Analysis Paralysis L2501/LX2610SU…….B2601

[idahoakl]

I just took delivery of a B2601 on Monday with an RCR1260. My primary use case is keeping pastures mowed down so I wanted something wide enough to cover my tracks. I mowed everything the past few days and found that even with 2-3 foot high grass I was able to go as fast as the terrain would allow without lugging down the tractor.

I haven't felt the "tail wagging the dog" sensation that I've had on some equipment that I've run before (other tractors growing up). I can definitely tell the cutter is back there but with the loader on the front wheels aren't light. I do want to test out getting some front weights and trying the cutter without the loader to see if a little better maneuverability can be achieved.

I went back and forth between a B2650/LX2610 and a B2601. I eventually settled on the B2601 due to the bit smaller size for my property and the lower cost. The cost difference wasn't a massive amount but the final out the door difference between the two was enough to allow for the purchase of an additional implement in the future.

 

[TomRC]

CONGRATULATIONS on the B2601. I'm actually looking at the medium duty brush hogs (RCR1548/RCR1860) due to some brush and trails I'll be needing to deal with on my property so the weight would a little more than your RCR1260 and that's my concern with the B2601. Please provide any updates though with the 5' brush hog good or not so good as I'm still a few weeks out from making a decision. Looks like you got R14 tires. Any prior experience with R4's to compare??

Are you cutting any areas that are fairly sloped or mainly flat? I've got a couple areas that have a decent slope to them that further makes me think the B2601 might struggle with a 5' brush hog.

Some BEAUTIFUL scenery in the background!!! Guessing you got some snow chains

 

[idahoakl]

Thank you.

When the B2650 was in consideration I was looking at pairing it with an RCR1860. The extra weight of the RCR1860 would probably be past my comfort level on the B2601. However, given that I don't have an experience with that combination so it is just guess.

My land is mostly flat so I can't comment on how the B2601 would handle pulling up hills. I don't have any prior experience with R4's to compare with the R14's.

We actually don't get a ton of snow that sticks around, so no chains. 2 years ago we got about 18 inches that paralyzed the entire area. Having a tractor back then would have been nice to clear it. My guess is now that I bought the tractor we will go another 10 years without getting anything close to what we got 2 years ago.

 

[PaulL]

I hear you say the B2601 is perfect for your needs except for the bush hog. Then I hear you say you can get a gear drive L2501 for the same price as the B2601. But they're very different machines . Did "perfect for your needs" really mean "I can afford it", or "enough tractor for most jobs except bush hogging"?

Seems to me that if a B2601 is perfect then you probably need a mid-PTO, or you need a bit lighter tractor than an L. So going to an L means giving up something.

But if you really meant "B2601 is enough for me, and I'd rather not spend more money", then you're talking about trade offs - at the same price you can have a gear drive L or an HST B. The only job the L does better is bush hogging. So is it worth having gear instead of HST all the time so that you're a little faster bush hogging?

I feel like we talked about this before....but did you consider a flail? A B2601 would pull a wider flail than it'd pull bush hog (assuming your main concern is weight - flails are lighter, and closer to the pins so more easily lifted). Also a flail can be offset, which is useful in a lot of situations.

There's a lot to be said for the suggestion above to buy the B, buy a used 5' mower (flail or bush hog), if it's too big for the machine get a 4' instead.

How often will you mow with the bush hog? If you're mowing a lot then the time difference matters more. But if you're mowing a lot then a flail should be fine, and/or it won't be that thick so a B2601 with a 5' may be fine. And if you're not mowing a lot, then maybe living with the 4' for infrequent mows is fine.

Have you priced out your full implement package? A gear L2501 may be similar to an HST2601, but every implement will cost more? Of course, they'll also be bigger and better too.

 

[greg86z28]

How often do you need to brush hog the 5 acre pasture? Monthly? Once or twice a year?

greg

 

[TomRC]

Paul….discussed reason why I’m leaning against a flail mower previously and the title of the thread addresses your other points but well taken and thanks. Analysis paralysis is the real problem here. Went back and played around with some of the Google Earth tools last night to get as specific as I could. Prior to grading driveway, house and barn pads there was right at 5 acres of pasture. I plan on putting in a food plot that will right at .8 acre that will not be bush hogged, a small garden and after subtracting out the area that was graded for driveway and house and barn pads there is only about 2.8 acres to be bush hogged on a regular basis. Not really sure how often during the growing season bush hogging will be required but I would assume once a month to keep it fairly low. A 4’ bush hog for this amount might not be that bad. I really like the B2601 for many reasons including the reasons idahoakl chose the B2601 in his post above. I can justify any of the three tractors but I keep coming back to the B2601 for reasons other than just cost. Smaller footprint in the barn for storage, obviously a capable machine per what GPOutdoors accomplishes, cost and its actually an upgrade from a BX which a fella up the road ABSOLUTELY LOVES and uses to maintain a similar property. Its easy to justify bigger and bigger (which I do about every other day) but any of the three tractors would suffice. Now I've just got to sort out the tiller mess. Forward till or reverse till. Ohhh how the opinions vary! Not to mention the shear pin verses slip clutch conundrum Talk to 10 people get 10 different opinions.

I’ll make a decision in the next few weeks. Again, appreciate the input.

 

[NHSleddog]

"I wish I bought a smaller tractor....."
I have never heard that spoken in my 50+ years.

"I wish I bought a larger tractor...."
I have heard that many many times.

My uncle that owned a large farm in Maine used to say size the machine to the job, then buy one size up. You won't beat it up as bad doing the jobs you thought you had, and it will better handle all the jobs you didn't know you had.

If you are a good operator, this should be a decades long investment

 

[TomRC]

"I wish I bought a larger tractor...."
I have heard that many many times.

I think that statement NHSleddog is spot on and the B2601 is an upgrade from the tractor that could get the job done. Its easy to rationalize bigger and bigger which I have done an exceptional job of over the past few months. A BX would get it done and as I've said this fella up the road with a similar property praises his little BX. I've been mainly hung up on thinking how disappointed I'll be with a 4' bush hog but after my more precise Google Earth calculations last night and with under 3 acres to actually bush hog once a month or so the 4' bush hog is probably not the issue I am trying to convince myself that it is and as I've mentioned before the B2601 checks every other box.

 

[cthomas]

Forward till or reverse till depends on the usual use for the tiller, if doing the same area a reverse tiller will work better to break up the soil, but a reverse tiller is likely to collect weeds/roots around the tines. A reverse tiller will also dig in deeper(Three point does not have down pressure). So, reverse rotation tillers tend to achieve greater depth penetration resulting in moving and pulverizing more soil. Have not researched the shear pin verses slip clutch as have not seen many rotary tillers in the 60 inch group that use a shear pin, but a slip clutch seems like a better setup as you can adjust the slip force. Also when I was looking for a tiller, wanted to buy 1. Made is US, 2. Has a dealer support network(worked at an independent implement dealership a while back and had to work on a few Northern Tool and Equipment implements and what a PITA to get parts and very long wait time(3-4 months to get parts) 3. Proven QH compatibility

 

[Fordtech86]

I just recently bought a county line tiller from tractor supply and its switchable from forward to reverse rotation. Comes set up for forward rotation, but you unbolt the gear box and flip it over then unbolt the tine assembly and flip it around. I flipped it around to reverse rotation before I ever used. For my limited uses for me it should be fine. Reverse rotation does throw dirt up on you and the tractor.

 

[TomRC]

Its just almost comical when you go to a few Kubota dealers in the same general area and one will say reverse is the way to go, don't even stock forward and the head on down the road and the next dealer will say forward till is the ONLY way to go with equal conviction. Same goes for shear pin verse slip clutch on bush hogs. Opinions from one dealer to the next on all sorts of things vary like the wind, along with pricing. It was about a year ago when I started researching tractors and implements and I've just grown accustomed to how many different opinions there are. Will more than likely go with a forward till. I'm just happy I've narrowed it down to a few good tractors. Got all the info I need, just need to go pick one and be done with it! Appreciate all the feedback.

 

[NHSleddog]

I break a lot of virgin ground, so for me, the forward is the way to go. It is a lot harder to jam a rock up with forward rotation, they tend to spit out the back. They also tend to climb up over hard stuff.

 

[PaulL]

Neil from Messicks did a good discussion of forward vs reverse in one of his videos. I think in summary, reverse better for known ground you've done before. It digs deeper and does a nicer job. Reverse better if there's any chance of stones, roots or other things, because it jumps up and over them.

 

[GeoHorn]

Its just almost comical when you go to a few Kubota dealers in the same general area and one will say reverse is the way to go, don't even stock forward and the head on down the road and the next dealer will say forward till is the ONLY way to go with equal conviction. Same goes for shear pin verse slip clutch on bush hogs. Opinions from one dealer to the next on all sorts of things vary like the wind, along with pricing. It was about a year ago when I started researching tractors and implements and I've just grown accustomed to how many different opinions there are. Will more than likely go with a forward till. I'm just happy I've narrowed it down to a few good tractors. Got all the info I need, just need to go pick one and be done with it! Appreciate all the feedback.

If you only got the same reply from several people you’d probably quit researching. Differing opinions can be a good thing. If all girls were blonde... where’d the fun go?

 

[dneal]

I was at my dealer’s a few days ago and they had an LX2610SU on the lot. If you don’t need the mid-PTO, and a few other “nice to haves”, it’s a lot of tractor for the money (mainly the larger displacement engine with more low-end torque). The non-SU version will cost a little more, but have tilt, cruise, etc... as well as the mid-PTO. There are a couple of reasons I went with the 2601 instead of the 2650. ROPS height being the winner of the coin toss, but the 2601 also seemed a little more refined than the 2650. The LX appeared to have closed that gap.

RE: shear pins vs slip clutch. All my PTO shafts are slip clutch. The plus is not having to replace pins. The negative is having to check and do the adjustment periodically (a lot of which depends on how the implement is stored). With a shear pin, you don’t have to worry about it until it breaks. With a slip clutch, if you don’t worry about it the thing that breaks might be the tractor.

 

[TomRC]

Next year???

 

[dneal]

Next year???

In the European market? Yeah, they’ll probably still be selling it. U.S. market? Highly unlikely.

I suppose the L Grand is comparable in creature comfort.

 

[cthomas]

As long as we are dreaming.
Kubota Corporation demonstrated a concept tractor at a new product exhibition held in Kyoto City on January 15-16, 2020. Half century after exhibiting its first-ever concept tractor at the Japan World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970 (Expo ’70), Kubota unveiled concept tractor to commemorate the 130th anniversary of its founding. Equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification technology, this “dream tractor” is a completely autonomous tractor that represents the future of farming drawn by Kubota. Kubota will continue developing products to realize smart agriculture with cutting-edge technology to address the challenges facing Japanese farmers. I would love to have autonomous lawn mowing.

 

[S-G-R]

As long as we are dreaming.
Kubota Corporation demonstrated a concept tractor at a new product exhibition held in Kyoto City on January 15-16, 2020. Half century after exhibiting its first-ever concept tractor at the Japan World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970 (Expo ’70), Kubota unveiled concept tractor to commemorate the 130th anniversary of its founding. Equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification technology, this “dream tractor” is a completely autonomous tractor that represents the future of farming drawn by Kubota. Kubota will continue developing products to realize smart agriculture with cutting-edge technology to address the challenges facing Japanese farmers. I would love to have autonomous lawn mowing.
View attachment 45470

It kind of has a Terminator look to it.

 

[PaulL]

So that's a V2403MT, which is a 49hp motor. Not sure why they'd call it an L2501, but it's clearly not a 25HP machine. It also weighs 2 ton according to the specs at the end. 3.4M long, 1.5M wide, which is a little bit wider and quite a bit longer than the machine we know as an L2501. In short, same model number, totally different machine.

EDIT: Having said that, I see https://kubota.co.nz/product/v2403-m-t/ claims it's a 49HP motor that's naturally aspirated. The video above claims it's turbo. Maybe it's more than 50HP.