Need some quick opinions....Help!

[MILS153]

New here no nothing about "smaller tractor capabilities"
Kubota BX1800 (on the verge of buying this)

Will this work well for the following:
snow removal
manure removal (small scale primarly winter months)

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dyer retired]

MILS153,

Good to see you posting to the General forum and I think you'll get lots of very good advice from the TBN members.

As we've discussed prior to this, I don't think you can go wrong and with very little mechanical ability, you can work on many of the things with the BX 1800 yourself. If you find that it doesn't have the power to do what you are looking for it to do in one pass, it will finish up on pass two or three. I seem to remember the price being very good, so don't drag your feet too long...someone else will have a very nice tractor ahead of you. I think I might have said this before too, but the financing deals that Kubota...or really most all of the companies have, make it pretty attractive to pick up a new one, but I really think the used one you described will last you forever.

Welcome to TBN and I'm anxious to see what you get for responses. Dyer, retired

 

[john_bud]

The 1800 should do what you are asking.

Is it going to have a rear blade or blower for snow?

FEL or rear blade for manure?

What tires?

Going to use it to mow too?

jb

 

[kozak]

MILS153,

Welcome to TBN.

Not sure how long your laneways are (Barn & house). Initially I was going to say the BX1800 was too small based on my experience with a 14HP Acco Allis. For snow removal I was using a front mount snowblower for a total of about 350 Ft. of laneways. Worked well enough for a small tractor but tractor weight & small tires were a definite disadvantage. Had to use chains every winter which was a hassle to put on. If I ended up in deeper snow while going in reverse sometimes I would get stuck. So there was a little frustration but the little tractor got the job done.

My comparison though to the BX1800 is obviously not equal. The BX comes in at 1255 Lbs compared to my 600Lbs. Also the BX has 4 wheel drive. Based on these two factors alone you should be able to get the work done much easier with less hassle.

The manure work will take longer but again, if you don't mind it's do-able. I have two horses & as you know, the manure collects like wildfire !!

I think you would be happier with a B2630 or B3030 but if you do go with the BX1800 & add 3 to 400 Lbs on the back or the wheels the tractor is capable enough for what you want to do. For a smaller tractor I would strongly recommend a snowblower over a FEL or back blade for snow removal. Much faster & less chance of getting stuck.


Good-Luck,

Vic

 

[Soundguy]

Just keep in mind that it is a lawn mower sized tractor... it takes smaller 'bites' when fed work.. and it can also get into places a larger tractor can't.

If it will physically go and do what you want.. go for it.

soundguy

 

[MILS153]

Thanks for the input and glad at this point I didn't get any not gonna work reviews as we did buy it and not sure we got the best deal going as it does have battle scars and looks like it has always sat out in the weather. I guess I justified it - it's a used tractor a tool not a used car. That said it seems to run well no leaks. I agree with the smaller bite reference and it looks like a lawnmower noticed that right away but it's small size does make it nice to maneuver just more trips to the manure pile. Seems a weight box would help it a lot. We removed some ice from the driveway and did spin the rear wheels a bit in the process. I can't wait to get a snow blower for it next year that will be the real test!

Thanks again and sure I will have more questions to post as we play with it some more.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Congratulations on your purchase. The BX series are real workhorses for their size! You might want to do a search on posts by "Dyer, retired" or drop him a note. Great guy that also has a BX1800, and has used it a lot for snow removal, etc.

 

[Dyer retired]

Hey Chuck,

Thanks for the kind words! MILS153 is also in Maine and we had some discussion about the purchase prior to posting on the general forum. My first posting, before I knew how to search for such things, was why I didn't see more about the BX 1800 on TBN. It turns out that people are pretty happy with the 1800 and 1500 series. I was pretty excited to actually speak from experience about it when MILS153 asked.

MILS153 - Battle scars coming with the rig are a good thing. You won't feel that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach the first time you drive a stick across the paint or bust off a marker light....like everyone does. I mentioned it before, but there is nothing made of metal or fiberglass that can't be made to look new with little experience or training. I have fun working on that kind of stuff, now have all the spray painting equipment and have painted boats and my truck with excellent results. If the battle scars bother you, play around with fixing them and you probably will be surprised at 1. how you didn't make it look worse, and 2. that it ended up looking nearly new! Either way, you'll have fun with it and actually get a lot of work out of it.

I have picked up an awful lot of information on my rig and tractors in general on this forum and I think learned some stuff that will save me from some costly mistakes in the future.

I'll just take a second to brag a little.....I haven't had to move any snow for nearly 4 days now! This could be the beginning of the end. I got a posting yesterday though from a guy up at the top of the State (even further North from where I grew up) and they got 12 inches of snow over the last couple of days and sub-zero chill factors, so I'm feeling pretty good in Mid-Maine. Is New Hampshire going to get a summer pretty soon? I can't help but feel pretty good after yesterday and the clock change....it was still light out at 6:45 p.m.! One more bragging item, I get to go out today on my own for the first time in 4 weeks, so thought I'd take a ride up to the Kubota dealer and pick up a couple of items.

Take care, Dyer, retired

 

[MILS153]

I stumbled across this blog while researching the tractor and thanks Chuck I did contact him first thing while waiting for my registration to go thru. He was very helpful. I even had the buyer remorse he joked about (mainly because mine really does look used) but then was happy with the way it performed. We tend to not spend big $$ easily and was shocked that someone at some point bought this new and 6-year latter it looks as used as it does - but were on the other end of the extreme you can bet I will be washing/waxing and touching up some paint as soon as the weather breaks. It's getting the mechanical once over at a local shop too. Hopefully we can slow down its aging as we tend to keep things forever thou the hubby is already calling it his "starter tractor" HA we only have 5 acres hes adicted allready.

 

[MILS153]

Dyer,
How did you know about the broken marker light? Yup have that and a new seat on order.

 

[Dyer retired]

Dyer,
How did you know about the broken marker light? Yup have that and a new seat on order.

I am betting that you aren't kidding about the marker light, ha! I joke about it, but I really don't remember if the guy from Hammond Tractor had even gotten out of my driveway the day of delivery, before I had backed up and managed to hit the end of my fence post at exactly the precise level of my amber marker light! I broke the lens out and felt like crying. Of course, the dealer had to order a new one and that took a week to get here. I managed to superglue the old lens back in some shape to get by and from 10 feet away no one would have noticed, but I had just, as you mentioned, dumped a pile of hard earned money down for this thing and sure hated to see the blemish on it that quick!

I had to get used to the HST at first and realized that the tractor will stop a lot faster than you expect with very little back pressure on the pedal. The dealer described it this way, and I agree with him now, "After a short practice period, you'll find that you really just think about where you want the tractor to go and how fast and it will go there." The brain must translate that all down to the right foot, because I can back that thing up quickly, slow down, and drop the blade about 1/4 inch from the house before moving forward again. I've had more fun with my BX than any machine I've ever owned and expect that I'll own it for the rest of my life, if I don't get the upgrade disease. (In the sailboat world they call it the "4 foot disease.) You buy a 24' sailboat, then upgrade to a 28', then 32', and so on. I wondered if Tractors would follow some sort of 4 horsepower disease symptomology, but so far, I'm very happy with the 18 horse. Best to all. Dyer, retired

 

[Soundguy]

Dents and scratches and faded paint on a tractor just mean that it is used to a good hard days work...

soundguy

Thanks for the input and glad at this point I didn't get any not gonna work reviews as we did buy it and not sure we got the best deal going as it does have battle scars and looks like it has always sat out in the weather. .

 

[MILS153]

Thanks all for making me feel better about my purchase. Can't wait to get a snowblower and try it out - but I'm fine with waiting until next year for that enough snow already!

 

[Dyer retired]

Dents and scratches and faded paint on a tractor just mean that it is used to a good hard days work...

soundguy

My brother bought a Kubota L-30 a couple of years ago for his business, but mostly to clear a 1/2 mile driveway into his house. I was, of course very envious and he let me drive it on the day it was delivered.....very brave I thought. He is in the process of selling his house, so he didn't want to build a garage for it, but already had one of those canvas Portable garages for lawnmowers, gas cans, etc. The only problem was that it wasn't tall enough to fit the new tractor, so he set some cinderblocks under each pole point and anchored the canvas to each block, which gave it just the right rise and viola, the Kubota is under cover! He's on a tidal flow of Muscongus Bay and an Easterly blow, with gusts at 45 mph, came through about weeks into this new ownership, lifted the garage one corner and promptly deposited a cinder block on the hood of the L-30 before dropping almost precisely back to it's original anchor spot! Needless to say, nice big dent in the center of the hood, a nice scrape mark through the paint, and that empty feeling that goes with it. Well, empty feeling for me because my brother truly does look at pickups, tractors, tools, etc. as instruments that allow him to do things better and he's not so concerned about cosmetics. He wouldn't notify his insurance company for fear of them raising his rates over something that he was not that concerned over. I'm getting depressed telling this story, but I am always offering to make the repair, repaint, buff, make pretty the L-30 for him and he won't let me, so someday I'll buy that from him and do it anyway. His attitude makes the point exactly as you stated and he keeps these things in far better perspective than I'd be able to, but says that he's glad he got the dent out of the way early and that was all that happened to it.

That's all I've got, I feel like I have to go out and talk to my BX 1800 now and reassure it that it's got a better home than at my brother's, ha! Dyer, retired

 

[MILS153]

That is a good yet depressing story - well my car is coming out of the garage for my well used tractor tonight how nuts is that. Hopefully all this soon to come babying doesn't cause it to have some sort of internal hemorrhage or something.

 

[Dyer retired]

That is a good yet depressing story - well my car is coming out of the garage for my well used tractor tonight how nuts is that. Hopefully all this soon to come babying doesn't cause it to have some sort of internal hemorrhage or something.

MILS153,

You've made the right decision on putting the tractor in the garage and it's not nuts at all. I've done it since 2003 for a couple of reasons. 1. My garage is attached to the house with a separate entry to the basement from the inner garage, so I can go out and work on it anytime I want, get tools from the basement, or just go out and sit on it (suspect you'll do that for a week or two...it's o.k. no psychiatric help needed, it's perfectly normal!) Probably should seek assistance if you don't go out a couple of times a night during the first couple of weeks. You'll find something in the manuals that doesn't make sense until you go out and actually look at it, etc. 2. The other reason it sits in the garage is that I have more money invested in the tractor and it works harder for me than my pickup truck.

Something else about the garage. I didn't experience this with the tractor because it's always been inside, but when I had the Troy Bilt walk behind at my camp, where I couldn't put it inside, the augers and impellers would have to be thoroughly cleaned after each use because they would freeze up with any residue snow left over, the engine would almost always have to be started with the electric starter, etc., etc., etc. The first year I had this house, we noticed right away that the garage will heat up just enough from the sun coming through the windows that the blower would melt down to bare metal in a day or two, no matter how much snow you left on it and, of course, the tractor will do the same. You can keep a maintenance system on the battery if you think you need to because it's in the garage, gas it up out of the wind, and so on.

Sounds like you're happy with the purchase, once you got by the remorse part, ha! and if you paid what you said they were asking, with the low hours you quoted, you made a great deal. Have fun. Dyer, retired.

 

[MILS153]

Hey here's a question Dyer - yes whilst sitting on it last night and again this morning we noticed a slot where a leaver should/would be but nothing there? Since I don't know what I'm talking about will try do describe the best I can. Right side of tractor and the diagram near the slot looked like the piece in the pic (hopefully attached). Was hoping it had something do to with a quick connect for the mid PTO snowblower soon to have attachment and that we are actually not missing something we should have.

Also do you happen to have a log splitter in your arsenal of attachments and if so it work well?

okay....pic attached???

 

[Soundguy]

Yor orange arrow looks to be pointing to a toplink. This is a standard 'on shelf' item at virtually all farm stores and tractor dealers. They come in cat0, cat1, and cat 2 at most palces.. sometimes you can get 'long or short' in those cat sizes depending on the dealer stock.. etc.

soundguy

 

[mikim]

the hubby is already calling it his "starter tractor" HA we only have 5 acres hes adicted allready
oh my gosh! 5 acres and just a little bx1800.....he's right ....Y'all are gonna need a bigger tractor ...maybe even sooner than you think! ....and a lot more implements too! ....(tell him he can send a check).....