Took delivery of a new BX23S earlier today and wanted to write down some of my first impressions. I decided to share here as I found value in what everyone else has shared and hoped I could contribute something back. I've had a BX1500 since 2003 and she has/had been rock-solid with very few problems. None that were not solvable at home during a snowstorm. I'm hopeful I'll have the same long-term experience with the BX23s
First off, I didn't have to wait long for the tractor or any attachments. The local orange dealer had everything in-stock. They had just gotten ~8 the day before I walked in the door. I was surprised given the threads I have read here. I got a deluxe cab, snowblower, palette forks, 3rd function, and grapple. The only thing that took a few days was turf tires to be delivered from another of their locations. While the salesperson could have been a little more communicative and verbose in their communication, overall the experience was "o.k.". Financing, KTAC, etc. all pretty straightforward. There were no surprises, nothing special.
On to my first thoughts and observations about the tractor itself. These are compared to the BX1500...
- It's just a tad bigger overall. Not much when you read the spec sheets. The cab adds a lot to that, visually, as well. I'm hoping she will still fit between the cars this winter, with just enough room to squeak out with the snowblower attached. I'll surely do some practice runs before the snow flies. I have a garage so I don't have to clear snow from my cars... or the tractor!
- Many of the attachment on-off processes are similar to the BX1500, just with some "improvements". So that's really nice.
- The ROPS is taller. Backhoe version puts it just an inch or two too tall for one of my garage doors (on the back). The front doors are taller so I can go in and out w/o dropping the ROPS there. I'm sure there will eventually be an incident with the ROPS and the back door. I'm just hoping it won't be an expensive incident.
- The paint is not sun-dried and bleached out from 20 years. Nice bright orange. Though there's a few spots that didn't stick and have already peeled off. Dealer said I could get some touch-up paint from them (for free I assume).
- It's more bouncy than the BX1500, especially with the backhoe on. The cab likely has a lot to do with this. I removed the backhoe and loader and she still feels like riding one of those big balls with a handle at times. Perhaps this just takes some getting used to? Also see the next item.
- The seat is very "high". I feel like I'm sitting on the tractor instead of in it. Wish there was a way to lower it so I felt like I was more between the rear wheels and not like I've got a milk crate holding me up.
- Taking the doors off the cab was pretty easy. They don't store so well though. They are heavy and a bit awkward. No obvious edge to stand them on, the weight kind of slides them out from the bottom nearly any way I lean them against something.
- Loud. Not too bad when you are just sitting there, but when you hit the hydrostatic pedal the whine is... loud. Louder still when you take your foot off. It sure wakes you up when you do that. Accompanied by a nice abrupt jerk to a stop. I do have some 3M work-phone headphones. They help a lot. I've also read that the cab contributes to this noise level.
- Not sure if the tires are more slippery or she lacks some power the BX1500 used to have. My property is mostly flat with some small slopes here and there. Seemed to struggle to go up a few times. We're talking a 2 to 3 foot gain in elevation over maybe 10 feet on grass. This might be just a place where the tractor "feels" different, after all 23/24 HP is more than 15 HP. The "go" pedal does feel different, like it has a different curve to how power is applied.
- They hydraulics feel a bit bouncy as well. Perhaps I just got used to the BX1500 and we broke each other in over the years. We were very smooth together. Hoping this happens with the new girl as well.
- The new loader quick attachment is nice. Much faster to get off. There should be more slack in the lines though. I noticed I backed the tractor off to about the limit of what the hoses would handle. Another place I suspect I will just readjust myself too. Had some trouble lining up to reattach. Another place to practice.
- SSQA kicks ___! Really easy to swap from forks to bucket to grapple. Glad I got this feature. I don't think I'll miss the loss in loader capacity as the old loader was a LA181 and this one is LA340 so I'm already way above what I had before.
- Palette forks are useful for moving the attachments around similar to how a metal lathe is great at making parts for a metal lathe. I'm sure I'll find more uses. Especially come winter, I always wrestled with putting the snowblower in the bucket to move it into the garage for attaching. I've already moved the new blower around (on a palette) with the forks in 1/4 the time. Even if I consider them as just a snowblower accessory they might be worth it!
- Grapple -- I need practice in using the grapple. I gave it a few tries and did manage to pick up things, but it's obvious I'm a noob here. Using the Kubota (diverter) 3rd function which I'm sure some will say is the problem. Like my golf game, it's not the equipment, it's the operator. I can tell already the grapple will be a winner. Most of my land is trees and there's always a ton of clean up work to do. Dragging branches and trunks around is somewhere near the bottom of my fun things to do list. I'm thinking the grapple will push it up a few slots.
- Backhoe -- came off pretty easy. That's all I've got to say on that so far. Looking forward to some 6 foot holes in my yard. I may or may not have things to bury.
- Snowblower - more to come here as it's still summertime. One thing I did notice is the cutting edge is now behind the augers and there's not a slope to push the snow into the augers. I'm curious how well this will work. I might end up cutting a triangular chunk of wood to stick in there if it doesn't to the trick with the wet heavy stuff. Otherwise I just see it as a place to pack in the snow for later melting in my garage. Not my preferred method.
These seem mostly negative and frankly combined they do make that voice in my head ask, "did you get the right tractor", "why did you trade the BX1500, she was great", and other such nonsense. But I think overall I'm happy. I've got more capacity and the grapple and palette forks have already shown themselves to be useful. The loader I had before and already know it is a darn handy thing to have around for odd jobs.
Looking back at my list of reasons for getting a new tractor, the BX23s has checked a few items on the list already; a bit more capacity (all around), cleaning up brush and trees (grapple), digging a few stumps and holes (backhoe). The big one will be this winter when the heated cab comes into play. Perhaps I'll update my thoughts then and/or after a few more days/weeks/months of playing.
Stephen
[edit: spelling]
First off, I didn't have to wait long for the tractor or any attachments. The local orange dealer had everything in-stock. They had just gotten ~8 the day before I walked in the door. I was surprised given the threads I have read here. I got a deluxe cab, snowblower, palette forks, 3rd function, and grapple. The only thing that took a few days was turf tires to be delivered from another of their locations. While the salesperson could have been a little more communicative and verbose in their communication, overall the experience was "o.k.". Financing, KTAC, etc. all pretty straightforward. There were no surprises, nothing special.
On to my first thoughts and observations about the tractor itself. These are compared to the BX1500...
- It's just a tad bigger overall. Not much when you read the spec sheets. The cab adds a lot to that, visually, as well. I'm hoping she will still fit between the cars this winter, with just enough room to squeak out with the snowblower attached. I'll surely do some practice runs before the snow flies. I have a garage so I don't have to clear snow from my cars... or the tractor!
- Many of the attachment on-off processes are similar to the BX1500, just with some "improvements". So that's really nice.
- The ROPS is taller. Backhoe version puts it just an inch or two too tall for one of my garage doors (on the back). The front doors are taller so I can go in and out w/o dropping the ROPS there. I'm sure there will eventually be an incident with the ROPS and the back door. I'm just hoping it won't be an expensive incident.
- The paint is not sun-dried and bleached out from 20 years. Nice bright orange. Though there's a few spots that didn't stick and have already peeled off. Dealer said I could get some touch-up paint from them (for free I assume).
- It's more bouncy than the BX1500, especially with the backhoe on. The cab likely has a lot to do with this. I removed the backhoe and loader and she still feels like riding one of those big balls with a handle at times. Perhaps this just takes some getting used to? Also see the next item.
- The seat is very "high". I feel like I'm sitting on the tractor instead of in it. Wish there was a way to lower it so I felt like I was more between the rear wheels and not like I've got a milk crate holding me up.
- Taking the doors off the cab was pretty easy. They don't store so well though. They are heavy and a bit awkward. No obvious edge to stand them on, the weight kind of slides them out from the bottom nearly any way I lean them against something.
- Loud. Not too bad when you are just sitting there, but when you hit the hydrostatic pedal the whine is... loud. Louder still when you take your foot off. It sure wakes you up when you do that. Accompanied by a nice abrupt jerk to a stop. I do have some 3M work-phone headphones. They help a lot. I've also read that the cab contributes to this noise level.
- Not sure if the tires are more slippery or she lacks some power the BX1500 used to have. My property is mostly flat with some small slopes here and there. Seemed to struggle to go up a few times. We're talking a 2 to 3 foot gain in elevation over maybe 10 feet on grass. This might be just a place where the tractor "feels" different, after all 23/24 HP is more than 15 HP. The "go" pedal does feel different, like it has a different curve to how power is applied.
- They hydraulics feel a bit bouncy as well. Perhaps I just got used to the BX1500 and we broke each other in over the years. We were very smooth together. Hoping this happens with the new girl as well.
- The new loader quick attachment is nice. Much faster to get off. There should be more slack in the lines though. I noticed I backed the tractor off to about the limit of what the hoses would handle. Another place I suspect I will just readjust myself too. Had some trouble lining up to reattach. Another place to practice.
- SSQA kicks ___! Really easy to swap from forks to bucket to grapple. Glad I got this feature. I don't think I'll miss the loss in loader capacity as the old loader was a LA181 and this one is LA340 so I'm already way above what I had before.
- Palette forks are useful for moving the attachments around similar to how a metal lathe is great at making parts for a metal lathe. I'm sure I'll find more uses. Especially come winter, I always wrestled with putting the snowblower in the bucket to move it into the garage for attaching. I've already moved the new blower around (on a palette) with the forks in 1/4 the time. Even if I consider them as just a snowblower accessory they might be worth it!
- Grapple -- I need practice in using the grapple. I gave it a few tries and did manage to pick up things, but it's obvious I'm a noob here. Using the Kubota (diverter) 3rd function which I'm sure some will say is the problem. Like my golf game, it's not the equipment, it's the operator. I can tell already the grapple will be a winner. Most of my land is trees and there's always a ton of clean up work to do. Dragging branches and trunks around is somewhere near the bottom of my fun things to do list. I'm thinking the grapple will push it up a few slots.
- Backhoe -- came off pretty easy. That's all I've got to say on that so far. Looking forward to some 6 foot holes in my yard. I may or may not have things to bury.
- Snowblower - more to come here as it's still summertime. One thing I did notice is the cutting edge is now behind the augers and there's not a slope to push the snow into the augers. I'm curious how well this will work. I might end up cutting a triangular chunk of wood to stick in there if it doesn't to the trick with the wet heavy stuff. Otherwise I just see it as a place to pack in the snow for later melting in my garage. Not my preferred method.
These seem mostly negative and frankly combined they do make that voice in my head ask, "did you get the right tractor", "why did you trade the BX1500, she was great", and other such nonsense. But I think overall I'm happy. I've got more capacity and the grapple and palette forks have already shown themselves to be useful. The loader I had before and already know it is a darn handy thing to have around for odd jobs.
Looking back at my list of reasons for getting a new tractor, the BX23s has checked a few items on the list already; a bit more capacity (all around), cleaning up brush and trees (grapple), digging a few stumps and holes (backhoe). The big one will be this winter when the heated cab comes into play. Perhaps I'll update my thoughts then and/or after a few more days/weeks/months of playing.
Stephen
[edit: spelling]
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