Looking at Used BX2230. Need Help, Please.

timebak · May 15, 2014

Tomorrow, I'm going to look at a 2005 BX2230 with 60" MMM. (Unfortunately no FEL at this point.) The tractor has around 1500 hours on it. All I know about Kubota's is that they're orange and supposed to be great tractors. This may be the first Kubota I purchase, if all goes well, and it's going to be my "house tractor". My home sits in 43 acres of rough, hilly woods, and I've got about an acre and a half of yard carved out of the forest, hills and hollers.

BUT I don't know what things to look for that might be weaknesses or known wear points in this model tractor with this many hours on it. I'd tremendously appreciate it if some of y'all could help me by telling me what I should check carefully, beyond the obvious things like condition of seat, obvious leaks, weird noises, excessive smoke, bent/broken/rusted parts, condition of radiator, etc.

What things do I need to check out and look for on this BX2230 w/60" MMM? Your help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

JOHNTHOMAS · May 15, 2014

I started Kubotaing 11 years ago with a BX2200 MMM FEL. First ever tractor, thought I was buying a lifetime mower with expensive wheelbarrow for my 5 acres of hill side, gullied, rocky, treed land that was going to become my home. It has now become my home site. Have bought most sizes of BXs and several Bs and one L in the past 11 years. The BXs are great sub compact workhorses that sit fairly close to the ground which feels much safer than the L that had a seat so high off the ground on my hillside that it scared me. The BX drug on many gullied and rocky places so after one year I traded it to a B7800 which sits/stands a bit higher off the ground but not as high as the L series and bought a BX1500 MMM for mowing . I've tamed the land in the last several years with several different Kubotas and the experience has shown me that the B is the better in between size for MY hillside work. I mow now with 4wd F Kubotas, not tractors with MMM.

AStanton · May 15, 2014

In my opinion, 1,500 could be a high amount of hours for a tractor if it was owned by a homeowner. At that hourage, seals start to go and the valves are coming up on a second adjustment. Unless you are handy and gettin that machine for a good price, I would steer clear.
Good luck.

timebak · May 15, 2014

AStanton, I appreciate your concern. But I am quite handy, have got all the tool I need (not necessarily all I want though...), and can adjust valves properly, even with just my toes, standing on my head, and blindfolded. :laughing: And this tractor is so small that I can put it in my pocket, bring it in the house and tear it down on the kitchen table (as long as the wife doesn't catch me) (and don't ask what happened once when she opened up her new dishwasher and found four disassembled carburetors in there that were now nice and clean, having just finished a run through the "pots and pans" cycle). I've built a bunch of engines and a few transmissions, replaced a bunch of U-joints, ball joints, bearings, seals, electrical system repairs, etc., etc., etc., so that stuff doesn't bother me. What I DON'T want to do is get something that needs replacement of major, expensive parts.

dodge man · May 15, 2014

In my opinion 1500 hours is high for a homeowner machine but if its in good shape, it has a lot of life left in it. There is equipment both construction and ag that gets 1500 hours on it in less than a year. It sounds like you have the ability to fix things anyway.

Common problems. The first thing that come to mind is the HST fan. There is a small fan that blows air over the transmission to cool it. Its mounted underneath roughly under the seat. Its attached to the shaft and is white in color. Even if it is broken its cheap to fix but can take some time.

The front joints on the axle near the tires are known to leak.

I think that vintage of BX the joystick is mounted to the end loader. I'm not sure you can still order an end loader through Kubota for that model or not. They might be hard to find used also. If you want an end loader, I'd check into the availability first.

Those are the things that come to me I'm sure others will chime in.