BX 1800

[Dyer retired]

Botabill,

This year has been a little bad for fuel costs, but normally I would wait until they had the winter mix at the pumps and go pick up 10 gallons of fuel. That would last me all winter and through the majority of the summer. This year, since October or so, I'm burned 20 gallons of fuel through the BX 1800. I have been extremely pleased with the machine and am just more reinforced about the decision the more I read TBN and the discussions that go on around all the various makes. You probably noticed that I mentioned earlier that I feel almost guilty for the low hours on the tractor, but also am confident that I'll have the tractor for as long as I want it without concern for wearing out the engine. I get a lot of work out of it, but as much enjoyment and relaxation working on it, tinkering with it, etc. It's always fun to have your friends and neighbors trying to convince me to put the tractor in the will to them....not ever really sure how to take that, ha! Thanks for the note. 14 inches of snow coming here overnight, so it's not over yet. John

 

[Barryh]

Back to your original question. In North America the cost of fuel has not been an issue so many people bought the 2200. The 2200 doesn't cost a huge amount more than an 1800 to buy or operate. Besides every guy wants to have the bigger one. In Japan people have to be more careful with these considerations. Fact is, unless you are using ground engagement tools (plows etc.) the extra horse power is wasted (the owners manual will explain) . The 1500 has a shorter wheel base. That can be an advantage especially in mowing. I don't know about the durability of the 1500 engine as it is very different fom the 2200 and the 1800 engine. My 1800 has 1000+ hours on it and no serious problems. I think you made a good choice Brother.

The shorter wheelbase is great for tooling around back in the woods moving fallen trees etc. I can also fit it in my little two bay garage with the Craftsman lawn tractor in back parked sideways and, still get the door closed. Leaves more room for wood working and other things in the dead of winter. That´s why I opted for the BX series. I had a Power Trac great little tractor and it was articulated. The back wheels would follow the front track. I figured I would loose some of that maneuvering with the BX what a pleasant surprise so far I'm really not seeing it. Power? The wheels spin before it looses any. The extra few horse´s would be nice for the back PTO but, I'm sure it will manage. Other than that, to date it does ground engaging work just fine.

As for durability of the engine on the 1500. I'll be sure and let you know as time marches on, this little two cylinder runs strong. As with any machine abuse it and you'll loose it. I'll bet I get at least 3,000 trouble free hours out of this little tractor if not more. Really depends on how well you take care of it. With proper oil changes and keeping it maintained, like any car or truck it will run a long time. John, so what´s the story on all of that snow? Any pictures??

 

[Dyer retired]

Barry,

I agree with everything you said on the Kubota. I didn't realize the 1500 was a two cylinder rig, but would not have influenced by decision anyway. It really was one of those days that I went to the dealer looking for a particular set of things I wanted on the tractor (I was o.k. with either a Kubota or John Deere...the dealer here sells both) and found everything I wanted sitting on the showroom floor, all set up and ready for delivery. The 18 horsepower would have, and does, more power than anything I will probably ever use it for, so that wasn't a serious consideration. After walking behind a 24 inch Troybilt snowblower for 6 hours cleaning my driveway and around the house after a heavy storm....anything was going to be like getting on to a D-9 and going to work.

I hate to sound like my Grandparents here, but we haven't had a snowfall total like this (even since I lived in Northern Maine) for probably 15 years. I remember one storm in 1986 that it snowed 24 inches, skipped a day, and snowed another 24 inches. It can get overwhelming at times, but there is always Snowqualmie (?) pass in Washington State or somewhere in Colorado that gets pounded, or lake effect snow around Chicago, so we all get hit in some way. While it's snowing here, we aren't losing roofs to tornado winds, etc. The record I really take no pride in when it happens is being the coldest spot in the United States. We've only hit that twice this winter and will probably be spared any records like that with Spring this close?????

I will send pictures out at the end of the big snowfall today, but it seems like it's only really getting started now. It was supposed to be fairly heavy after Midnight, but is only now coming down with any force. John

 

[Barryh]

Barry,

I agree with everything you said on the Kubota. I didn't realize the 1500 was a two cylinder rig, but would not have influenced by decision anyway. It really was one of those days that I went to the dealer looking for a particular set of things I wanted on the tractor (I was o.k. with either a Kubota or John Deere...the dealer here sells both) and found everything I wanted sitting on the showroom floor, all set up and ready for delivery. The 18 horsepower would have, and does, more power than anything I will probably ever use it for, so that wasn't a serious consideration. After walking behind a 24 inch Troybilt snowblower for 6 hours cleaning my driveway and around the house after a heavy storm....anything was going to be like getting on to a D-9 and going to work.

I hate to sound like my Grandparents here, but we haven't had a snowfall total like this (even since I lived in Northern Maine) for probably 15 years. I remember one storm in 1986 that it snowed 24 inches, skipped a day, and snowed another 24 inches. It can get overwhelming at times, but there is always Snowqualmie (?) pass in Washington State or somewhere in Colorado that gets pounded, or lake effect snow around Chicago, so we all get hit in some way. While it's snowing here, we aren't losing roofs to tornado winds, etc. The record I really take no pride in when it happens is being the coldest spot in the United States. We've only hit that twice this winter and will probably be spared any records like that with Spring this close?????

I will send pictures out at the end of the big snowfall today, but it seems like it's only really getting started now. It was supposed to be fairly heavy after Midnight, but is only now coming down with any force. John

I'm a cold weather person. I could live in Alaska if the wife would go for it. I envy you right about now. Where I'm located back on the mountain I would have liked to get at least one big storm this year. Preferably starting on a Friday night it´s takes a long time before the plows get back this far.

When we do get one the neighbors on both sides of me come over and hang out in our basement. We mix drinks and play pool all night long. The upside is you don't need a designated driver they can just walk through the woods and across the yard. We even kid about driving our tractors over with the wifes sitting on the front end loader.

Around 7 years ago we got hit with a big one, I measured the pileup to be around 26 inches and when you measured the drifts it was considerably much more.

Even when the small storms hit 6-8 inches. I go out and pull people off of the road into my yard every year or, they get stuck blocking our driveway some times they lock up their cars up and walk home, if I fail to see them out there. We are on a steep hill and get a lot of ice formation with our snow falls. Last year my neighbor and I had to pull some guy in a Jeep out of the creek at the bottom of the hill the tail end was pointing straight up into the air.

We had some real nasty ice storms a month ago, weighed the trees down for about 3 days back here. The power went out for almost a day. Thank god for the propane insert for out fireplace. Kept the house livable all night. Next year I'm buying a generator.

I know you must have one at your location. Be looking forward to those pictures. I would think this would be a great opportunity to get some great shots of your tractor with the neighbor on it, clearing snow. I was considering moving to Maine at one-time sounds like my kind of place. I'll bet it's beautiful there.

 

[Barryh]

Here's a few of one of our storms 2003 front views I've added a larger deck and done a lot of work to this house since then. Looking out to the left is my buddy's place to the right is our drive and the road below out back is about 20 acres of solid woods.

 

[Dyer retired]

Barry,

I've attached some pictures as promised. It's still snowing, but they are saying we are on the down side of the storm. It looks like we picked up about 11 inches here in Belgrade. The first shot is just some snow banks from the entire winter with fresh snow on the Pickup. The front of the house shot is just that, with the fresh snow collecting on the roof, that all has to come off before it rains. The LLBean shot is of the LL Bean boots I've had forever....can't live in Maine without pushing L.L. Bean products...very warm. The No Hands shot is just showing off, ha! The Rear Deck shot is pretty much all the snow down off my big roof, which eventually gets snow blown with a walk behind off the deck and then cleared further with the Kubota. The Sidehouse shot is just a shot of the narrowing path to get to the back of the house....that's now much wider than depicted an hour ago. And, finally, the mandatory shear pin replacement that comes from hitting branches that come off the trees during these storms, get buried by fresh snow, and then get picked up by the blower.

Finding and punching out the shear bolt on this thing is sometimes very quick, but normally a pain to get lined up, see, and pushed out through. You wouldn't think the auger shaft would move enough to cause lining up problems, but it doesn't take much to be off and the grease disquises where the sheared bolt is.

The neighbor came later and cleaned up closer to the road for me and busted the impeller shear pin, so it's a two pin replacement day. It was kind of fun to see his face though because he was sure he had caused some catastrophic break in the driveline.

It's 32 degrees here, but the snow was not nearly as heavy as I would have thought...it moved out pretty easily. Hope these came out o.k. John, retired

 

[Barneyhunts]

Barry,
Finding and punching out the shear bolt on this thing is sometimes very quick, but normally a pain to get lined up, see, and pushed out through. You wouldn't think the auger shaft would move enough to cause lining up problems, but it doesn't take much to be off and the grease disquises where the sheared bolt is.

, retired

Dyer.
I marked the augers and the shaft with a center punch (idea from a post here); hopefully that will make it easier to line up the holes the next time I shear a pin.
Barney

 

[Barryh]

Barry,

I've attached some pictures as promised. It's still snowing, but they are saying we are on the down side of the storm. It looks like we picked up about 11 inches here in Belgrade. The first shot is just some snow banks from the entire winter with fresh snow on the Pickup. The front of the house shot is just that, with the fresh snow collecting on the roof, that all has to come off before it rains. The LLBean shot is of the LL Bean boots I've had forever....can't live in Maine without pushing L.L. Bean products...very warm. The No Hands shot is just showing off, ha! The Rear Deck shot is pretty much all the snow down off my big roof, which eventually gets snow blown with a walk behind off the deck and then cleared further with the Kubota. The Sidehouse shot is just a shot of the narrowing path to get to the back of the house....that's now much wider than depicted an hour ago. And, finally, the mandatory shear pin replacement that comes from hitting branches that come off the trees during these storms, get buried by fresh snow, and then get picked up by the blower.

Finding and punching out the shear bolt on this thing is sometimes very quick, but normally a pain to get lined up, see, and pushed out through. You wouldn't think the auger shaft would move enough to cause lining up problems, but it doesn't take much to be off and the grease disquises where the sheared bolt is.

The neighbor came later and cleaned up closer to the road for me and busted the impeller shear pin, so it's a two pin replacement day. It was kind of fun to see his face though because he was sure he had caused some catastrophic break in the driveline.

It's 32 degrees here, but the snow was not nearly as heavy as I would have thought...it moved out pretty easily. Hope these came out o.k. John, retired

John looks like winter wonderland Beautiful place you have there. Great shots, looks like that little 1800 has its work cut out for it. Nice garage setup too.

 

[Dyer retired]

BarryH,

Thanks and glad the pictures came out o.k. My camera will only shoot down to a particular file size that is still too big for this format, so I have to go into a different program to reduce the size (not a computer guy obviously) and upload them in the smaller format...never quite know if they are coming out or not until they post.

There's a great write up somewhere about someone who lived in Arizona all their life and finally moved to Maine after retirement. He writes about how the first snow fall was magical and how he and his wife enjoyed shoveling and waving at the plow driver as the plow pushed all the road snow back into the mouth of his driveway and accidentally wiped out his mailbox, etc. By the end of his first week in Maine, he was standing at the end of his driveway with a shotgun for the plow driver and convinced that the snow was a Government conspiracy, ha! I'll try to find it and send it along. It is pretty, but we've had a larger dose of it than normal and if you could just clear the driveway and be done with it, it would be much nicer, but I end up moving 3 hours of snow off the roof, deck, away from propane tanks, etc. before I get to the fun part of the tractor.

I've asked BarneyHunts to send me a shot of how he lines up his shear pin extractions....I'm convinced there is an easier way, but have been baffled by it so far. Shear pins are pretty straightforward, you'd think, but I've found that Kubota way over engineered some pretty simple items on my tractor and could have done better in other areas. The shear pins change out eventually (15 minutes would be starting to get excessive,) but when the ambient air temp. is 5 degrees, it snaps the fun out of the whole thing. Nice and bright sun here this morning and the temp is up to 8 degrees so far. Rain by next Wednesday. Dyer, retired

 

[Barryh]

John, you were asking about my lights. I snapped a few shots from around my place yesterday. Kinda gloomy out right now, there nothing special but, they work great mounted in this position.

 

[Dyer retired]

Barryh,

I like the lights and the protective cage a lot. I went with the square housed halogens on my rig to clear the garage door when pulling in and out, but find that they emit a pretty focused square beam to a fairly small defined area in the front of the tractor that I've finally set for about 10 to 15 feet in front of the blower. Again, probably OCD, but after hitting a couple of heavier branches, I am forever adjusting them to be level with each other where the beam hits the ground. Do you think therapy is warranted? Dyer, retired

 

[Barryh]

Barryh,

I like the lights and the protective cage a lot. I went with the square housed halogens on my rig to clear the garage door when pulling in and out, but find that they emit a pretty focused square beam to a fairly small defined area in the front of the tractor that I've finally set for about 10 to 15 feet in front of the blower. Again, probably OCD, but after hitting a couple of heavier branches, I am forever adjusting them to be level with each other where the beam hits the ground. Do you think therapy is warranted? Dyer, retired

I've noticed with the square beam tractor lights they seem to come in to versions, one is a narrow focused beam and one emits a wider area beam. I have the version that emits the wider beam. Can't recall the item number or info at the moment. But if you look at the back of each package it should tell you. When the weather warms up I plan to go over my tractor again and do some upgrades and, add more accessories.

 

[Dyer retired]

BarryH,

I suspected there was some difference, because I'd never seen such narrowly focused beams, but when I bought them I was not so concerned and just picking up the $12 buck units, or whatever minimal price they were. I've since replaced the bulbs with higher wattage halogens and they do fine. Too much time on my hands right now and thinking of projects to fix when warmer weather hits. John

 

[Barryh]

BarryH,

I suspected there was some difference, because I'd never seen such narrowly focused beams, but when I bought them I was not so concerned and just picking up the $12 buck units, or whatever minimal price they were. I've since replaced the bulbs with higher wattage halogens and they do fine. Too much time on my hands right now and thinking of projects to fix when warmer weather hits. John

John, wherejago?? Feeling better and like your old self I hope. Hows that snow coming along?

 

[mcnitt]

I believe the focussed beams are spotlights, and the wide beams are referred to as trapazoids.

 

[Dyer retired]

wherejago?? Feeling better and like your old self I hope. Hows that snow coming along?

Barryh,

Feeling better every day, but going slow. I have an old habit, like everyone else, of thinking I feel ready to do some manual labor and end up undoing the good work of the Doctor, so I'm listening to him this time. We got a foot of snow two days ago and it's 36 degrees right now. My back deck is completely covered in snow because I don't dare run the walk behind blower up on to clear it (that thing is a wrestling match on a good day to use,) so I called one of my buddies and his High School son is looking to make some cash and is coming to do the work for me. My buddy advises to offer him cash instead of food, it will be cheaper, ha! More snow and rain (they don't seem to know yet) coming tonight...either way it will be a mess, but DST coming the 9th, so things will at least feel like summer is coming soon.

I included a picture of the rear deck I'm talking about and it doesn't look any different today, so I'm nervous about any rain event on top of it. Glad the High School kids still don't mind working a little. Thanks for checking in. John

 

[Dyer retired]

mcnitt,

The spots are more focused than I really like, but with everything else, they mounted up and look o.k., I can actually see what I'm doing now, and so I've gotten used to them. Thanks for the reply. Dyer, retired

 

[Dyer retired]

MILS153,

The blade I have is on the rear 3 point hitch (The second picture gives you a better look at the blade) and it can be pulled...as I have it ready to do here, or turned around and pushed...which is what I do with the lighter snowfalls. I pull the blade often times to let the edge dig down through the harder packed snow to the frozen ground and pull it out to a pile where I can then use the blower to toss it into the woods. It has no down pressure beyond the weight of the blade, but that's been plenty and I level my dirt driveway in the summer with it easily (well, you know...after a little practice.) Depending on how frozen the horse manure gets, I would think you'd be able to haul that out with the blade, but don't quote me. If you post your threads to the general audience of TBN, you'll find that there are probably a great many people that use the rig for exactly what you are intending and could give you far better experienced advice on how it will work.

I think the price sounds great and hours would not scare me. I also find that there is nothing made of metal or fiberglass that can't be made to look brand new again, so even minor blemishes would not deter me. My brand new tractor had hydraulic leaks when I first got it and they would have been fine, but for driving me crazy, so I just took the connections apart, sealed them, and have not had a problem since. Good luck and buy that thing before someone else does. Let us know. Dyer, retired What part of Maine are you in by the way?

 

[Barryh]

wherejago?? Feeling better and like your old self I hope. Hows that snow coming along?

Barryh,

Feeling better every day, but going slow. I have an old habit, like everyone else, of thinking I feel ready to do some manual labor and end up undoing the good work of the Doctor, so I'm listening to him this time. We got a foot of snow two days ago and it's 36 degrees right now. My back deck is completely covered in snow because I don't dare run the walk behind blower up on to clear it (that thing is a wrestling match on a good day to use,) so I called one of my buddies and his High School son is looking to make some cash and is coming to do the work for me. My buddy advises to offer him cash instead of food, it will be cheaper, ha! More snow and rain (they don't seem to know yet) coming tonight...either way it will be a mess, but DST coming the 9th, so things will at least feel like summer is coming soon.

I included a picture of the rear deck I'm talking about and it doesn't look any different today, so I'm nervous about any rain event on top of it. Glad the High School kids still don't mind working a little. Thanks for checking in. John

Hey, did you say there was deck in the picture? Big John, your smart to listen to the Doc and your good sense. Hang in there always plenty of time to do manual labor later when your 100%. Taker easy... enjoy the fireplace, the snow and what ever your drinking pleasure.

 

[Dyer retired]

As I have written in previous posts, I came across TBN after surgery while trying to utilize my recovery period to find a solution to a problem that has been aggravating me since 2003 with my Kubota BX 2750 snowblower. When I would shear one of the auger shear pins, I would spend way more time than should be required to find the sheared pin, because it would be all concealed in the grease and the auger shaft and drive shaft had about an inch of play from one wing to the other.

We had some good discussions about marking the shaft and bearing collar to make lining up easier (and it does help,) but then I still had the side to side problem and, as you all know, if those holes don't line up exactly, no amount of hammer and punch will make that thing come out of there. I have spent up to 30 minutes before changing pins and have found that the colder it is out, the more wind coming out of the Northeast, etc. the slower the process goes. God help you if both auger pins break because, at least if only one breaks, you can orient the broken auger with the intact side to help get you in the ballpark, but with both pins sheared...hang right on!! I'm pretty sure I've had nightmares about it all!

"Kevinj" read my post and sent me a message telling me how to fix the immediate problem with the play between the wings and auger shaft by loosening the drive shaft collar bearing set screws, adjust everything to center, and re-tighten the allen set screws on the collar bearings. Kevinj also pointed out something that I had not considered and that was that if the wings were bent out, I might have to bend them back before anything else. It should have been obvious to me that this is exactly what had happened, because when the unit was new there was no gap between the auger shaft and collar bearing. I was pretty sure that the auger shafts hadn't shrunken in the cold air, ha! I measured everything and found a difference of an inch between the front of the wings and the back of the unit. It was now apparent to me that the wings on the 2750 are susceptible to bending outward, which surprised me somewhat because, although they are stamped sheet metal, they seemed fairly rugged. The wings bent slightly outward and the flange bearing cover on the inside of the wing pulled against the shaft bearing. The set screws on the collar shaft bearings weren't really meant to withstand (and obviously didn't) a lot of sideways force and would slip on the drive shaft a limited amount. That meant that as long as those wings could be bent by hitting the ice hardened snow banks, I would be right back in the same predicament as before with the pins.

I came up with what I like to call: "A $65.00 solution to a $1.58 problem." The wings won't bend out anymore and the shafts maintain precise positioning now, so when I shear a pin, it's a 5 minute job. Most of that 5 minutes is walking to the basement to get a new shear pin and wrenching the thing on, but those holes line up every time now. I had more time on my hands, so I added another support up higher on the wings using wire cable as an alternative....just for the fun of it. I have no intention of ever getting rid of the 2750, so I didn't care if it came out looking bad...as long as it worked...and it does (work that is!) As I said, although it was a $65.00 solution, I got about $1000.00 worth of fun working on it and just playing around with it, which sure beat sitting in front of the television waiting for summer.

My next project is putting a hydraulic chute rotation system on and I've posted some questions regarding that on TBN already.

O.K., go ahead and make fun! Dyer, retired