Hello All!
Just invested into a 2021 BX2680! Its my first Kubota and tractor! Fortunately I am familiar with tractors, as I grew up on a small farm and did a handful of chores on a Massey Ferguson 135. My current land plot is only 1.5 acres instead of the 10 I grew up on. That being said, I plan to put this little BX to work for some home and yard renovations.
First things first, the tractor. I was in a market for a sub compact tractor that would fill mowing duties, as well as doing some landscaping and renovation work in the future. I fought between a Green tractor, or an Orange. First I went to a Kubota dealer to price a new tractor, and the dealer was gouging the pricing. For both a BX1880 and 2380, the dealer was invoicing it at nearly 25K with loader, MMM, and box blade. Walked out the door at that point, because they should never try to sell items at over MSRP. Doesnt help I stood around for 10 minutes before being greeted in the lot and lobby, like the salesmen had anything better to do besides twiddling their thumbs. At this point, the next closest Kubota dealer was an hour away. I was wanting something new, but I kept my eyes out for a used one. The day before I was about to head to the other Kubota dealer, a listing popped up for a 2021 BX2680 with just over 100 hours, Drive Over MMM, Turf Tires, Loader Brackets & Hydraulics minus the actual loader, for 9K. The pictures were all grainy and I had difficulty even believing the listing was real! I contacted the seller and sure enough, it was the real deal. Just an older gentleman who downsized in land and no longer needed it, as it had been sitting in storage for 8 months. The next day I loaded up a trailer and went to pick it up. Despite not having the loader, I could not pass up this type of deal, as I had searched and searched, and never saw anything near this price for something as new and/or with as much horsepower. Met with the man and discussed the tractor. He had all the paper work for it and it had just been serviced at 104 hours in September. Paid the man, hightailed it out of there so that he couldnt change his mind, and I was back home with my new to me tractor!
As planned, this mower was going to be dedicated to mowing for its first part of its life until I can get my hands on a loader. So I went to work leveling the mower deck. As I expected, this mower was a little beat up and out of level. After a bit of trial and error, got it straightened up pretty good and started mowing. Found that it does cut well, but leaves some large bits of grass. Going from a New Honda push mower, the mulching was a bit of concern. I got to thinking and began looking into Mulch kits, as well as other MMM modications. Looked around the web for recommendations and reveiws of mulching kits, and saw that some were just not pleased. At this point, I set out to quickly make something to act more as a shute blocker, rather than a complete mulching kit. Came up with an idea and started gathering the supplies. Since I dont currently have a welder, I opted for a bolted together design. I planned to use the same dowel rod that the shute uses. So I came up with using large HD hinges, simply bending them down, and bolting them to a piece of steel. At this same time, I wanted to replace the blades to some high lift blades. I opted for the Oregon Gator G5's. I figured since I am going to this length, I might as well remove the MMM and service it entirely. After dropping the entire drive over deck frame on accident, instead of just the deck, I started servcing the deck and cleaning it up. Learned a few things along the way, and got it back together with the new blades and cleaned up. Installed the shute blocker and started mowing with it to test it out. And as expected, it started to really clean up the cut, as well as pulling a lot of thatching from the ground. It definitely blows a lot of debris around the tractor, but its worth it for the cut and clearing. At this point, I may not invest in the Mulch Kit, and just continue to use my homemade 50$ shute blocker. Its always very rewarding when an idea comes to fruition. I plan to cut the remaining portion into a notch so that I can install a quick bolt to prevent it from blowing all the way out, but even with the hinges and friction, it stayed in place. It will also be painted Kubota Orange when finished.
So far this is where I am at with the tractor and current projects. There are more items coming to the tractor itself, as well as more projects for it to do. The way that I see it, the tractors themselves are always projects, so it should also be part of the "project" listing!
Just invested into a 2021 BX2680! Its my first Kubota and tractor! Fortunately I am familiar with tractors, as I grew up on a small farm and did a handful of chores on a Massey Ferguson 135. My current land plot is only 1.5 acres instead of the 10 I grew up on. That being said, I plan to put this little BX to work for some home and yard renovations.
First things first, the tractor. I was in a market for a sub compact tractor that would fill mowing duties, as well as doing some landscaping and renovation work in the future. I fought between a Green tractor, or an Orange. First I went to a Kubota dealer to price a new tractor, and the dealer was gouging the pricing. For both a BX1880 and 2380, the dealer was invoicing it at nearly 25K with loader, MMM, and box blade. Walked out the door at that point, because they should never try to sell items at over MSRP. Doesnt help I stood around for 10 minutes before being greeted in the lot and lobby, like the salesmen had anything better to do besides twiddling their thumbs. At this point, the next closest Kubota dealer was an hour away. I was wanting something new, but I kept my eyes out for a used one. The day before I was about to head to the other Kubota dealer, a listing popped up for a 2021 BX2680 with just over 100 hours, Drive Over MMM, Turf Tires, Loader Brackets & Hydraulics minus the actual loader, for 9K. The pictures were all grainy and I had difficulty even believing the listing was real! I contacted the seller and sure enough, it was the real deal. Just an older gentleman who downsized in land and no longer needed it, as it had been sitting in storage for 8 months. The next day I loaded up a trailer and went to pick it up. Despite not having the loader, I could not pass up this type of deal, as I had searched and searched, and never saw anything near this price for something as new and/or with as much horsepower. Met with the man and discussed the tractor. He had all the paper work for it and it had just been serviced at 104 hours in September. Paid the man, hightailed it out of there so that he couldnt change his mind, and I was back home with my new to me tractor!
As planned, this mower was going to be dedicated to mowing for its first part of its life until I can get my hands on a loader. So I went to work leveling the mower deck. As I expected, this mower was a little beat up and out of level. After a bit of trial and error, got it straightened up pretty good and started mowing. Found that it does cut well, but leaves some large bits of grass. Going from a New Honda push mower, the mulching was a bit of concern. I got to thinking and began looking into Mulch kits, as well as other MMM modications. Looked around the web for recommendations and reveiws of mulching kits, and saw that some were just not pleased. At this point, I set out to quickly make something to act more as a shute blocker, rather than a complete mulching kit. Came up with an idea and started gathering the supplies. Since I dont currently have a welder, I opted for a bolted together design. I planned to use the same dowel rod that the shute uses. So I came up with using large HD hinges, simply bending them down, and bolting them to a piece of steel. At this same time, I wanted to replace the blades to some high lift blades. I opted for the Oregon Gator G5's. I figured since I am going to this length, I might as well remove the MMM and service it entirely. After dropping the entire drive over deck frame on accident, instead of just the deck, I started servcing the deck and cleaning it up. Learned a few things along the way, and got it back together with the new blades and cleaned up. Installed the shute blocker and started mowing with it to test it out. And as expected, it started to really clean up the cut, as well as pulling a lot of thatching from the ground. It definitely blows a lot of debris around the tractor, but its worth it for the cut and clearing. At this point, I may not invest in the Mulch Kit, and just continue to use my homemade 50$ shute blocker. Its always very rewarding when an idea comes to fruition. I plan to cut the remaining portion into a notch so that I can install a quick bolt to prevent it from blowing all the way out, but even with the hinges and friction, it stayed in place. It will also be painted Kubota Orange when finished.
So far this is where I am at with the tractor and current projects. There are more items coming to the tractor itself, as well as more projects for it to do. The way that I see it, the tractors themselves are always projects, so it should also be part of the "project" listing!
