Dirt Moving Kubzilla 2, And so it begins...

[KubZilla]

After selling my last Kubota, (Kubzilla 1), over 2 years ago and moving to Alaska, I could stand it no longer, so today I went down to the ESI Dealer in Anchorage and bought a new BX25. My backyard is nothing short of an arctic jungle, so this should be fun. :thumbsup: My goal is to keep all of the bigger trees and level the lot out a little. WoooHooo!

 

[kday64]

That's a lot of trees. I would have got a bigger machine ...

Looks like a life time of seat time. Enjoy!

 

[KubZilla]

It's not as bad as it looks. The big ones are staying, only the smaller, scrubby ones are coming out. I'll be burning the stumps in place. I've found that the key to sucess with a sub compact is not getting in a hurry. It looks like I will be enjoying our 19 hour days this summer!

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Congratulations and welcome back to the Family.:thumbsup:
My Neice Tammy and her husband Rik live in Anchorage and Donna, Tammys sister, has now moved to Anchorage and waiting on her house in Myrtle Beach to sell so her husband Glenn and son KT can join her.
I like Alaska, in the summer time!:thumbsup: Don't like your mosquitos!

 

[TripleR]

Congratulations on your new tractor.:thumbsup:

 

[CHDinCT]

Congrat's. I have found I can pull sapplings up to about 3" diameter out of the ground roots and all using a chain off the draw bar hole in the frame (wish the BX's came with an actual draw bar like the B series and up). I was going to say I hope you're not planning on removing all the stumps with the BX25, but I see you plan to burn them. Happy "long day's nights" of tractoring. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[shownuff]

congrats on the new bx 25- keep us posted if you have any "sara sitings"

 

[bigbull338]

congrats on your new tractor.

 

[KubZilla]

Thanks to all! I may try using a chain... That might be a bit easier than using the bucket on all those smaller trees. Ok, it's time to put on the Mosquito spray (Monsters they are), and get to work. Since Sarah's a little busy these days, I guess I'll get no help there...

 

[bikerdib]

If you are going to be pulling with a chain quite a lot, I'd suggest you do what I did. I added some horse panel to my ROP. Horse panel is made up of .25" galvanized rod welded in a 2"X4" pattern. I also added this to my front brush guard to add radiator protection. The reason to put it on the ROP is in case of a chain failure, it should give some protection from the chain slapping you in the back of the head. I cut a piece to fit slightly larger than the ROP, put it on the back of the ROP, then used 6 hose clamps that would wrap around the ROP and horse panel to hold it in place. If you want to keep the folding function, you could probably cut the horse panel in half but I'd think that would weaken it some. I plan on keeping it in place even when I'm using my shredder to protect from flying debris being propelled by the blades. I learned that lesson way back when using an old crop shredder on a ranch I worked on in high school. The Terrain King shredder was broke down so I hooked onto the old crop shredder. While shredding some pasture, all of a sudden I hear "whoosh" and see a piece of 2"X3" angle iron about 2' long land about 50 feet in front of the tractor. A piece had come loose at one end and the blades caught it and sent it flying right over my head. That shredder was never used again by me.

 

[KubZilla]

That's a good point, and a very clever way to address the problem. I would have to make it easy to remove though, because I use the Backhoe frequently. I'm finding that the biggest problem here is the frozen ground. I thought I was hitting rock, but it turned out to be frozen dirt. I didn't have to deal with that in Texas...Oh well, when you don't have size, it's all about technique!

 

[bikerdib]

That's a good point, and a very clever way to address the problem. I would have to make it easy to remove though, because I use the Backhoe frequently. I'm finding that the biggest problem here is the frozen ground. I thought I was hitting rock, but it turned out to be frozen dirt. I didn't have to deal with that in Texas...Oh well, when you don't have size, it's all about technique!

Frozen ground, man I can't even imagine. I'm near Houston (25 miles SW) so even when we get freezing temps it is usually just for a few hours overnight. Coldest I've ever experienced was about 5 above and that was in Colorado.

Now, I would love the wide open wilderness you have up there at your new place.

BTW, using the hose clamps like I did, you could probably remove the horse panel in about 5 minutes or less. I can't take any pictures right now because my tractor is out at my weekend place 48 miles away. I thought about welding some hooks to the ROP. Something along the lines of small chain hooks, 2 on each side and one at the top, with all the openings facing up. That way a person could just drop the panel into place. I didn't think it would be worth the trouble for me since I won't be removing mine that often. Maybe you could do something along those lines since you have a BH.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Congratulations on the BX25! :thumbsup: One thing i am wondering is since you are working in the woods do you have anything protecting the hydrostatic fan under your Bota? My neighbor's BX24 had its fan destroyed from a branch so I am curious what you have done to protect your fan, that is assuming that the BX25 has one. It is a $10 fan and a $600 fix.

 

[KubZilla]

BTW, using the hose clamps like I did, you could probably remove the horse panel in about 5 minutes or less. I can't take any pictures right now because my tractor is out at my weekend place 48 miles away. I thought about welding some hooks to the ROP. Something along the lines of small chain hooks, 2 on each side and one at the top, with all the openings facing up. That way a person could just drop the panel into place. I didn't think it would be worth the trouble for me since I won't be removing mine that often. Maybe you could do something along those lines since you have a BH.

If you do get a chance to take a picture, I would love to see it. Thanks!

 

[KubZilla]

Congratulations on the BX25! :thumbsup: One thing i am wondering is since you are working in the woods do you have anything protecting the hydrostatic fan under your Bota? My neighbor's BX24 had its fan destroyed from a branch so I am curious what you have done to protect your fan, that is assuming that the BX25 has one. It is a $10 fan and a $600 fix.

Ouch, that pic looks painful... I haven't given it much thought, but you make a good point. I suppose a skid plate maybe? Yea, there's a bunch of small trees and scrubby things here to cause problems...Thanks for that info.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Welcome back & congrats on the BX25! :thumbsup: How did you take that picture? :confused2:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Ouch, that pic looks painful... I haven't given it much thought, but you make a good point. I suppose a skid plate maybe? Yea, there's a bunch of small trees and scrubby things here to cause problems...Thanks for that info.

The best one i have found is the Bro Tek skid plates. :thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Here is their link. :thumbsup:Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons

 

[KubZilla]

Welcome back & congrats on the BX25! :thumbsup: How did you take that picture? :confused2:

Thanks. It was taken from our second floor balcony. There are some very nice and dramatic snow covered mountains in the background, about 3 miles away, but for some reason, they were washed out in the pic and didn't show up...

 

[KubZilla]

Here is their link. :thumbsup:Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons

Thank you very much!