What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[McMXi]

My understanding of draft control says it's not going to help with road grading. DC works by sensing the force exerted on the top link to maintain a more-or-less constant load on th tractor. This works well when the object is to pull a plow as deep as the soil conditions allow, adjusting to the tractor's capability. But if you're grading a washboard, you want the blade to knock the tops off, not raise each time it hits the resistance.

That's my understanding, if I'm all washed up, somebody will correct me. I think gauge wheels on the back would be pretty effective.

@MtnViewRanch swears by draft control for grading but I'm still in the learning phase so don't know enough yet to have an opinion on whether it works for me. It does seem counter-intuitive that draft control would be well-suited to grading a driveway, but many things are counter-intuitive despite being true.

It seems to me that a set of gauge wheels way behind the rear blade would create a cutting plane centered between the rear wheels of the tractor and the gauge wheels. As the front wheels move up and down due to the terrain, a rear blade would typically move in the opposite direction to the front wheels which isn't good for grading resulting in peaks and troughs. If the position control lever is in float mode I would think that the blade's elevation wouldn't change much at all as the front wheels move up and down following the peaks and troughs on the driveway.

It would be interesting to hear from those using draft control with a rear blade to get an idea of how they use it, how effective it is, and if they're using draft control or mixed control.

 

[RCW]

@MtnViewRanch swears by draft control for grading but I'm still in the learning phase so don't know enough yet to have an opinion on whether it works for me. It does seem counter-intuitive that draft control would be well-suited to grading a driveway, but many things are counter-intuitive despite being true.

It seems to me that a set of gauge wheels way behind the rear blade would create a cutting plane centered between the rear wheels of the tractor and the gauge wheels. As the front wheels move up and down due to the terrain, a rear blade would typically move in the opposite direction to the front wheels which isn't good for grading resulting in peaks and troughs. If the position control lever is in float mode I would think that the blade's elevation wouldn't change much at all as the front wheels move up and down following the peaks and troughs on the driveway.

It would be interesting to hear from those using draft control with a rear blade to get an idea of how they use it, how effective it is, and if they're using draft control or mixed control.

View attachment 143568

Trust me, I’m sure @MtnViewRanch knows a lot more than I do. Looks like it’s use of both DC and PC.

Probably takes some understanding and practice. I have neither.

I’ll be very interested if you can master it. Caught my interest when he said that also. (With a BX, I don’t have DC or PC).

You certainly have a great setup now to do so.

If you can get that to work would negate the need for gauge wheels.

Hopefully works out either way. Looks like a great blade!

 

[EC135P3H]

In preparation for my grapple bucket, I got a brush guard from Anvil Metalworks installed.

 

[Jsjac]

Today I moved more snow with the tractor. I also brought a couple loads of firewood down to the house.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

For those of you that might be interested in using draft control for grading purposes. I will explain how I set my tractor up when using draft control.

First off, you need to know the tractor's capabilities. So with the implement that you are using, how deep of a cut can it make without ever stopping in the ground that you are working in?

I have a 9' blade that weighs in at about 1200lbs. I use it behing a 75HP tractor that weighs just over 12,000lbs as ballasted not counting the rear blade.
I have 3 sensitivity settings for my draft control, I use the most sensitive for using my rear blade.
On my tractor that is the top pin position for the top link

I can pretty much cut 3" anyplace on the property.
So I set the position control for a 2" cut. 2" doesn't sound like much, but it loads a blade up pretty quick.
Then with the tractor stopped in place with the implement in the ground making that 2" cut, raising the draft control lever up from being all the way forward very slowly I watch for the the first sign that the hitch wants to lift. At that point is where you want the draft control lever to be set.
The draft control is now set to go to work.
You do not move the draft control lever while you are doing said task. You can move the position control for when you are positioning the tractor, but you need to besure that the posion control lever is put back to the location allowing for your desired cut depth.
The position control lever stops the tractor from cutting to deep and the draft control keeps the load on the cutting edge from increasing beyond what the tractor is capable of moving.

I have excellant results using the draft control for grading with all 3 of my grading implements as well as ripping with my scarifers. My box blade scarifers go in the gound 10", so it can be a real load on the tractor, I set the sensitivity for the least sensitive setting which is the 3rd hole down on my tractor.
The tractor is never bogged down when using the draft control feature.

Once you get use to setting this feature and make use of it, you never have wheels spinning digging in making a mess. You simple set it and go without all the inconvienances there are without making use of this wonderful feature that so many of our tractors have.

People think that it is just for plowing. Think about the load that it can put on the tractor when a cutting edge is in the ground a few inches and cutting 7, 8 or 9 feet wide. 7 or 8 scarifires in the ground 6-10 inches deep. It can be as much or more than a plow would be.

I hope that some of this helps out those of you that are interested in making use of the draft control feature.

 

[Old_Paint]

So glad I don’t have to deal with the white stuff.

Baby (the trailer) needs new shoes. Picked the trailer up with the FEL and set it on blocks to take all four wheels off and take them to a local tire dealer.

I bought this trailer for $600 and knew the tires were old and not really trailer tires. SUV tires are okay, but don’t have the load rating of 8 ply trailer tires. These are Goodyear Wrangler light truck / SUV tires. I like Goodyear tires, if they’re on the right application. Checked the DOT code, yup they are 8 years old and showing dry rot, and the right rear went completely flat in 2 weeks after I loaned it to my neighbor to haul some gravel. Tires have a way of letting you know it’s time to replace them. These have hauled at least 50 yards of gravel from a local landscape company and about 3000 pounds of steel from Atlanta (about 200 miles away). I hauled the tractor the first time a couple weeks ago about 60 miles (one way) and knew that the right rear tire was leaking then. It had ZERO pressure when I got ready to load the tractor yesterday to make the same trip. There’s my sign.

Should get the wheels back this morning. While I had them off, I cleaned the fender wells and sprayed them with undercoating to slow down the rust a little bit. Also put bearing maintainers on the rear axle hubs. Need two more for the front axle. Gonna pick up some pin-on jacks to serve as support when loading the tractor, so will have a little welding project if I can tolerate the cold wind today. The LX is almost heavy enough to lift the rear tires of my Super Crew F-150 4x4, meaning nothing is holding the trailer still, so I’m gonna add jacks to keep the back end of the trailer up and still be able to get them off after the tractor is on the trailer without having to tear up lawn or move a load on things not meant to move loads. Hold, yes, move, no. I don’t haul it often, but loading it kinda makes me pucker up a bit, even on flat ground. After it’s on, it seems to have perfect weight distribution. Tows great, no wobblies. I could/should probably use a bigger trailer, but I don’t have $6K-$10K to spend on something that sits behind the shop most of the time. It’s a 7K trailer and the LX is just forward of 4K with the loader and box blade, so I just avoid high speed travel (stay off the interstate). If I spend that much, it’s gonna be a dumper I can pull behind the F-150 (14000 capacity according to nifty door sticker).

 

[RCW]

For those of you that might be interested in using draft control for grading purposes. I will explain how I set my tractor up when using draft control.

First off, you need to know the tractor's capabilities. So with the implement that you are using, how deep of a cut can it make without ever stopping in the ground that you are working in?

I have a 9' blade that weighs in at about 1200lbs. I use it behing a 75HP tractor that weighs just over 12,000lbs as ballasted not counting the rear blade.
I have 3 sensitivity settings for my draft control, I use the most sensitive for using my rear blade.
On my tractor that is the top pin position for the top link

I can pretty much cut 3" anyplace on the property.
So I set the position control for a 2" cut. 2" doesn't sound like much, but it loads a blade up pretty quick.
Then with the tractor stopped in place with the implement in the ground making that 2" cut, raising the draft control lever up from being all the way forward very slowly I watch for the the first sign that the hitch wants to lift. At that point is where you want the draft control lever to be set.
The draft control is now set to go to work.
You do not move the draft control lever while you are doing said task. You can move the position control for when you are positioning the tractor, but you need to besure that the posion control lever is put back to the location allowing for your desired cut depth.
The position control lever stops the tractor from cutting to deep and the draft control keeps the load on the cutting edge from increasing beyond what the tractor is capable of moving.

I have excellant results using the draft control for grading with all 3 of my grading implements as well as ripping with my scarifers. My box blade scarifers go in the gound 10", so it can be a real load on the tractor, I set the sensitivity for the least sensitive setting which is the 3rd hole down on my tractor.
The tractor is never bogged down when using the draft control feature.

Once you get use to setting this feature and make use of it, you never have wheels spinning digging in making a mess. You simple set it and go without all the inconvienances there are without making use of this wonderful feature that so many of our tractors have.

People think that it is just for plowing. Think about the load that it can put on the tractor when a cutting edge is in the ground a few inches and cutting 7, 8 or 9 feet wide. 7 or 8 scarifires in the ground 6-10 inches deep. It can be as much or more than a plow would be.

I hope that some of this helps out those of you that are interested in making use of the draft control feature.

That’s a great explanation!

Would be a good “Sticky” in the Implement or Operating sections (?) of the Forum…I could easily envision someone asking the same question in the future....

 

[RCW]

We got 3 or so yesterday and another 4 last night.

Looked like a narrow Lake Effect band went right over the house last night and early this morning.

Still nothing major. Yesterday’s snow was wet; lake effect is pretty dry.

We don’t have a ton of snow, but how in the hell does Geddy find his white whiffle ball toy in the yard?

 

[DustyRusty]

If you had his ability with your nose your friends would call you "dog"!

 

[RCW]

If you had his ability with your nose your friends would call you "dog"!

True - - he found a red whiffle ball as well. They're small enough that they would go through the chute without a problem.

I picked up his Jolly Balls. They could cause a problem with the snowblower.

 

[pokey1416]

I couldn't leave well enough alone so one final tweak this afternoon to the snow blower. Ever since buying this thing a few years ago I've been a little annoyed by the amount of lateral play that the chute deflector cylinder has. I'm talking about an inch of left to right movement!

A simple fix was to stop by the hardware store and buy twelve 1" washers. About $20 later the cylinder has just a bit of play left to right, so not an expensive tweak to improve function and pride of ownership.

View attachment 142478

View attachment 142479

I like your solution I’ve got a few sloppy attachments.

 

[nerwin]

In preparation for my grapple bucket, I got a brush guard from Anvil Metalworks installed. View attachment 143585 View attachment 143586

Yes!!!! that's exactly what I wanted to get.

 

[nerwin]

I woke up this morning to more snow! Won't lie, I got excited because I got to use the tractor.

Its too pretty to get dirty.

I even made a little YouTube short https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UtsO4HtJhpk

I am thinking about invested in an action camera just to record stuff on the tractor. Might be fun, folks on the YouTube just love that stuff.

Anyways, the plowing went really well today, much easier than yesterday. I did a little damage to the grass and other areas but I'm like well...I'm just taking off the high spots!

I have a cement patio that I HATE shoveling off. When I had the side by side, I would sometimes back drag it out but it almost always just floated on top the snow, really did nothing. But with the tractor, I was able to just reach in with the loader, angle the plow down to get the cutting edge and applied a little bit of down pressure and back dragged it out in one swipe almost!

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

@nerwin : Those L-series are quite sharp looking, I don't blame you at all. It appears to be "the perfect size tractor" for many people. Glad you're loving it.

 

[River19]

When I was checking over the tractor for winter use, I noticed another one of my 3 LED ROPS lights is toast and flickering with only a few of the individual LEDs actually working. I also had a new one laying around since when the first one went I contacted ROPSLights.com where I got the kit and lights and had them send me a new light which I think was at cost as it failed within a couple seasons. Now all of them have basically failed after 3-4 seasons. Replaced the rear one last year with a nice light from TSC and just swapped in the "new" one from the original warranty claim.

The last one is also compromised so I will look for another round one to match it as I will have to swap that out soon as well.

As much as I liked the ROPSlights.com kit as it is pre-wired with a decent switch box etc., the actually lights they used are kinda.......poop.

 

[nerwin]

Went to the Kubota dealer today and picked up some more accessories. Got a steering knob, I'm not 100 percent sure on it yet but I'm gonna give it some time. It will definitely make it easier to use when I have winter gloves on and I'm sure it's gonna be better when I'm doing loader work but I feel like it's almost too easy.

Anyways I also picked up some bucket hooks to weld onto the bucket! They look incredibly rugged.

I wanted to stay at the Kubota place all day...they had so many toys. Multiple excavators and skid steers along with tractors, including cabbed MX models all in doors. A place to spend money very quickly

I'm not sure on the best placement as I never used one of these jobs before. But from brief research...most commonly is around 8-10 o'clock. So I'm trying it there for now. I heard some like it 6 o'clock but I like to put my hand there sometimes.

 

[MOOTS]

My boys little John Deere wasn’t up to the task of breaking ground. Had to use the MX to fluff his dirt pile for digging.

That CAT had no problem hauling the loads.
As a county employee, I’m sticking to what I know best, holding a shovel.

 

[Oleracer]

Cleaned radiator and screens on the b2150. Checked front axle lube. Went out and scraped up some ice off drive. Nice easy day
Oh moved some firewood for better half

 

[Oleracer]

Went to the Kubota dealer today and picked up some more accessories. Got a steering knob, I'm not 100 percent sure on it yet but I'm gonna give it some time. It will definitely make it easier to use when I have winter gloves on and I'm sure it's gonna be better when I'm doing loader work but I feel like it's almost too easy.

Anyways I also picked up some bucket hooks to weld onto the bucket! They look incredibly rugged.

I wanted to stay at the Kubota place all day...they had so many toys. Multiple excavators and skid steers along with tractors, including cabbed MX models all in doors. A place to spend money very quickly

View attachment 143711

I'm not sure on the best placement as I never used one of these jobs before. But from brief research...most commonly is around 8-10 o'clock. So I'm trying it there for now. I heard some like it 6 o'clock but I like to put my hand there sometimes.

Your going to like the knob for steering. I never have used one in my many vehicles. But tractor came with one. Just easy when running FEL. Know what you mean at equipment dealers. Want a mini ex but not going to be a dealer purchase. Nice to see features before going on the hunt.

 

[dirtydeed]

Went to the Kubota dealer today and picked up some more accessories. Got a steering knob, I'm not 100 percent sure on it yet but I'm gonna give it some time. It will definitely make it easier to use when I have winter gloves on and I'm sure it's gonna be better when I'm doing loader work but I feel like it's almost too easy.

Anyways I also picked up some bucket hooks to weld onto the bucket! They look incredibly rugged.

I wanted to stay at the Kubota place all day...they had so many toys. Multiple excavators and skid steers along with tractors, including cabbed MX models all in doors. A place to spend money very quickly

View attachment 143711

I'm not sure on the best placement as I never used one of these jobs before. But from brief research...most commonly is around 8-10 o'clock. So I'm trying it there for now. I heard some like it 6 o'clock but I like to put my hand there sometimes.

Congrats, if it's like most other kubota tractors, don't get hung up on where you place the spinner. It will be located in another position on the wheel next week. The wheel doesn't return to the same position like a car.

Not wizzin on your parade...it's just the the way it is.