B7100 radiator screen

[KubotaToy]

Just picked up a B7100 with a little over 900 hours and in decent shape. I spent several hours doing routine maintainence but decided to remove the radiator which was full of debris and cleaned/straightened the fins. It appears the radiator screen is a poor design to start with but the previous owner cut the old screen bottom and folded it back to put weights on the tractor. I removed the weights and bent the screen back to its orginal shape but the it does not seem to stop anything from getting to the radiator. Kubota thinks a new orginal screen is gold (and based on looking at other B7100s it seems to work poorly), so has anybody made a better mouse trap for the B7100 radiator?

 

[Egon]

Window screen from the hardware.

 

[Mudfarmer]

No great suggestions other than overlaying a screen-door screen in the gap and fixing it in place; a B7100 isn't meant to be pretty.

I couldn't help noticing that you are in the exclusive club of owning both a B7100 and a B2710. For some reason nowadays all the manufacturers are making low horse power CUTs modeled on lawn mowers rather than on tractors. My tractor-like B7100 handles mud, hills, and loads just like my B2710 - just not as big on the loads.
Mf

 

[amaxwell]

Just picked up a B7100 with a little over 900 hours and in decent shape. I spent several hours doing routine maintainence but decided to remove the radiator which was full of debris and cleaned/straightened the fins. It appears the radiator screen is a poor design to start with but the previous owner cut the old screen bottom and folded it back to put weights on the tractor. I removed the weights and bent the screen back to its orginal shape but the it does not seem to stop anything from getting to the radiator. Kubota thinks a new orginal screen is gold (and based on looking at other B7100s it seems to work poorly), so has anybody made a better mouse trap for the B7100 radiator?

On my old ford I clip a radiator sized piece of home a/c filter in front with small aligator clips. Sometimes I have to stop and shake it off after an hour of mowing when the temp. guage starts to rise, but it stops even small seeds from getting to the radiator fins.

 

[KubotaToy]

On my old ford I clip a radiator sized piece of home a/c filter in front with small aligator clips. Sometimes I have to stop and shake it off after an hour of mowing when the temp. guage starts to rise, but it stops even small seeds from getting to the radiator fins.

Now that is an idea that may work and could be mounted under the existing radiator screen with little fanfare. I had worked on an attempt to do as Mudfarmer stated and put a piece of SS screen that I used in my racing days in front of the radiator but behind the existing screen.

 

[KubotaToy]

I couldn't help noticing that you are in the exclusive club of owning both a B7100 and a B2710. For some reason nowadays all the manufacturers are making low horse power CUTs modeled on lawn mowers rather than on tractors. My tractor-like B7100 handles mud, hills, and loads just like my B2710 - just not as big on the loads.
Mf

Agree, I really did not need two tractors that mow but I kinda like the B7100 now that I have it. Anyway the B2710 is "hers" and I do not get to operate it much unless supervised.