New BX25 owner, first weekend adventures.

[Tractor Seabee]

Running the RPMs over around 2200 does not add significant power I have found. I raised my pressure to 2000 PSI and that made a big difference in performance. I have noticed that revving up with the BH working makes it move faster than before increasing the PSI. I think slower is better overall.

Ron

 

[timswi]

Running the RPMs over around 2200 does not add significant power I have found. I raised my pressure to 2000 PSI and that made a big difference in performance. I have noticed that revving up with the BH working makes it move faster than before increasing the PSI. I think slower is better overall.

Ron

That's why I wind the RPM's down when using the BH--Moves too quickly and one wrong move, you could end up on your side. The BH on mine has a ton of power for a small machine.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Got the stupid fan and CV boot yesterday (My father who is retired actually ran to get the parts while I was working), I was amazed! Only $6 for the fan and $4 for the CV boot!

It did take longer to get back together because I cleaned out the CV joint castings, cleaned the CV balls, re packed with Lucas "Red and Tacky" grease, had to get the rear axle casting back on with the fan in place and not destroyed... so it was 1:15 to get apart and 1:45 to get back together.

After, it was raining and I didn't want to get my Rhino wet pulling it out, nor did I want to get the tractor wet after it was just washed and waxed.... so I pulled the buffer back out and the Meguiars Plast-X plastic polish and I buffed the lower engine surround. It has a dull haze on it and was not glossy like the orange painted hood, now it looks like fresh paint! Then I took Aerospace 303 protectant and coated all black plastic and rubber to give it a dark black look and to place a very robust UV barrier on the parts.

The thing looks good enough to take to a car cruise... all I need to do is hand polish the wheels and spray some tire dressing on it and its car show time for the Kubota!

You might be able to tell... I am a hobby car detailer and I have STRONG OCD issues with cleaning machines. My garage can look like a garbage truck that shaken and stirred, but my machines tend to all get detailed every use. Cars, trucks, tractors.... all clean.

 

[check]

Glad to see you are liking the new toy! I know you were a bit disappointed at first. You are right in that the hydraulics are shared, so unless you really have the RPM's up, you will really notice it when you try to do too much at the same time. Also, sorry about the fan. I read all the horror stories about that before I bought my BX23S, so I ordered my BXpanded under armor before it was even out in the yard. Since then, I have heard that plate get hit a lot when in the woods. When I look under, I see all kinds of scratches on it, but nothing got through. I had my 7 year old on my backhoe when digging a huge fire pit. I swear in 5 minutes he had the controls down better than me. His comment was, "This is just like the digger at the park!" haha :laughing:

Same thing with my 11-year-old daughter! There was about five of us guys trying out my new BX25 on the day that I got it, and she was the only one that could work the backhoe controls immediately. I asked her about this later and she said "Dad, all you had to read was read the instructions. They are printed right on the panel underneath the backhoe controls."

 

[nikerret]

I run my BX25D-1 at 3,000+, for loader or mowing. For the backhoe, I've found I can strip off the first couple of feet of ground at around 2,800 RPM, but have to bump it to a little over 3,000, when I get below that. This is due to the clay around here. I have no problems running the RPM's. Especially, mowing, I've found it really needs the 3,200ish RPM's to get the best cut. Also, for dragging gravel driveways, I run higher RPM's.

Last year, I built a testing kit, my hydraulics were low (according to my gauge), so I shimmed it, to within 20 PSI of the rated specs, for the tractor system.

I also travel with mine, up to a few miles, if a job needs done, instead of trailering it. I run the RPM's at around the 3,200, for this.

Yes, she screams, but it's a diesel, not a gas. I think it's harder on it to always adjust the RPM's than let her stay at anything within the rated range.

 

[AStanton]

I call the BX-25 a little pit bull. You'll find some other minor annoying issues with it, or at lest I did. Changing the anti-freeze is a pain. I find it best to loosen the lower radiator hose. Tightening the alternator belt is another pain. And don't over look the grease fitting for the drive pedal under the floor mat.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I call the BX-25 a little pit bull. You'll find some other minor annoying issues with it, or at lest I did. Changing the anti-freeze is a pain. I find it best to loosen the lower radiator hose. Tightening the alternator belt is another pain. And don't over look the grease fitting for the drive pedal under the floor mat.

I noted that the throttle lever was very stiff and when I wanted to adjust throttle I would pull or push hard, slightly bending the rod, and then the lever would move in a sudden jerk and over-adjust. So 2 days ago while I was finishing up re-assembly from the HST fan replacement I pulled the radiator screen from the area in front of my knees and looked at the linkage motion. The rod goes down through the plastic dash panel and has a nearly horizontal pivot plate that is passing through a bracket, and then it terminates with a nut and a jam nut. My first thought was to mess with the doubled nuts, but them I thought I should give a quick hit with WD-40 and see how it reacts.... Wow! Now it glides under light resistance and can be easily and smoothly adjusted to a desired RPM without the herky-jerky movement from the sticking pivot mechanism. Soooo much better with just a quick soaking with WD-40!

 

[Rock Crawler]

Yesterday I decided to use the lawn roller that I bought a few years back at a yard sale for $10. My yard is infested with moles that my dog is constantly hunting and killing, but there are areas that they have created 5 and 10 foot diameter areas of near bare dirt because of the tunneling, and you see the lumps all over. So I read up on rolling lawns a bit and realized that in the spring I need a aeration roller, I plan to roll again in the spring and then roll the aerator.

It rained Monday and early Tuesday, so yesterday (late Tuesday) I went out and filled the 400 lb roller with water and set to rolling. It did really make the yard more flat, but I do notice that the weight of the BX was putting about 1/2" to 1" tire indentions across the yard. That got me to thinking about the Kioti CK2610 that I was close to buying, at 2,700 lbs but with much larger diameter and larger width tires... would the CK2610 do more damage pressing into the clay, or would it do less with the larger tires? I'm torn on the tire ground pressure of a 1450 lb BX on smaller tires versus the tire pressure on the ground of a 2700 lb CK2610 with much larger tires? Maybe it all works out similarly, or maybe the CK2610 would have made much more damage?

 

[timswi]

Mine will leave trace tire tracks like that too when the ground is damp and my place is all shale. My Mom's in Bradford Park is all clay and my tire tracks disappeared there too...They "fluff" back up once the ground dries..Bet the heavier machine would have been worse.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Well, I've put 25 hours on it in the week I've had it. The original owner put 93 hours on it in 4 years. I'll have the original owner beat by Christmas I bet. I'm planning to spend all day tomorrow on it fixing logging roads in my property. I'll be using the BX primarily for digging virgin dirt and moving it to fix 30 years of rain erosion on the logging roads and ATV trails as well as finish leveling out our camp fire area and build a berm for shooting. I'm totally amazed at a few things.

I'm shocked at the traction it gets on steep hills that I'm filling in and using the tractor to pack. It's far better traction with the R4 tires than I ever expected.

I'm blown away at how well I can dig virgin clay and I don't even have a tooth bar on it yet. Wow. For such a miniscule machine, it way over delivers.

The fuel consumption rate per hour compared to my Craftsman garden tractor... My garden tractor rips through gasoline. I can go out and spend 6 hours on this and maybe use 3 gallons of diesel fuel. In 3 to 4 hours on the Craftsman I can nearly kill the 6 gallon tank.

The only thing that I have as a negative is the pressure required to reverse up a steep hill, my leg was giving out on me after a couple hours. I would back up the hill to level-ish ground, dig in and load the bucket, drive down into the steep downhill and use the brake to hold it while I dump, and then reverse back up to do it again. After 2 hours, my leg muscles were crying. The steep hill requires you to nearly stand on the little reverse lever with my heel to get it to move up the hill. Amazingly, no lack of traction. But the lever doesn't want to move down with that much resistance fighting it.

I doubt the reverse issue would be any better on a larger tractor, but a 2 pedal unit would alleviate that dreaded heel pressure and leg fatigue.

Over all, I'm far more impressed with this thing than I ever could have expected. I just hope that the HST can take the steep hills and loads I'm going to give it. I live on a step hillside with even steeper ravines that I'm reworking. Let's hope these things are as tough as many of you had claimed.