Need some quick opinions....Help!

[MILS153]

Yor orange arrow looks to be pointing to a toplink. This is a standard 'on shelf' item at virtually all farm stores and tractor dealers. They come in cat0, cat1, and cat 2 at most palces.. sometimes you can get 'long or short' in those cat sizes depending on the dealer stock.. etc.

soundguy

The 3-point hitch is a still a mystery to me/us at least until we attached something to it - so is there a leaver associated with the toplink? Thats what the pic looks like where the slot is with no leaver.

 

[Dyer retired]

Hey here's a question Dyer - yes whilst sitting on it last night and again this morning we noticed a slot where a leaver should/would be but nothing there? Since I don't know what I'm talking about will try do describe the best I can. Right side of tractor and the diagram near the slot looked like the piece in the pic (hopefully attached). Was hoping it had something do to with a quick connect for the mid PTO snowblower soon to have attachment and that we are actually not missing something we should have.

Also do you happen to have a log splitter in your arsenal of attachments and if so it work well?

okay....pic attached???

Good morning MILS153,

I know the slot that you are talking about and suspect that it has something to do with some aftermarket add-on, because the manual doesn't even tell you what it's there for. The manual shows you the slot in a picture, but does not refer to it at all. My suspicion is that it would be something to do with a backhoe or something like that, but the tractor comes with nothing in that slot and so you are not missing anything. I had forgotten about it and my neighbor had come down to help me clean the yard during the last storm and asked me about it....thought he'd done something and a knob had fallen through or something, but it was the same slot you are referring to.

The snowblower will hook up to the mid-point pto shaft and you'll engage that with the lever on your left side closest to you. You'll see when you look at it, but you'll pull the lever sideways with some light pressure as you push it forward to engage the snowblower. I hope you get to use it before the end of the year because I think you'll be impressed with how much snow that thing will move and how easy it is. Anyway, I normally have the engine at a lower RPM when I engage the blower and then immediately throttle up to full power and leave it there as long as the blower is in operation. Again, with my short responses here, but don't get discouraged when you go to hook up the shaft from the mid-point to the front shaft where the blower hooks in. The shaft has splines on the male end that only fit into the female side in one position. There is some sort of "double key" portion that allows you to hook it up without screwing it up, but sometimes it's very hard to find the matching point. Once you find it and slide it on, you'll feel the locking collar click into place and you'll be overcome with this euphoric feeling of accomplishment.......don't then get tempted to unhook it and try it again to see what was so darned difficult the first time, because you'll go through the same mess again, ha! If any of this doesn't sound like it makes sense, it will after you've done it a couple of times...trust me!

The lever on your left side farthest away from you has three settings and you can run your blower from the middle position (Mid-Rear-PTO position) or from the position all the way to the rear (Mid-PTO position.) You won't hurt anything by having it in the middle position, but every once in a while you can tap that lever getting on and off the tractor and it will slip forward to the rear-PTO position without you realizing it (even to the point where it looks like the knob hasn't moved) and you'll scratch your head trying to figure out why the blower won't engage and start looking up Dealer phone numbers, panic sets in, etc. That will eventually happen to you, so just remember to jiggle that outer knob if that happens and you'll feel it engage back to where it is supposed to be.

I hope I'm not offending you with these simplistic explanations, but they've all happened to me and I was dialing the phone to Hammond Tractor one day when I finally looked at the PTO lever and realized that it had been accidentally pushed forward, so it's all from experience.

I have not had any implements on the rear of the tractor that require the rear PTO and, therefore, no experience with a splitter on the back. Take advantage of this forum and ask that question though. I've seen threads on wood splitters and I can't see whey they wouldn't work just fine. If you ask the question, you'll get answers to your questions that you hadn't even yet considered, so it's worth it.

Sounds like you are having good fun already...keep it up. Dyer, retired

 

[ChuckinNH]

Perhaps these pictures of a middlebuster mounted to the 3pt hitch on my old BX will clarify the use of the top link. As you can see in the pictures, there is a piece that goes from the bracket you pointed to in the illustration to a rear mounted implement. It is adjustable for length so that you can change the angle of the implement relative to the ground. As others have mentioned, they come in standard lengths for a given hitch size ( you would use CAT 1) but can be had shorter ( might work better on your BX1800) or longer than standard. Hope this helps....

 

[MILS153]

Thanks! Was feeling really dumb we do have the manuals but that missing lever was buggin' us and could not figure out what it was for or missing or what?? We've had some lever in wrong position alrealy moments neutral is touchy looks to be in neutal won't start fiddle with the lever and presto its a miracle! As for the simplistic explanations not to worry can't offend me with simple! The 3-point hitch looks really complicated can't wait till we get to that. It's hard to imagine I was a Iowa farm kid (I never had to attach much) and was never trusted with driving the $$$ stuff I got stuck with the Kubota lawnmower most of the time - and that thing was invincible ended up in the pond twice (not me).

 

[MILS153]

Can't find the pic

 

[MILS153]

ChuckinNH
got them and yes thanks helps and doesn't look so scary to figure out.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Here is a closer pic of how the top link mounts to the tractor..

 

[Soundguy]

The 3-point hitch is a still a mystery to me/us at least until we attached something to it - so is there a leaver associated with the toplink? Thats what the pic looks like where the slot is with no leaver.

No levers for a standard toplink.. it pins to the tractors toplink rocker and then pins to the implement..

soundguy

 

[Dyer retired]

The 3-point hitch is a still a mystery to me/us at least until we attached something to it - so is there a leaver associated with the toplink? Thats what the pic looks like where the slot is with no leaver.

MILS153,

I was reading the responses to this posting and wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding your question. The lever immediately right of where you sit with the black handle does lift the 3-point hitch and I'm sure you already know that????? The top link really only balances what you have hooked to the lower support arms and doesn't actually do any lifting itself. It also adjusts for the implement you have, like a box scraper, to create a lesser or sharper angle as you pull the thing. The space with nothing there is also on your immediate right, but toward the rear of the tractor. I am assuming that we had this right in the first place???? John

 

[MILS153]

Dyer, retired
Yup it was the blank space to the right - I only referenced the "top-link" now that I know what it is called because the little picture by the blank space sort-of looked like the top-link. It's wierd anyway that theres a spot for a lever but nothing there. I even crawled under it last night looking for something broken off - have to ask the dealer what the heck its for at anyrate glad nothing is "missing".

 

[ChuckinNH]

On some tractors there is a blank slot on the right hand side for the lever that would go with an optional rear hydraulic control. You can buy hydraulic top links ( since we are talking about those) for example, and you would need a lever to control how much it extended, or retracted. One possibility anyway. In this picture of a BX1850, you can see the same blank spot if I'm understanding you correctly.

 

[MILS153]

Yup that's where it is next to the seat right side - funny they don't tell you that in the owners manual.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I learned that here, so it just sounds like I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Dyer retired]

Dyer, retired
Yup it was the blank space to the right - I only referenced the "top-link" now that I know what it is called because the little picture by the blank space sort-of looked like the top-link. It's wierd anyway that theres a spot for a lever but nothing there. I even crawled under it last night looking for something broken off - have to ask the dealer what the heck its for at anyrate glad nothing is "missing".

Great! I'll be curious to hear what the dealer says. I got to the dealer today just for a road trip and picked up a couple of things. I've gotten into the habit of just picking up 10 shear pins every time I go to the dealer, so I did that today. I'm working on a fix that will make it easier to change out the pins when they shear. Essentially, just having a fun day. Take care. Dyer, still retired

 

[RalphVa]

I looked at the BX1830 and B model Kubotas in 2004. Ended up buying a JD 4010 (18.5 hp, smallest fully commercial, full Cat 1 tractor at that time). I use it for snow removal and for tossing my huge mulch pile. Bought a back blade (only $250) to make it faster to push snow. To my mind, 16-18 hp is plenty for probably 90% of the tasks (in my case; it's 100%) one needs to do with a tractor. Just rent or hire it done if you need more oomph. Don't pay for it every day with a big machine that gobbles diesel too much and pollutes the air.

As long as you don't go into brush and very uneven ground, the BX will be fine. It (and the JD 2305/2210) has the cooling coil and fan underneath; whereas, it is in front of the radiator and cooled by the engine fan on the 4010. I probably would have ripped away the fan and possibly also the coil if the 4010's were down there.

Ralph

 

[MILS153]

Good points Ralph and we struggled with size/hp as it seem just a little more $$ would get you a lot more tractor. Our space constraints are what kept us in the smaller tractor market and Dyer's success with using his for snow-removal sold us. Really anxious to get a snow blower and give it a whirl but SO tired of snow more than happy to wait until next year for that. Not to mention we need to find a nice used snow blower in the meantime. Luckily we do have great contacts for the serious BIG tractor work which we still need. Have to say it’s a great feeling to accomplish something in an hour that would have taken all day without the little-tractor. Actually turned the manure pile lastnight - now that's exciting

 

[Soundguy]

Typically, on some makes of tractors, you also see a blank slot next to the 3pt hitch control for tractors that can optionally have draft control.. etc.

soundguy

 

[Harry c]

The empty slot is for the Kubota optional (dealer installed) hydraulic rear remote(s). One or two handles will come through this slot. Your dealer can tell you about the add on valves. This kit is really quite reasonably priced. Because of some issue with the backhoe it won't work on the BX24 or I'd have it!

 

[LBrown59]

Will this work well for the following:
snow removal
manure removal
It looks like a lawnmower noticed that right away but it's small size does make it nice to maneuver.
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.

If it wouldn't / I wouldn't have 2 BX1500s and a BX23.
Don't let it's looks and size fool you . It can do a 100 times more than a lawn mower .
You need that for loader work no matter how big a tractor might be.
Never use the FEL with out some sort of counter weight or ballist as it's offfically called.
That's one of the easiest quickest ways to flip a tractor.
Any thing will spin on ice with out chains.