Little Red Tractor
Gold Member
I do love my B2301 Kubota. It does everything I want it to, but there have been a few frustrations. As delivered the dual directional lights are mounted on the outside of the ROPS, as are the rear-facing work lights, installed at the dealer. I have a small tree farm and mow something on the order of 10 acres, some with the belly-mounted mower and some with the rotary cutter. I'm always running between trees and have had to replace multiple lenses on the lights, finally knocked them clean off, leaving just the sockets, and have bent the work lights' protective covers completely out of shape.
Though I didn't take before pictures, here is the results of my modification
You might note that the work lights still are not straight...but they're much better than they were.
Another frustration was the too-small toolbox which wouldn't stay closed, which I replaced with an ammo can. It now closes tightly and holds a bunch of tools, pins, bolts, etc. Much handier.
I learned a couple lessons along the way
#1. Even good dealers don't always get everything right. The power wires to the work lights were run through a hole in the housing without any sort of grommet. Friction had worn the insulation completely off and worn through one wire--no wonder that light quit working! I used some wire wrap to fix that.
#2, I'm not a fan of the heat-shrink wire connectors, I used a couple but wasn't really thrilled, so changed horses in mid stream and used basic, old-school butt fasteners which I crimped and then put heat-shrink covering over. I was much happier with that outcome.
#3, My age and essential tremors, not to mention lack of practice, have played havoc with my welding. That said, my welds held and didn't look too shabby.
All in all, not counting my shopping trip, I had about 6 slow-pace hours invested in the project and now have what HOPE will be a more serviceable and less problem-prone machine for the use and abuse I give it.
Though I didn't take before pictures, here is the results of my modification
You might note that the work lights still are not straight...but they're much better than they were.
Another frustration was the too-small toolbox which wouldn't stay closed, which I replaced with an ammo can. It now closes tightly and holds a bunch of tools, pins, bolts, etc. Much handier.
I learned a couple lessons along the way
#1. Even good dealers don't always get everything right. The power wires to the work lights were run through a hole in the housing without any sort of grommet. Friction had worn the insulation completely off and worn through one wire--no wonder that light quit working! I used some wire wrap to fix that.
#2, I'm not a fan of the heat-shrink wire connectors, I used a couple but wasn't really thrilled, so changed horses in mid stream and used basic, old-school butt fasteners which I crimped and then put heat-shrink covering over. I was much happier with that outcome.
#3, My age and essential tremors, not to mention lack of practice, have played havoc with my welding. That said, my welds held and didn't look too shabby.
All in all, not counting my shopping trip, I had about 6 slow-pace hours invested in the project and now have what HOPE will be a more serviceable and less problem-prone machine for the use and abuse I give it.
