gr2120 VERY bad 1st impression

[gmcman6000]

well, i picked up my new to me 2014 GR2120 today. it has 88 hours and landed it for $6003 out the door after my 500 trade in. i chose it over a 2016 new one due to the $ saving, as best i found in central alabama was $9300 out the door

heres how i chose a gr. after months and months of research, i decided a small tractor, ie bx series or jd 1 or 2 series, was too heavy for my sodded yard with irrigation. and the clearing i want to do on the property ill be better off with a 25-30hp tractor. like a boda L2900 or such. i have a sloped side yard under alabama powers high line right of way & i needed extra traction. for now, the GR really fit my need.... and budget!!!!

so after dinner i fired it up 1st thing i noticed was when i took off and turned, it made a popping noise. does it turning both ways. i am very familiar on 4wd, locking diffs and how they work. i am an off road guru. so the gr begins to bind up then pops when the glids steer rod finally releases the clutch. it actually stays binding up, scrubbing the inside tire on a gentle turn. it only releases when turning pretty sharp. but theres a lot of popping goin on

i thought the glide steer would be a lot smoother than this. you can actually feel and hear it over the deck bouncing and blades turning.


2nd thing, it cuts crooked!!!!! it gouges the crap outta the grass from the left blade. guess it could be a bent blade, but its bad enough i wont put it on my front yard till its corrected. i did notice the front of the deck goes down first, then after the height setting is reached, it appears the rear of the deck lowers. weird......


3rd is why does it die every time i get off??? im used to deere, set the parking break and exit. keeps running. its basement kept, so i end up letting it die after getting off the close the door behind me kinda annoying

4th i guess im not used to pto whining it engages hard and seems to be loud. i cant figure out if i should ease the blades on or engage quickly.

so i am not all negative. typical bota, purrs like a kitten. power steering is awesome, as ive never had that. all the comments about the seat, i found it comfortable, for now. traction is great!!!!!! some folks dont realize what the front wheels pulling really do. this thing never spun a tire, but thats expected, and one of the main reasons i bought it.




so fellas, offer me some advice. right now im so disappointed im ready to call the dealer and ask to carry it back

 

[TMR]

well, i picked up my new to me 2014 GR2120 today. it has 88 hours and landed it for $6003 out the door after my 500 trade in. i chose it over a 2016 new one due to the $ saving, as best i found in central alabama was $9300 out the door

heres how i chose a gr. after months and months of research, i decided a small tractor, ie bx series or jd 1 or 2 series, was too heavy for my sodded yard with irrigation. and the clearing i want to do on the property ill be better off with a 25-30hp tractor. like a boda L2900 or such. i have a sloped side yard under alabama powers high line right of way & i needed extra traction. for now, the GR really fit my need.... and budget!!!!

so after dinner i fired it up 1st thing i noticed was when i took off and turned, it made a popping noise. does it turning both ways. i am very familiar on 4wd, locking diffs and how they work. i am an off road guru. so the gr begins to bind up then pops when the glids steer rod finally releases the clutch. it actually stays binding up, scrubbing the inside tire on a gentle turn. it only releases when turning pretty sharp. but theres a lot of popping goin on

i thought the glide steer would be a lot smoother than this. you can actually feel and hear it over the deck bouncing and blades turning.


2nd thing, it cuts crooked!!!!! it gouges the crap outta the grass from the left blade. guess it could be a bent blade, but its bad enough i wont put it on my front yard till its corrected. i did notice the front of the deck goes down first, then after the height setting is reached, it appears the rear of the deck lowers. weird......


3rd is why does it die every time i get off??? im used to deere, set the parking break and exit. keeps running. its basement kept, so i end up letting it die after getting off the close the door behind me kinda annoying

4th i guess im not used to pto whining it engages hard and seems to be loud. i cant figure out if i should ease the blades on or engage quickly.

so i am not all negative. typical bota, purrs like a kitten. power steering is awesome, as ive never had that. all the comments about the seat, i found it comfortable, for now. traction is great!!!!!! some folks dont realize what the front wheels pulling really do. this thing never spun a tire, but thats expected, and one of the main reasons i bought it.




so fellas, offer me some advice. right now im so disappointed im ready to call the dealer and ask to carry it back

There is a "new" model 2016 (I think) GR2120-2 that has had a number of "improvements"...including changes to the "glide steer" system. I do not fully understand the original...or the "new and improved". Seems like the dealers know little about the GR2120-2 as I asked two dealers near me and they had no awareness that there was "-2"...much less what changed. Maybe someone else has full knowledge of what was changed on the "-2"?

FYI...TMR

 

[CalG]

Did you purchase the machine without seeing it, hearing it and operating it?

It would be peculiar to do so with a used machine. I mean why would it be available if someone else hadn't found fault with it?

The surprise, is that this is your first impression. I try to get that out of the way prior to passing the cash.

 

[gmcman6000]

i did fire it up. but wasnt much turning needed to load it on the trailer.. of course there wasnt any grass to cut, but i did run the blades and throttle it up for a bit. i traveled forward n backwards. but turning never crossed my mind. as far as why it was for sale, i was told it was traded for a bx with a loader..

the model number gr2120-2 , i thought it was the latest model.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Can't comment on the transmission, but the cut quality could be a bent spindle, a bad spindle bearing, a bent blade or the deck could be out of level. It's possible the deck itself is bent, but probably unlikely.

 

[zzvyb6]

I get the feeling there's a good reason that it got returned after it got messed up after only 88 hours. I'd at least turn it on its side and see why one of the blades cuts badly.

You pay more for good fresh oats. Less for oats that have already been through the horse.

 

[PHILIP8N]

A proper test drive before purchase would have let you known about most of your problems. The glide steer sounds like a serious problem, previous owner may have abused it. Have you gone thru the manual and lubricated everything yet? There are lots of lube points under the tractor for the glide steer system. Obviously, the mower deck needs adjusting. There are 2 safety overrides I performed on mine, the reverse mower awareness switch, and the seat safety switch, simple to override. After warming the engine up at 1/2 throttle, I slowly engage the pto handle to turn the mower. I bought my GR2120 new in 2013, have 100 hours on it now, very satisfied with performance, mowing and snowblowing. Like you I also have a L3940 for the bigger task. Good luck! Philip.

 

[locknut]

I wouldn't operate the machine with the glidesteer rods that far out of adjustment. The deck may well be bent somewhere-never heard of anyone having to level a deck.Take the thing back where you bought it and tell them to get the thing ready to use properly or you want your money back.I hate reading these types of posts.There is no excuse for it.These are excellent machines.

 

[gmcman6000]

thanks for the input folks!!!! heres an update

spoke with the kubota dealer that originally sold it new. its never had any warranty work done, nor any record of being serviced. the service manager didnt seem to concerned with only 88 hours. it does have the black/ grey filters, meaning its not been serviced ( per the service manager) so today i picked up a tranny spin on filter and a gallon of that new recommend fluid. he said he couldnt stress the importance of the 1st service on the tranny. he all but guaranteed the service, with a little bit of run time, the popping would go away. the fresh fluid with the extra synthetic additives will loosen the sticky clutches up.

if not IT IS still under warranty, regardless that im the 2nd owner. they were more than willing to look at it, but only after i did the recommended service.

ill get the oil change and air filter next weekend.

as far as the safety switches, thanks for the advice philip8n. i'll definitely want to bypass those.

now i do have a bent deck. i took the deck off. greased every fitting, and looked the tractor over really good. no problems noticed with the tractor.

i stood the deck up on the front anti scalp wheel, propped up against the garage door. the left blade dipped well below the center one when spinning them end to end. after visually looking at the right side, i can clearly see the deck housing is bent around the spindle housing. i mean its so visible you dont even need to lay it down on the ground n drop a level across the pulley.

i havent come up with a good way to straighten it out yet. funny part the deck looks perfect all over elsewhere

so, i am hoping i havent ended with someone elses problems. but several of you may think i have

my theory is with the popping noise, which the dealer swears its from not being serviced, and then the previous owner ran over something and bent the deck, he traded off.

why it wasnt serviced at 50 hours bothers me, but service manager says tons of people let units go much longer.

again, thanks for the input. ill service the transmission sunday afternoon and drive it around, and update the results!!!!

 

[locknut]

I bet changing the fluid out won't cure the binding/clutch problem.And,why are you changing the fluid anyway? That mower should have been inspected and the service brought up to date before you took delivery. You'll never get that heavy gauge deck straightened perfect and the problem will cause issues down the road.I'd broom this tractor and give the dealer the boot.Just my opinion.

 

[coolreinfarm]

Amen, take it back

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I agree with the others. Take it back, trade it in on something NEW that a shady customer or this dealer hasn't had a chance to screw up.

And if you trade it in now, you should require 100% of what you paid to be credited against the new machine. If you keep it and futz around with it, it will be harder to get a full credit.

 

[trihounds]

Yeah, you got a bit of a short stick if you expected a perfect cut, which I would a) buying from a dealer, and b) with so few hours.

I have the same unit, same year, bought used with 65 hours. Couldn't be happier with it as it runs and cuts like a brand new machine yet I saves many $ '000. Good luck...stick with the model because it really is a good unit.

 

[ozzie tractor]

Ok, service wont fix the trans issues. It needs the glide steer cables either adjusted or they have siazed and need replacing.
1st service at 88hrs doesnt worry me much, wont make any difference. As for the deck, we pull them out and plonk them in a big press. Use a half round device as a pusher and its not a very big job.
You shoukd be able to get off the seat if the deck isnt engaged, so long as the brake is on.

 

[gmcman6000]

thanks again for the input. after 9 days the dealer delivered it back to my house. they had to send it to a different dealer with a deal to fix the deck. i imagine it was just as ozzie tractor described. it must be a common thing to straighten a stamped deck over replacing the shell, as they had no problem fixing it. i see no marks on the deck where it was ever bent back. but they did an excellent job. it cuts great now. level as far as i can tell. i'll havta go over the yard several times to get it back to normal cutting height. it was getting very shaggy after not having a mower for a while.

as far as the popping when i start to turn, its now gone. i greased all the fittings, and changed the tranny fluid & filter as recommended. after 1-2 hours on it all i feel while turning is a small shift ,or release of the clutch pack. no more noise. it operates as i have read it should. not smooth as glass while starting to turn, but very little bump. noise is completely gone.

i still cant get to stay running while setting the parking brake and getting off to close the garage door behind me. id LOVE to bypass the backup awareness and the kill switch, as i do come up in the seat every now & then if i hit a bump or need to adjust my back.

one last question, how steep do they climb??? mine actually stopped pulling while going up a pretty steep hill. i prolly had no business goin up that steep, but was curious on how much traction it gets. so far im very impressed. but still wonder why it stopped pulling.

thanks again everyone. after all is said and done i saved over $3000 on a new one. and 88 hours is still new to me!!!!

 

[oldpilgrim]

one last question, how steep do they climb??? mine actually stopped pulling while going up a pretty steep hill. i prolly had no business goin up that steep, but was curious on how much traction it gets. so far im very impressed. but still wonder why it stopped pulling.

with an HST, you need to back off on the 'go' pedal when pulling. it effectively makes the 'tranny' go into in to a lower 'gear'. (not a real gear, but the same effect).

it becomes second nature after awhile.

 

[locknut]

Glad you got them to fix it.It should stay running if you dismount if the brake is set and the pto is off. There's a switch down on the floorboard at the hydro pedal that may need adjusting.

On pulling slopes,the hydro is somewhat weak.And,it depends how hot the fluid is and ambient temp.If it's say 70deg outside and you pull a slope right away after you start mowing it should pull up to 30deg on a 12-16 ft run up.On downhill that steep do not use the park brake to slow forward speed,just light touch rev hydro.it won't hurt anything. And if you have the owners manual read through it a couple times.

If you would want a nicer seat,the thicker seat from a B series will change out with four screws.Big improvement.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Not familiar with this model Kubota but many BXs, Bs and an L. On BXs there is a turtle and rabbit selector. Low and high. Many people want to run in the rabbit/high all the time and think they should do that. I usually use the turtle on the BX mowing machines and the Turtle/low gear will climb where the rabbit/high will not. If yours has a low gear, use it and then see if it will climb. The BX will climb in low until the tires spin.

 

[gmcman6000]

thanks for the input guys. sorry i haven't been on here in a long while. here's the latest update. come to find out the blades weren't all the same height even after the deck was worked on by the dealer. if you looked at the blades end to end, the middle one was 1/2" or so higher, leaving lines in the yard. parking brake doesn't hold on a hill. it still doesn't pull hills. it just stops pulling.

i took it to kubota, explained the issues. they said they'd look at the blades, adj parking brake, and check the hydro line pressure.

after several calls over the next few weeks they finally said it was ready to go. they charged me $156 to sharpen the blades, ( didn't need it. as it was just done by last trip to the dealer), adj the parking brake ( warranty doesn't cover it they said), and check the hydro pressure.

so total was.... ready..... first 72 days i owned the tractor it was in the shop 54 days!!!!

it still had lines when it cut. the thing still wont pull a steep hill. so i figured i'd live with it.

this spring, we tried to use it to pull small stumps. as in wrist size and smaller. on ankle sized privet hedge stump was too much. it would NOT even spin the tires on the dirt. even at full throttle, it just sat there.

i guess i was expecting a lot more outta this for what they cost. my 2wd john deere would spin both back tires on the concrete trying to pull things.

after all this, plus hard to crank all winter after sitting in a warm basement, i was done.

i had done everything i could to make it work out.

i sold the GR for $800 more than i paid for it. I've now moved on to a cub cadet Sc2400 with a 60" cut. so far love it

again, thanks to all that chimed in. i WAS a big kubota fan, but not anymore.