I wanted to do a follow-up on a previous post that I made after my first week of ownership:
www.orangetractortalks.com
I have just about reached 200 hours on my LX2610HSDC, and below are some of the lessons learned:
When you take delivery, inspect everything. As previously mentioned, I had a loose hydraulic fitting on the BH that popped off in the first hour of operation. The other one I missed was loose belts. My AC belt self destructed at around 100 hours because it was too loose. Luckily, nothing was damaged when it let loose, and I was able to find a replacement for less than $10 at our local motion auto supply. Kubota part was around $25. Buy a couple extra belts to have on hand just in case.
Lube everything on your new tractor. This should have been taken care of by the dealer, but I found a number of grease points on my BH that were not properly lubed due to paint on the zerk fitting keeping them from taking grease. I use the Amsoil synthetic off-road 5% moly. It’s messy as hell, and a bit pricy at $10 a tube, but works great. A quality grease gun and a lock-n-lube is a must, as you will be doing this a lot. I haven’t pulled the trigger on a pneumatic or cordless electric grease gun yet, but it is on the list. Make sure your are religious about keeping everything properly lubed. Also you will likely need a 90 degree adaptor to grease the accelerator pedal.
Also be religious about maintaining tire pressure at recommended values.
Check and maintain/clean your air filter often. I had to do this daily during the summer. While you are under the hood, make sure your AC and radiator screens are clear of any debris, and do a general inspection of everything under the hood.
50 hour service. This service is very easy and requires no special tools. Changing the hydraulic fluid is not in the service schedule for 50 hours, but you might as well do it. When changing the hydraulic filters, you have to be very quick to avoid losing all of your hydraulic fluid. I fumbled this and ended up doing a full fluid change. Which brings me to my second point, make sure you have enough hydraulic fluid on hand to do a full change if necessary. My fumble resulted in another trip to the dealership to buy a 5 gallon bucket of Super UDT 2 (the tractor holds 4 gallons). 5 gallon bucket was most economical and left me some extra for any top-offs that are required later. Also make sure you have an oil pan large enough to hold all of the fluid just in case.
When removing the front loader, make sure you are on a nice flat level surface. If it is not level, it will be a PITA to get the loader reattached to the tractor properly. Also don’t forget to relieve pressure on the lines before disconnecting.
Wheel spacers and loaded rear tires are a must in my opinion. Once annoyance I had here is that I asked the dealer for rim guard, and didn’t notice until a week or two ago that there were stickers on the rims showing that bio-ballast was used instead.
R14 tires have fantastic traction, and do really well in the snow. Ice, not so much. I just ordered the Aquiline MPC Chans from tirechainsrequired.com after my first incident of sliding down the driveway yesterday. I was originally planning on getting the Aquiline Talon Tractor Chans, but after talking to Wallingfords, I decided to go with the less aggressive chain so that I don’t destroy the pavement. If I had a gravel drive, I would have definitely gone with the Talons. If you are planning on getting chains, wheel spacers are required.
While it’s not a new lesson learned for me, it is important to reiterate that you do not want to ram into a pile of dirt with the accelerator pedal fully depressed. Ease into it. You have more power easing into the pile, and you are less likely to damage your loader. I have watched a lot of YouTube videos where operators slam into piles of dirt in the hopes of breaking it up and getting a good scoop. It is 100% the wrong way to go about it, and literally makes me cringe every time I see it occur.
Might as well mention back dragging with the loader while I’m at it. DO NOT back drag with the loader with the bucket dumped all the way down. The hydraulic rams are weakest (structurally) at full extension, and applying excessive force or shock in this position is a garanteed way to bend your rams.
The BH77 backhoe is a lot more capable that I though it would be. It’s no mini excavator by any stretch of the imagination, but after almost 200 hours, 50% of which has been backhoe operation, I can’t imagine not having the backhoe. I have removed stumps, buried concrete foundation debris, cut roads into hillsides, and broken up rocky ground for fill dirt to be moved with the loader to another location on the property. I see many many posts where people recommend against purchasing a backhoe attachment, in favor of renting a mini ex. While this may be sound advice for the average homeowner, if I rented a mini ex every time I just needed a backhoe attachment, I would be well over the purchase price of the backhoe, and this is only over the last 4 months. My BH77 has already paid for itself. I’m sure there will be times when a project comes up that I will need to rent a mini ex, but I haven’t run into one yet. My recommendation is to really look close at the types of projects you will need to complete and do the math. BTW, the BH77 is quicker and easier to install/remove than most three point attachments (without a quick hitch). It is also fantastic ballast for loader work. I literally cannot lift my rear tires off the ground if I overload the loader bucket. Without the BH attached, it’s pretty easy to do, even with the loaded tires.
Loaded tires are not enough ballast if you do any real loader work. Make sure you have extra ballast on the rear. This would be especially true of the ROPS model where you don’t have the extra weight of the cab.
If you get the backhoe, absolutely get the mechanical thumb. It’s work every $$$.
When possible, rinse off the tractor at the end of each day of use. It provides a good opportunity to inspect the tractor for any issues that may be developing.
When operating the tractor, never rush anything. It’s really easy to get yourself into a bad situation really quick. As everyone says, slow and low with the loader. Only raise the loader bucket as high as is necessary to do the job at hand, and make sure you are on level stable ground if you need to go high.
Be diligent about your situational awareness. Keep your head on a swivel. This is especially true in a cab model where you can’t hear anyone/anything outside of the cab.
Last but not least, enjoy your tractor time.
After one week with the LX2610
Well, wrapped up the first week with the LX2610, and I’m very pleased so far. Specs: LX2610HSDC R14T tires 1.5” wheel spacers BH77 backhoe w/16” bucket and thumb LandPride 3rd function Property is 10 treed acres with a lot of varied slopes. In the past week I’ve managed to put 26...
www.orangetractortalks.com
I have just about reached 200 hours on my LX2610HSDC, and below are some of the lessons learned:
When you take delivery, inspect everything. As previously mentioned, I had a loose hydraulic fitting on the BH that popped off in the first hour of operation. The other one I missed was loose belts. My AC belt self destructed at around 100 hours because it was too loose. Luckily, nothing was damaged when it let loose, and I was able to find a replacement for less than $10 at our local motion auto supply. Kubota part was around $25. Buy a couple extra belts to have on hand just in case.
Lube everything on your new tractor. This should have been taken care of by the dealer, but I found a number of grease points on my BH that were not properly lubed due to paint on the zerk fitting keeping them from taking grease. I use the Amsoil synthetic off-road 5% moly. It’s messy as hell, and a bit pricy at $10 a tube, but works great. A quality grease gun and a lock-n-lube is a must, as you will be doing this a lot. I haven’t pulled the trigger on a pneumatic or cordless electric grease gun yet, but it is on the list. Make sure your are religious about keeping everything properly lubed. Also you will likely need a 90 degree adaptor to grease the accelerator pedal.
Also be religious about maintaining tire pressure at recommended values.
Check and maintain/clean your air filter often. I had to do this daily during the summer. While you are under the hood, make sure your AC and radiator screens are clear of any debris, and do a general inspection of everything under the hood.
50 hour service. This service is very easy and requires no special tools. Changing the hydraulic fluid is not in the service schedule for 50 hours, but you might as well do it. When changing the hydraulic filters, you have to be very quick to avoid losing all of your hydraulic fluid. I fumbled this and ended up doing a full fluid change. Which brings me to my second point, make sure you have enough hydraulic fluid on hand to do a full change if necessary. My fumble resulted in another trip to the dealership to buy a 5 gallon bucket of Super UDT 2 (the tractor holds 4 gallons). 5 gallon bucket was most economical and left me some extra for any top-offs that are required later. Also make sure you have an oil pan large enough to hold all of the fluid just in case.
When removing the front loader, make sure you are on a nice flat level surface. If it is not level, it will be a PITA to get the loader reattached to the tractor properly. Also don’t forget to relieve pressure on the lines before disconnecting.
Wheel spacers and loaded rear tires are a must in my opinion. Once annoyance I had here is that I asked the dealer for rim guard, and didn’t notice until a week or two ago that there were stickers on the rims showing that bio-ballast was used instead.
R14 tires have fantastic traction, and do really well in the snow. Ice, not so much. I just ordered the Aquiline MPC Chans from tirechainsrequired.com after my first incident of sliding down the driveway yesterday. I was originally planning on getting the Aquiline Talon Tractor Chans, but after talking to Wallingfords, I decided to go with the less aggressive chain so that I don’t destroy the pavement. If I had a gravel drive, I would have definitely gone with the Talons. If you are planning on getting chains, wheel spacers are required.
While it’s not a new lesson learned for me, it is important to reiterate that you do not want to ram into a pile of dirt with the accelerator pedal fully depressed. Ease into it. You have more power easing into the pile, and you are less likely to damage your loader. I have watched a lot of YouTube videos where operators slam into piles of dirt in the hopes of breaking it up and getting a good scoop. It is 100% the wrong way to go about it, and literally makes me cringe every time I see it occur.
Might as well mention back dragging with the loader while I’m at it. DO NOT back drag with the loader with the bucket dumped all the way down. The hydraulic rams are weakest (structurally) at full extension, and applying excessive force or shock in this position is a garanteed way to bend your rams.
The BH77 backhoe is a lot more capable that I though it would be. It’s no mini excavator by any stretch of the imagination, but after almost 200 hours, 50% of which has been backhoe operation, I can’t imagine not having the backhoe. I have removed stumps, buried concrete foundation debris, cut roads into hillsides, and broken up rocky ground for fill dirt to be moved with the loader to another location on the property. I see many many posts where people recommend against purchasing a backhoe attachment, in favor of renting a mini ex. While this may be sound advice for the average homeowner, if I rented a mini ex every time I just needed a backhoe attachment, I would be well over the purchase price of the backhoe, and this is only over the last 4 months. My BH77 has already paid for itself. I’m sure there will be times when a project comes up that I will need to rent a mini ex, but I haven’t run into one yet. My recommendation is to really look close at the types of projects you will need to complete and do the math. BTW, the BH77 is quicker and easier to install/remove than most three point attachments (without a quick hitch). It is also fantastic ballast for loader work. I literally cannot lift my rear tires off the ground if I overload the loader bucket. Without the BH attached, it’s pretty easy to do, even with the loaded tires.
Loaded tires are not enough ballast if you do any real loader work. Make sure you have extra ballast on the rear. This would be especially true of the ROPS model where you don’t have the extra weight of the cab.
If you get the backhoe, absolutely get the mechanical thumb. It’s work every $$$.
When possible, rinse off the tractor at the end of each day of use. It provides a good opportunity to inspect the tractor for any issues that may be developing.
When operating the tractor, never rush anything. It’s really easy to get yourself into a bad situation really quick. As everyone says, slow and low with the loader. Only raise the loader bucket as high as is necessary to do the job at hand, and make sure you are on level stable ground if you need to go high.
Be diligent about your situational awareness. Keep your head on a swivel. This is especially true in a cab model where you can’t hear anyone/anything outside of the cab.
Last but not least, enjoy your tractor time.
