Custom G1900 front plow, mods and fab work

[Freakingstang]

I picked up a B2750 front snow blade because I couldn't find one meant for my little G series mower. It was meant for a B5100 or B6000. The G2001 blade that was designed for my tractor used some goofy linkage that ran off the deck, but were discontinued years ago, so for 150 bucks off of craigslist with the hydrualic cylinde, i went to work...

I fabbed up a front reciever style hitch. I wanted to keep from cutting ther factory blade mounts incase I got a bigger tractor that I could use it on.

I basically took a piece of 4" channel and then welded it to a 2" box tube for the reciever.

plenty of clearance though the range the movement

I sandblasted and wire wheeled everything then coated it with some POR15 and then threw some kubota orange on it. I tied in the hydraulics to the mower deck circiut with a three way valve so I can switch between the two.

I filled the rear tires with Propylene Glycol (got it free from work), made a set of tire chains and made a rear weight tray that I can stack weights on. It slides into the rear hitch that I made for it too.

when I chain the bladeup, it pushes dirt surprisingly awesome for a little 2wd garden tractor

I also built a 2" stack for it out of some scrap tubing I had laying around.

stock muffler:

2" J-bend leftover from a turbo project years ago.

cut out a simple three bolt flange from a piece of 3/8" steel

Notched the hood just a bit..Tried not cutting it, but it was too close to the tire.

It ended up being way too loud.....IT sounded SICK, but an hour on it made be deaf for a day even with ear plugs. So, I gutted the stock muffler, welded it on the end of the stack and then took a 2 1/4" polished stainless tip and welded it on for good looks. Sounds great and seems to have a little more grunt now

 

[Freakingstang]

Before I bought my little Satoh 4x4, I starting fabbing up a rear 3 point hitch. They offered one from kubota, but after months of searching for part numbers and trying to find a used one, I just decided to make my own. I picked up a cat 0 sleeve hitch from an old MTD tractor and found a 3/4" thick 45" rear grader blade. It looked like a kubota piece, but cant seem to find out what it was originally. I made a rear blade mount out of a scrap front blade setup from an old wheel horse. I have 40 bucks in the rear hitch, blade and bracket assy.

I reinforced the pivot bolt area as it is only a 3/4" bolt.

I drilled a 1/2 hole in the new block to act as the blade stop/adjustment

.

The blade head simply bolts on with two 7/8 bolts. It also has an extraset of holes so it can be offset 1 foot to either side, or can be reveresed to push instead of drag.

After scouring another tractor junkyard, I found this cat 0 rear three point setup off of another old style MTD with a drawbar.

I took a piece of 2" x 3/8 wall box tube and welded some 3/4" nuts in it and then took some grade 8 bolts and cut the heads off for the pins, then drilled them for cleavis pins. The tube will get welded to the bottom of the hitch. I cut out some brackets that will get welded to the frame so that the hitch and whole three point will be rigidly mounted to the frame and rear end for extra support.

I got a mower deck lift cylinder and single spool valve from a new holland/ford garden tractor for a whopping 45 bucks shipped off of ebay. The only thing I have left to do is make a cylinder mount on the outside of the frame channel and figure out the upper pivot tube. i've got quite a few different options for the lift arms. I scored the upper top link mount and cub pivot tube assy from the same junkyard as the MTD cat0 three point hitch. I think i have 35 bucks in that whole setup. Now I just need time to finish it. I'm going to make a sleeve hitch adapter so I can use the brinly single bottom plow and the brinly single row disc that my uncle gave me.

My "highly complicated set of blueprints"....lol

 

[jinman]

Steve, I don't want to be negative at all about your modifications. They are innovative and clever, really nice. However, are you possibly pushing your G1900 beyond its designed specs? Will it be overstressed to the point of failure? If it fails, it may be very expensive to fix and/or replace.

When I see modifications to the level you have produced, I can't help but wonder why you didn't choose to buy something like the tractor below on craigslist. This fellow is selling a B7100 for $2250. He started out asking $2500 for it and now is down to $2250. If I had my shop built, I'd be all over this. A tractor like this is strong and a great platform for the kinds of mods you are making. It has a standard 3PH and hydraulics to support all kinds of fun things. I'm just worried that your beautiful G1900 might end up overstressed and you'll not have a great little lawn mowing tractor when you need it.

You have to be patient to wait for deals like this tractor on CL to come up, but I think this is a bargain.

B7100 for $2500

B7100 reduced to $2250

 

[Freakingstang]

I hear ya...I'm a new homeowner and had to replace my worn out 300K mile silverado.... money is a little tighter these days...

Like I said, I started doing all this before I got my little Satoh beaver 4x4. I only have just under two acres and don't really need a large tractor. I just wanted to do a little grading and yard work.

I've done my research on the G1900 HST problems..they hydos fail from lack of maintence for sure. But, I agree 100% with you, I was just working with what I could afford. Some day I'll end up with a nice compact 4x4 with a loader.

I have a thousand bucks in the G1900 with only 800 hours on it. I can afford to fix it or get a new hydro should it fail. It is a beast of a lawn mower. Kubota originally offered a front mount ptoand snowblower and a rear pto kit with rear 3 point hitch and a tiller. I honestly don't think I'm pushing my little mower past it capabilities.

I've search craigslist high and low in the three surrounding states for a deal like that one you found for the past 6 months and, the cheapest 6200/7100 4x4 I have found was 3500 with no attachments at 2500 hours.. I'm a little Bota' biased as I have worked them in our rental fleets for years. I was cruising CL and found this Beaver for 750bc the guy was moving in three days and going into missionary work. I picked it up on Thanksgiving. It needs some work, but is great sized for what I need. I'll use it for everything but mowing... for the money I have in it, I can part it out and make money off of it. lol

 

[jinman]

Steve, if you only have $1000 in the G1900, then I understand. A mower as nice as yours often sells for $3000 to $3500 or more on CL here. I paid $1800 for my G1800 and feel lucky to have it for that price. It's an awesome machine for cutting grass, truly heavy duty. Your mods, if used carefully, will only serve to make your G1900 work better. That said, when I see a deal like the one I posted on CL, it sure tugs at my wallet. I'd love to have that B7100 to add to my collection.