My new B2620- 1st week review

[Finnster]

Got my new B2620 last week and have been busy putting it to use. In the last week I've put on 17hrs and burned about 8 gals of fuel. Work this week included: stump removal, mowing, site prep for a shed (excavation and foundation building) and moving about 6 yards of dirt and 12 yards of stone, some brush clearing, ground leveling and other yard maintenance. Amazing how fast work gets done with this machine.

This is my first tractor and I'm loving it Got a few goodies for it and I'll post up my first impressions on everything.

Summary:

2013 B2620, 60" MMM, Loader w/ 3 chainhooks, BH65 backhoe w/ 16" bucket, R4 industrial tires (filled), 48" Taylor Way box blade, TSC carryall and a BXpanded Piranha toothbar for the FEL.
Purchased through Barlows, $25K @ 72mo 0% for all. Homeowner w/ ~1.5ac of flat land.

B2620:

Pix first:
tlb:

Piranha bar:

Kids love tractors too:

Site Prep:


What an awesome machine. My previous tractor is 18yo Simplicity garden tractor w/ a 16hp Briggs gas engine & 48" belt driven mmm deck. Absolutely no comparison to this machine. Just firing up the engine gives me smiles. If anything (some of) my neighbors think I'm prolly nuts. My neighbor was mowing at one point while I was. Driving past each other it was like driving a monster truck past an F150, except I get way better fuel use.

I was debating getting a BX vs the B, went with the B in the end and am very happy with the choice. The BX is a fine machine, but ultimately I went with the B for the following reasons:

-better ground clearance
-better loader/BH/hydraulics
-full Cat 1 3ph
-better motor (explaned below) quieter operation
-no hst fan to break
-more comfortable and better sightlines, but not being up *that* much higher
-everything seems more heavy duty

I really like how the B drives and operates. Very comfortable and easy to use. I drove a BX first, had been dead set on a BX25, but as soon as I drove the B I knew I wanted to go up.
I found the high rpms and hst on the BX very irritating after a short while. 3200 rpms on a diesel just gave me the feeling like I needed to shift gears. The HST whine was ever present. My wife drive the B and BX for a short time at a dealer and her quick impression was the B was much more comfortable and the better one to get. Was not about to argue that!

The HST whine on the B is there, but usually low in my uses. Also, aside from mowing, I never felt the need to rev the engine above 2000rpm. Plenty of power even at 1800 rpms. I'm not an old vet at the FEL anyway, so its not like I need the hyd any snappier than they are.

FEL:

The bucket and loader seem nicely matched to the size of the tractor. First project was digging out the pad for the new shed. I used a combination of the FEL w/o a toothbar, box blade, and FEL w/ toothbar.

Digging w/o a toothbar in my thick heavy clay was a workout. It can be done, but I got better results using the BB w/ the scarifiers dropped to break up the ground first. I had ordered a piranha toothbar which came mid-week and got installed asap. Installation was easy. I used a standard 3/4" drill bit to drill the two holes in the side of the bucket. Toothbar installs in minutes.

The toothbar made a huge difference (as did my better skill w/ the FEL.) The teeth cut right into the ground and I was then able to just cut ~48"x24" slabs of sod w/ the FEL rather than ripping up w/ BB. Saved these for later planting.

Once the pad was cleared, I dumped 12yds of crushed stone. Left toothbar on. Again 2000 rpms/low gear/4wd was plenty of power to plow right into the pile w/ the FEL and scoop up a full bucket. Lifting up a full bucket to 6ft was not a strain, so I could shake the bucket and settle the stone before I drove away (FEL obviously dropped low for travel.) Almost dropped no stone on the lawn, and moved 10yrds in roughly 60 mins all told.

Takes a bit of time to figure out where level is even with the indicator. Initially I was always too deep or shallow, but I've got it now where even on my lawn I can scoop up a load of dirt off the grass in one motion, scrape the load clean off the grass w/o scalping the grass itself.

Rear tires are filled and used a 300lb BB as ballast. No pucker at all lifting a full bucket. If the bucket is ~0.25 cubic yards, internet is telling me its ~600-650lbs. That's close to the rated weight at the pin and its very comfortable to do it, even at lower engine rpms.

Loader is a piece of cake to take on and off. Nice design.

 

[Finnster]

BH65 Backhoe w/ thumb:

Not a whole lot of seat time on the backhoe. Part of that is it makes quick work of what I've thrown at it. Right off the delivery trailer I used it to dig up a 8" dogwood stump. Not huge, but it literally took 3 or 4 scoops to haul it out cleanly, even with me fumbling at the controls. Would have taken forever by shovel to due it. The clay is dense and hard.
I was talked into the 16" bucket and was glad I did. Its not overly large, but the BH has plenty of power for it and it makes quick work of things. The only thing I don't like is certain movements with the boom and dipper can't happen at the same time. Did use it for some of the foundation work, and its a bit tricky to keep the bucket level and still cutting as you are trying to scrape a flat bottom trench. With some practice I could do it slowly. Pro BH guys def have some good skills.

I'm going to have some trouble keeping jobs for this thing to do. Its blasts through digging so fast it feels like you haven't done anything. Its only when you get off and try to shovel something you realize how tough and heavy the clay was. Digging by hand sucks. A pick/mattock is a must. No way I'll elect to do it now I have this. Expensive option that won't get a ton of hours but very glad to have it. Gives the tractor a lot more capability.

Overall the BH is easy to attach. Kinda stinks you have to remove the 3ph bars, but everything else is easy. The pins were really tight and seized from delivery. Getting them off the first time was a major pain. Not space to really even hammer them with the tire in the way. One pin is now very smooth, the other is still tight. I need to look at it to see where its catching. Maybe just some excess paint.

Mowing:

So.. overall its a pretty good mower. Even in long grass the mower/engine just plows through it. Whipping around in 2nd gear is fast. Cut is pretty good, but could be a bit better for sticklers. More than fine for me.

Mower is a piece of cake to attach. Took a bit to figure out the lift controls and how to do that right, but works well now. What I missed at first is the 3ph arms must be in place for it to work. It does take a small amt of wrestling to get the lift arms pinned in usually as the lineup is not perfect when I'm sitting on the lawn, but nothing is too heavy to not be able to move by hand. Wife may have some trouble, but IDK yet.

The downside: I did get the R4 tires, while they are great in many places, but I'm wishing I got the turf tires. The R4s def cut into my lawn on sharp turns. Going slow helps a bit, but it gets down to the steering geometry and there is no way around it. The tractor is set up for quite a bit of positive camber. This helps in making a sharper turning radius, but the cost is riding heavy on the outside edge of the tire on turns. W/ the R4s, the outside edges of the lugs are sharp and just cut right in. I have a number of trees, and my old style would be circling the trees. Did that first mow job and had nice rings all around the trees. 2nd mowing I tried to change patterns and just go in swipes tangential to the trees. Will work for now and doesn't cost much time to change the pattern.

Striping: The tractor def leaves a trail between the tires and the mower. I'm not fussed at all about making stripping patterns in the lawn. I just want to get it cut and get to other things. If this matters to you, you will likely not be happy with this as a mower. The turfs should help some, but this tractor is not really designed to be mostly a mower. Its a real workhorse tractor that does a pretty good job at mowing. Just realize this before you pay this amount of money for a machine and mostly want to mow with it. If money and storage space are no issue, leave the B as a loader/BH/3pt machine and get a dedicated fine finish mower IMO.

If I got a set of unfilled turfs I may soften my opinion.

 

[Finnster]

4' Box Blade by Taylor Way:

Only box blade I've ever worked, so review is limited. Overall its a very handy attachment. Glad I got it. Easy enough to attach using 3pt hitch.

I was expecting to be able to cut down into the dirt more with the BB. It mostly wants to surface grade. Even with the scarifiers down, its tends to want to float up and ride just under the grade. I know part of this is my setup, and me not knowing yet how to really adjust it. Also, for this particular model, I went and got some concrete building blocks for ballast to improve the digging. Couldn't really put them anywhere on the BB, just didn't fit.

Eventually used a couple 40# bags of lime draped across the back. Helped some, but still not a great cutter.

The BB was great for leveling and cleaning up the grass where piles of dirt clods get dropped and smashed into the lawn. I could set the blade flat, prongs up, and just drag across the lawn. All the excess dirt was scooped up w/o damaging the grass. Easy to drag things into piles then come around w/ the FEL and scoop them up. Worksite cleanup went fast.

I did notice the BB is just narrower than the tires. This did make it a pain when I was trying to ride close to something and grade. The Pt wood timbers were partially buried. I filled in around the outside w/ dirt and drove over it to compact. I also had the BB down to clean up and level the excess. Problem was I was always in 2-3" from the outside of the tires. Might be able to force an offset with the stabilizers, but really a 5ft BB may have been better. Seems like power and traction should be fine in most circumstances.

I have to fix the grading around my house. Some parts slope toward the house. Was hoping to just use the BB to strip it down, but I need to re-think this. Won't be very efficient as I have it setup now. Perhaps with more weight and better fine tuning with the top link I can get some decent cut in. We'll see...

Misc:

...reserved for later....

 

[kcender]

Glad you are enjoying your new tractor.I bought a B2620 about six weeks ago to do mowing,snow plowing,and general yard maintenance.It is a good size tractor for all around use.I have been doing small and minor modifications to it ever since but I have just about got it where I want it.Happy tractoring.

 

[Finnster]

Glad you are enjoying your new tractor.I bought a B2620 about six weeks ago to do mowing,snow plowing,and general yard maintenance.It is a good size tractor for all around use.I have been doing small and minor modifications to it ever since but I have just about got it where I want it.Happy tractoring.

Thanks. What mods have you done so far?

 

[oldballs]

Nice review, Finnster. Thanks for your effort. It pretty much duplicates what my experience has been, except that I didn't buy a BH. Mine has been used some for plowing, tilling and large pine tree removal/hauling also.....and all that went well too. Cheers, Mike ......and now back to hoeing my potatoes/onions.....by hand for old times sake.

 

[PapaPerk]

Great write up! Glad you are enjoying your new machine.

Many people think the B sits much higher than the BX. Here's a pic that compares. Not much different in my opinion. I'd buy the B too!

 

[Baby Grand]

Great wite-up - thank you!
I'm seriously looking at the B2620 as a replacement for our B5100. The Plant Manager doesn't like the manual transmission or the grabby clutch on the B5100. Fairly weak hydraulics and no power steering complicate it's use in our 60 x 180' veg garden. Like you, I am interested in the greater ground clearance, but your points about FEL, Fan, noise, etc were other factors that I hadn't yet considered. The Plant Manager wants a BX, based on the one she saw at her dentist's office, but I bet if I get her on both to try out she might just change her mind. We'll see ...

 

[Finnster]

Great write up! Glad you are enjoying your new machine.

Many people think the B sits much higher than the BX. Here's a pic that compares. Not much different in my opinion. I'd buy the B too!

I definitely thought that at first. The B looks so much bigger, esp given the bigger tire sizes. It wasn't until I drove one just after being on the BX I realized they were really close. My wife was surprised too.

Great wite-up - thank you!
I'm seriously looking at the B2620 as a replacement for our B5100. The Plant Manager doesn't like the manual transmission or the grabby clutch on the B5100. Fairly weak hydraulics and no power steering complicate it's use in our 60 x 180' veg garden. Like you, I am interested in the greater ground clearance, but your points about FEL, Fan, noise, etc were other factors that I hadn't yet considered. The Plant Manager wants a BX, based on the one she saw at her dentist's office, but I bet if I get her on both to try out she might just change her mind. We'll see ...

Def get a chance to test drive one. I did a lot of reading, youtube videos and afterhours sales lot snooping before I finally went to test one and then impressions changed quite a bit.

 

[sandyc]

Good luck with the new machine. I got the 2620 with the BH, loader, snow blade, and front snow blower. It's a great machine! ENJOY!!!!!

 

[rider0]

BH65 Backhoe w/ thumb:

Not a whole lot of seat time on the backhoe. Part of that is it makes quick work of what I've thrown at it. Right off the delivery trailer I used it to dig up a 8" dogwood stump. Not huge, but it literally took 3 or 4 scoops to haul it out cleanly, even with me fumbling at the controls. Would have taken forever by shovel to due it. The clay is dense and hard.
I was talked into the 16" bucket and was glad I did. Its not overly large, but the BH has plenty of power for it and it makes quick work of things. The only thing I don't like is certain movements with the boom and dipper can't happen at the same time.

The backhoe's actually pretty nice compared to many other CUTs out there. The basic problem is that the tractor doesn't have a whole lot of hydraulic flow - you might practice with the RPMs up so it's more obvious what controls can be easily paired (and the answer is basically any of them). The trick comes with feathering the controls properly, and takes a bit of practice, again, because there's not a lot of flow in the system. Even with the RPMs up, you need to feather the controls precisely to keep the BH action smooth and free from jerkiness. You should be able to curl the bucket, crowd, and raise the boom simultaneously. Try that on some of the competing compact utility tractor backhoes- it's not happening.

 

[rider0]

4' Box Blade by Taylor Way:

I did notice the BB is just narrower than the tires. This did make it a pain when I was trying to ride close to something and grade. The Pt wood timbers were partially buried. I filled in around the outside w/ dirt and drove over it to compact. I also had the BB down to clean up and level the excess. Problem was I was always in 2-3" from the outside of the tires. Might be able to force an offset with the stabilizers, but really a 5ft BB may have been better. Seems like power and traction should be fine in most circumstances.
.

You'll notice that several manufacturers (Landpride, Gearmore, EE, etc.) make 54" BBs specifically for tractors of this width. Your BB sounds a little on the light side, also. Something closer to 100lbs/ft. cuts a lot better. Try adjusting your top link to help the BB bite better.

 

[kcender]

Thanks. What mods have you done so far?

Hard to remember all of them but some are replacing TPH turnbuckles with adjustable stabilizers,adding LED lights to rollbar,bending loader control arm to a more comfortable position,raising throttle pedal for more comfort,adjusting brake arms to a more comfortable position,making a guard for the fuel filter,replacing the cheap lug nuts on the front wheels,making a bucket level indicator,making a guard for the hydraulic lines on the loader cross brace,welding a cross piece between the loader support stands to make it one piece,adding a plate to the seat bracket and painting it black,made a tow bracket bolted to the front frame,raised the PRV 10% to get the most out of the loader,and painted various pieces such as the exhaust and throttle lever.I am in the process of having wheel spacers made for the rear wheels to add chains for snow plowing and I will be getting a five foot bucket for snow removal.I haven't decided on a quick hitch for the FEL yet.Apparently one from the new 2650 will fit but it reduces your lift capacity,like all quick hitches,so I am still thinking on that.I also added mulching blades to the mower deck.I am also thinking of adding a spill guard the the FEL bucket with hooks,not quite ready to burn the paint off the new bucket :laughing:I am also making up a hitch receiver for the drawbar location.One other thing was to remove about 25 stickers from the tractor,Kubota couldn't get too many more on it.

 

[josolar]

Wow I'm surprised to hear about the mowing quality. I plan on turf tires, and am hoping for a good cut quality. Any pics of the mowing quality you can post. Thanks for the great review.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Great reviews and looks like you men are enjoying your Bs.:thumbsup:
The B may be quieter than a BX to you but I'm not sure about that. May be a judgment call.

 

[ericher69]

Great reviews and looks like you men are enjoying your Bs.:thumbsup:
The B may be quieter than a BX to you but I'm not sure about that. May be a judgment call.

JOHNTHOMAS; Check 4shorts video of his bx25D (oh yeah he deleted them) and you will see how loud and whiny the bx's are.

I believe it is because of the 2 range tranny vs the 3 range in the B

 

[Finnster]

Great reviews and looks like you men are enjoying your Bs.:thumbsup:
The B may be quieter than a BX to you but I'm not sure about that. May be a judgment call.

Yeah don't get me wrong, the bx is a fantastic machine with a slightly different set of specialties. You can't go wrong with it. If I ran out of projects for the B, I would seriously consider going to a bx. I can totally see how you traded around so much. They are all too much fun.

 

[Finnster]

The backhoe's actually pretty nice compared to many other CUTs out there. The basic problem is that the tractor doesn't have a whole lot of hydraulic flow - you might practice with the RPMs up so it's more obvious what controls can be easily paired (and the answer is basically any of them). The trick comes with feathering the controls properly, and takes a bit of practice, again, because there's not a lot of flow in the system. Even with the RPMs up, you need to feather the controls precisely to keep the BH action smooth and free from jerkiness. You should be able to curl the bucket, crowd, and raise the boom simultaneously. Try that on some of the competing compact utility tractor backhoes- it's not happening.

The backhoe is really nice, I'm just a crappy operator right now. I did kick the rpms upto about 2200. Maybe more would be better.
The bh also still scares me a bit right now. Lots of power to toss the whole machine around. I can see getting into a lot of trouble really fast of you are not careful.

Only one operation seemed locked out. It was moving the dipper in wouldn't let the boom move one way iirc. Idk, mostly I need to practice.

 

[murphy1244]

Fine job on the write-up! enjoy, very nice tractor.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

The backhoe is really nice, I'm just a crappy operator right now. I did kick the rpms upto about 2200. Maybe more would be better.
The bh also still scares me a bit right now. Lots of power to toss the whole machine around. I can see getting into a lot of trouble really fast of you are not careful.

Only one operation seemed locked out. It was moving the dipper in wouldn't let the boom move one way iirc. Idk, mostly I need to practice.

I had a similar experience with my BH65, now after 60+ hours of which easily half has been BH work the controls are second nature. Drop the RPM's to 1800 to start, movements will slow down and be less jerky though there won't be enough flow for some combo movements which may be what you are experiencing. Get smooth with the controls at 1800 then move up to 2200. I found I was using more fuel at 2200 so I dropped back to 1800 and instantly felt the BH was moving way too slow, its funny how quickly you will get used to working the controls faster while still maintaining smooth non jerky moves. Someone on the forum here pointed out that the BH just gets faster at higher rpm's not more powerful that was key.

Digging stumps was very good practice, working the boom, dipper stick, and bucket curl in unison ripping roots and stumps, positioning the bucket between, over, under roots, working the thumb, moving lots of dirt, digging large pits to bury the stumps in, stump digging was a fast track to learning the BH for me. Good luck and enjoy the new machine!