Kubota LA302 being mounted on a Kubota B6100 - old tractor with new tricks

David Devuono · Nov 15, 2013

Do you have a loader bucket or are you making your own? If it came with a bucket you might want to cut it down in width. 660 lb lift will be hard on the tractor. Maybe a 42 inch bucket and 500 lb lift? I know my 36 inch bucket has been hard on my B4200 but it is still chugging along.

TomSeller · Nov 16, 2013

All I can say is.... WOW ,!!! Very nice work. Those B6100s are cool to start with, yours will be extra cool.

SilverLakeFab · Nov 24, 2013

I finally dragged the loader arm assembly into the shop and mounted it up. I also have started working on the wiring. The machine now has a new ground and positive battery connection and I really just need to clean and re-wrap the wiring harness before installing it. There are only a few things left to do at this point. I need to weld a new piece of tubing to the end of the muffler, which will be replaced with a new one after holiday expenses, pick up a few more pieces of hardware, and connect the loader valve to the loader itself (last few fittings arrive on Tuesday). I have a day off on Wednesday, so I'm hoping to have everything complete on that day. After that, I just need to fill the beast with oil, cross my fingers, and turn her over. If that works out, I'll be on track with my goal of finishing before Thanksgiving, but just bareley. There is still some touch-up paint to do after that, and then onto the plow.

SilverLakeFab · Nov 24, 2013

As a response to David, the machine currently has a 52" wide bucket, but I'd love to find a 48" bucket, as the machine is 46" wide. I certainly understand that it has a small lift capacity and I don't want to over-stress the base machine. If anyone out there in the NH area has a 48" bucket and wants a wider one, I'll trade my 52" wide one for your narrower one.

ddb123 · Nov 25, 2013

Wow, looks amazing.

Mendonsy · Nov 25, 2013

SilverLakeFab said:
As a response to David, the machine currently has a 52" wide bucket, but I'd love to find a 48" bucket, as the machine is 46" wide. I certainly understand that it has a small lift capacity and I don't want to over-stress the base machine. If anyone out there in the NH area has a 48" bucket and wants a wider one, I'll trade my 52" wide one for your narrower one.

That's kinda strange. The only bucket they list in the parts manual is the 48" one. I measured my LA302 bucket and it's just a bit over 47" wide.

600rider · Nov 25, 2013

SilverLakeFab said:
As a response to David, the machine currently has a 52" wide bucket, but I'd love to find a 48" bucket, as the machine is 46" wide. I certainly understand that it has a small lift capacity and I don't want to over-stress the base machine. If anyone out there in the NH area has a 48" bucket and wants a wider one, I'll trade my 52" wide one for your narrower one.

With your excellent Fab skills it shouldn't be that hard to hack 2" off each side of the bucket and re-weld the sides back on!

SilverLakeFab · Dec 6, 2013

We'll, I was finally able to start the engine today and drive the machine. I bled the injection lines and it runs like a champ. However, the loader doesn't seem to be getting hardly anything for hydraulic pressure as I can't get the lift arms to lift and even the bucket cylinders barely move (super slow - even without the bucket on). I have not tried the rear auxiliary hydraulics yet, but something is wrong. I'm hoping that I don't have to run an auxiliary hydraulic pump. I honestly don't mind the loader hydraulics being a little slow, but they have to work. I'll sort it out; always do.

SilverLakeFab · Dec 15, 2013

I have sorted the hydraulics for the loader due to the help of a tractorbynet user. I had the loader valve and rear auxiliary hydraulics valve in parallel instead of series, so it was a simple fix to get the that taken care of. Here's a link to that discussion: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/hydraulics/298593-kubota-b6100-slow-hydraulics.html

I just used the loader to clear some snow and it works great! It works quickly and picks up a full bucket of snow with no hesitation. I'm very pleased with how this is turning out! Next is to weld up the plow, but I'm still out about a week before having the laser cut plates for the new Silver Lake Fabrication snow plow design. However the bucket mounting bracket is about done. I'll post pictures once I have the plow built, but I'm excited about our new design.