New BX2380 bucket meets ground unevenly....

[dieselbob69]

Ok, getting super ticked off now. Dealer was great, found me a pair of tires that are level. He also snagged a little black grip for the loader pin release off another tractor because mine was missing. Got home, double checked tires and air pressure, mounted on tractor. Still no change. Checked front tires-they are ok. I then rolled bucket down till the right side touched floor. Tried loosening loader frame on right side and put floor jack underneath, raised it till it started moving tractor, then tightened bolts back up-still no change. I then loosened the left side loader frame from tractor frame-bucket dropped level. Bad news is as soon as I tighten any of the mounting bolts, it pulls the bucket back off ground on left side. Calling dealer today or tomorrow to see what can be done. I'm getting close to saying I want my old 1870 back and cancel the deal....

 

[leveraddict]

Try removing the bucket and see how just the loader arms meet the floor? Maybe its the bucket?

 

[whitetiger]

Ok, getting super ticked off now. Dealer was great, found me a pair of tires that are level. He also snagged a little black grip for the loader pin release off another tractor because mine was missing. Got home, double checked tires and air pressure, mounted on tractor. Still no change. Checked front tires-they are ok. I then rolled bucket down till the right side touched floor. Tried loosening loader frame on right side and put floor jack underneath, raised it till it started moving tractor, then tightened bolts back up-still no change. I then loosened the left side loader frame from tractor frame-bucket dropped level. Bad news is as soon as I tighten any of the mounting bolts, it pulls the bucket back off ground on left side. Calling dealer today or tomorrow to see what can be done. I'm getting close to saying I want my old 1870 back and cancel the deal....

I see this complaint a couple of times a year. When diagnosing this complaint, I grab another unit, verify the bucket sets level, set the loaders off of both units, and install the customer's loader on the other unit. Does it now set level:
Yes,____then the problem is one or both of the brackets on the customer's tractor.
No,____then there is a problem with the bucket, quick attach assembly, or the loader
arms themself.
At this point, the tractor needs to go back to the dealer for the diagnosis of this complaint. Occasionally, a miss welded part slips through, it happens to all manufacturers. Give your dealer a chance to make it right.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

We all feel your pain but 'long distance diagnosis' can be hard !
if you can, please post pictures, left side, right side, from the front and from the seat. Maybe, just maybe someone can see the cause(fresh set of eyes). Something like the loader rams not being equal could cause this.
On flat, level concrete floor, measure several points to see if right side and left side ARE the same.
We all KNOW 'something's wackydoodle, just need to see what is causing it.
Hmm. did your dealer assemble the loader onto the tractor ,or maybe another shop ?

 

[dieselbob69]

We all feel your pain but 'long distance diagnosis' can be hard !
if you can, please post pictures, left side, right side, from the front and from the seat. Maybe, just maybe someone can see the cause(fresh set of eyes). Something like the loader rams not being equal could cause this.
On flat, level concrete floor, measure several points to see if right side and left side ARE the same.
We all KNOW 'something's wackydoodle, just need to see what is causing it.
Hmm. did your dealer assemble the loader onto the tractor ,or maybe another shop ?

Loader rams are equal. No daylight pics, I'm doing that Monday morning, will stop by dealer after a Dr. appointment. I've taken bucket off, right side loader arm contacts ground first. I've disconnected loader from tractor and re attached. I'll double check the frame mounts also.

 

[bird dogger]

A neighbor had a similar problem....but with uneven cutting with his MM mower. He asked me to help him track down the problem.

We fabbed up this tool to help with our troubleshooting.

We first found an issue with part of his mower gear that he had bent and replaced but had not adjusted it right. After adjusting the mower per the manual it still cut uneven.

We checked and adjusted all tire pressures accurately. Readjusted mower deck again and it would still cut uneven on the sloped ground whenever he would turn around and come right back on the previous cut. ie 180° turn vs going around the same way again.

Checking the centers of his rear axle we found one of his rear tires was quite a bit different from the other. We matched the rear axle heights with air pressure and checked other points around the setup to make sure all was level or even, side to side. After resetting his MM mower, another trial run on his lawn proved all was well again. There was quite a pressure difference in one of his rear tires to make that back axle level side to side.

The combination of the maladjusted replaced part along with the difference in rear tire diameter made for some head scratching. That simple height gauge helped put things in perspective.

 

[OrangeKrush]

Loader rams are equal. No daylight pics, I'm doing that Monday morning, will stop by dealer after a Dr. appointment. I've taken bucket off, right side loader arm contacts ground first. I've disconnected loader from tractor and re attached. I'll double check the frame mounts also.

I had.. have this same problem with my 2680. I tried everything mentioned above other than taking the loader loose from the frame.

I leveled the loader arms in different positions, leveled bucket, took bucket off and lowered arms to floor. It's in the loader frame I think! If I put pressure on mine after right side touches floor it twist or raises the tractor at the front axle pivot point. I've put a tape measure on everything I could see that might cause it. Height from floor to frame at multiple points on both sides to make sure their equal. Within 1/8" - 1/4" from side to side.

FEL mounts to the frame look exactly the same position and everything level wise is out of level 1/4" - 3/8" from what I remember back when I checked before taking it in. They may have gotten a little out of it but still not right. The bracket looks the same on the frame.. both sides.

Any chance a tractor frame could be tweaked a little? I know one thing and I'm pretty positive it wasn't like that before they worked on it. Visually you can see the loader arms are not equal to the tractor hood or anywhere else. Measuring from arm to hood on each side there's an 1" difference, dunno how because brackets aren't shimmed on either side and loader arms are equally mounted on each side.
Maybe they had a bad run..

 

[leveraddict]

You found your two front tires were different sizes, but did you check the rears?

 

[dieselbob69]

You found your two front tires were different sizes, but did you check the rears?

No, the rears were off 1/2" ( 2 different date codes, one from 2020 and one from 2021). I put the different set I got from dealer on and still no change. Front tires are good. Has anyone ever shimmed the loader frame to tractor? When I loosened the left loader frame to tractor, the bucket became level to ground, then when I tightened frame bolt, the bucket went unlevel again. I loosened left side again, then loosened right frame bracket,then tightened left side and bucket still came up on left side.

 

[DustyRusty]

It is under warranty, so why are you dealing with this? That is the reason that you bought a new tractor. As someone already suggested, have the dealer put your loader onto another tractor and see if it is your tractor or the loader. If it is the loader, then ask him to swap it for a new one, and let Kubota Corporate decide what they want to do with the defective one.

 

[kubotafreak]

Front tires don't matter much, just rear. The floating axle makes it more like a tricycle. It looks to me the weldment of the side cutters is uneven on the bucket. Also when you do the whole loosening and tightening you need to do both sides at the same time. Slightly loosen them, with bucket flat on ground or level item(stand) force loader down to raise pressure off front axle. This will put the assembly in the most even of positions with pressure. Then tighten in air, be extremely mindful you don't get squashed. You only need pressure off the front, it doesn't need to be sky high.

 

[dieselbob69]

Dealer picking up 2/8 to see what they can figure out...hopefully have some answers next week...

 

[GreensvilleJay]

when it does get fixed, please , post here what was done,betting a LOT here will want to know !

 

[dieselbob69]

when it does get fixed, please , post here what was done,betting a LOT here will want to know !

Welll, they dropped tractor off today. When I talked to service advisor and asked what they had done a couple days ago, he said they loosened both sides , put some pressure on bucket, then tightened back up and said all was good( I did exact same thing with no change) I also asked them to see if they could check the 3 point arm raise/lower lever, had to push it all the way to plastic to get the arms to come down. At least that works properly now. When I was plowing snow with the pusher, I noticed that right side was hitting pavement first . When I was done, I checked levelness. Still the same as when they picked it up. I'll tinker with it next week when I'm on vacation....

 

[dieselbob69]

Dealer thought they got it couple months ago. Not quite. Then this past weekend after reattaching loader I think I found the problem. The ssqa plate looks like it is bent back ever so slightly on the left side…

 

[dieselbob69]

 

[dieselbob69]

View attachment 80471 View attachment 80472 View attachment 80473

First pic is the overall. 2nd is the left side, last pic is right side. Level was even on the floor. Tire pressure even. The photo I took of the side couldn’t tell…

 

[dieselbob69]

The left side you can see how the plate attaching point at bucket has a bigger space towards edge of bucket, latch is fully seated….

 

[xrocketengineer]

I don't think that you will be able to straighten that out being a BX, since the center section is beefier and specifically designed to take the torsion load of the center curl cylinder. Unlike the larger tractors with two curl cylinders, that just have a tube in the middle and it would be easier to twist/untwist. You might have to go back to the dealer to have it replaced.

 

[dieselbob69]

Dropped off at dealer on Wednesday for this issue and couple others. I'll post back when I get it back with what they did to fix(fingers crossed).....