Looking at buying BX25D - questions on the BX's in general

[murphy1244]

Do not drive with your bucket so high like him. He is asking for it and sooner or later he will flip it.

 

[nc redneck]

I own Kioti 45 SE with loader and backhoe, Kubota BX 2200 with loader and John Deer 757 0 turn mower. BX would be the last thing I would sell.
I think that explains it all.
Scott

 

[Mowbizz]

This is one video that swung my decision to the BX.

I agree! And I don't think he even had a toothbar on it!

 

[94BULLITT]

Its the definition of Master of None.

Yes it does alright in different jobs but it doesnt excel in any.

Have you ever trenched with a BX? Its too small to drive over the trench when your finished so unless you can drive straight out, your a bit stuck. Its hoe doesnt have enough swing to swing the rear over end over the trench to get out. It also has limited reach, so that means frequent moves, which wouldnt be so bad if it had a creep function you could use from the BH operators station, but it doesnt. Thats just how it is.

Ditching from the side, its "ok" but it suffers from limited reach, which means frequent moves and wasted time. On top of that it has relatively weak hydraulics and its light weight doesnt allow you to maximise what hydraulics are there. Try digging some hard packed red clay like I have around here. Its so light you'll drag your *** all over the place so you need to rely on small bites using the curl. Slow process. And the hydraulics themselves are slow.

Mowing wise, its never been a good mower to me, even with the fine cut deck. My ZD completely blows it out of the water as far as cut quality. Its heavy and all the weight is over the front wheels on the BX which means it compacts the grass and that grass leaves streaks. The ZD is just as heavy, but its weight is in the rear so the grass is cut before being squashed.

Lift capacity on the loader is too low to be overly effective. It can only lift what, 800lbs? It could barely lift my new woodstove out of the truck (and I have my hydraulics "turned up"). It certainly cant move a full pallet of firewood,not even a half pallet.

Right now, im dealing with the lack of 3pt hich lift height and ground clearance. I need a rear blade that will offset and angle to repair my washed out driveway. The BX's lack of lift prevents me from being able to do that with an off the shelf blade so Im going to have to design and build one to work with the BX's limitations. Frustrating.

I know you guys dont like hearing your babies arent perfect. I got one and call it like it really is, warts and all. Im not saying it isnt a tough well built machine, but people need to hear about the flaws too. As a retired homeowner machine, one where you have all day to do something. Or you want to put in some flower beds.. Or you dont want to damage the lawn.. then fine, but you should know that going in.

On top of all the the BX is the best SCUT out there. I understand you are not bashing the BX, you are just pointing out its (or any other SCUT's) weak points.

A Woods RB60 blade does all you want and works great on a BX.

 

[Scooby074]

Scooby, you are funny. For you the glass is half empty. I don't get it. I guess my F350 doesn't excel either because it won't pull a 50 foot reefer like a KW or Peterbuilt. That's fine. Again, it's not designed for commercial excavation, mowing, and lifting. I agree the BX is heavy and mats down grass. I live that, too. I don't have a hoe. I can't comment there. I have lifted 600 pounds plus with no issues. I doubt anyone looking to lift massive weight, or digging many long trenches, would choose a BX. A homeowner looking to have versatility? YES. is that what it's designed for? Yes. I understand you Scoob, but from what you say, a B is a waste, too. It is a master of none, too. Are we all to buy TLB's or large loaders, or three individual pieces of equipment?

Robert, its not that the glass is half empty.. Its a great little machine, but it really has a lot of "issues" that can be frustrating. Everybody screams "buy it", but nobody points out the BX's inherent weaknesses. Potential buyers should hear this.

A BX without a Hoe is a powered wheelbarrow. If you've never used a BX Hoe, you shouldnt be recommending it to others.

In retrospect a B is as small as Id go as far as a tractor is concerned, if youre going to use it as a tractor and frankly an L is even better.

If I had an L, Id have a repaired driveway by now.

 

[radioman]

How deep do you need to trench? you can dig 4 ft neat and up to 6 ish messy. If you need to go deeper, you will be digging a swale like ditch to set BX inside of to go deeper then BX hoe can reach. I have dug a 12 ft trench but had to dig with FEL first 8 ft and it took alot of time to truck out the tailings with FEL. For me, the BX was the only machine I had so I made it work without abusing it. I just worked smarter with but it took time. I see you already have a larger tractor so if you can use both BX and MX, I think you got a sweet setup. You can use either one based on how much time you have or how much damage you want to do to area working. I like BX for many things, but its certainly not a B,L or MX series. I think EVERY tool you have has its own pros and cons and the BX doesnt have a con that prevents people buying it. You just use the right tool for the job for best efficency and safety, thats all. same goes for tractors.

 

[Cherokee140]

Robert, its not that the glass is half empty.. Its a great little machine, but it really has a lot of "issues" that can be frustrating. Everybody screams "buy it", but nobody points out the BX's inherent weaknesses. Potential buyers should hear this.

A BX without a Hoe is a powered wheelbarrow. If you've never used a BX Hoe, you shouldnt be recommending it to others.

In retrospect a B is as small as Id go as far as a tractor is concerned, if youre going to use it as a tractor and frankly an L is even better.

If I had an L, Id have a repaired driveway by now.

Pretty powerful statement. It shows just what you think of the machine. Personally I am hardly qualified to comment on the BX as mine has a grand total of 15.something hours on it. But so far I have yet to find any "issues".

It is pretty simple to understand...you don't like little tractors, you see them as toys. Your sugar coating and tip toeing around their descriptions fool no one.

And you know what that is fine. It is not the end all and be all of machines, no one says it is....it might be totally useless to you. But to a great many people it is just perfect.....there is so much mine is bigger then yours with tractors it really is very grade school, and people get on the defense very quick and actively seek out places to spread the news that it is really just a lawn mower with a wheelbarrow on the front....when it really is much more then that....even after a short 15 hours I know that.

 

[Code54]

Most of my trenching will be very shallow - under a foot. May run a water line over to my shop, about 100 ft max and would go 3' deep. The only thing is I can rent a trencher for about $110 buck, make a little skinny 4" trench through the yard very quickly so I may skip the BX for that task. If I would dig it with a BX it would have to be about 3' deep so I would never have to worry about it freezing.

I seen a lot of good info on here and some great points were/are being brought out. I'm in the same boat as Cherokee140, if I go at full zero turn speeds my lawn will also eject me into the woods. It looks good from a slight distance but has some real rough spots. Also with hills a zero turn is not a lot of fun. Those front caster wheels love to pivot and help you go sideways down hill. I know that for a fact!


If anyone has photos of the BX on hills I would be interested in see what it can safely do.

 

[Code54]

I laughed at the power wheel barrel comment - the other night I had my 5100 sitting on the driveway while I shoveled dirt from my ditch into the bucket. Why into the bucket - so I won't have to get the wheel barrel and push the heavy wet clay 100 yards away to dump it over the hill.....Kept thinking I can't wait to get a little backhoe so I can quit trying to shovel wet clay out of ditches......

By the way Cherokee140 - GREAT video from above - your "pilot" did a heck of a good job filming!

 

[juddspaintballs]

for mowing on hills, the best method I've ever used was a walk behind mower with a sulky. if the hill is really steep, I step off of the sulky and walk on the downhill side of it so I can pull down on the uphill control to keep the mower running in a straight line. I know I can't roll a walk behind and I can go almost as fast as a zero turn on flat ground. also, on a walk behind you can squat down behind the controls when going under low branches where the tallest point is the controls unlike a zero turn where you're sitting atop the machine and can't go under really low branches.