Bx1500 or hold out for a bigger unit?

[Sparkynutz]

I found a bx2350 close to my price range but very far away. My friend that went with me to look at the last tractor has family very close to where this new tractor is located. I'm trying to talk him into stopping and looking at it and make a visit to his family. Unfortunately he knows jack about tractors and I wouldn't be going along with him this time. I can have him do his best to check it over, possibly have a local dealer check it over too before he offers my top dollar for it and brings it home or not.
The thing I'm most hesitant about is the transmission reverse stopping problems I've seen threads about. Searching more on the subject only turns up really old posts about it. Has there been a fix or is this an issue to worry about?
The tractor has 73 hours, original owner and what looks like about $900 worth of cosmetic issues from a tree falling on top of ROPS and rear fender.
I still have plenty of shopping time until I need a tractor.
What are your thoughts on this one?

 

[robertm]

First, I smell a rat. 73 hours on a tractor that hasn't been made in probably 10-12 years? Only 7 hours a year? Made 2006-2008. Just seems fishy.
The shock of the full trunk falling on the ROPS alone I would venture damaged other things you won't see. The ride you have to take just to put that thing under a microscope, to me, is not worth it unless you get it for substantially less than it's worth - with plenty to spare for repairs you don't know will surface. ROPS aren't meant for that type of shock. Roll that tractor over 6 times, and it'll be lucky to bend. That cave-in on the top was a massive shock. Who knows what else was damaged. Where'd the tree mid section go? Impact steering column? The bucket alone looks like it has more than 75 hours on it.

 

[Rock Crawler]

First, I smell a rat. 73 hours on a tractor that hasn't been made in probably 10-12 years? Only 7 hours a year? Made 2006-2008. Just seems fishy.
The shock of the full trunk falling on the ROPS alone I would venture damaged other things you won't see. The ride you have to take just to put that thing under a microscope, to me, is not worth it unless you get it for substantially less than it's worth - with plenty to spare for repairs you don't know will surface. ROPS aren't meant for that type of shock. Roll that tractor over 6 times, and it'll be lucky to bend. That cave-in on the top was a massive shock. Who knows what else was damaged. Where'd the tree mid section go? Impact steering column? The bucket alone looks like it has more than 75 hours on it.

You mention the bucket looks.... Where are the photos? I'm not seeing these pictures, not seeing a link.... I'd like to see how this ROPS was damaged as well.

 

[robertm]

You mention the bucket looks.... Where are the photos? I'm not seeing these pictures, not seeing a link.... I'd like to see how this ROPS was damaged as well.

Go to the next thread "Roughly How Much to Fix This Damage".

 

[Sparkynutz]

I assume rest of tree is what's seen in front by bucket. Maybe loader was up when it fell? It's up slightly in picture. Definitely woulda been a scary being on or near the tractor. If I was on it I'd definitely rethink owning and operating a tractor.
The only bucket wear as seen in the pic could easily happen dragging on gravel a few hours. There's no pics of rest of bucket. I'm waiting for more pics and details yet.

 

[ike]

I bought a low hour bx1500 6 years ago. Of all the equipment I own, it will be the last I get rid of. I use it year round cutting grass and winter duty snow plowing. I have the 4 way blade on mine and it works excellent. It does most of hard work in low.

The later bx1500痴 like mine have the newer upgraded head lights and hydraulics mounted to the tractor, not the loader. Mine currently has 330 hours. My friend also has a 1500 and his kid ran it into his car with great effect!

 

[Sparkynutz]

A little more searching and I found a salvage yard with a whole bunch of bx tractors an hour from me.
They all look very very rough with no price listed but a good place to someday buy parts maybe.
I also found basicly my dream tractor. It's listed as a 2006 bx23 but I'm not sure if it's a bx24 or if the year is listed wrong and it is a bx23. Comes with FEL, BH, and 60" mower. No hours is listed and darn tires don't match again. Back are bar tires, front are turf. I don't get why people change only one pair. Wouldn't it make more sense to swap both or neither???
It looks in pretty good shape from the pics. I just need to call and find some details.
Hopefully it comes with 3 point hitch because I'd need to use that.
A while back I read somewhere about the bx23 etc being beefier framed and the backhoe mounting to frame instead of to the 3 point but after watching some bh removal videos I don't see what would be any different than say mounting the same bh on a bx2200. Any ideas?
I kinda like the one piece pedal of the bx2200. Can anybody tell me what the differences between a bx2200 and the bx23 are? I'm finding mostly comparisons from bx23 vs bx24 searching.
If I can convince the wife on this tractor I'd pretty much screw my goals of staying under $6-7k and hauling with my atv trailer because tractordata lists it as 2700lb and that doesn't include the mower deck.
I did get the go ahead from my uncle today to put new sides on his steel bottom house trailer axle trailer that I always used to haul gravel and dirt. I could use that to haul the tractor and the dirt I dig with it without having to swap trailers would be handy.

What would you think it's worth?

Edit.
I looked closer at pics. The fel is boxy like a bx2200. Serial # plate says bx23 and 2006 serial# so tractordata needs updating. It looks really clean. Bet it's under 1k hours.
I found a few bx22 with 300-800 hours private seller sold within last 6 months. Lowest one went for $7500. That was a steal! A couple more were in the $8-8500 still cheap considering they well without the bh for that.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Congratulations! Now your talking like a man that has done his research and found the machine to do his jobs long term and has accepted the fact that there is a right price for the right machine and it isn't determined by someone saying this is how much I have. You may be one of those guys that truly buys one machine and keeps it long term. The BX23 will do a multitude of jobs with out breaking the bank and can be a life time machine with proper care and maintenance. I would prefer the BX23 over the BX24 due to the BX??50 series issues.
Now your going to start getting advice on buying a B sized tractor but stick with the BX and then decide if you want/need a bigger machine. The BXs are power houses and are tractors and naturally will be slower than a bigger machine but that's just the way it is. The BX23 will do 50 times more than a BX1500. The BX23/24/25 are made with the FEL and BH so the frame is made for it. A BH on a 3ph alone isn't desirable due to strains/stress/lack of proper frame support.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

That tractor looks exceptionally clean and well taken care of THAT'S what I would be shopping for.

It looks like the BT600 backhoe mounts to a partial backhoe frame that's good, I found the BT600 user manual http://geckocycles.com/images/sagauro/BT600 owners.pdf and from what I see Kubota mounted a partial backhoe frame on the rear of the tractor for the backhoe to attach to. PTO mounted backhoe is a bad idea imo.

My BH65 hoe on my B2920 mounted to a full frame. Basically two large thick steel plates that ran from the rear where the backhoe attached all the way forward along the tractor frame out forward of the dash just back from the front tires. The hoe can lift the entire tractor off the ground and typically I had the tractor resting on the backhoe stabilizers and FEL bucket, the rest of the tractor lifted in mid air. Even with all that weight the hoe can and did lift the tractor off the hoe stabilizers, hence mounting it to a thick steel frame is a good idea.

I found my backhoe useful beyond just digging. With a mechanical thumb (I found some pictures of a BT600 with a bxpanded bolt on thumb) I frequently would grab with the hoe bucket/thumb logs and large branches, grip them in the middle and hack away with my chain saw. Also useful for grabbing onto a stump and lifting up out of the hole. One was so large even the hoe couldn't lift it, but I was able to grab it and drag it out of the hole driving the tractor forward.

That said, my need for a backhoe did come to an end. After the trees and bushes were cleared, stumps dug, drainage lines in, the backhoe sat in the garage unused other than ballast for the FEL. Hence I did not purchase a backhoe for my BX2380. If one day I need a hoe for some job I'll just rent one for a lot less than the $7k they want for a new hoe for my BX.

Backhoes are good tree root breakers. Even my BH65 had limits, it could not just grab a 6 inch diameter Fir tree root and break it, the hydraulics would max out before the root budged. No problem, instead I used the backhoe bucket teeth to rip my way through the root a couple inches at a time, munching on it. Another tactic was moving out away from the stump 6 to 10 feet where the root was thinner, ripping it up out of the ground from there, digging the dirt out from either side of the root. Dirt is the stumps strength, remove the dirt and its MUCH weaker.

These are not huge industrial excavator hoes so learn the limits and devise strategies to get the job done in smaller bites. Neighbor across the street from me clear cut 3 acres of fir trees. Pretty good size trees up to 3 foot in diameter. It took a full on bulldozer with a stump splitter and industrial excavator to remove those stumps in two pieces. Fir trees have tap roots that bore straight down into the ground several feet even the big industrial excavator could not just grab those and rip them out of the ground.

My point here is if guys start recommending moving up to a B tractor to get the next size larger hoe, that never ends. You can keep on making an argument to keep on moving up in size to bigger and bigger hoes but they all have their limits even the large industrial excavators so meh, the BX hoe will be fine within its limits. May take you a bit longer to finish a job, and there may be some jobs it just can't handle but that's true of any size hoe. 3 of the many trees I had cut down were fir trees about 2 foot in diameter. I dug a huge hole around those stumps, munched my way through all the roots, only thing left was the tap root, my BH65 could not even budge those stumps. I ended up hiring a stump grinder to come out and grind them below grade. But it managed to dig out all the other stumps, a few dozen of them.

One last thing my hoe was good for, digging fence post holes. My neighbor rented one of those 2 man augers, FAIL! The clay and tree roots some of them several inches in diameter, I think he worked for an hour and still had not finished digging 1 post hole. The backhoe was able to dig the holes and rip through all the roots. He then used the round cardboard tubes they use for cement footings, put those in the holes, packed the dirt in around them, put his fence posts in those and shoveled in cement, worked perfectly. I dug all his fence post holes with the backhoe in about 2 hours.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Someone posted this backhoe tip years ago and I found it useful. Got something you need to get rid of? Dig a deep hole with the backhoe and bury it lol. I buried stumps that wouldn't burn down further, old landscaping pavers, etc. Also useful for digging a big hole for a burn pit, burn all the stuff then push the dirt back in like it never happened.