My NX6010

[s219]

Man, this thread reminds me of when my neighbor got a shiny new tractor delivered, and by day three had about 7-8 things ripped off or wrecked after clearing a very short path (less than 100'). Saplings and branches can do an amazing amount of damage high, low, and everywhere in between. CUTs are just not equipped to deal with that sort of work -- to many cracks, crevices, exposed flimsy parts, etc. It becomes a never ending battle. These things are really engineered for field work first and landscaping second. Land clearing is way at the end of the list I think.

I cut a 1000' path to the water on our land after we purchased it, using tractor, chainsaw, brush grubber, and wood chipper. Worked well, and took me about 3 days. No damage. But I would have likely trashed my tractor if I charged into the brush like my neighbor.

About 6 months later, we used a track hoe and dozer to cut a formal driveway with ditches, and it's amazing how much more effective they were than going at it with a CUT, whether the brute force method shown here or my slow but delicate approach. With the right heavy equipment, it doesn't really matter if there are saplings or trees in the way. You can just push through it all, with much much lower risk of damage.

I have to say, my first thought on hearing that your parts order was delayed is that someone at Kioti Corporate is trying to figure out who is using up all their parts inventory for the NX6010!! They probably have an internal investigation going to make sure there isn't an inventory management problem or gray market parts ring!

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Man, this thread reminds me of when my neighbor got a shiny new tractor delivered, and by day three had about 7-8 things ripped off or wrecked after clearing a very short path (less than 100'). Saplings and branches can do an amazing amount of damage high, low, and everywhere in between. CUTs are just not equipped to deal with that sort of work -- to many cracks, crevices, exposed flimsy parts, etc. It becomes a never ending battle. These things are really engineered for field work first and landscaping second. Land clearing is way at the end of the list I think.

I cut a 1000' path to the water on our land after we purchased it, using tractor, chainsaw, brush grubber, and wood chipper. Worked well, and took me about 3 days. No damage. But I would have likely trashed my tractor if I charged into the brush like my neighbor.

About 6 months later, we used a track hoe and dozer to cut a formal driveway with ditches, and it's amazing how much more effective they were than going at it with a CUT, whether the brute force method shown here or my slow but delicate approach. With the right heavy equipment, it doesn't really matter if there are saplings or trees in the way. You can just push through it all, with much much lower risk of damage.

I have to say, my first thought on hearing that your parts order was delayed is that someone at Kioti Corporate is trying to figure out who is using up all their parts inventory for the NX6010!! They probably have an internal investigation going to make sure there isn't an inventory management problem or gray market parts ring!

In secret, one part at a time, I'm slowly building another NX tractor. I got it all laid out in my family room. I've done it before, only with racing kit, the process isn't so drawn out.

It turns out that the parts have been "on order" since Monday, but no confirmation was sent to my dealer or pricing information. SRP, which is what I'm normally charged is $1105 each. So my boo-boo will cost me an estimated $2210 plus 0.0875% tax, plus the incidental damage from my 88-year-old mother who beaned her Infiniti on the grapple of the tractor. When she told me she hit the grapple, she also told me there is no damage. What she meant to say is that there is no damage except for all the damage done to the front end of her car. I reminded her that there is no prize for getting close to anything with her car. Be afraid, people: she's out there driving with you and she thinks she is a good driver and has never had an accident because apparently, hitting stationary things like curbs, poles in parking lots, the grapple at the end of my loader, oh and my truck, do not count. Last year $3000 in-out-of-pocket expenses to not report her driving issues to my insurance company. My poor mum has become my teenager, insurance wise. And now, due to my beaning a tree, my mother claims we are both driving "by feel." :laughing: wait.

Meanwhile, at the tinkerage, I began fabbing up a bracket that will prevent the HST pedal linkage from contacting the rubber hoses that run the loader. The front steering guards need to be cleaned up and readied for paint.

In other news, I've switched over to a geo-thermal method of maintaining the precision temperature of garage beer.

 

[fieldman12]

Remind me of that Johnny Cash song (one piece at a time). LOL

In secret, one part at a time, I'm slowly building another NX tractor. I got it all laid out in my family room. I've done it before, only with racing kit, the process isn't so drawn out.

It turns out that the parts have been "on order" since Monday, but no confirmation was sent to my dealer or pricing information. SRP, which is what I'm normally charged is $1105 each. So my boo-boo will cost me an estimated $2210 plus 0.0875% tax, plus the incidental damage from my 88-year-old mother who beaned her Infiniti on the grapple of the tractor. When she told me she hit the grapple, she also told me there is no damage. What she meant to say is that there is no damage except for all the damage done to the front end of her car. I reminded her that there is no prize for getting close to anything with her car. Be afraid, people: she's out there driving with you and she thinks she is a good driver and has never had an accident because apparently, hitting stationary things like curbs, poles in parking lots, the grapple at the end of my loader, oh and my truck, do not count. Last year $3000 in-out-of-pocket expenses to not report her driving issues to my insurance company. My poor mum has become my teenager, insurance wise. And now, due to my beaning a tree, my mother claims we are both driving "by feel." :laughing: wait.

Meanwhile, at the tinkerage, I began fabbing up a bracket that will prevent the HST pedal linkage from contacting the rubber hoses that run the loader. The front steering guards need to be cleaned up and readied for paint.

In other news, I've switched over to a geo-thermal method of maintaining the precision temperature of garage beer.

 

[s219]

In secret, one part at a time, I'm slowly building another NX tractor. I got it all laid out in my family room. I've done it before, only with racing kit, the process isn't so drawn out.

Based on the fab capabilities you've shown in this thread, it wouldn't surprise me a bit. Actually, I am surprised you bought the tractor pre-assembled in the first place. You could have opted for the crated version just to have more fun.... :laughing:

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Based on the fab capabilities you've shown in this thread, it wouldn't surprise me a bit. Actually, I am surprised you bought the tractor pre-assembled in the first place. You could have opted for the crated version just to have more fun.... :laughing:

All monkeys know that it is easier to take things apart than to put them together!

Meanwhile, back at the tinkerage: I'm using 17mm nuts locking onto a pair of 14mm nuts as standoffs to mount the lefthand underbelly stidplate.

When fitted to the righthand side, the center will bolt both halves together using U-style nut plates.

After cleaning up the new steering guards, I test fit for clearance.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I also test-fit my new hose loom before painting it. A problem I noticed while using my NX6010, is that the rearward HST pedal linkage could hit the loader's forward soft lines, limiting pedal travel as well as asking for a hydraulic line failure at some point. My solution is an additional bracket that holds the lines out of harms way. I believe that Kioti should consider making something like this as it would be an easy stamped out part to produce.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I didn't get as much done as I hoped tonight because my mum came home from the grocer with a door ding, which she explained she got from a guy in a pickup truck. I drove her car back to the grocer and got pickup dude's insurance information.

That said, this is how the magic happens: because of my limited toolset, I decided to break the right-side guard into two pieces of metal. In the photo below, you can see how I held the sheet in place and hammered my folds in with my trusty three pound mallet. Hammers can fix anything.

After making a compound bend on my workbench, I then clamped the guard onto the right side in order to locate and drill through holes in order to makes the righthand mounts.

Shortly after taking this photo I broke my 5/16" Mac Tools drill bit trying to drill faster to make up for lost time. Whoops. My bad.

I did, however, get the hydraulic hose guard painted, thread-locked, and mounted.

The hydraulic hoses behind the guide bracket now are clear of the shiny gold reverse pedal linkage.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Today, I finished the final fitting of forward righthand guard. As soon as all of the guards are fitted, I'll peel them off and paint them.

The rear righthand guard required a different homeboy technique in order to put the 90 degree bend in.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Today, among other things, I rerouted the steering position sensor wiring harness to better protect it from further damage.

After an evening in the oven to cure the paint, I installed the new, up-rated steering guards today.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I have news: Apparently Kioti consolidated their two $1105 part numbers into one $1105.00 part and so now I'm only half as stupid. Given 20 minutes of idling and not warming up at just above freezing is a problem, I checked and it seems that Kioti doesn't offer a hotter T-stat, and so it looks like I'll need to pull the stock T-stat out and run down to NAPA to try to match it up with a warmer T-stat. Pretty common problem with cars and trucks here in MN and other cold places.

Anyway, I'm off to my garage in order to finish fabbing the rear righthand underbelly guard. I cannot wait to be done as this project is super fiddly locating and drilling all the mounting holes.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I finished fabricating the underbelly up-armor plates and sent them out across the street for paint. Thankfully, my neighbors are used to my hanging stuff up in the painting tree. Here is one of the plates after the first coat of paint.

 

[k0ua]

I have heard of the "hanging tree" but that is my first "painting tree"

 

[94BULLITT]

I have news: Apparently Kioti consolidated their two $1105 part numbers into one $1105.00 part and so now I'm only half as stupid. Given 20 minutes of idling and not warming up at just above freezing is a problem, I checked and it seems that Kioti doesn't offer a hotter T-stat, and so it looks like I'll need to pull the stock T-stat out and run down to NAPA to try to match it up with a warmer T-stat. Pretty common problem with cars and trucks here in MN and other cold places.

Anyway, I'm off to my garage in order to finish fabbing the rear righthand underbelly guard. I cannot wait to be done as this project is super fiddly locating and drilling all the mounting holes.

How is putting a hotter t-stat in it going to make it warm up quicker?

 

[MinnesotaEric]

How is putting a hotter t-stat in it going to make it warm up quicker?

By not opening until the engine is nearly all the way warmed up, thereby building pressure sooner and faster warm-ups. Once open, there is no difference in performance. The stock T-stat starts opening at 160 degrees F and is fully open at 185 degrees F. In other words, unless the engine is under load, in the cold the engine cannot warm up. This is an issue for an HST machine that revs only so much as how fast the operator wishes to travel, in other words, it drives like an automatic car.

In my case, I'd like to try out a 180 degree T-stat.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I have heard of the "hanging tree" but that is my first "painting tree"

All of the panels are out of the painting tree and in my kitchen. Sadly, only one fits into my oven for oven baked goodness.

 

[Threepoint]

By not opening until the engine is nearly all the way warmed up, thereby building pressure sooner and faster warm-ups. Once open, there is no difference in performance. The stock T-stat starts opening at 160 degrees F and is fully open at 185 degrees F. In other words, unless the engine is under load, in the cold the engine cannot warm up. This is an issue for an HST machine that revs only so much as how fast the operator wishes to travel, in other words, it drives like an automatic car.

In my case, I'd like to try out a 180 degree T-stat.

Interesting. If the 160 degree t-stat does not fully open until 185, do you know when the 180 degree t-stat fully opens? I can understand that there would be no difference in performance once fully open, if performance is defined as rate of coolant flow. But won't the coolant's operating temp be much hotter with the hotter t-stat? Don't know about the latest technology (maybe use of thermistors?), but historically automotive t-stats have used wax pellet response to modulate flow, and I've just assumed the response was linear. So if a 25 degree rise is required to fully open the 160 t-stat, i.e. 15.6 percent, wouldn't a 28 degree rise be required to fully open a 180 t-stat? That would put operating temp at 208 degrees. I know modern cars are designed to run that hot, I don't know about tractors. But maybe different wax compositions would allow hotter t-stats to reach max flow at lower operating temps. Haven't researched this, but I would think the manufacturers have published graphs showing rate of flow vs. temp rise for their various units.

 

[TripleR]

Very nice work.:thumbsup:

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Meanwhile, back in the tinkerage things are happening.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Total bummer: After I transferred parts over from the old cab top to the new cap top, I flipped the new cap top over and discovered a dent and crack on the outermost right edge. The box it came in was undamaged and everything looked good-to-go until I flipped the cover over to install it. Given how this part was shipped sideways with the right-side of the cab-top on the bottom and banded to a pallet, my conjecture is that either the banding process itself mushed the right side or the pallet got slammed down hard. Either way, more packing material around the edges could help.

I sent an email to my dealer (now closed for the day) with the photos and video for them to discover tomorrow morning and am now in a holding pattern waiting for them to contact the mothership and then tell me what to do.

 

[murphy1244]

I hope they take care of it. You are doing one heck of a job!