BX 1800

[Barryh]

Barry,

I appreciate you being the test recipient of these pictures for feedback. This is another older picture showing the infamous snow suit the neighbors make fun of. It also shows the lights installed, like everyone apparently found out when they got theirs, were needed to see when operating the blower. The blade isn't as evident in the picture on the back and, for some reason, this may be the only picture I have that doesn't show the snow being blown in one direction, but ultimately...no matter what, coming right back into my face. John

Hey John, great pictures keep them coming. Hey if the suit keeps you warm who cares what the neighbors think. I see it matches your machine pretty cool. I like to see other BX owners doing their thing with these little tractors. I could have went larger also but, I decided the little BX would do anything I needed done and I got a great deal on it.

I have a couple of dedicated lawn tractors for mowing the lawn, one an old John Deere 140 Hydro that stills runs great. I bought this one for taking care of landscaping needs and general hauling things around my place. Getttin old need to save the ol back from damage. Here is one of the Deere 140 pretending to have a Kubota loader on it you might get a kick out of it. Had it resting there while replacing hose´s on the 1500.

 

[Dyer retired]

NY Yankess Fan, a.k.a. Tom,

Thanks for the pictures and excellent solution to what you see my problem to be (you see it correctly, by the way!)

I have found that regardless which direction I'm blowing the snow, which direction the wind is blowing, whether it's an election year, ha....the snow will inevitably come back into my face when blown. I also have this great advantage of many overhanging tree branches in the yard that unload their branches as soon as I can get up under them. What you don't see in the pictures is that the old snowmobile suit doesn't provide the protection it used to
(40 years ago when it was my Dad's) against water penetration (it wasn't even a snowmobile suit when purchased, but used as a cold weather protection for people working the deep freeze at a local Birds Eye plant,) so it's even more uncomfortable than it looks.

I looked at Curtis Cabs at one time and they had some pretty good prices on a couple of used ones here at my dealer, but then I would have needed the windshield wipers, the heater/defroster, the coffee pot with fixins', etc. My driveway ends up dictating that I'm on and off of the tractor so many times during a big storm that I would have to have spare door hinges on standby, etc., etc., etc. Truthfully, during most winters now, we don't get the kinds of storms that put me in these types of uncomfortable positions and, so , I have put off the cab and opted for things like rear blades, box scrapers, etc. Every time I pass someone in their T-shirt inside a tractor cab blowing snow in -3 F. weather with a 25 Northeast wind blowing, I confess a jealousy. Right at 0 degrees here now, but promising to get up to 9 above by end of day. Thanks for the pictures and thoughts. John, retired

 

[Dyer retired]

Barry,

I liked the FEL on the Deere, ha! I am noticing that many pictures I see are of our Tractors inside closed garages. Mine has it's own bay year round and the pickup sits outside year round. Priorities! I came close with the ROPS mounted lights though....I would have been able to get it in, but came close enough to being required to fold them everytime. Luckily, I can lift the door with one hand another inch as I back or move forward and clear the lights....small sacfrifice. Still layed up here, so the neighbor will be down tomorrow, we are expecting another 6 to 8 inches of snow tonight after midnight and expecting rain by next week. It's that time of year I guess. John

 

[Barryh]

Barry, Great pictures... I like the work cage, lights, the whole unit. I uploaded the original picture and it wouldn't accept it due to file size, so I went to another program and dropped the size down too much, so it came up blurry when posted. Part of the problem with a couple of the pictures too is that my wife was taking pictures through a sliding door with a screen on the outside, so if you look closely you can tell that part of the distortion is the screen. I will keep trying. Thanks, John

John, thanks the work cage and canopy is actually a large size dog crate, works like a charm since that photo I have customized it quite a bit with an extra set of 50 Watt Halogens in the front. I will be painting it orange to match the tractor when the weather breaks.

New York Yankee fan, I saw your soft cab setup when I first bought my BX in the fall. I liked your idea so much I bought one like it. It fits like a glove over my homemade canopy setup. Great idea, I was surprised at how well made the golf cart cover was, very heavy duty for the money. I was expecting something cheap. We didn't really get enough bad weather this year to use it so, I just left it off for this season.

I know this is a Kubota site but, here are a few pictures of my little Power Trac 180 4x4. I sold it to my neighbor before buying the BX. I used this little machine the previous 3 seasons for everything from digging a pond to removing snow. It shows the homemade cab I built out of wood, it kept me nice and toasty warm. I had everything inside including a coffee cup holder, toolbox, walkie-talkie setup. You can't tell by the pictures but, plenty of room inside.

 

[Dyer retired]

Barry,

I really liked the homemade cab on the Deere and something else popped out at me that I've read some threads about and meant to address. People ask why, if there is a potential clearance problem with the lights on top of the ROPS, didn't I mount them on the side or underneath? The side mount was out because I ripped the right rear amber flashing light off almost immediately after delivery, so paranoia set it. I tried the spots underneath the ROPS and not only got the 8 foot shadow of my head in front of the tractor, but also felt like the hood of the "much made fun of" snowmobile suit was melting into the back of my brain. I get plenty of light from the top mounted halogens and just find that I have to adjust once in awhile for hitting larger tree branches, etc. Are your halogens mounted, as they look, in front of your head? I like it. John

 

[Barryh]

Barry,

I really liked the homemade cab on the Deere and something else popped out at me that I've read some threads about and meant to address. People ask why, if there is a potential clearance problem with the lights on top of the ROPS, didn't I mount them on the side or underneath? The side mount was out because I ripped the right rear amber flashing light off almost immediately after delivery, so paranoia set it. I tried the spots underneath the ROPS and not only got the 8 foot shadow of my head in front of the tractor, but also felt like the hood of the "much made fun of" snowmobile suit was melting into the back of my brain. I get plenty of light from the top mounted halogens and just find that I have to adjust once in awhile for hitting larger tree branches, etc. Are your halogens mounted, as they look, in front of your head? I like it. John

Hey John,

on the Power Trac you see in the picture, I mounted the same set of halogens that I now have on my BX. They were mounted to the front of the ROP´S as you can see inside the cab. On my BX I mounted a set like them to the front of the canopy that I made. They work well there with the exception of a little vibration that I will sure up this spring. The BX has been setting in the garage most of the winter. I taker out once in a while to keep the battery charged. When the weather breaks I have a lot of plans for customizing the little bugger to meet all of my needs. I will have to take some pictures with the lights mounted for you this weekend. They come in great for doing loader work and removing snow. I can see everything, even back in the woods they light up the whole area. I also have one mounted on the back cage for lighting up behind me. Just a note I rarely have the front stock lights on along with the work lights. I don't want to drain the battery down. And after using them a lot. I let the tractor run for a while to recharge just in case.

 

[Dyer retired]

Barry, Good job on the lights and I'll look forward to seeing the new mounted lights. I tried mounting forward of the bar, but my head height was just close enough to either be bumping them all the time or getting the giant head sillouette in front of the blower. It's hard to see in the pictures I've posted, but I mounted the square halogens forward (again for just a tad bit of added clearance getting into the garage) and I was able to mount a round spot light underneath the ROPS facing to the year. I have that on a separate switch for the backing needs. The forward Halogens come on with the headlights. As these projects go, I thought yesterday would be a good time to have my neighbor, who was going to Sears anyway, pick me up a new quad post battery with higher CCA's, etc., so he did. We went to mount the new battery, set it on the floorboard of the Kubota and watched helplessly as we stepped back to get a wrench as the thing slid off and fell about 8 inches to the ground and cracked the outer plastic casing. Then we notice the small piece of left over ice chunk sitting where the battery had just been! Just one more day in the life of Dyer, retired! The Sears guys were very good about replacing it saying, "Well it does have a 3 year, no questions replacement warranty with it, so we can probably replace it within the first 3 hours o.k." I took it because it was hard to blame anyone for the predictability of it all, ha! Dyer, retired

 

[LBrown59]

1*I bought a used BX-1500 this fall in anticipation of snow for my 200 ft driveway. Had 400 hours on it a 2004. After I changed out 4 hydraulic hose's and all of the fluids it runs like a top. Of course we didn't get any bad storms had one small 3-inch snowfall. Strange winter around here. Hmmm.. Guess I could have waited who knew? So far the 1500 has been one rugged little machine. Got to get used to the smell of diesel in the garage. I have a lot of landscaping plans for it this summer.
2*I would also like to see a count of how many 1500 /1800 owners we have here. Now Mr. L-Brown your only allowed to count as one...

1*The used BX1500 I got back in Nov. is a 2003.It had 380 hours on it.I still don't have it up to 400 hours.
2*So would I.

 

[Dyer retired]

BarryH,

Honestly, I don't sit and read TBN all day, but it's been a Godsend for post surgery mental health. I've been a little hesitant to ask anyone, but you mentioned something in a posting this morning, so I thought I'd throw it out and get your thoughts. This might be typical, but I've had my BX 1800 since 2003 when it arrived with less than an hour on the engine. I feel like I use it a lot year round for just about anything I can think up to use it for...I've trimmed driveway branches and used it as a platform to stand on to get to them with the shears...as an example. I exercise regularily, but will generally ride the tractor to the mailbox to exercise it a little. I will jump off the machine to shovel a section of snow and will just leave it running for battery charge purposes, etc. I keep a meticulous spreadsheet on everything that gets worked on connected to the tractor, repairs, modifications, especially service logs (I change the oil as though I have OCD and have fun doing it.) It's been paid off for 3 years and yet I just peaked 210 hours total useage so far. Should I be feeling guilty?

I also had a serious question (in addition to the serious one above) about things I've found odd with my BX 1800 and am wondering about similar experiences you've had with your BX 1500. The cylindrical housing on my air filter has a metal strap that goes around it and bolts to two bolt points underneath the housing to hold it in place. This summer while the tractor was idling, it started sounding like the world was coming to an end, so I shut it off immediately and found that the metal strap had broken at the bend near the bolt point underneath and was banging against the hood cowling. I pondered that for about 10 seconds, went and got two heavy duty wire ties and wrapped the housing using the bolt holes as the tie down points. It's been nearly 6 months and I've not seen any sign of wear on the ties and even when they do break, I'll spend the 67 cents to replace it. Secondly, they don't make those bolt locations that easy to get to.

I read a submission on TBN regarding this same issue, only the person had gone ahead and replaced the strap with OEM parts. Unless I'm missing something, it sure seems like engineering overkill the way they had it?

This is a little pickier, but when I added my lights, I began to find that I needed to let the battery recharge more after shutting down lights at the end of a session, but when I didn't and ended up jumping the battery, it was a pain to take the screened housing off....I take it back, it was a pain to replace the screen housing and get the tabs lined up, etc. The close proximity to everything in the battery compartment with the jumper cables snaking in to get to the posts would every now and again cause one of those heart attack provoking sparks the send you looking for fires and burned wires, etc. There was no real way to do it easily, so I ran an additional hot wire to the positive post of the battery, drilled and countersunk a nice piece of oak (treated it for the elements) and stuck a stainless bolt through it, connected that bolt to the other end of the hot wire and mounted the block of wood underneath the floorboard on the float adjustment column. Now I hook my jumper to the bolt and the negative to a frame bolt without ever touching that pesky screen setup. If I can remember to take a picture later I will and send it along. I guess I'm wondering (because I have a tried and proven theory that if I can do something, anyone can) if Engineers put too much thought, or not enough, into these things....or am I doing something that will jeapordize the machine? John

 

[Dyer retired]

BarryH,

These are the shots of the jumper post I put on to allow me access without removing the dust screen in front of the battery. I just ground to one of the frame bolts. The block of wood is attached to the frame post with Scotch foam tape and has been on there for 3 years, so I guess it made it out of the weather just enough to hold up. Now with the new battery and better maintenance charger, I'll probably never need it again. John

 

[Barryh]

BarryH,

Honestly, I don't sit and read TBN all day, but it's been a Godsend for post surgery mental health. I've been a little hesitant to ask anyone, but you mentioned something in a posting this morning, so I thought I'd throw it out and get your thoughts. This might be typical, but I've had my BX 1800 since 2003 when it arrived with less than an hour on the engine. I feel like I use it a lot year round for just about anything I can think up to use it for...I've trimmed driveway branches and used it as a platform to stand on to get to them with the shears...as an example. I exercise regularily, but will generally ride the tractor to the mailbox to exercise it a little. I will jump off the machine to shovel a section of snow and will just leave it running for battery charge purposes, etc. I keep a meticulous spreadsheet on everything that gets worked on connected to the tractor, repairs, modifications, especially service logs (I change the oil as though I have OCD and have fun doing it.) It's been paid off for 3 years and yet I just peaked 210 hours total useage so far. Should I be feeling guilty?

I also had a serious question (in addition to the serious one above) about things I've found odd with my BX 1800 and am wondering about similar experiences you've had with your BX 1500. The cylindrical housing on my air filter has a metal strap that goes around it and bolts to two bolt points underneath the housing to hold it in place. This summer while the tractor was idling, it started sounding like the world was coming to an end, so I shut it off immediately and found that the metal strap had broken at the bend near the bolt point underneath and was banging against the hood cowling. I pondered that for about 10 seconds, went and got two heavy duty wire ties and wrapped the housing using the bolt holes as the tie down points. It's been nearly 6 months and I've not seen any sign of wear on the ties and even when they do break, I'll spend the 67 cents to replace it. Secondly, they don't make those bolt locations that easy to get to.

I read a submission on TBN regarding this same issue, only the person had gone ahead and replaced the strap with OEM parts. Unless I'm missing something, it sure seems like engineering overkill the way they had it?

This is a little pickier, but when I added my lights, I began to find that I needed to let the battery recharge more after shutting down lights at the end of a session, but when I didn't and ended up jumping the battery, it was a pain to take the screened housing off....I take it back, it was a pain to replace the screen housing and get the tabs lined up, etc. The close proximity to everything in the battery compartment with the jumper cables snaking in to get to the posts would every now and again cause one of those heart attack provoking sparks the send you looking for fires and burned wires, etc. There was no real way to do it easily, so I ran an additional hot wire to the positive post of the battery, drilled and countersunk a nice piece of oak (treated it for the elements) and stuck a stainless bolt through it, connected that bolt to the other end of the hot wire and mounted the block of wood underneath the floorboard on the float adjustment column. Now I hook my jumper to the bolt and the negative to a frame bolt without ever touching that pesky screen setup. If I can remember to take a picture later I will and send it along. I guess I'm wondering (because I have a tried and proven theory that if I can do something, anyone can) if Engineers put too much thought, or not enough, into these things....or am I doing something that will jeapordize the machine? John

You sound like me, babying your baby. Nothing wrong with that. That´s why I have a couple of lawn tractors. I can save my hours on the BX for more important things you know, like driving down to the road and transporting my trash cans back and fourth. She sets in the garage all of the time never left her set out.

When I first got it, I took it for a quick test drive then into the garage it went for oil and hydraulic oil changes along with new hose´s and grease. I have heard of people having that problem with the air cleaner housing breaking. Nice fix on your part. To date that hasn't happened to me, knock on wood.

Like your battery jump post smart move. I take it there is no way it could accidentally touch metal and short anything out? I would have it all covered just to make sure. Good idea and a great way to access the battery. You mentioned surgery what did you have done if I may ask? Hopefully it wasn't to painful and your feeling better now.

 

[Dyer retired]

Hi again Barry,

No problems with the jumper post in 3 years. I have rubber cover on most of it and nothing ever has the ability to get down and short it out, so far anyway. I think I will cover it a little better now that I probably won't find the need to use it as much with the new battery and maintenance charger on it's way.

I retired from State service in Maine back in June of last year and have had some fairly chronic neck, shoulder, and elbow pain since around 1996. Doctors could never seem to come to agreement on what the issue was and maybe back then, it was less visible, but anyway, in the several months I was finding that my hands and legs would begin to tingle and completely fall asleep if I held my arms or neck in a particular position, which didn't seem to be a good thing. Over the years I would have good and bad spells and the Docs would just prescribe some pain stuff to get you through, so I'd survive for another bunch of months before hitting another bad spell.

I had an MRI done recently during a particularily bad stretch and they found two cervical disks collapsed and impinging the nerve bundles...as well as one of the disks bulging into the spinal chord causing the tingling stuff.

The timing was pretty good for having the surgery and there was no treatment beyond surgery to fix it, so they went in on Feb. 11th, removed two disks and replaced with cadaver bone graphs (I could have had bone from my hip used, but it was advised that procedure was more painful than the rest, but now I see dead people, ha!) and then they have a titanium plate held to three cervical sections with 6 screws to hold the whole thing in place.

The recovery has been far better than I expected or what they anticipated it would be with less pain and aggravation than I had thought would occur, but I'm also taking it easy and being very careful not to mess up the good work. The Doctor describes this operation as pretty routine "disk fusion" and it's been a couple of weeks since it was done....I already feel a minimum of 11 years of constant pain gone. I also see an awful lot of people with far more severe problems over far longer periods of time, with no prospect of surgical fixes, so I try not to complain about it too much. I'm more apt to complain about not being able to play with the tractor and the cabin fever.

So, anyway, while I was going to be housebound for several weeks, I started looking at the net for some parts that I could get ordered and have here for when I was ready to work on the BX 1800 again and I came across TBN. I find everything about this forum to be interesting, a lot of it funny, very inventive, helpful, you name it! I've passed the TBN site on to a couple of my former employees who either own Kubota's or one who is restoring a 1939 Farmall he inherited from his dad, so I'm already spreading the word. The forum has really helped me out a lot and I am glad to hear in some cases that I'm not the first person to, as an example, knock off a marker light within the first hour of ownership.

Thanks for the note and that's the surgery update. John

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

D,

Did you install a larger alternator? I did because of all the lights with the cab. This may help with your starting battery problems. When not in use I connect a solar panel charger via a cigarette lighter plug I installed, same battery since March of 02. I have no power in the shed so I use the sun.

 

[Dyer retired]

NY_Yankees_Fan,

I didn't install an bigger alternator, but gave it some thought. It looked like a new battery and 3 stage charge maintenance system will keep me in business....with the jumper post as a backup system. I also have other batteries that the new system can keep maintained at the same time as the tractor, so that was also a consideration. The old battery was still doing the job, just not as reliable as I would prefer, but it was getting to be on the upper end of 5 years old, so I just changed it out.

I'm still relying on my neighbor blowing the snow using my tractor, but it's ready for him. We have 14 inches predicted for after midnight and during the day tomorrow. This has been one of the biggest snow fall amounts we've had here in many years. Of course they are saying 14 inches of snow tonight and rain next week...it's a pretty crappy time of year in early March, but there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. John

 

[Dyer retired]

NY_Yankees_Fan,

I thought I'd looked at your BX 2200 pictures before this, but apparently I hadn't. I like the cab a lot...is it a Curtis? Also, do he soft sides do the trick (I can guarantee they do better than my "no cab," but was wondering if you had a choice, would you stick with the soft side or go with hard doors? I'd love to have the cab, but need to build a bigger garage before the height will allow it, so that probably won't happen for a while John

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

In NJ we have had a very warm and snow- less winter. Up until today I have used the tractor 2 times to clear snow. They are calling for 3-5" of the stuff tonight.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

NY_Yankees_Fan,

I thought I'd looked at your BX 2200 pictures before this, but apparently I hadn't. I like the cab a lot...is it a Curtis? Also, do he soft sides do the trick (I can guarantee they do better than my "no cab," but was wondering if you had a choice, would you stick with the soft side or go with hard doors? I'd love to have the cab, but need to build a bigger garage before the height will allow it, so that probably won't happen for a while John

It is a Sims cab. The left side is a door, while the right side is fixed with a vinyl panel that snaps into place. The Curtis cab had nicer doors, but the walls were not as nice, just vinyl, the walls on the Sims is steel. Click on the "Kubota Ready for Winter" below, to see the doors. With a heater I am nice an warm when I snowblow snow.

 

[Dyer retired]

Tom,

I'll get the hang of this format, but didn't see all the pictures until you said to scroll down. I would be just fine with some sort of solid right side, steel or otherwise, since I never climb in over the controls on the right side anyway. The cab looks solid and warm. One more question and I'll stop bugging you, how much above the ROPS bar does the roof of the cab extend...not counting any lights on the top. I also like the ability of mounting the halogen spots in the front of the cab and getting the light out front more where you really need it. O.K., one more question, was it you or maybe someone else, did you say that you do use the front lights mounted on the hood cowling now that the halogen lights are mounted or do you just disconnect them all together and save on that battery drain....just using the halogens up top? John

 

[Dyer retired]

Tom,

Disregard my last, I found your pictures on the process and set up for installing and removing the cab and think I can see all the answers for the questions I had. Very nice set up and I suspected that a person didn't muscle that thing up onto the tractor each fall, so the installation set up was very impressive. I can see that even though the cab is mounted in front of the ROPS bar, I still have my garage door clearance, so it will a longer wait for the heated cab for me. Thanks again. John

 

[Botabill]

Tried asking a question regarding BX 1800 and it didn't seem to get added? Any suggestions? In the event that this one works, the question was: I am a new member of TBN....great forum by the way! I am curious as to why I don't find many items regarding my particular Kubota model. The BX 1800 I have is a 2003 model, so I half expected to find similar problems, suggestions, solutions, etc. that I've experienced, but really don't see much regarding it at all. Maybe I should just be happy????? Dyer, retired

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.