RalphVa
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2003
- Messages
- 7,885
- Location
- Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Tractor
- JD 2025R, previously Gravely 5650 & JD 4010 & JD 1025R
How do I post this under the Reviews?
Review of 1025R
I just finished bush hogging with the 1025R and 48" Frontier bush hog. This bushhog/1025 PTO setup is a HUGE improvement in starting up the bush hog. It starts up without the slams and bangs of the LX-4/4010 PTO. Those slams and bangs likely contributed to the failure of the output shaft gizmo/donut on the 4010. I'd often have to restart the LX-4 a 2nd and 3rd time before it would smooth out, too. Somehow the blades would not straighten and swing freely every time. One time, the blades on the LX-4 actually got crossed underneath. I had to return to the garage and get underneath with a crowbar to get them uncrossed. Not so with the 1025 PTO running the Frontier unit. I don't know whether the improvement was made on the Frontier unit or the PTO startup on the 1025R. The Frontier RC-2048 bush hog seems almost a copy of the LX-4 (the stump jumper apparently stays in place when one removes the blades on the Frontier, according to the book; that appears to be one of the minor differences. Maybe the stump jumper binds on the blades at times and doesn't allow them to swing freely on the LX-4?)
The long reach and accuracy of the rock shaft control made setting the bush hog height no sweat at all. It's a huge improvement over the on/off one on the 4010, like the one apparently on the 1023E.
The 1025R has, of course, a fair bit more power, 25 vs. 18.5 on the 4010. There was no noticeable bog down in thick grass like used to happen with the 4010. (The 4010 is more like a 2019F? in current model nomenclature: a bit higher up with split brakes like on the 2 series now.) The 1025 appears to run at a slightly higher rpm for PTO speed. Maybe not. The display on the 1025 does give you the PTO speed in addition to engine speed.
I do miss the split brakes on the 4010 or the R3 front tires. The R4 tires on the 1025 do not have the side grip when turning, inferior to R3s. One needs the split brakes for turning in tight situations, with the R4s.
The little tool box on the 1025 has taken the place of my tool belt that I had wrapped around the left side tower of the 4010's FEL. I'm using the 2nd drink holder cavity for my fire extinguisher that I had mounted on the right fender of the 4010. I remounted my drink holder that I had on the right tower of the 4010 to the right tower of the 1025. There was already a hole there to mount it with.
Refueling the 1025 is easier with the fuel tank to the left of the seat. No more lifting 5 gallon containers to the hood for siphoning into the tank. I sat a 5 gallon container on the seat and siphoned it into the fuel tank. The 2 series still have the tank refill on the hood. It remains to be seen what the fuel consumption will be on the 1025. The 4010's overall average over 660 hours was 0.46 gph. Hopefully, with improved combustion due to emission requirements, the 1025's will be the same, despite the higher hp. However, on the first refill, the fuel consumptions seems quite high, near 1 gph. Could it be that the engine is running cooler? The 1025 temperature indication is only about 1/3 way up on the "green" of the gauge. Don't know where the 4010's was, as it had no gauge. (Note to JD: they'll run more efficiently if you run them warmer with a higher set thermostat.)
Oh, THE SEAT. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST PART OF THE 1025 compared to the 4010. The 4010's seat is likely just like the simple seat on the 1023E. You feel every hole and rise that the wheels hit. You do not on the 1025. It's MUCH more comfortable.
The stuff underneath the seat of the 1025 is much cleaner. I'd have little bits of brush left underneath the seat clutter on the 4010 that was impossible to blow out with an air hose.
I like the outboard turnbuckles to keep the 3ph tight. They're much easier to get at vs. the 4010's that were inboard. The lock nuts for the top link of the 3ph and the height adjustment of the right side arm on the 3ph are less robust than the big ones on the 4010. Should do the job, just cheap looking. The top link provided for the Frontier bush hog doesn't go short enough to adjust the bush hog slide to the middle part of its run, but it lifts the bush hog about as high as when I'd shorten the top link to its shortest position on the 4010 to transport it or to enable lowering onto brush.
I've only hauled a few loads of mulch and one load of soil in the 1025's bucket, so far. It's big enough for me now, but is a tad smaller and would have required more trips to haul the 22 tons of gravel that I hauled with the 4010 when it was new. Can't comment yet in comparing it to the awesome snow moving capability of the 4010 bucket. The 1025's 49" bucket is a better match for when running the bush hog though. I'd often have to swerve out of the way of stuff to keep from hitting them with the 4010's 53" bucket vs. the better-fit-to-a-48"-bushhog one on the 1025.
The jury is out whether the oil dip stick will ever get caught by big weeds or small limbings. I had one jerked out on my Gravely. I took to turning it around so that the loop is up against the engine block. I've done the same thing on the 1025. On the 4010, the dip stick was behind some easy-to-remove side panels. The dip stick is below the single bolted side panels on the 1025.
The 2 wheel/4 wheel selector is easier to work on the 1025. However, the range selector is not "shift on the fly" like the one on the 4010. You have to be pretty much stopped on the 1025 to change range. The parking brake is easier to set and to take off on the 1025.
The hydraulic cooler on the 1025 is in front of the radiator, like it is on the 4010. There is no hydraulic cooling fan to get ripped away by brush like on the 2210/2305 and Kubota BX brands.
For changing hydraulic fluid, the left rear wheel has to be removed on the 1025, to remove the cylindrical oil suction screen. One had to remove one of the rear wheels on the 4010 to slide the bottom 3ph bar out of the way of the of the cap over the hydraulic filter. The 1025's is a spin-out filter just underneath the hydraulics/differential.
For some odd reason, JD has chosen (and Kubota, too) to put an in line fuel filter underneath the left side foot well, in addition to the much bigger (than on the 4010) filter inside the water dropout bowl like is on the 4010. There's no shut-off valve for this underneath filter. You have to clamp the hose to keep fuel from coming out of the tank.
The battery on the 1025 appears much more accessible than the one on the 4010. One had to rotate the front FEL shield and tilt the front grill forward on the 4010 to get at the battery. The 1025 requires removal of one headlight to get the battery out.
Overall, the 1025 is a much cleaner design than the seemingly patched-on pieces of the 4010.
Use of a chipper/shredder wasn't covered in the owner's manual. I asked the sales person and then I tried it. You get up off the seat before pulling the PTO button. The rear implement will start then.
Review of 1025R
I just finished bush hogging with the 1025R and 48" Frontier bush hog. This bushhog/1025 PTO setup is a HUGE improvement in starting up the bush hog. It starts up without the slams and bangs of the LX-4/4010 PTO. Those slams and bangs likely contributed to the failure of the output shaft gizmo/donut on the 4010. I'd often have to restart the LX-4 a 2nd and 3rd time before it would smooth out, too. Somehow the blades would not straighten and swing freely every time. One time, the blades on the LX-4 actually got crossed underneath. I had to return to the garage and get underneath with a crowbar to get them uncrossed. Not so with the 1025 PTO running the Frontier unit. I don't know whether the improvement was made on the Frontier unit or the PTO startup on the 1025R. The Frontier RC-2048 bush hog seems almost a copy of the LX-4 (the stump jumper apparently stays in place when one removes the blades on the Frontier, according to the book; that appears to be one of the minor differences. Maybe the stump jumper binds on the blades at times and doesn't allow them to swing freely on the LX-4?)
The long reach and accuracy of the rock shaft control made setting the bush hog height no sweat at all. It's a huge improvement over the on/off one on the 4010, like the one apparently on the 1023E.
The 1025R has, of course, a fair bit more power, 25 vs. 18.5 on the 4010. There was no noticeable bog down in thick grass like used to happen with the 4010. (The 4010 is more like a 2019F? in current model nomenclature: a bit higher up with split brakes like on the 2 series now.) The 1025 appears to run at a slightly higher rpm for PTO speed. Maybe not. The display on the 1025 does give you the PTO speed in addition to engine speed.
I do miss the split brakes on the 4010 or the R3 front tires. The R4 tires on the 1025 do not have the side grip when turning, inferior to R3s. One needs the split brakes for turning in tight situations, with the R4s.
The little tool box on the 1025 has taken the place of my tool belt that I had wrapped around the left side tower of the 4010's FEL. I'm using the 2nd drink holder cavity for my fire extinguisher that I had mounted on the right fender of the 4010. I remounted my drink holder that I had on the right tower of the 4010 to the right tower of the 1025. There was already a hole there to mount it with.
Refueling the 1025 is easier with the fuel tank to the left of the seat. No more lifting 5 gallon containers to the hood for siphoning into the tank. I sat a 5 gallon container on the seat and siphoned it into the fuel tank. The 2 series still have the tank refill on the hood. It remains to be seen what the fuel consumption will be on the 1025. The 4010's overall average over 660 hours was 0.46 gph. Hopefully, with improved combustion due to emission requirements, the 1025's will be the same, despite the higher hp. However, on the first refill, the fuel consumptions seems quite high, near 1 gph. Could it be that the engine is running cooler? The 1025 temperature indication is only about 1/3 way up on the "green" of the gauge. Don't know where the 4010's was, as it had no gauge. (Note to JD: they'll run more efficiently if you run them warmer with a higher set thermostat.)
Oh, THE SEAT. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST PART OF THE 1025 compared to the 4010. The 4010's seat is likely just like the simple seat on the 1023E. You feel every hole and rise that the wheels hit. You do not on the 1025. It's MUCH more comfortable.
The stuff underneath the seat of the 1025 is much cleaner. I'd have little bits of brush left underneath the seat clutter on the 4010 that was impossible to blow out with an air hose.
I like the outboard turnbuckles to keep the 3ph tight. They're much easier to get at vs. the 4010's that were inboard. The lock nuts for the top link of the 3ph and the height adjustment of the right side arm on the 3ph are less robust than the big ones on the 4010. Should do the job, just cheap looking. The top link provided for the Frontier bush hog doesn't go short enough to adjust the bush hog slide to the middle part of its run, but it lifts the bush hog about as high as when I'd shorten the top link to its shortest position on the 4010 to transport it or to enable lowering onto brush.
I've only hauled a few loads of mulch and one load of soil in the 1025's bucket, so far. It's big enough for me now, but is a tad smaller and would have required more trips to haul the 22 tons of gravel that I hauled with the 4010 when it was new. Can't comment yet in comparing it to the awesome snow moving capability of the 4010 bucket. The 1025's 49" bucket is a better match for when running the bush hog though. I'd often have to swerve out of the way of stuff to keep from hitting them with the 4010's 53" bucket vs. the better-fit-to-a-48"-bushhog one on the 1025.
The jury is out whether the oil dip stick will ever get caught by big weeds or small limbings. I had one jerked out on my Gravely. I took to turning it around so that the loop is up against the engine block. I've done the same thing on the 1025. On the 4010, the dip stick was behind some easy-to-remove side panels. The dip stick is below the single bolted side panels on the 1025.
The 2 wheel/4 wheel selector is easier to work on the 1025. However, the range selector is not "shift on the fly" like the one on the 4010. You have to be pretty much stopped on the 1025 to change range. The parking brake is easier to set and to take off on the 1025.
The hydraulic cooler on the 1025 is in front of the radiator, like it is on the 4010. There is no hydraulic cooling fan to get ripped away by brush like on the 2210/2305 and Kubota BX brands.
For changing hydraulic fluid, the left rear wheel has to be removed on the 1025, to remove the cylindrical oil suction screen. One had to remove one of the rear wheels on the 4010 to slide the bottom 3ph bar out of the way of the of the cap over the hydraulic filter. The 1025's is a spin-out filter just underneath the hydraulics/differential.
For some odd reason, JD has chosen (and Kubota, too) to put an in line fuel filter underneath the left side foot well, in addition to the much bigger (than on the 4010) filter inside the water dropout bowl like is on the 4010. There's no shut-off valve for this underneath filter. You have to clamp the hose to keep fuel from coming out of the tank.
The battery on the 1025 appears much more accessible than the one on the 4010. One had to rotate the front FEL shield and tilt the front grill forward on the 4010 to get at the battery. The 1025 requires removal of one headlight to get the battery out.
Overall, the 1025 is a much cleaner design than the seemingly patched-on pieces of the 4010.
Use of a chipper/shredder wasn't covered in the owner's manual. I asked the sales person and then I tried it. You get up off the seat before pulling the PTO button. The rear implement will start then.
