BX Series 3 Point Hitch Sevice Bulletin

[kj33]

To all BX owners,
I finally figured out how to post jpeg files which should launch in your web browser of the Kubota Service Bulletin SB00-35 that details the fix for the BX series 3 point hitch. I'll have to do it in three posts because of the size restriction of 300K.
Best Regards,
Ken Johnson

KEJ

 

[kj33]

To all BX owners, 2nd post and second page
(I finally figured out how to post jpeg files which should launch in your web browser of the Kubota Service Bulletin SB00-35 that details the fix for the BX series 3 point hitch. I'll have to do it in three posts because of the size restriction of 300K.)
Best Regards,
Ken Johnson

KEJ



KEJ

 

[kj33]

To all BX owners, 3rd post and page
(I finally figured out how to post jpeg files which should launch in your web browser of the Kubota Service Bulletin SB00-35 that details the fix for the BX series 3 point hitch. I'll have to do it in three posts because of the size restriction of 300K.)
Best Regards,
Ken Johnson

KEJ



KEJ

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for posting that info!

Isn't it strange that it's been out 2 months and as an original purchaser I have not received it in the mail?

It was nice of Kubota to fix their design flaw but did you notice it only applies to units still under warranty with no mention of getting a kit after warranty expires? All the BX's are still under warranty unless they've been run 16 hours a day, but what happens to the poor folks that don't hear about this? Since it's an original design defect, why would it have a warranty stipulation? This doesn't give me warm feelings about Kubota. Kind of like..."Hey, we fix all of our design problems but if you don't find out about it somehow, and your warranty expires..." They do wonders for customer service and goodwill by letting the engineering folks go at this, and then shoot themselves in the foot by not telling anyone. I'm guessing when it was originally built they only tried a few implements and probably happened to have a couple that had inside lift pins. (or reversible ones). Some implements are not built that way however and this is good news. I wish however they had just made a replacment for the lower link, that comment on grinding that material off looks fun.

Again, thanks for taking the time to post the jpgs. I'd suggest to folks they download the jpgs to their hard drive or print them out so they've got them in hand.

 

[scruffy]

Del, if Kubota is anything like Chrysler, then the warrenty fix will be honored when the vehicle comes in for whatever reason. My Dodge Ram had an outstanding number (5) of warrenty repairs that had not been fixed due to my constant moving around the country (company transfers) and my not getting notified of them. When I took it in for a catalytic converter 18 months back (after warrenty had expired by 30 some thousand miles), they promptly found that the fixes had not been completed and repaired them at the same time. By the way, IF any of you have a problem with your catalytic converter, even if warrenty is expired, keep in mind that the Feds mandated an 80,000 mile warrenty on all pickup/truck converters. I had three of them replaced before one decided to hold up. It better, I'm at 82,000 now!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I just looked at the pics and at our BX and unless I am missing something, they have missed the boat a tad.

True the shorter top link will allow you to tilt the implements so the lower links don't grind against the implement, which I can see my rake has been doing, the grinding business will also help that.

The left lift rod adjustment will also help, but that is not my main problem.

If you look at the BX with some implements you can see that it is designed for and works great with implements that have pins pointed INWARD. Some implements can be switched, some can't. (inward or outward pins).

With Inward mounted pins the arms rest on their sockets in a "relaxed" position, fairly centered. As you lift it up and down or it moves sideways a little bit, you have full range of the pivoting feature of the link ball sockets.

With outward facing pin implements, not so. I have a rake on my BX and the joints on the implement pins and the joints on the other end of the lower link on the tractor are crabbed COMPLETELY OVER and twisted, so that the links are not just making contact via the ball and sockets the side of the links are dragging against the tractor itself. The solution looks pretty simple. Replace the danged lower link arms so they are an inch or two longer.

The more I look at this the more I think Kubota REALLY had only an inward pin implement when they designed this.

Geez if I felt I was a competent welder I think I could add some length to these myself. It looks like the pin holes in the lower links may need to be farther out as well as the entire link longer.

I'm getting really tempted to see if the links off of my Ford or the L35 can be made to work in this thing. Of course then the implement would be 4 feet farther behind /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif.

Next time you're near your tractor guys, KU, JD, NH whatever, look at your lower links, are they spread to the point that they can't be spread any farther when the implement is attached and ready to go?

Please post what you find or zap me directly, I think this is wrong.

Thanks,

del

[email]oldcarparts@mygarage.com [/email]

 

[watersjj]

Thanks for the information. I had heard about the linkage problems and already mentioned them to the dealer. Their suggestion was to turn the hitch pins to the inside as outlined in the service bulletin. I probably will ask my dealer to apply the complete fix since my tractor is only 1 month old. I suppose all BX tractors out there now have this problem.

 

[duster]

I AM NOT SURE ABOUT MY LOWER LIFT ARMS BINDING ,BUT I HAVE A BOX BLADE WITH REMOVABLE PINS AND I HVE NOT HAD ANY TROUBLE LIFTING THAT ,BUT WHEN I USED A YORK RAKE WITH SOLID OUTWARDS PINS ,I BENT MY TOPLINK, I TOLD THIS TO THE DEALER ABOUT 1 MONTH A GO WHEN I HAD THE TRACTOR IN FOR SERVICE AND ALL THAT THEY DID WAS REPLACE THE TOP LINK END THAT HAD BENT .I SURE HOPE THAT EITHER THEY DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS FIX AT THAT TIME OR THAT MY TRACTOR DOES NOT APPLY.BECAUSE I WOULD SURE NOT LIKE TO FIND OUT THAT THE DEALER DID NOT WANT TO DO THE FACTORY FIX.UNFORTUNALY WHEN I GOT THE TRACTOR BACK FROM SERVICE I DID NOT GET ANY KIND OF PAPERWORK WITH IT ,FROM THE DEALER NOR KUBOTA IS THIS STANDARD PROCEDURE?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I just had my BX into the dealer for a warranty fix on my fuel gauge. I did mention the problem with the three point and in fact there happened to be a factory rep who dropped by while my machine was in there, yet no mention from them on any fixes from Kubota. I figured the top link was too long the first time I hitched up to one of my implements so I dimantled my top link and cut off about an inch from each rod. This wasen't as simple as I would have liked it to have been since the threads inside were peened to prevent the link from being over extended, ha ha, like that would ever happen! And yes I agree with Del on having a little more length on the lower arms or possiblly a little tighter angles at the ends to give more width when they are mounted up to a Cat 1, I bought a small Cat 0, 5' Landpride blade with Cat 1 pins and it fits perfect. If any attachment you're looking at is available in Cat 0 I would recommend it. But the point is that the BX is supposed to use Cat 1 implements and should do so without any hassles. Anyhow I'll be calling my dealer next week to inform him of the service bulletin so they can order me up the parts. I should mention that I am in Canada where everything seems to lag a couple months behind the US as far as release dates. These guys should really get on the net more. I think they're still mad at me for ordering a BX before they even heard of one. I love it!

 

[duster]

WELL I COMPARED THE SERIAL NUMBERS OF THE TRACTORS AFFECTED BY THIS FIX AND I DONT KNOW IF I AM LUCKY OR NOT BUT MY TRACTOR HAS THE SERIAL NUMBER OF 53736 ONE NUMBER OUT OF THE RANGE OF TRACTORS NEEDING THIS FIX .SO I AM HOPING THAT THE DEALER DID THE RIGHT THING FOR ME.AS FAR AS THE SERVICE PAPER WORK GOES I AM GOING TO CALL THEM AND REQUEST A COPY OF IT FOR MY RECORDS.