New Kubota owner with a project...

[ancho]

In 24 hours I've gone from never owning a Kubota, directly to owning 2 of them. I've been nursing along a 15-year-old Craftsman riding mower with a 17hp Briggs for the last 3 years, and I think it's getting tired. Aside from mowing, we also drag our 2 pastures twice a week (approximately 2 acres each). Needless to say, it consumes parts and fuel at a rapid pace.

So, sensing the impending doom of the Craftsman, I picked up a G1800, running well, with around 900 hours on it, but a badly rusted (unusable) deck. Some corrosion on the frame of the tractor, especially under the battery. Nothing apparently structural, from what I can see.

I then found a G1900 with no engine, 2300 hours on the meter, but in well maintained condition (a local school district owned it, I think it was stored indoors). This mower was equipped with the 60" deck in nearly pristine condition.

So, I know the 16hp motor in the G1800 is probably not ideal to run the 60" deck, but it's what I've got to work with right now. I've only got about 2-2.5 acres to mow, so I don't "think" it will be an undue amount of stress on the motor... please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I have already torn down the front half of both tractors, and have swapped the engine into the G1900. However, in the process of unbolting the rear driveshaft from the fan drive pulley on the motor, one of the bolts sheared off flush with the flange. I haven't yet attempted to extract it, but my past track record with extracting sheared off bolts, has not been great.

I've ordered a replacement pulley from Messick's, in case I can't salvage this one.

In regard to removing the bolt that holds this pulley to the crankshaft -- is it OK to use an impact to remove it? Or do I need to lock the flywheel and just use a breaker bar?

I've read a bunch of threads on here already, and look forward to learning more! Thanks for any input!

Here's my starting point!

 

[brain55]

I almost always use an impact for removing the front pulley nut, but try to use a torque wrench for reassembly when possible.

Brian

 

[ancho]

Great, thanks for that info. I never reassemble anything with an impact.

Andrew

 

[jinman]

I then found a G1900 with no engine, 2300 hours on the meter, but in well maintained condition (a local school district owned it, I think it was stored indoors). This mower was equipped with the 60" deck in nearly pristine condition.

Was there something wrong with the engine in this mower? 2300 hours doesn't really sound like that many hours. I have a G1800 with over 1800 hours and the engine is solid and reliable. I guess I don't understand the engine swap. On rusted decks where the top is rusted through, I've seen plates scabbed over the rusty spots, making the deck both strong and trouble free. It just seems to me that you've taken two mowers that would have worked with the one pristine deck and changed them to two unworking mowers due to the engine swap snafu. I don't understand your logic, but that's okay. Good luck. The largest deck for the G1800 was a 54" deck, I believe. You will probably be fine in all but the heaviest grass, but that 60" configuration is a bit large.

 

[ancho]

Was there something wrong with the engine in this mower? 2300 hours doesn't really sound like that many hours. I have a G1800 with over 1800 hours and the engine is solid and reliable. I guess I don't understand the engine swap. On rusted decks where the top is rusted through, I've seen plates scabbed over the rusty spots, making the deck both strong and trouble free. It just seems to me that you've taken two mowers that would have worked with the one pristine deck and changed them to two unworking mowers due to the engine swap snafu. I don't understand your logic, but that's okay. Good luck. The largest deck for the G1800 was a 54" deck, I believe. You will probably be fine in all but the heaviest grass, but that 60" configuration is a bit large.

I know it does sound a bit crazy.

The G1900 was owned by a guy with probably 100+ machines on his property, he was going to go into business buying/fixing/selling, but has grown weary of customers expecting perfection in used equipment. He's now parting them out instead of fixing them. The engine was sold out of the G1900 intact and running(for $1500) to someone else before I arrived, and I bought the rest of it, with the pristine deck, for $750.

The G1800 deck was really beyond repair. More than 50% of the top was completely rotted away, with galvanized patch panels screwed on, but there was just no integrity left to it. The spindle mounting areas were unsound and flexible. The u-joint in the deck drive was shot. My neighbor is a professional weldor, and he looked at it and agreed that it was not worth saving. His words: "Well, the rollers are still usable!"

The G1800 also had some of its deck mounting hardware removed, and had some corrosion on the frame, so I decided to make the G1800 my "donor" and the G1900 the recipient. In hindsight, it would have been MUCH less work to keep the running motor in the G1800, and just swap the deck bits on to it. But, what's done is done.

As a side benefit, this swap is forcing me to become familiar with most of the mechanical systems of the machine, which would have otherwise remained unknown to me until a failure occurred. All fluids and filters are being replaced, and I'm installing a new oil pan and gasket (old pan was crunched badly), and a valve cover gasket, on the motor.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[jinman]

Andrew, I bought manuals for my G1800 from Messicks.com and I use them all the time. The operator manual and maintenance manual are worth every penny. You'll never regret having them.

I understand now about the G1900 without the motor. It makes a lot more sense with that tidbit of info.

 

[ancho]

I've got the manuals on order from Messicks already! Thanks for the reassurance!

 

[jinman]

The operator manual is wire ring-bound and punched for a 3-ring binder. The maintenance manual is tabbed and shrink wrapped, and also 3-hole punched. I put both of mine in a 2" 3-ring binder and easily flip from section to section. Electrical diagrams are on fold-out pages and all model differences are provided. The photos don't reproduce very well on a copy machine, but they are still good and usable.

 

[canucklehead]

wow, $750 for a mower with no engine seems steep.

I was similar to you. Have a great Kubota push mower, W5021, still runs strong, well used, and about 25 y/o. I bought a T1560 ride on with a 14HP Kawi. A day or 2 later, I bought another T1560 with an engine blown apart, and wheel bearing shot, but allegedly good deck. I thought for $250, it'd be handy for spare parts. But then my OCD crept in and i decided i could fix it up.

I looked at buying a bottom end for engine, but found a local Kohler 15HP lower hour motor, as the JD LT155 it came out of had a broken axle. I swapped out the motor. Wiring was tricky, but I got it figured out. The throttle cable connection was also tricky and still isn't perfect as i have to manually choke it for a cold start.

Then I started to discover all the other things. Mower deck bearings were all shot so I had to rebuild deck. By the time the dust settled, i probably spent close to $800 to fix it up and many, many hours. I just sold it for $1,000 last week.

I kept my main mower.

I think your diesel will be fine to turn the 60" mower deck, as long as you're not trying to field cut. You'll hear it bog down/power out if you push it too hard, and if it does that, stop and back off. Even my JD 430 with a 22HP Yanmar diesel bogs down on heavy, long field type grass, and I have to back off.

 

[ancho]

Yeah, I think I overpaid by a few hundred -- when you add in the parts I had to buy, I'm into this project for around $2000, but I do have a "parts" mower that I can sell whole, or part-out, and recoup 400-500 by my estimation.

I got the project running this morning (a big box of parts arrived last night from Messick's).

Fresh engine oil and filter, Fresh HST lube and filter (cleaned strainer too), new fuel filters, new air filter.
New valve cover gasket.

I cleaned and greased (silicone) all of the wiring harness connectors, greased all of the grease fittings, cleaned everything, and even did some rattlecan paintwork, which didn't turn out half bad.

I disassembled and thoroughly cleaned the instrument panel (even gave the needles a fresh coat of Kubota orange!). The gauges and the hour meter came from the G1800. Also disassembled the ignition switch, cleaned and greased the contacts.

It runs very well. The motor starts easily, runs smoothly, and the HST seems to work properly.

I realized that I am missing 2 springs for the front PTO so I can't test out the mowing capabilities yet, but I did swap on 3 new mulching blades.

Springs should arrive at my local Kubota dealer on Thursday, so we'll see how it cuts soon enough.

wow, $750 for a mower with no engine seems steep.

I was similar to you. Have a great Kubota push mower, W5021, still runs strong, well used, and about 25 y/o. I bought a T1560 ride on with a 14HP Kawi. A day or 2 later, I bought another T1560 with an engine blown apart, and wheel bearing shot, but allegedly good deck. I thought for $250, it'd be handy for spare parts. But then my OCD crept in and i decided i could fix it up.

I looked at buying a bottom end for engine, but found a local Kohler 15HP lower hour motor, as the JD LT155 it came out of had a broken axle. I swapped out the motor. Wiring was tricky, but I got it figured out. The throttle cable connection was also tricky and still isn't perfect as i have to manually choke it for a cold start.

Then I started to discover all the other things. Mower deck bearings were all shot so I had to rebuild deck. By the time the dust settled, i probably spent close to $800 to fix it up and many, many hours. I just sold it for $1,000 last week.

I kept my main mower.

I think your diesel will be fine to turn the 60" mower deck, as long as you're not trying to field cut. You'll hear it bog down/power out if you push it too hard, and if it does that, stop and back off. Even my JD 430 with a 22HP Yanmar diesel bogs down on heavy, long field type grass, and I have to back off.

 

[canucklehead]

sounds sweet, well done. now we just need some pics. I just did a JD F935 project and it seems great. I can't believe that 72" front deck cuts heavy field grass so well.

 

[ancho]

Some pics for your enjoyment

 

[jinman]

Nice Job! The only things you are missing now are four chrome (plastic actually) plated hub caps. The hub caps make it go faster.

 

[canucklehead]

wow, I'm impressed, that looks great.

Do you find the mower deck chute a bit of a PITA ? It seems to stick out so far and limits your ability to cut from that side.... I know I'd be rubbing it all the time and looking to remove it or fabricate something shorter out of sheet metal. Obviously you try to use your left side for the fence areas, etc..., but I still find I sometimes don't seem to have a choice or it's a lot of extra work to get manouevered around.

 

[ancho]

Thanks for the positive comments! I mowed with it for the first time this week, and it cut a 3 hour job down to about 1:10 -- so that alone was worth it all! It seems to be running very nicely so far. The discharge chute is definitely a PITA -- but I just have to change my approach in some locations, to work around that issue.

I'm now trying to decide if it's better to part-out the non-running machine, and keep some spare parts for myself, versus just selling it whole and hoping that I don't end up needing any of those parts anytime soon? The non-running machine has a good HST, controls, lift cylinder, etc which I suspect would be tough to source at a reasonable price if needed.

Any thoughts on that matter?

 

[canucklehead]

sell it for the price that makes you happy, otherwise you could keep it. I have so many "spare parts" from so many things, it gets to the point of obsession and junk accumulation/hoarding. You have all the good stuff right now on the mower you want. It should be unlikely you will need anything siginificant for a long time. And if I'm wrong in 3-5 years when you do need something, you can curse me out then. If you can sell for a decent price, I say "Sayonora!!" If it doesn't take up space and doesn't bother you...you could keep it. I still lean to getting rid of stuff. One less thing to deal with.

 

[ancho]

Sounds logical. I already do have way too much stuff, including spares for cars and equipment that have long since been moved along.

 

[canucklehead]

yes, it is very practical/logical... I need to listen to my own advice. I've spent the last few years trying to not stockpile, get rid of existing piles, and it is overwhelming and borders OCD. I look at lots of it and ask myself, "WTF were you thinking..." So if the opportunity presents itself, sell it off. And maybe 1 in 50 I wish I might have kept some old relic thing that had a later use, but I am happy to live with those consequences and buy the item when i actually need it.

 

[Coyote machine]

I wouldn't bother with the pulley bolt extraction. First the bolt is still in place and won't back out on it's own. Without the head the bolt still fills the pulley hole and helps the other bolts keep the pulley from turning on the surface it's bolted to. Think about it- say there are 3 or 4 bolts total, if only one head is missing the other bolts are still doing their job, and the headless bolt is doing most of it's job too.
I'd bet a million $ that bolt will stay put for the rest of time.

 

[ancho]

The bolt sheared off flush with the pulley surface, not with the flange of the driveshaft, so it was not providing any real assistance to keeping that joint together.

Sure, the pulley was $65, but at least I don't have to worry when I'm working the machine hard, that the joint will fly apart, break the driveshaft, bend the sheetmetal, break the HST fan, and all sorts of other secondary effects.