BX2200/B7500 Position control

[70boss]

Owners of these tractors, and owners of B2400/2100...etc., please share your experience with non-position control tractors. I am having trouble "pulling the trigger" on a Kubota without position control. Is that feature worth the extra money?? Can I still fine grade driveways and dirt? Is there a way to retro fit the position control from the new narrow DTN B7500, onto a wide B7500?? I can't beleive I am vassilating so much on this tractor purchase!! Thanks!

 

[GlueGuy]

70boss,

I talked to Kubota technicians last week about retro-fitting the PC from a B7500DTN to a B7500HST. They said it "could" be done, but the cost and labor to do it would exceed the difference between a B7500 and B2410./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I have another call in to just see what the cost of the parts is. From what I understand, it is more than the external controls; it also involves internal hydraulic valves.

BTW - I did investigate using the lower-limit adjustment as sort of a "poor man's" PC (call this plan B). Not a good plan. The lower-limit adjustment does not reliably stop the 3PH in exactly the same place every time. There was at least a couple inches difference depend on how fast the 3PH went down./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

That said, I have now done quite a bit of grading on our 4300' driveway, and am not 100% sure that the $2000 cost of the upgrade would be worth it. I've found that with the hydraulic T&T I often just leave the 3PH in float, and modulate the top link to adjust whether I am scraping or laying material./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Likewise, when mowing, if my land was flat, then PC might be nice. However, I found that I am constantly adjusting the 3PH up and down to compensate for the rough terrain. PC would not have made a whit of difference in this case./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I'm still working on plan A, which will be cheap & easy. It won't be "position control", but rather "position indicator". It will be precise, but you will still have the joystick control.

The GlueGuy

 

[frank_f15]

BOSS: i have a 2400 with pc. depending what u are doing ,it can be worth it. i have found it useful at times but at other times it is not a great differece.if u think it may be useful for u then by all means get a tractor that has it. also take into acct. the type of rear attachment u want to use it with. sometimes just putting it in float will do u fine. probably did not help u much! all a personal decision. either way u will be happy with orange.

 

[LarryT]

Well, I've posted this before but I'll say it again. Last year I bought a B7500 HST. I didn't think the lack of position control was very important. All of my first work was with the rotary cutter and position control is very important in that situation. It bothered me so much that I traded the B7500 in with only 26 hours for a B2910. At the same time I got hydraulic T&T. I have to agree with Glue Guy, I might have been able to live with the lack of position control if I had had the Hydraulic T&T on the B-7500. I'm not sorry I made the trade anyway because I really needed a bigger tractor. Bottom line is that I didn't do enough homework on what I really needed in the first place. I lost a lot of money on the deal because of my ignorance. If you think you need position control, then you will probably always regret not getting it in the first place. So, don't do what I did. Go for it!

Larry...

 

[NYTrainer]

Is position control the same as draft control? Would you mind giving specific instances (or certain implements?) where position control is needed and w/o it what would be the results. Thanks.
David

 

[GlueGuy]

David,

Draft control is different. It is used to control engagement depth of attachments like plows. It will raise/lower the 3PH based on the depth relative to the surface.

Draft control is relatively expensive to implement (compared to postition control), and is only found on higher-end farm tractors.

The GlueGuy

 

[70boss]

Draft control and position control is not expensive technology at all. My 50 year old Ford 8N, had BOTH position and draft control. It really bugs me that position control is not standard on these small Kubotas. That is the only thing keeping me from buying a B7500, or BX2200.

 

[GlueGuy]

You may be right, as all draft control these days (I think) is electronic. If I'm wrong on that too, I'm sure that someone here will correct me./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

None-the-less Kubota & other compact mfrs. have decided that this is exotic enough to be "not needed" for most small tractors. Here is a handy little explanation of the (original?) draft control Fergusen Draft Control for those who are curious.

The GlueGuy

 

[JerryG]

Draft control is used only for ground engagement equipment (plows). It is a very nice feature if you use a mold board plow very much. I don’t know about the other manufactures, but Massey Ferguson offers it as an option on the 1240 (29 hp) and the 1250 (32hp) compacts. If you get a new MF compact or agri. tractor that is larger than the 1250, it is standard equipment.
Tractors that have the draft sensing on the third arm are all mechanical and the ones that run off of the lower lift arms are mostly or all electronic (if I’m not behind).

 

[GlueGuy]

Re: B7500DTN Position control retrofit

The dealer finally got back to me this week about retrofitting the position control from a B7500DTN to either a B7500DT or the B7500HST.

It can be done, but the problem is that all the PC "parts" are different. This means that the cost of the parts alone is about $2500 (no labor, etc.). He appologized for taking so long to investigate. The problem was that the DTN is new enough, and "special" enough, that tracking down the drawings took a little while. He is also kind of busy...

At any rate, it is possible to retrofit this PC, it's just rather expensive to do it. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

The GlueGuy