My 2025R Thread

[jeepcoma]

I’ve bent my front draft link three times. It’s a pain but I just make sure I take the loader off.

Yep I remember your post and wondering how it could still be attached with the arm all bent. Now I know.

This time, I only bent the TR107795: Front Draft Bracket, without breaking the draft arm. Looking at the parts catalog, I went to the hardware store to get a M10x55 carriage bolt and another spacer to see if I could get by. The problem is the front draft bracket wasn't adjusted properly (TWICE from the dealer). It needs to be positioned so to stop the draft arm so that it's high enough to get picked up by the front hanger, but not so high as to hit the loader stand. Comparing the Removal and Installation of a John Deere Drive Over AutoConnect Mower Deck is a video by a dealer that clearly shows this is possible.

When this deck works nice, it sure is nice. What a pain when it's not though.

Anyway, I was able to temporarily repair the bent bolt securing the bracket. The bracket itself needs some bending back in shape, but I was able to get it "good enough" to attach the deck and get some mowing done today (without the MCS ). As long as I remove the loader, or try the 2x4 trick, or have a helper hold it down during removal, it should be fine for now. I was able to mow the few paths through the lawn. Got a nice beard on it from the dandelion seeds.

Then later mowed for about an hour after dark. The lights are nice - I've already done more night work than I expected I ever would. Some rear lights would be nice at this point.

One thing that surprised me at the end of mowing, I reached behind me to hang my ear muffs up on the back and I touched the Summit Hydraulics manifold, and it was hot! Granted I was running full throttle for an hour and mowing hard, but I didn't expect the hydraulics to heat up that much from it, especially since it was a cool night, no sun, and with the Hydros Plus cooler installed (plus the plumbing and manifold is acting as a heat sink and radiator too). Can't imagine how things would have been with the stock cooler on a hot sunny day (even though I mowed exactly that way last season!). I'll try to grab a temperature reading next time I do a longer mowing session. I could really feel the heat pouring out from under the hood too. I worked the turbo hard going through lots of overgrown weeds in the horse paddock. Will be interesting to see how things go with the MCS running at full tilt. Mowing is probably the most consistent high-HP usage for these little tractors.

 

[jeepcoma]

June 8, 2024 - Mowing Day

I still haven't heard back from the dealer about the MCS. I'm very frustrated at this point because I'm in my second mow of the season now and the whole point was to have it for the first, to prevent that long first mow material from turning into big giant clumps. At this point I'm starting to consider getting my deposit back, and then either order from TerraKing or keep an eye out for when a used one comes up for sale. Very frustrating nonetheless, especially since I was sooooo close to mowing nirvana.

At least one thing went my way... new tools day! After a lifetime of mowing and sharpening with those crappy angled stones and balancing with the plastic pyramid thing, I decided to invest in some good equipment. These will easily last my lifetime and be handed down to my kids

I did a "temporary" mount in my garage using a vice and one of the support pillars. Ultimately I'd like it somewhere else, but it worked fine.

Perfectly balanced!

I ended up sharpening six blades - before mowing and after (since I hit some rocks, scalped some sandy sections, etc). The first sharpening took a bit of time since they were pretty beat up, and figuring out "the feel" for how much material to take off for balancing. The second time after mowing went much quicker though, as they were better balanced to begin with (minus the gouges), and I counted strokes and did the same on both edges.

I always hated sharpening mower blades, but this was pretty fun. Very easy to do as will with the Load-and-Go system on the deck. Very nice setup. Fast and easy to sharpen blades, clean underside of deck, grease the spindles. For the price of this mower deck (and the tractor to mow with it!), I believe it's a worthwhile investment in tools and time to keep it in tip-top shape.

Also now that I've worked out the bugs and done all the deck adjustments, I'm very pleased with the autoconnect deck. Having the right amount of gap for the front draft arm is key for easy removal, as well as making sure the draft arm doesn't get hung up on the loader stand (either by the wedge of wood trick, or not having the loader on - also super easy to do with the 1-point hookup). With those out of the way and a little practice, it feels like it takes 5 minutes to go from tractor with loader and backhoe to tractor with MMM, and back again after.

 

[jeepcoma]

I canceled my order for the MCS. Pretty bummed about that but even more bummed about my dealer. They basically wanted to pretend that nothing ever happened and it's still brand new, despite falling off the forklift. And they offered me NOTHING to make it right. "Yeah we patched it up and I talked to the service lead and the dealer lead, and if anything goes wrong during the warranty, we'll take care of it" - yeah, no kidding, its the WARRANTY. What a joke. They screwed me on the mower deck and they tried to screw me here, but I went with the motto "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Done with this dealer.

Here's the serial number: 1XFMC21XAR0000471

Buyer beware, it's a scratch and dent, but my guess is it will be resold as new.

 

[beenthere]

Not seeing any damage. ??

 

[jeepcoma]

Not seeing any damage. ??

No, I didn't take any pictures of the damage. It fell forward off the pallet onto the PTO, from trailer unloading height, maybe 5'.

 

[jeepcoma]

July 2, 2024 - Trail Maintenence.

Have had the tractor for just over a year now and 83.6 hours on the clock. Lot of mowing time the past couple weeks (should have taken some pictures). The trail I've been building is getting a bit out of control, we had a lot of trees come down this winter that need clearing, so I hooked up the forklift and boxblade and made some laps.

The size and turning radius of the 2025R makes for a very nimble woods machine - even with the forks out front and the box blade behind.

The fork frame and brush guard have been very handy for pushing trees and shrub out of the way, and the forks themselves are great not just for lifting, but demolition too. If there's a branch overhanging the trail, it's easy to put the fork on it and smash it down, then break the branch right at the trunk to really get it out of the way. The box blade works as a dozer when going in reverse which is nice too, it can easily smash down shrubs and small trees.

Looks pretty good after a few passes. The hydraulic tilt has been more useful than I imagined, really helps keep the blade engaged when going over uneven terrain as happens in the woods.

 

[jeepcoma]

Not much tractoring this summer other than mowing, sharpening blades, balancing blades, more mowing, repeat ... it's been a HOT summer here in NH and I have not had much motivation to bake in the sun. Maybe a canopy is in my future...

Mowed the large paddock yesterday. It's about 3 acres in size. I've mowed it twice this year already, which is two time more than I have been doing with the 2-wheel tractor and 34" flail! Believe it or not, when we first bought the property, the owners had let it go for years and I was mowing 6' tall weeds with my 21" push mower. That took a looooooonnnnng time to mow...

Hard to tell from the picture, but the bigger clumps are about the height of the 2025R's hood. I had already mowed the worst sections where there's constant standing water. I should take more pictures but when I'm working I just want to get the job done, so I miss a lot. One section was so dense with thistles that I redlined the coolant temp just creeping along as slowly as possible with the mower deck at max height - I put that turbo to work!

Traffic jam! Need to install a horn, and/or a cow/horse catcher. They are very chill about the mowing, this isn't the best picture but I almost have to get off the tractor and physically push them out of the way sometimes.

Coming up on 100 hour maintenance. Have a good method for greasing all the driveline zerks, will try to take pictures. I am very glad I have the Hydros+ cooler installed - even with that AND the Summit Hydraulics 4-port rear remote installed (which works as a giant heat sink and radiator), that fluid still gets HOT just driving around for a few hours in 85* temps. I was able to redline the coolant temp, makes me want to add a hydraulic temp gauge.

 

[texas42]

Let us know how greasing the driveline zerks goes.
That driveline greasing is the reason i didn't buy a 2025

 

[jeepcoma]

11/2/24 Pre-Snow Work

This is one of the best times of year to get yard work done. I really didn't do much this summer except mow, it was a very hot summer for us here in NH and I didn't get much done. Now the trees have lost their leaves, we've had a few frosts which kills off the undergrowth, it's been dry, and there's no snow yet so it's a good time to get stuff done.

Last weekend I tackled the clean-up of some old buried structure, I pulled out several buckets of bricks, cinder blocks, slabs, and junk. Then about a dozen full buckets of dirt that got moved to the compost pile.

This was just about the last bucket and I found... pipe! Shoulda called dig safe. I have no idea what this pipe is doing out here or what it was used for. It was only buried about an inch deep, I wasn't even trying to dig but rather just scape the pile of dirt to even things out. It looks like it's heading towards the house, maybe was hooked up to a propane line? I'll come out with the metal detector later and see if I can trace where it goes and make sure I get it all out.

Before I finshed cleaning up the garden area, I had to swap the 3-point hitch for the backhoe. This is not as easy as it used to be, as the weight and complexity of the hydraulic top and tilt cylinders, the quick hitch, and all the weight attached to the hitch makes it more difficult. And then the real struggle was re-attaching the backhoe off the BXpanded frame... doing it on dirt SUCKS. I couldn't roll it into position like you would do on concrete, and the tractor moving the backhoe would drive the wheels into the dirt and make everything worse. The BH would slide on the frame too which was a problem. So, can't wait for a concrete pad to replace the dirt parking spot I have now.

Anyway, with the backhoe on, I was able to pull the big rocks out of the dirt pile, put them to the side, and then move the dirt to the compost pile. A limitation of the BH is that you can't climb the pile as much before grounding. I haven't had the BH on all summer, and after having the box blade on the rear, it was a remarkable change in the balance of the machine. It sticks way out back and the center of gravity moves up and back. Going from A to B at high speed on the road was more like piloting a boat through waves than driving a car.

Today's project was pulling out a stump. I dug this out about a year ago, but couldn't pull the stump out of the hole before the snow started. Here I've got the BH maxed out and it's barely budging this stump. The problem is there's a ton of dirt stuck within the root ball. Kinda makes me think about Hydros+ cylinders... but I'm afraid of breaking things.

Brute force wasn't an option (I tried that first). What I was able to do was slowly spin the stump out of the hole, using the leverage of the outer edge to move it bit by bit. Doing this many many times I was able to move it out of the hole and onto the flat.

Once on the flat, I got the forks under it. Couldn't lift it, but with the tractor in 4x4 and the rear diff locked, and the hydraulics maxed trying to lift and curl, I was able to push the stump out of the way. I have no idea what this weights, but it's probably more than the tractor. The front tires are compressed and sinking into the soft wet soil that's near the river.

Then I put the bucket on and filled the hole. Victory! Here I'm parked over where the stump used to be.

I was able to flip the stump up so the dirt can dry and I can scrape it out of the root ball before moving to the burn pile.

Seems like I've got a bit of a leak from the quick connects. I noticed a lot of dirt in this area last week, so I cleaned it up before using again. Now it's quite wet again. Will try to trace where it's coming from but it's definitely the factor 4-port quick connect.

99.8 hours on the clock and I'm still impressed with what this tractor can accomplish. Still hope to get more done before winter and then do the 200 hour service early before I park it until spring.

 

[rScotty]

Having fun just following along as you max out the 2025r. You might win the prize for most options on a small tractor. We also had a little compact tractor as our main machine for many years. It did everything. After the horses were gone, we finally went larger with a tractor. But I do miss the little one.

Can't wait to see what weird option you have in mind next. How about bypass oil filtration?

I agree if the trans/hydraulic fluid has been getting real hot, a hydraulic temp gauge makes sense. And nothing wrong doing the 200 hr service early. Hydraulics can run surprisingly hot & hydraulic fluid does age more rapidly at high temps. Somewhere I remember having a chart from Mobil on temperature & oil breakdown.

Getting to be wintertime.

rScotty & trick or treat from our halloween dog