Need some quick opinions....Help!

   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #1  

MILS153

New member
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
18
New here no nothing about "smaller tractor capabilities"
Kubota BX1800 (on the verge of buying this):confused:

Will this work well for the following:
snow removal
manure removal (small scale primarly winter months)

Thanks for the help!
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #2  
MILS153,

Good to see you posting to the General forum and I think you'll get lots of very good advice from the TBN members.

As we've discussed prior to this, I don't think you can go wrong and with very little mechanical ability, you can work on many of the things with the BX 1800 yourself. If you find that it doesn't have the power to do what you are looking for it to do in one pass, it will finish up on pass two or three. I seem to remember the price being very good, so don't drag your feet too long...someone else will have a very nice tractor ahead of you. I think I might have said this before too, but the financing deals that Kubota...or really most all of the companies have, make it pretty attractive to pick up a new one, but I really think the used one you described will last you forever.

Welcome to TBN and I'm anxious to see what you get for responses. Dyer, retired
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help!
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thanks we are very wishy-washy decision makers (can you tell) but your right someone else is interested so time to ____ or get off the pot!
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #4  
The 1800 should do what you are asking.

Is it going to have a rear blade or blower for snow?

FEL or rear blade for manure?

What tires?

Going to use it to mow too?

jb
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #5  
MILS153,

Welcome to TBN.

Not sure how long your laneways are (Barn & house). Initially I was going to say the BX1800 was too small based on my experience with a 14HP Acco Allis. For snow removal I was using a front mount snowblower for a total of about 350 Ft. of laneways. Worked well enough for a small tractor but tractor weight & small tires were a definite disadvantage. Had to use chains every winter which was a hassle to put on. If I ended up in deeper snow while going in reverse sometimes I would get stuck. So there was a little frustration but the little tractor got the job done.

My comparison though to the BX1800 is obviously not equal. The BX comes in at 1255 Lbs compared to my 600Lbs. Also the BX has 4 wheel drive. Based on these two factors alone you should be able to get the work done much easier with less hassle.

The manure work will take longer but again, if you don't mind it's do-able. I have two horses & as you know, the manure collects like wildfire !! :D

I think you would be happier with a B2630 or B3030 but if you do go with the BX1800 & add 3 to 400 Lbs on the back or the wheels the tractor is capable enough for what you want to do. For a smaller tractor I would strongly recommend a snowblower over a FEL or back blade for snow removal. Much faster & less chance of getting stuck.


Good-Luck,

Vic
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #6  
Just keep in mind that it is a lawn mower sized tractor... it takes smaller 'bites' when fed work.. and it can also get into places a larger tractor can't.

If it will physically go and do what you want.. go for it.

soundguy
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help!
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks for the input and glad at this point I didn't get any not gonna work reviews as we did buy it and not sure we got the best deal going as it does have battle scars and looks like it has always sat out in the weather. I guess I justified it - it's a used tractor a tool not a used car. That said it seems to run well no leaks. I agree with the smaller bite reference and it looks like a lawnmower noticed that right away but it's small size does make it nice to maneuver just more trips to the manure pile. Seems a weight box would help it a lot. We removed some ice from the driveway and did spin the rear wheels a bit in the process. I can't wait to get a snow blower for it next year that will be the real test!

Thanks again and sure I will have more questions to post as we play with it some more.
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #8  
Congratulations on your purchase. The BX series are real workhorses for their size! You might want to do a search on posts by "Dyer, retired" or drop him a note. Great guy that also has a BX1800, and has used it a lot for snow removal, etc.
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help! #9  
Hey Chuck,

Thanks for the kind words! MILS153 is also in Maine and we had some discussion about the purchase prior to posting on the general forum. My first posting, before I knew how to search for such things, was why I didn't see more about the BX 1800 on TBN. It turns out that people are pretty happy with the 1800 and 1500 series. I was pretty excited to actually speak from experience about it when MILS153 asked.

MILS153 - Battle scars coming with the rig are a good thing. You won't feel that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach the first time you drive a stick across the paint or bust off a marker light....like everyone does. I mentioned it before, but there is nothing made of metal or fiberglass that can't be made to look new with little experience or training. I have fun working on that kind of stuff, now have all the spray painting equipment and have painted boats and my truck with excellent results. If the battle scars bother you, play around with fixing them and you probably will be surprised at 1. how you didn't make it look worse, and 2. that it ended up looking nearly new! Either way, you'll have fun with it and actually get a lot of work out of it.

I have picked up an awful lot of information on my rig and tractors in general on this forum and I think learned some stuff that will save me from some costly mistakes in the future.

I'll just take a second to brag a little.....I haven't had to move any snow for nearly 4 days now! This could be the beginning of the end. I got a posting yesterday though from a guy up at the top of the State (even further North from where I grew up) and they got 12 inches of snow over the last couple of days and sub-zero chill factors, so I'm feeling pretty good in Mid-Maine. Is New Hampshire going to get a summer pretty soon? I can't help but feel pretty good after yesterday and the clock change....it was still light out at 6:45 p.m.! One more bragging item, I get to go out today on my own for the first time in 4 weeks, so thought I'd take a ride up to the Kubota dealer and pick up a couple of items.

Take care, Dyer, retired
 
   / Need some quick opinions....Help!
  • Thread Starter
#10  
I stumbled across this blog while researching the tractor and thanks Chuck I did contact him first thing while waiting for my registration to go thru. He was very helpful. I even had the buyer remorse he joked about (mainly because mine really does look used) but then was happy with the way it performed. We tend to not spend big $$ easily and was shocked that someone at some point bought this new and 6-year latter it looks as used as it does - but were on the other end of the extreme you can bet I will be washing/waxing and touching up some paint as soon as the weather breaks. It's getting the mechanical once over at a local shop too. Hopefully we can slow down its aging as we tend to keep things forever thou the hubby is already calling it his "starter tractor" HA we only have 5 acres hes adicted allready.
 

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