BX2230 weight - Why's it so light?

[cayote1]

Re: BX2230 weight - Why\'s it so light?

All the blue bars say 2-11-2016

 

[California]

For a different perspective re a box blade for ballast - I bought a box blade with my first CUT, used it immediately to spread badly-needed road gravel, then haven't used it again for 10 years. My second, smaller tractor came with its own 4 ft box blade and I've never used it.

If you need rear ballast to counterbalance the loader I suggest what I have in the photo below, a $100 Quick Hitch from Harbor Freight (65 lbs), then ballast hanging from that as needed. Two 70 lb wheel weights in this case. There are also similar permanent weights on each rear wheel. This weight arrangement on a little Yanmar slightly larger than a BX (photo) is just right for counterbalancing a bucket of gravel up front, or more frequently, a heavy pallet on the forks which slip onto my loader bucket.

For spreading gravel or replacing dirt from a trench etc the front loader is sufficient for moving the material then back-dragging with the loader bucket gives a smoother result than I can attain with a box blade.

A box blade is essential if your application is to dig up existing dirt and re-contour the land, ie landscaping contractor etc. In my orchard application I've learned that I never do this. I do drag an 8 ft spike harrow (photo) occasionally to grade and level the driveway and some spots in the orchard, it levels best of any implement. It doesn't take much hp, a BX would pull this fine. Note my Quick Hitch is my interface to any rear implement.

In summary - think whether you need a box blade, or if you can make do with just the loader if you would rarely dig out dirt. Your application determines what implement you need. If you only need rear ballast to counterweight a loader, a box blade just reduces maneuverability so more compact ballast will serve you better.

Photo of my ballast on the little tractor, about 210 lbs.

 

[cayote1]

Ok California Tell me more about your trailer…I also have a Subaru outback, but it's turbo charged so i have more power. The book says I can increase the amount of weight I can tow to 2700 lbs if I install an electric trailer brake. I feel that if I also do a disc/pad/caliper mod I can even make it more safe and effective.
However tell me how much your Yanmar and trailer weigh and how much is your vehicle and trailer able to handle?
THANKS

 

[Garandman]

Compact Tractor Ballast Box | DR Power Equipment

Ok California Tell me more about your trailer…I also have a Subaru outback, but it's turbo charged so i have more power. The book says I can increase the amount of weight I can tow to 2700 lbs if I install an electric trailer brake. I feel that if I also do a disc/pad/caliper mod I can even make it more safe and effective.
However tell me how much your Yanmar and trailer weigh and how much is your vehicle and trailer able to handle?
THANKS

Outback XT was rated to tow 2,000KG (4,400 lbs) everywhere but the US. I've towed 3,000+ with my H6 many times.

 

[California]

Ok California Tell me more about your trailer? also have a Subaru outback, but it's turbo charged so i have more power. The book says I can increase the amount of weight I can tow to 2700 lbs if I install an electric trailer brake. I feel that if I also do a disc/pad/caliper mod I can even make it more safe and effective.
However tell me how much your Yanmar and trailer weigh and how much is your vehicle and trailer able to handle?
THANKS

This is a '99 Outback, last year of that body style and lighter than the later Outbacks. 2.5l four cylinder. Rated 1k tow without trailer brakes, 2k with. But the same (?) vehicle in Australia was rated to tow 2700 lbs or so. I think its existing disc brakes are better than most small cars and sufficient for its 3200 lbs plus any trailer that's reasonable to tow with this thing. Trailer brakes are important to prevent jackknifing, to keep the trailer back behind you, but I don't think any one hard stop with my rig fully loaded would fade the brakes. Mountain driving, forget it, even with trailer brakes a 2 k+ trailer would steer the car through curves. No thanks.

I won't clutter up this thread posting photos unrelated to the thread title but here are some I've posted on TBN in the past:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...7d-fel-soon-new-p1530434rym186d-ontrailer-jpg Hauling home my second Yanmar (see this and my sig photo below). I'm right at rated trailer rated capacity, almost at the trailer's tires rated capacity (The only real important one) and a little over Subaru's recommendation. I'm towing 500 lbs trailer, 1550 lb weight of my first (of two) YM186D's. I had the seller trailer it down out of the mountains to a favorite shop then I put it on this trailer and towed it 100 miles of freeway in 110 degree weather, then another 100 miles the next day. Totally uneventful but this was all flatland. Since no trailer brakes I left many carlengths open in front of me at all times. It felt heavy, but not a sense of the trailer steering the car. Totally stable.

Typical use
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ights-little-towable-backhoe-p1110945rbh1-jpg
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-small-trailer-607021-8fttrailerdscn5079r-jpg
In those photos you can see all panels are removable, two each side and the end panels have pins going down 45 degrees into the chassis. Turn the panels around and they make flat bed extenders. Here's one extending the back. Also the axle can be mounted at mid-point or offfset rear as shown here. (I now leave it centered).
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-hf-trailer-dscn3332rsub-trailerinorchard-jpg
and the tongue can be extended longer to allow one at the front too. I've carried 16 ft rolled carpet on this nominal 8 ft trailer.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-wanted-p1640876r186trailerpropssaddlebag-jpg
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...186d-hood-p1530779rberrypicym186d-trailer-jpg

And it tilts. Pull the pin where the front of the bed rests on the tongue. That's how I loaded the second little YM186D, the one with a loader, when I bought it.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ls-dont-suck-p1620619rwinch-trailertilted-jpg
But this second YM186D was another couple hundred lbs heavier, at least, due to its loader so I removed the trailer's side panels to get the bare trailer weight down to 400 lbs. That tow was local, 25 miles avoiding the freeway on back country roads and cautious like a trucker's special permit load. Uneventful, but that was the maximum I would ask of this Subaru/trailer rig.

I bought the trailer at Home Depot about 2001. The brand is Snow Bear from Ontario Canada. Unfortunately they are out of business. But Home Depot and Tractor Supply sell 4x8 trailers with 5.30x12 C tires, which gives 2100 lbs tire capacity with the trailer rated 2k. I like the 12" tires for a trailer this size - the whole trailer is in the car's slipstream and I can thread the rig through very tight spaces since the trailer is no wider than the car. I wouldn't recommend a heavier or wider trailer for a 2.5l Subaru. Cooling, suspension, brakes, transmission wear all suggest nothing larger, at least to take on the highway. This Subaru is now 16 years old, 115k miles, runs like new.
Incidentally I wouldn't recommend Harbor Freight's 4x8 trailer, they are much lighter duty than a trailer like this that is all welded construction.

Here's an old post re the Outback:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/related-topics/80467-subaru-engine-2.html#post900624
I hope you like your Outback as much as I like mine.

Here's one small photo of the trailer I made when I sold the first YM186D on Craigslist. This really is typical use except the city-girl college friend of my daughter that I put on the tractor for the photo was afraid to actually drive it.
Getting back more or less on topic, this shows the wheel weights I had on that tractor, and then moved to my second YM186D. This is sufficient to offset the loader on the later YM186D for light loads. I only need to hang ballast on the back for say 300 lbs and up in the loader bucket.

 

[RalphVa]

All the SCUTs are about this weight. If I need some serious weight for counterweight to do FEL work, I put the bushhog on the back. If I don't want the length of it back there, I take the tail wheel off.

Ralph

 

[Jay4200]

Re: BX2230 weight - Why\'s it so light?

Not sure if you noticed, might be worth keeping an eye on what post you reply to, but the start of this thread was 11 years ago

Huh. How about that! Well, still a relevant machine, I guess.

Incidentally, I found the BX2200 1600# weight info in a couple of places:

TractorData.com Kubota BX2200 tractor information
http://www.************.com/specs/Kubota/BX2200.aspx

 

[timswi]

Re: BX2230 weight - Why\'s it so light?

Huh. How about that! Well, still a relevant machine, I guess.

Incidentally, I found the BX2200 1600# weight info in a couple of places:

TractorData.com Kubota BX2200 tractor information
http://www.************.com/specs/Kubota/BX2200.aspx

That sounds about right for the net tractor---I'll be honest, my BX23 isn't all that different from the 2200 besides the BH..I have a 54" mower and the front loader on most all the time and it's plenty heavy and the BH is a perfect ballast. I could probably use something bigger, but that little BX just does everything I want it to do albeit not as fast as a larger machine but it works for me--My time is free anyway. Besides, a slower machine gives me more mental time to myself, there's an upside there.

I move 50+ tons of limestone every spring and misc yard and utility work around the property and the BX never failed me. Plus I have to maintain a 200' driveway and 1000+ ft of right-of-way.

Pay no heed to the date police. Yeah the thread is way old but your issue is relevant to its intent.

 

[gladehound]

The earths gravitational pull is only so strong and the mass of the BX2230 is only so much. That's why it's so light

 

[cayote1]

Wanna sell your box blade? Is it a 4 footer?