopped by the local dealer and picked up a screw-in heater. The instructions for installation in the box were totally bogus in that they involved cutting a hose. A dealership service guy took one look and told me to destroy them. Then he took me out to a new B-series on the lot, swept the snow off the hood, and showed me how to unbolt the large Allen wrench and quickly twist the plug in before too much coolant runs out, taking care to treat the new threads with a sealant before completely removing the plug. He told me it takes two minutes to do the job.

We'll see.

That sounds like the same instructions the guy on OTT had. He said when he finished that he should have drained the coolant and put it back when he was done.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

That sounds like the same instructions the guy on OTT had. He said when he finished that he should have drained the coolant and put it back when he was done.

The block heater went in just as the technician said it would. He had suggested not draining the coolant, just topping it up afterward. When the plug came out I had a nervous moment before the brass threads of the new unit aligned and bit. The brass looked larger than the plug, but it turned out to fit properly. The job took the two minutes -- plus another half-hour of fussing around worrying if the green slime on the floor was all spillage or partially from a leak. Turns out it was fine. The refill required about a litre of 50:50 mix in the rad and the overflow tank combined.

The Allen wrench to remove the plug is a 17 mm. The socket to tighten the block heater unit, though, is larger than my largest metric socket (30 mm), so I had to dig out the heavy duty sockets. One of them worked. I don't recall which. Because I was twisting a hollow brass fitting into place with a 2' ratchet, I put what I considered very little torque onto it, then waited to see if it was enough. It didn't leak. I used my fingers, rather than hands, on the large ratchet to tighten it. I kept remembering that this is the ratchet I use with a 4' piece of pipe to put the nut on the bush hog blades (400 ft. lb.+)

I found the heater unit is very hot at 1200 watts. I wouldn't leave it on overnight in such a small engine unless it shuts off automatically.

BTW: When I watched the video about cold weather starting of Kubotas, the thing I took away was that the host preheated the engine for a full minute. I've always though 18 seconds was radical, but I guess Japanese engines require long preheat times. My Massey Ferguson 35's Perkins starts to pop and fuss at 10 seconds of preheat. The TAFE's Simpson engine seldom needs more than 7 or 8, though it's an excellent cold-starter.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

I found the heater unit is very hot at 1200 watts. .

The Kill-A-Watt corrected my earlier reading. It draws 3.49 amps. That's a more sensible energy level for a block heater of this size. The 1200 watts on the cord might be a CSA rating for the cord itself.

 

[Mendonsy]

The Kill-A-Watt corrected my earlier reading. It draws 3.49 amps. That's a more sensible energy level for a block heater of this size. The 1200 watts on the cord might be a CSA rating for the cord itself.

That's just over 400 watts. It sounds about right for that size cooling system.