My 2025R Thread

[jeepcoma]

Well thanks for the kind words! I would have liked a bigger tractor but most of our property is on a flood plain, the ground is very soft even during drought, so I went with the "biggest" of the small weight options I had. The performance hasn't let me down yet!

Next upgrade might be the mechanical auto-throttle, it'll speed up FEL and transport work around the yard. Part of me wants to go with some HydrosPlus cylinder upgrades, for the FEL or backhoe (or both!), but I'm nervous about breaking things that way... The extra flow is nice because it makes things go faster, but doesn't change the physical performance characteristics. If I upgrade capabilities, it's much more of a gamble IMO. The extra flow is AWESOME when using the backhoe, I think it really turns it into a powerful tool when you can apply force in more than one direction simultaneously. I can be applying pressure to the boom, dipper, curl, and thumb all at the same time and generate ripping forces that you otherwise can't do if you're limited to one direction at a time. And at a comfortable 2k RPM too instead of screaming at WOT.

But I use my backhoe and FEL hard and don't want the increased risk of breaking things (just yet). I max them out on a routine basis trying to pull stumps, logs, rocks, etc and the idea of having more lift/curl power is tempting, but for now I'll stick with thinking my way through problems instead of brute force.

I let that stump dry out for a few days and attacked the underside dirt with the backhoe a few times to try and remove as much as possible. I pushed it to our bonfire pit with the bucket as far as I could before starting to tear up the lawn, and then swapped to what I should have had on in the first place, which was the pallet forks. I could juuuuust barely lift it, but an inch is as good as a mile, and it's the centerpiece for next year's big bonfire.

I had another pile of brush that I pulled out of some areas I'm trying to clear of woody undergrowth and weeds. It's amazing how quickly you can move a lot of material when you get it all lined up in the same direction. All these sticks I pushed out of tall weeds with nothing more than the bucket and box blade and it was ready-made for the forks to pick up and move. You can't tell from the picture because of all the brushy material, but there is some significant weight in there as well, it lifted enough so I could dump it on the stump but it was working pretty hard to get it done.

Then, with all the downed wood removed and the greenery died down after a few frosts, I had planned to mow all the overgrowth, only to have a now significant leak from the single-point quick connect. Exact same problem as I found here.

Two steps forward, one step back. I reached out to my dealer but am not optimistic. Time to read that whole thread and figure out how to order and replace the seals...

 

[pmsmechanic]

I just read through all the comments. Interesting read.

Several times you have mentioned hot hydraulic oil. Here's my thoughts: You've doubled the hydraulic flow and added increased cooling but all the fittings and lines were designed for the factory flow. You've also added extra hydraulic outlets at the rear. Since most small tractors are open center all the flow is constantly circulating through all the hydraulics and lines. I'm wondering if that is where the heat is being generated.

I can see where with all your additions that the backhoe isn't as easy to exchange as it once was. I would contemplate the idea of buying a cheap mini hoe to eventually replace it. Buy the mini hoe now before tariffs go up and sell the factory hoe once you have all the heavy work done.

I contemplated buying a factory hoe for my tractor many times. I'm quite thankful now that I didn't. It has always been an expensive option and so far I've been able to do without it. Now several neighbors have mini hoes that I can rent for the odd time that I need one.

At this time in life you are still young and have the energy to do all the exchanges. I was like that at one point in my life too. One of the first things I did to make life easier after buying a tractor was to buy a front mount mower. That way I could leave the tractor hooked up to an implement and just get on the mower and mow lawn. Also many times my wife or son would run one mower and I would mow with the other and the mowing was done in half the time.

All the best with your family and your little tractor.

 

[jeepcoma]

Some encouraging news, I'd emailed my dealer about the leaking single point and I got a call from the service department yesterday. He said it was a known problem and would be covered. He then asked if I knew where it was leaking from, because if it was two or more ports, the entire connector would be replaced with a new unit. He said that it was a known issue with the first generation, which seems to match what was posted in that other thread. I couldn't check then but he asked me to send pictures if I could find the leak.

So I got out the degreaser and got everything cleaned up and dry.

I thought to put a paper towel over the ports, figured it would be easy to see where it got wet (and in the unlikely event that it was spraying out under pressure).

Two spots.

It didn't leak much while disconnected, but I re-connected and it comes out at a pretty good rate, fast enough that I don't want to use it. Still, I can get some stuff done today with this disconnected. Dealer is closed today but I'll send them the pictures and see what they say on Monday.

 

[jeepcoma]

Feb 16, 2025 - Snow Day!

Update on the quick connector. After the dealer agreed to fix the connector under warranty, they sent a tech over a couple weeks later. The tech hadn't been briefed by the service department prior to being sent out, so I explained the issue. Unfortunately, since he didn't know what the problem was before coming, he only had half of the hardware needed to do the repair. So he did what he could, and said he'd be back later with the rest of the parts, and he didn't know if they'd have to be ordered or were in stock.

Couple weeks later, another tech shows up. Said the guy that had done the first part quit, so I explained everything all over again. He did have the rest of the parts thankfully, and completed the repair. I was working so he simply left when he was done. Found I was left a nice present. Not sure which tech it was. Guess my loader arm was mistaken for a workbench.

So anyway, I had not planned to use my tractor at all this winter, but my snowblower went out of service and we had (are having still actually) a big snowstorm. The tractor's come in handy a few times this winter already. Fortunately I had a couple days' warning that I would need to use the FEL so I took the time before the storm to remove the MMM - I'd wanted to keep it on all winter to keep it more protected and the PTO coupled, but it really makes snow clearing more challenging. And, I learned my lesson about leaving this expensive dangly bit hooked up when doing ground work, so I made the effort to clear enough snow to have room for removal, removed the FEL, removed the mower, FEL back on, swap to the forks, and then stored the MMM deck. Forks on to load the snowblower into the truck. Bucket back on and ready for the storm. These quick attach/detach systems work really well, I'm quite happy with how easy it is to swap everything around.

Using the bucket to move snow is... well it's not great. But it sure beats shoveling. And a few hours of unplanned seat time on the tractor in the winter was fun. We have a lot of snow and I really had to drive into the piles to stack it high enough. Lots of snow packed in the front bumper area. A shield of some sort that hooks into the front receiver might be a good idea if I end up having to do this regularly...

Snow packs in all the places when you have to turn left and right through the un-cleared areas. A wider bucket would have been nice, I never lacked for lift capacity and clearing wider than the width of the tractor would have made maneuvering much easier.

That's about as high as she'll go!

Whoops... time to clean that off.

Also really pleased with the Hydros+ upgrades, operating the FEL at a comfortable engine speed is less fuel consumption and less noise. I was able to bog the engine a bit while pushing big piles of snow, and the extra grunt from the turbo was handy.

The backhoe came in handy too, we get giant piles of ice underneath the barn where the snow comes off the roof, which blocks one of the doors if it's not shoveled quickly. The backhoe worked great to bust it up and scoop the heavy snow/ice pile away to get the door opening.

 

[beenthere]

Agree about having to use a bucket to clear snow, a bummer and no fun at all (for me).

It's why I mount a 7' Western plow and move snow quickly. Even piles up snow as the front tires will ride up on the plowed snow. No problem plugging the front grill up with packed snow.

Our recent two snow storms and now some drifting, almost has me ready to mount the wing plow to move snow back.

 

[jeepcoma]

Agree about having to use a bucket to clear snow, a bummer and no fun at all (for me).

Couple hours seat time isn't ever really that bad . It was like an unlimited dirt pile that I got to play with moving around. Good practice! I'll get some more tomorrow cleaning up again, we've had a few inches of ice pellets since I cleared.

Other implements would be far superior for clearing snow, but my snowblower is the main tool for it, so I had to use what I got. Nice to see how capable this machine is at all sorts of tasks. I only really struggled for traction trying to get up the steepest part of my hill to the house. I don't have anything else to compare to but the radial tires seemed to have pretty good traction. I generally try to leave it in 2wd (actually 1 without the diff lock engaged) under the principal of "2wd is for getting stuck, 4wd is for getting unstuck." Since when I get myself stuck in 4wd, it's a bad day... Most of the time this worked pretty well, and I'd do 4wd for diving into the piles to push them back. Could not climb that hill even with 4wd and diff lock engaged.

 

[jeepcoma]

RIP "Katty Girl"

 

[jeepcoma]

Spring 2025 Updates

More rocks delivered. Need to touch up some areas around the run-in shelter and inside. I generally run the tractor at 2k RPM and with the turbo, it just keeps on chugging when driving into the pile and doesn't stall.

Front hydraulics seem perfectly engineered to go with the size, and therefor the weight, the bucket can lift. When I could get a heaping bucket, it would just barely lift... but lift it would. The Hydros+ cylinders are still tempting, but... haven't pulled the trigger yet. Would probably do backhoe first.

I have about an inch of clearance between the ROPS and can drive all the way in. Larger tractor would not fit here! I was also able to get inside to use the backhoe and really scrape down some of the compressed muck along the edges that I couldn't get with the bucket, and then push them to the middle for pickup.

I've been using the backhoe a ton to clear up my river frontage. I can get down along the bank, pull out stuff that's fallen in, and tear out these pesky underbrush clumps, while staying a safe distance from the bank. Hard to tell from the photo, but the stabilizers are about a foot from the bank, which is then an abrupt 3 foot or so drop down to the river. The hydraulic thumb is instrumental in the utility of the backhoe.

One of the horses snapped a T-post we were using to tie up feed bags. We didn't know exactly where it was, since it snapped off at the base. Used the metal detector to hunt around for it, and then scraped through the frozen ground to find it, and snatched it right out with the thumb.

Added a couple more horsepower.

No one seems to mind the noises when I work or mow. I practically have to push them out of the way sometimes.

This is what's behind me that I'm working on. Ponies will have a nice view when done!

Bought some new tools this year for spring cleanup and paddock maintenance.

I ended up going with the Heavy Hitch offset bracket, 60" landscape rake with wheel kit, and dethatcher. The landscape rake for cleaning up all the wood and material that either comes down naturally every year, or that I've been puling out with the backhoe. Plus I'm hoping it'll do a nice job of spreading out the clumps of manuer in the horse paddock. I liked the option of being able to run the HH implements out front. I'm not sure how it will work out in practice, but when I next mow the lawn I'm going to try the dethatcher out front to loosen things up for the MMM, and then the rake behind. Might be too heavy for the "lawn", but should save some time in the paddocks.

With the rake out front I can get right up to the water's edge.

I'd pull clumps away from the edge into a row, and then pull the whole row as a pile by back dragging over it. Really appreciate the extra ground clearance of the 2025R when out in the woods dealing with this brushy stuff. I can't imaging enjoying being any lower.

I can understand now why wheel kits are so expensive. They have to be super strong. No problems lifting the front of the tractor. I worked it pretty hard my first time out. Having it on the FEL worked out pretty well, between using the angle to control the wheels and ground clearance, and float mode. It's going to be great on the 3-point with the TnT cylinders. Very impressed with what it can do - I probably got an entire weekend's worth of hand raking done in an hour!

Started to put the dethatcher together - missing 2 tines! I was also missing the 8 2" long bolts for the wheel kit too for the rake. Those are easy enough to grab from the hardware store, but not so much for those tines.