What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[Old_Paint]

Did some mowing at the horse farm with the flail mower. No drama other than having to dump out my fuel filter 3x while I was out near the road ditch. I was on a pretty good side angle so I suppose I have some water in the fuel and it conked out 3 times. Fired back up each time after dumping fuel from the filter.

I'm always careful about my fuel (I even use a mr. funnel). I think I'll let the level drop then drain the tank.

Start:
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Road ditch...leading to fuel issues

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done

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I can only wish what im cutting lately was that flat. I’m cutting the fields on a 32 acre farm that has been neglected at least 2 years and the fences haven’t been touched in at least 10 years. The previous operator never bothered to pick up a single stick or anything else that would wrap around a mower. I keep my grapple on while I’m mowing down there so I can grub out any baling materials when I see it. I had to cut baling mesh for large bales off my flail mower 3 times the first day. I’m not sure I have a big enough tractor or mower to keep up with it unless I just start over when I finish the last field. The hard part is yet to come. There’s a pretty steep hill on the back side of a 4 acre pond that I haven’t really assessed yet. I think it’s gonna need some diagonal work to stay safe. Not very nice to a lower back problem.

what do you get your best results from, hammers or Y-blades, especially in tall grass ?

 

[dirtydeed]

I can only wish what im cutting lately was that flat. I’m cutting the fields on a 32 acre farm that has been neglected at least 2 years and the fences haven’t been touched in at least 10 years. The previous operator never bothered to pick up a single stick or anything else that would wrap around a mower. I keep my grapple on while I’m mowing down there so I can grub out any baling materials when I see it. I had to cut baling mesh for large bales off my flail mower 3 times the first day. I’m not sure I have a big enough tractor or mower to keep up with it unless I just start over when I finish the last field. The hard part is yet to come. There’s a pretty steep hill on the back side of a 4 acre pond that I haven’t really assessed yet. I think it’s gonna need some diagonal work to stay safe. Not very nice to a lower back problem.

what do you get your best results from, hammers or Y-blades, especially in tall grass ?

Getting baling mesh/twine wrapped up must of really really PO'd you? I know I'd be pretty ticked off. Then again, dumping the fuel filter out 3 times within 5 minutes was a bit annoying for me. I think that Kubota should've added a float to the filter bowl.

I only have hammers on mine. Sometimes I wish that I had a set of Y blades to try but I'm not looking for a golf course finish. I have been looking for a used RFM. Maybe that would be a good solution for you once the initial cut is done?

This "pasture" had weeds that were above the hood, the hammers did a reasonable job but left some "stalks". I did a quick second pass after I wrapped up the other tasks to finish it off. I do a lot of trimming in the woods as well, so I really don't have to worry much with the hammer blades.

It was only about 78 degrees with a nice breeze yesterday, so it was a good day to do it. Best of luck in getting the rest of your job done.

 

[Anil8tor]

View attachment 177119
We setup the electric fence for the new chicken coop. Tractor got the job of hauling materials and then becoming a work table.

I asked my wife to check the fence to see if it was working. She had never setup an electric fence before. She reached over and grabbed the fence and based on the words that came out of her mouth, I would say the fence is working very well.

I then showed her the fence tester and how it worked. More choice words came out wanting to know why I didn't show that to her before I asked her to check the fence.

Oh well, no one is perfect, I will try better next time to get the proper order of training.

My wife watches all those true crime shows, I'd be afraid to do that with her!

 

[Bmyers]

My wife watches all those true crime shows, I'd be afraid to do that with her!

Living dangerously can be fun..............

 

[dirtydeed]

wrapped up the flail mowing back on my range last night. This stuff is really difficult to mow.



The roller got wrapped up in weeds that are as strong as wire. If I dropped the mower all the way down, the non-spinning roller would cause the mower to simply grab the weeds and pull. I did chuckle to myself when this was happening because it reminded me of myself, getting lifted out of my cafeteria seat by the hair in 7th grade. That teacher/cafeteria monitor (Mr. Hunsicker) was a real d!ck.

 

[Beebad]

Left front knuckle was leaking fluid. A few drops every overnight. I cleaned everything up to see where the leak comes from. Next morning, not a single drop. I added about 2.5 qts of UDT to top it off until is came out the level plug. I also added 2.25 qts of UDT to the transmission to bring the level between the marks. The guy using the tractor and “caring” for it will no longer get to use it. (Ignore the two drops underneath).

 

[mdhughes]

Sunday I installed OEM rear remotes on the L3901DT. It took me about 5 hours to do it. It was really hot and I was working real show.

I was able to do the install with only taking the fender off. The instruction also say to remove the fender support.



Since I have a backhoe, I needed 4 extension hoses, Kubota wants $63 a piece for them. I was able to have a lock shop make me up the hoses for $31 a piece.

I also had to modify the mounting bracket for the connectors. I didn't want to spend the money to get the bracket they sell. I had someone cut out the section of the bracket that made it curve and weld it back together straight.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

After changing 3pt implements a couple of times, I figured there had to be a better way than screwing the stabilizer turnbuckles to spread and pull the arms back in. I don't have the pinned stabilizers like what's on the Ford.

So, I set the turning plow down, disconnected the top link, then used a 7/8" wrench to disconnect the stabilizers from the lift arms. Prestobesto, the arms slid right off. I was getting ready to install the backhoe, so I haven't confirmed the install process, but I don't see how it could not be an improvement.

 

[NCL4701]

Finished tear down of the T2290 sufficient to install the new drive belt. Dealer I bought it from had a belt in stock, so we took a trip to pick it up yesterday.
Got 8+” of rain last night and it was drizzly all day today. WSM also arrived today. Good day to stay inside, review WSM to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important, and put it all back together.

Put it back together and took it for a short test drive/mow.

Not exactly a complaint, but it kind of felt like an executive tossed a generic 72”+/- V belt on an engineer’s desk and said, “Build a mower around this.” So the engineer put that belt above, below, and around as much stuff as he possibly could. Alleged book time 6.0 hours per my dealer. Took me about 8. No way I could ever beat the book time like a real mechanic. Hope to not have to do that again any time soon.

Still like the mower but if I had to pay a dealer $900 labor plus tax to replace a $32 belt, I’d like it a lot less.

 

[forky]

Finished tear down of the T2290 sufficient to install the new drive belt. Dealer I bought it from had a belt in stock, so we took a trip to pick it up yesterday. View attachment 177282
Got 8+” of rain last night and it was drizzly all day today. WSM also arrived today. View attachment 177283 View attachment 177286 Good day to stay inside, review WSM to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important, and put it all back together.

Put it back together and took it for a short test drive/mow.

Not exactly a complaint, but it kind of felt like an executive tossed a generic 72”+/- V belt on an engineer’s desk and said, “Build a mower around this.” So the engineer put that belt above, below, and around as much stuff as he possibly could. Alleged book time 6.0 hours per my dealer. Took me about 8. No way I could ever beat the book time like a real mechanic. Hope to not have to do that again any time soon.

Still like the mower but if I had to pay a dealer $900 labor plus tax to replace a $32 belt, I’d like it a lot less. View attachment 177287 View attachment 177288

That seems really pricey to replace the belt, but I understand the labor part. How many hours did you have on the old belt before it gave out.

 

[edritchey]

Finished tear down of the T2290 sufficient to install the new drive belt. Dealer I bought it from had a belt in stock, so we took a trip to pick it up yesterday. View attachment 177282
Got 8+” of rain last night and it was drizzly all day today. WSM also arrived today. View attachment 177283 View attachment 177286 Good day to stay inside, review WSM to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important, and put it all back together.

Put it back together and took it for a short test drive/mow.

Not exactly a complaint, but it kind of felt like an executive tossed a generic 72”+/- V belt on an engineer’s desk and said, “Build a mower around this.” So the engineer put that belt above, below, and around as much stuff as he possibly could. Alleged book time 6.0 hours per my dealer. Took me about 8. No way I could ever beat the book time like a real mechanic. Hope to not have to do that again any time soon.

Still like the mower but if I had to pay a dealer $900 labor plus tax to replace a $32 belt, I’d like it a lot less. View attachment 177287 View attachment 177288

Glad to hear it's all fixed up and ready to work

 

[NCL4701]

That seems really pricey to replace the belt, but I understand the labor part. How many hours did you have on the old belt before it gave out.

About 75 hours. That was part of why it was a bit irritating. It doesn’t get a lot of hours put on it so it lasted, as best I recall without looking back at any records, about 4 years. It also is subject to no abuse, never pulls anything, or does anything other than mowing lawns. I have a tractor and bush hog for heavy stuff. It’s also stored inside a climate controlled building.

There was a small amount of debris build up on the plate where the belt runs, mostly leaf and grass dust. I noticed one small piece of gravel on the belt side of the plate as well. No clue how it would have made it up there. Something hard like a piece of gravel rattling around on that plate could easily take the belt out the way it’s routed and constructed. I will be doing what I can to keep that plate clean, but it’s so buried in the mower I’m not sure how successful I’ll be in that endeavor. The radiator genie may help with that? All the idlers looked and felt good. Didn’t see any scrub marks on keepers, flat spots on the plastic idlers, stiff or crunchy feeling idler bearings, or any other signs of issues to explain the failure.

The belt and everything associated with it should last longer than 75 hours, IMO. But, I also had the pressure hose feeding the loader valve on my L fail and shower me with hot hydraulic oil at about 45 hours. Over 600 hours later, no further issue with hydraulic hoses. And as I learned in health class back in the day, you can’t completely trust rubber even if it’s not past the expiration date; sometimes rubber breaks.

 

[Old_Paint]

Getting baling mesh/twine wrapped up must of really really PO'd you? I know I'd be pretty ticked off. Then again, dumping the fuel filter out 3 times within 5 minutes was a bit annoying for me. I think that Kubota should've added a float to the filter bowl.

I only have hammers on mine. Sometimes I wish that I had a set of Y blades to try but I'm not looking for a golf course finish. I have been looking for a used RFM. Maybe that would be a good solution for you once the initial cut is done?

This "pasture" had weeds that were above the hood, the hammers did a reasonable job but left some "stalks". I did a quick second pass after I wrapped up the other tasks to finish it off. I do a lot of trimming in the woods as well, so I really don't have to worry much with the hammer blades.

It was only about 78 degrees with a nice breeze yesterday, so it was a good day to do it. Best of luck in getting the rest of your job done.

The Y-blades are definitely better in thick long grass because the long grass tends to wrap around the hammers crosswise and eventually fill them up so that the cutting edge is nearly covered. I can usually tell by the vibration when the buildup isn’t evenly distributed on the hammers. Travel speed drops to a crawl because the flail is just beating the grass down instead of cutting it. It’s a little annoying to have to stop and clean off the clumps, but not nearly as frustrating as cutting nylon bale wrap off. But the hammers definitely work a lot better in stuff with woody stems that splinter. They mulch volunteer trees up to about 1 inch very well.

I learned a little trick for stuff that’s really thick with tall weeds. Raise the mower about 6-12 inches from the ground and let the roller push it over by backing up over it. When the top tries to stand up, it’s instantly destroyed because it’s bent backwards from the knife rotation, then drop it back down and finish it up

Just for giggles I ran it across my back yard after switching back to hammers on Wednesday. I cut the yard Monday with my little rider, so was only clipping maybe a half inch. I got an excellent finish with it. Maybe better than the Y-blades would have done. I was impressed. I switched back to hammers because most of the remaining parts to cut are loaded with volunteer pine saplings and woody weeds. Some of the weeds are 10-12 feet tall. I don’t know if a RFM would do any better than the flail, but it’s probably more adjustable to set cut height. I have R-14 tires, so using either in the finished part of the yard is not really feasible. It would chew up the lawn like a tiller.

Now that I have the overgrowth knocked down, I’m thinking if I just keep cutting the fields in the same rotation that I will make a big dent in the weeds. The owner asked me to keep going every Monday until November and I’m hoping that a 2-month cycle is often enough. I can do about 5-6 acres per day which takes about 2/3 of a tank of fuel and is about all my lower back can tolerate.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Cutting three times a year, will greatly improve an overgrown neglected pasture, into a nice field, five times are ideal!

Of course I now use a finish mower on mine, and do them every 3-4 weeks, looks like a "big lawn" now!

 

[D2Cat]

The Y-blades are definitely better in thick long grass because the long grass tends to wrap around the hammers crosswise and eventually fill them up so that the cutting edge is nearly covered. I can usually tell by the vibration when the buildup isn’t evenly distributed on the hammers. Travel speed drops to a crawl because the flail is just beating the grass down instead of cutting it. It’s a little annoying to have to stop and clean off the clumps, but not nearly as frustrating as cutting nylon bale wrap off. But the hammers definitely work a lot better in stuff with woody stems that splinter. They mulch volunteer trees up to about 1 inch very well.

I learned a little trick for stuff that’s really thick with tall weeds. Raise the mower about 6-12 inches from the ground and let the roller push it over by backing up over it. When the top tries to stand up, it’s instantly destroyed because it’s bent backwards from the knife rotation, then drop it back down and finish it up

Just for giggles I ran it across my back yard after switching back to hammers on Wednesday. I cut the yard Monday with my little rider, so was only clipping maybe a half inch. I got an excellent finish with it. Maybe better than the Y-blades would have done. I was impressed. I switched back to hammers because most of the remaining parts to cut are loaded with volunteer pine saplings and woody weeds. Some of the weeds are 10-12 feet tall. I don’t know if a RFM would do any better than the flail, but it’s probably more adjustable to set cut height. I have R-14 tires, so using either in the finished part of the yard is not really feasible. It would chew up the lawn like a tiller.

Now that I have the overgrowth knocked down, I’m thinking if I just keep cutting the fields in the same rotation that I will make a big dent in the weeds. The owner asked me to keep going every Monday until November and I’m hoping that a 2-month cycle is often enough. I can do about 5-6 acres per day which takes about 2/3 of a tank of fuel and is about all my lower back can tolerate.

How long does it take you to change from one style of flails to the other?

 

[Old_Paint]

How long does it take you to change from one style of flails to the other?

My little Cosmo FL-135 has 24 hammer knives, or 48 Y-blades (two per pivot). I didn't use a stop watch, but I think it took me about an hour (+/-). I just lifted it with the 3-point, blocked it up with a 4x4 for safety, and crawled under it. Flipping it over would likely have gear oil spilling out through the vents, but I can see where being able to do that might make the job go a little faster. The most important detail is making sure to tighten all 24 bolts. The last thing you want is one of those blades coming out from under the mower and aimed at your tires.

The drum is easy to turn in the normal rotation direction (free-wheel clutch for coast down), so getting to them is pretty easy. The two on the outside ends require turning the bolt instead of the nut because the bolt is too long to put in from the outside ends. Call me OCD or whatever, but I have never liked turning the bolt and holding the nut, but since they use Nylok (aircraft) nuts and don't require a lot of torque, it doesn't bother me much. The bolts have to be turned pointing outward on the two ends. The rest I split 50/50 pointing toward the center of the drum. No particular reason than me being a little OCD. The heads of the bolts are 18mm and the nuts are 19mm, which means swapping the wrench and socket for the outside ones or spinning the bolts on all of them if you use an impact. Since they're 13mm diameter bolts, I'm considering swapping to 1/2" Grade 5 which will let me use 3/4" wrench and socket and not have to change which one I need. Just swap hands with the tools. I need to fit test a 1/2" bolt in the spacers to verify.

With the hammers, there's three pieces (two spacers and the knife) to slide the bolt through. A little awkward, but not too bad. With the Y-blades, 4 pieces (two spacers and two knives), meaning slightly more awkward. The Y-blades that came with my little Cosmo are reversible. After nearly 8 acres of mowing, the paint's barely worn off, but I did hit a few rocks despite my best efforts to miss them. I don't see sharpening them immediately, but the OE edge was a bit dull to start with. I may touch them up with a flapper wheel before I put them back on again. The whole reason I got a flail is because it's less likely to break something else (namely my tractor PTO) if I hit a rock or stump, both of which I have more than enough to share.

 

[Old_Paint]

I gotta get some photos of the next part I started cutting at Magic Valley Ranch last Tuesday before I resume this Monday. It's on the back side of her horse barn which also has a barndominium in it. It was getting late and rain was coming so I quit before I got drowned or started slipping all over the place and getting myself in trouble. 10 hours is about all I can take anyway. Some of the weeds are at least 8 feet tall, if not 10. The Y's don't work so good on those, but the hammers will chop 'em up. Big buggers with purple stalks and berries that look like wild cherries. Then, there's the stuff that was killed by last year's frost, which is tougher than wire. Learning HOW to cut that mix of stuff is very important, or you'll constantly find yourself on your back under that mower cutting vegetation off the drum. I'm starting to wonder if a propane torch wouldn't be better for removing that stuff. Worse yet to come is the bank around the side of the corral. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get that as clean as it was when the corral was built. The pond perimeter and dam outright have me worried. One word. Beavers.

I'm starting to think the tighter spaces might be a better job for my Swisher Raptor 24 "Drag Behind" brush mower and a weed eater with a brush blade. It ain't orange, but it's a well-built beast. Some of the steeper hilly stuff is making me clinch a little on the LX. I learned a long time ago that if something makes ya nervous, there's probably a good reason to be nervous doing it. At least with the Swisher, I can just let go and take care of myself. On the LX, I may find myself along for the ride and being very insignificant in the destination of the trip. I have no clue how it was being managed before, but from the looks, it hasn't been properly managed for a very long time. Ain't no way her L3130 has been in some of the places I've been for at least 10 years, if it ever has been. I don't think it WILL go some of the places I easily go with 4x4. There's pine thickets EVERYWHERE with some of them having 3-4 inch diameter growth, especially on the steeper slopes. But the fact there's no big trees in them tells me plainly they are all volunteer and haven't always been there. I see a lot of saw and brush blade and grapple work in my future. Then there's dealing with the beavers in her pond ......

 

[Old_Paint]

Cutting three times a year, will greatly improve an overgrown neglected pasture, into a nice field, five times are ideal!

Of course I now use a finish mower on mine, and do them every 3-4 weeks, looks like a "big lawn" now!

There's at least 25 acres involved in this endeavor, all of it hilly, and previously 'maintained' by a much lazier soul than me. If there was a tree branch down, rather than remove it, he went around it. None of the fence rows have been maintained and have limbs hanging up to 20 feet out so low I can't get under them with the LX. So now, I'm dealing with it. I accepted the job, and I do whatever Ms. Lucy asks me to. It's my boredom buster and I get to fish in the pond (if I have time in the evening).

I know exactly what you say about cutting. When I was growing up in the 70's, we had a hay field next to our house. Bahia grass grew nearly 3 feet tall on it. We fertilized with Ammonium Nitrate once in the spring and cut 5-6 crops off it by frost, depending on rainfall. After I went to college in '76, my folks got rid of all the livestock and didn't garden nearly as much. The hayfield went fallow. By the end of the 1990's, the volunteer pines had been cut twice for pulp wood because the hay wasn't needed and no one was around to take the beating on that old 8N that was required to keep the fields maintained. Mother Nature takes it back in a hurry. I look at where I grew up with Google Earth, and barely recognize it. Even the 3 acres I used to cut with a push mower are now grown completely over. I look at that and it kinda makes me glad I didn't buy out my brother and sister after our mother passed away. It's too far away for me to keep it up.

 

[D2Cat]

My little Cosmo FL-135 has 24 hammer knives, or 48 Y-blades (two per pivot). I didn't use a stop watch, but I think it took me about an hour (+/-). I just lifted it with the 3-point, blocked it up with a 4x4 for safety, and crawled under it. Flipping it over would likely have gear oil spilling out through the vents, but I can see where being able to do that might make the job go a little faster. The most important detail is making sure to tighten all 24 bolts. The last thing you want is one of those blades coming out from under the mower and aimed at your tires.

The drum is easy to turn in the normal rotation direction (free-wheel clutch for coast down), so getting to them is pretty easy. The two on the outside ends require turning the bolt instead of the nut because the bolt is too long to put in from the outside ends. Call me OCD or whatever, but I have never liked turning the bolt and holding the nut, but since they use Nylok (aircraft) nuts and don't require a lot of torque, it doesn't bother me much. The bolts have to be turned pointing outward on the two ends. The rest I split 50/50 pointing toward the center of the drum. No particular reason than me being a little OCD. The heads of the bolts are 18mm and the nuts are 19mm, which means swapping the wrench and socket for the outside ones or spinning the bolts on all of them if you use an impact. Since they're 13mm diameter bolts, I'm considering swapping to 1/2" Grade 5 which will let me use 3/4" wrench and socket and not have to change which one I need. Just swap hands with the tools. I need to fit test a 1/2" bolt in the spacers to verify.

With the hammers, there's three pieces (two spacers and the knife) to slide the bolt through. A little awkward, but not too bad. With the Y-blades, 4 pieces (two spacers and two knives), meaning slightly more awkward. The Y-blades that came with my little Cosmo are reversible. After nearly 8 acres of mowing, the paint's barely worn off, but I did hit a few rocks despite my best efforts to miss them. I don't see sharpening them immediately, but the OE edge was a bit dull to start with. I may touch them up with a flapper wheel before I put them back on again. The whole reason I got a flail is because it's less likely to break something else (namely my tractor PTO) if I hit a rock or stump, both of which I have more than enough to share.

Thanks for the reply and specific info. I have a 5' Ford special with Y-blades. I had to dress them with my 4" grinder when I first got it. Got from a guy who bought it at an auction and he thought it was a tiller.

 

[Old_Paint]

Thanks for the reply and specific info. I have a 5' Ford special with Y-blades. I had to dress them with my 4" grinder when I first got it. Got from a guy who bought it at an auction and he thought it was a tiller.

Had to giggle a bit. I guess it could be used to till with some very serious and erroneous adjustments, but not very deep and there won’t be any finding where the top soil went. Except for the 6” deep layer on himself and the tractor.

I’ve searched a long time for a used RFM. There’s a few auction houses around, but most of what I see is so beat up and worn out and priced ridiculously high. By the time I could invest the time to overhaul and restore it to usable and presentable condition, I may as well buy a new one. It seems to be that way for every implement I have. Every piece I have purchased new. People just don’t like to part with Grampa’s old tractors and attachments until they sit in a barn for 50 years with a sack of fertilizer on top of it, or out in a corner of a field with water standing on it and volunteer pines growing out of every crevice and opening. “Like New” doesn’t really mean the same thing I learned. Used equipment is a racket. Just the other day I looked at a used 6’ box blade that was missing the scarifiers, has more rust than paint, and a couple other repairs needed. Owner was asking $800 for it. I can get a brand new 6-foot King Kutter blade with my wife’s TSC discount for about $1000. I have a 4 footer(Landpride BB1248), but it’s too small for my LX (54” track with oversized R14’s). Got it (wrongly sized by the dealer) when I bought the tractor. I didn’t know how important it was for a boxblade to be wider than the track of the tractor. I do now.