Took Possession of My New Tractor

[Soopitup]

Pretty pumped. They dropped it off Fri afternoon.

Brand new BX23S

I had to make room in the garage for it, what a mess. I have too much stuff.

I played around with it for about an hour Fri evening. I learned a couple of things pretty quick.
Damn that whine is annoying.
It would be nice to have a little more power for the loader.
I definitely need ROPS lights, the headlights don't cut it.
Damn this is fun! Felt like I was playing with a Tonka truck again....

I popped the hood and found myself wondering how easy it would be to put a turbo and a stack on this.

I also realized I apparently have a penchant for orange. Ariens, Husqvarna, and now Kubota.

I can't wait to take this down to my buddies to fix his ramp that got washed out last week.

 

[animals45]

Sometimes lights mounted above the driver create a lot of glare . I gotta wonder if anyone has replace the a factory headlite bulbs with a Cree LED or some other good brand . I've had my L3301HST a couple of years now & there is so much crap under the hood I don't think I've ever seen my engine .
animal

 

[will721]

Sometimes lights mounted above the driver create a lot of glare . I gotta wonder if anyone has replace the a factory headlite bulbs with a Cree LED or some other good brand . I've had my L3301HST a couple of years now & there is so much crap under the hood I don't think I've ever seen my engine .
animal

I tried a couple sets of leds in my lx. Not much point in it other than it gets rid of the ugly yellow headlights. The housings on equipment in general just aren't well made. They don't throw light like you would want reguardless because of height and lack of conventional "headlight" design. A few companies have taken a step towards using more modern peojector styles but unlike automotive manufacturers they seem to just be poorly designed. Plus there's no regulations governing them so manufacturers can just do whatever they want. Not to mention even if you did get good headlights it would just get blocked by the loader and probably blind the hell out of you when raising the bucket.

Rops lights work just fine, but it depends entirely on the choice of light. Spot lights are the way to go. Less glare and puts the light only in the direction you point it. But many make the mistake of using either flood lights, or poorly designed spot lights that just end up flood lights.

The best solution is canopy mounted lights. Adding a canopy to the rops and then the lights on the front of it moves the light source in front of the driver and as close as possible to the front of the machine. The further forward the lights can be mounted and the closer to the ground the better without being blocked. Thats why fork trucks usually mount their lights to the sides of the mast. Just above and to the sides of the average pallet height and width for optimal use.

 

[ajschnitzelbank]

I definitely need ROPS lights, the headlights don't cut it.

Congrats on the new machine!

I got my light kit here: https://www.ropslights.com/

I wouldn’t call it a cheap option, but they are nice and easy to install.

 

[hodge]

Chasing a rabbit, what instances are owners encountering where the additional lighting is needed? For our uses/circumstances (my father and myself), owning 2 tractors, a backhoe, and a skid steer, we haven't needed anything more than the factory lights. Other than safety/attention on the road, I never use the headlights.
I'm not looking for what if's, but experience.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Pretty pumped. They dropped it off Fri afternoon.

Brand new BX23S

I had to make room in the garage for it, what a mess. I have too much stuff.

I played around with it for about an hour Fri evening. I learned a couple of things pretty quick.
Damn that whine is annoying.
It would be nice to have a little more power for the loader.
I definitely need ROPS lights, the headlights don't cut it.
Damn this is fun! Felt like I was playing with a Tonka truck again....

I popped the hood and found myself wondering how easy it would be to put a turbo and a stack on this.

I also realized I apparently have a penchant for orange. Ariens, Husqvarna, and now Kubota.

I can't wait to take this down to my buddies to fix his ramp that got washed out last week.

Congratulations. Where’s the pics?

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Chasing a rabbit, what instances are owners encountering where the additional lighting is needed? For our uses/circumstances (my father and myself), owning 2 tractors, a backhoe, and a skid steer, we haven't needed anything more than the factory lights. Other than safety/attention on the road, I never use the headlights.
I'm not looking for what if's, but experience.

Well I guess everyone has different uses, but for me my bucket seems to ride right in front of the headlights…so they are sort of helpless. I have a property 4 hrs from my residence and most of time I travel after work and arrive at night (seems to be raining a lot too) and I usually have a couple things to do before it’s time for thinking juice . And while the headlights are helpless with the bucket in the way I am running the machine at night for:

1. Loading / unloading machine from trailer as well as backing the trailer down a lane (I turn machine on and use the reverse spotlights for that)
2. Loading unloading implements / other that’s palletized on trailer.
3. Hauling totes / pallets of wood / water etc to the barn.
4. Cutting up downed trees over the lane to get up to the barn…that’s always fun at night in the rain after driving up 4hrs.
5. Deer recovery during hunting season…not just hauling the carcass, but also for lighting when rolling sleeves up and climbing in for field dressing….sure beats a headlamp / flashlight.
6. Depending on weather forecast for the next day(s), I have ran a tiller and brush cutter…sure is helpful to have a reverse light on when hooking up implement as well as backing around stuff in the dark. (I used a headlamp before but there is no comparison in my mind.)
7. At residence it is not uncommon for me to take a delivery in the evening.

Aside from the hunting uses, my use cases are mainly do to evening/night arrival to second location, likely arrival time, and have limited time there being 4 hrs away.gets dark a lot earlier here in the fall/winter.

 

[06B3030]

Sometimes lights mounted above the driver create a lot of glare . I gotta wonder if anyone has replace the a factory headlite bulbs with a Cree LED or some other good brand . I've had my L3301HST a couple of years now & there is so much crap under the hood I don't think I've ever seen my engine .
animal

I replaced the headlight bulbs with these LED Bulbs and they made a big difference. I also have one ROPS mounted LED on the side of the lower section. Don't see the need/reason for multiple lights. I just have it on a magnetic mount so it's easy to direct it if needed. It does provide a lot of light when needed!

LED bulb...

ROPS LED circled in red...

ROPS LED pointed slightly upwards....

 

[GibbyESS9]

I also changed my headlights to the Cree led. Huge difference. Also went the easy way out and made two cube magnetic led lights for rops that plugs into the 12 volt charger/socket. I don’t do much at night but have them in case in t

 

[Hkb82]

Snow removal is the biggest task I do at night but do find myself doing other jobs requiring light. Maple season is another one my kubota has to work at night. It gets dark by 530pm in my parts during the winter months so it allows me to work later and still have a great view of my surroundings. Kubota lights suck let’s face it. Maybe the newer machines have an upgrade but if it costs ya to upgrade then your probably better to just add them yourself. If you don’t really do anything after dark then the factory ones I’m sure will suffice.
I agree with the canopy mounted lights. Adding a canopy to the rops and then add lights to that would be the best way if your able to. My old Ford before I added a cab had lights that were behind me. Kinda pain but they were better then not having lights. They were also old and yellow looking lol
Have fun with your new tractor

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Congratulations!

Regarding the hydro whine, I wear headphones. Standard noise blockers or bluetooth connected ones for hearing my phone and also being wired for sound... music.

I'm into orange to: Kubota, Ariens, KTM, Stihl, Echo...

 

[DeepWoods]

Make sure you check all your fluids, as the dealer may not have topped off the front axle, or transmission. Mine were both low, and the dealer was nice enough to send me a gallon of UDT2.

 

[Snowman7]

Chasing a rabbit, what instances are owners encountering where the additional lighting is needed? For our uses/circumstances (my father and myself), owning 2 tractors, a backhoe, and a skid steer, we haven't needed anything more than the factory lights. Other than safety/attention on the road, I never use the headlights.
I'm not looking for what if's, but experience.

My cabbed LX has the factory LED’s and they are awesome snow blowing at night, front and back. It would be tough to go back and not have these. Blowing snow in the dark is commonplace at my joint.

 

[Soopitup]

Fresh off the truck.


Squeezed into it's new home....

 

[Soopitup]

Got some unexpected use out of the pallet forks already.

 

[JeremyBX2200]

Congrats on the new machine. I got a BX2200 shortly after I moved to my 5 acre property. I have used the crap out of it. One of the best purchases I have made. Saved my back a ton of times and makes it a lot easier to tackle projects that would be a pain any other way.

For lights. I swapped out my bulbs with LEDs. They made it better for when it is getting dark and I am still not done mowing, but that's about it. I will be adding ROPs lights very soon. Issue is that when you are using the FEL it blocks the headlights. Also, when I am plowing snow or using my box blade it really helps to have lights shining behind you

 

[bbxlr8]

Check out these 100W spec'ed for Yamaha SBS. Crazy bright as long as the bucket isn't in the way...
High & low work.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SX3FGV7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I am still going to add supplemental but these let me procrastinate

 

[GrizBota]

Nice looking tractor. Yup, keep it under a roof, it will still look that good in 10 years. If you don’t have ballast fluid in the rear tires, that’s something to strongly consider

 

[Bearcatrp]

I just pic up this light for my ROPES. The magnets are super strong. Made the mistake testing it on my fridge.

https://www.amazon.com/LEMIL-Magnetic-Cigarette-Lighter-Driving/dp/B07T74NL95/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Led%2BLight%2Bfor%2BCar%2BLighter%2BPlug&qid=1695776570&sr=8-2&th=1

 

[Grandad4]

Congrats on the new BX. My BX was an amazing tool for many years. No longer have it as we sold our acreage but I often wish we still had it.

Suggestions regarding the whine: 1 Keep the rpm's up. 2 do not use Hi range for anything that works the engine hard. We would mow in Hi range but only on flat ground. I always wished the BX had a 3 range transmission!