New to Orange Tractors

[bbxlr8]

Welcome, and a great choice, IMO. I love my 2501 - It does everything I bought it for and many things I didn't think of (I really like the force multiplier comment) and has made a dramatic difference in working smarter.

FWIW I am adding Aux. lights now and already wish I had done so sooner!

 

[couleedude]

Welcome, and a great choice, IMO. I love my 2501 - It does everything I bought it for and many things I didn't think of (I really like the force multiplier comment) and has made a dramatic difference in working smarter.

FWIW I am adding Aux. lights now and already wish I had done so sooner!

Hmmm. Lights are a great idea! Did you buy a kit or just wire some up on your own?

 

[jyoutz]

Hmmm. Lights are a great idea! Did you buy a kit or just wire some up on your own?

Harbor freight has a nice selection of LED UTV lights and they have a wiring kit with relay and switch built into the wiring harness. Just route the wires, attach to battery and lights and zip tie as needed. At a reasonable price. You can see my forward and rear lights under the canopy.

 

[couleedude]

Harbor freight has a nice selection of LED UTV lights and they have a wiring kit with relay and switch built into the wiring harness. Just route the wires, attach to battery and lights and zip tie as needed. At a reasonable price. You can see my forward and rear lights under the canopy.

I used similar lights on a golf cart I used on our old ranch. Definitely one of the first upgrades I will do. Probably the first week.

 

[Yotekiller]

Since you don't know the total cost yet, I assume you haven't actually bought it yet. You should be able to get the tractor alone for around $25K and then pick up most of those implements on the used market for around $3K and come in well below what you are paying.

 

[bbxlr8]

Hmmm. Lights are a great idea! Did you buy a kit or just wire some up on your own?

There are plenty of options from aftermarket. amazon auto/off-road parts houses, TSC & HF etc
Lots of threads and info on here. The DST time change and recent black Friday sale put me over the edge

I also like & went with the HF Roadshocks. In my case, a 22" bar is going under the fold-down forward and 2 side mount flood/side firing cubes facing backward & to the side. Their wiring kits are easy and have a well-built case with quality OSRAM LEDs (good value IMO)

Watch your amps and fuse accordingly. FYI there is a built-in 10A aux connection under the left R fender also. I am going to the battery w/ relay.

 

[Mitjam]

Although I don’t have a L series welcome to the orange family and forum. There are very smart people on here that can help you along the way that’s for sure from maintenance to tractor operating and questions about attachments. I have had many Kubotas over the years and all have treated me good. I believe you made a good choice. Happy tractoring

 

[jyoutz]

There are plenty of options from aftermarket. amazon auto/off-road parts houses, TSC & HF etc
Lots of threads and info on here. The DST time change and recent black Friday sale put me over the edge

I also like & went with the HF Roadshocks. In my case, a 22" bar is going under the fold-down forward and 2 side mount flood/side firing cubes facing backward & to the side. Their wiring kits are easy and have a well-built case with quality OSRAM LEDs (good value IMO)

Watch your amps and fuse accordingly. FYI there is a built-in 10A aux connection under the left R fender also. I am going to the battery w/ relay.

I also went to the battery with relay and saved the10A aux connection to install a USB charger for my phone.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Congratulations on your purchase, I think your gonna love it. I love my 2501, thats for sure.

I don't know about sagebrush, but a stick knocked off my fuel filter during my initial few weeks of running my 2501. I decided to make a shield for it, and the filters, while I was at it.

There are lots of cool attachments for it, but my first choice for a front end attacment would be forks.

Pound for pound, they are the best money you can spend IMHO. Edit: I see you already have them...

We obviously don't know each other, but fueling the 2501 with a 5 gallon can is challenging for some. I use a battery operated pump. But before the pump, I laid a 2X6 section across the loader arms and used that to support the fuel can while tipping it carefully. Kind of a PITA but....

One final "word of wisdom", as much as it pained me to do it, I put that "John Deere" hydraulic dye in my system. It makes seeing the fluid WAY easier.

Good to have you here

 

[Hkb82]

One final "word of wisdom", as much as it pained me to do it, I put that "John Deere" hydraulic dye in my system. It makes seeing the fluid WAY easier.

Takes a real man to admit that lol.

 

[Yotekiller]

Congratulations on your purchase, I think your gonna love it. I love my 2501, thats for sure.

I don't know about sagebrush, but a stick knocked off my fuel filter during my initial few weeks of running my 2501. I decided to make a shield for it, and the filters, while I was at it.

There are lots of cool attachments for it, but my first choice for a front end attacment would be forks.

Pound for pound, they are the best money you can spend IMHO. Edit: I see you already have them...

We obviously don't know each other, but fueling the 2501 with a 5 gallon can is challenging for some. I use a battery operated pump. But before the pump, I laid a 2X6 section across the loader arms and used that to support the fuel can while tipping it carefully. Kind of a PITA but....

One final "word of wisdom", as much as it pained me to do it, I put that "John Deere" hydraulic dye in my system. It makes seeing the fluid WAY easier.

View attachment 144430

Good to have you here

The 2502 now has a dip stick to check hydraulic fluid so makes it way easier than the sight glass. But I also used this JD dye in my 2502 to make the fluid easier to be seen. Figured if I ever got a leak, this would help me notice it.

 

[Shawn T. W]

One final "word of wisdom", as much as it pained me to do it, I put that "John Deere" hydraulic dye in my system. It makes seeing the fluid WAY easier.

View attachment 144430

Good to have you here

If you don't want to pay the green tax ... https://www.zoro.com/kingscote-dye-...red-4-oz-506250-r4/i/G5130815/#specifications a 4oz bottle is a lifetime supply for a SCUT/CUT ... For only twice the price of the little JD one-time use jar ... Which is actually red colored!

Two drops per gallon of hydraulic fluid ...

 

[bbxlr8]

I just paid the "green tax" and bought it for my K & F@rd. RWS's wise advice on being able to see it if you have a problem was ringing in my ears!!

FWIW I looked at alternatives, but trust the JD a bit more even though it is just dye. I did spend the $ on extra preventative maintenance changing out h. fluid & filters @50h instead of 200h also.

 

[Grandad4]

With our old big ford tractor, we would put a large round bale on the back and then pick up HEAVY things with the front. Sometimes, I worried the the tractor would fold in half from all the weight on both ends. I swear you could see a little flex at times!!!

Most of the time we just left the bigger brush guard on, and maybe added some logs if needed.

Luckily, I don't have much that weighs too much on my property. Maybe 500 lb rocks would be the most I would need to move.

You will find that getting the right balance makes all the difference in how much work gets done. Compact tractors tend to be light in the back particularly with a loader up front. The 4wd can disguise the imbalance on level ground leaving you unaware that there may be too much weight on the front axle. Lots of added weight in back, (weights or fluid in the back tires, or rear implements, or both), really helps to get the tractor balanced with the loader.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

If you don't want to pay the green tax ... https://www.zoro.com/kingscote-dye-...red-4-oz-506250-r4/i/G5130815/#specifications a 4oz bottle is a lifetime supply for a SCUT/CUT ... For only twice the price of the little JD one-time use jar ... Which is actually red colored!

View attachment 144435

Two drops per gallon of hydraulic fluid ...

View attachment 144436

Thats a good deal per gallon.

I was "on the fence" about it, and like @bbxlr8 I decided to go with the JD stuff because it was "tractor related"

I know....I know....dumb reason.

The other reason was that I did not want a "20 lifetime supply" taking room on my already over-crowded shelves.


Oddly enough though, I could not bring myself to pay $55 per gallon for "Mobil way-oil" for my "new to me lathe" , so I bought a 5 gallon pail for $100 cause I'm a cheap ass........So now I have a 10,000 year supply of this damn stuff to store...

I guess the grandkids, of my grandkids, grandkids will have plenty of "Way-oil" when it is $5,000 per gallon.........

I'm complicated, and the voices in my head are arguing....I gotta go.

 

[forky]

Is it just me? The sight window is easy as can be to read, and spending money
for food coloring never even entered my mind. I think the sight window is a
great feature.

 

[couleedude]

My pre-purchase shopping list is growing...

 

[Hkb82]

Don’t tell the wife but your post-purchase list might get pretty big also lol

 

[mcmxi]

Is it just me? The sight window is easy as can be to read, and spending money
for food coloring never even entered my mind. I think the sight window is a
great feature.

It's not just you. I've had a sight glass for the past four years with two MX6000s and have no trouble seeing the level of the hydraulic fluid without the use of a dye. I actually find the dipstick on the M6060 harder to read and wish the dipstick were black rather than zinc plated.

 

[bbxlr8]

I have no problem with the sight glass either. Ex) It's running the grapple through the woods and accidentally causing some leakage in a line or bashing an unprotected filter and being able to see it. I recently tweaked a fitting and rubbed through what should have been a protected line and went a while longer than I should have.

The point being red vs clear on the ground - of course, a major leak should be obvious, but I like to stack the deck in my favor if possible. Next up is fabbing some covers for filters.

Always something OP