What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[trial and error]

Wife decided to mow today while I was at work. She called me. I already knew she was having a quite frustrating day so I figured this probably wasn’t going to be good if she was calling. We proceed to have the following conversation:

Hey, what’s wrong with the Kubota?

Nothing I know of. Which one?

The little one. It runs fine but I don’t think it’s cutting grass and it doesn’t sound right.

What does it sound like?

It’s too quiet. It was mowing fine but since I ran over a stick, it isn’t cutting the grass. When I pull out the yellow button it clicks but won’t cut. What’s wrong with this POS???

Does the deck belt look right?

WTF is a deck belt?

That black ropy looking thing on top of the deck.

How am I supposed to see that from here?

Shut off the mower, get off, and look at it from the side.

(Background motor noise stops)

I don’t know why you told me to look at it from the side, it’s hanging two feet out the back and looks like a dog has been chewing on it. Why is this thing already falling apart? Why didn’t we buy the BX? If we’d bought the BX it probably wouldn’t have broke.

Look at the deck. See any sticks up there?

Well yeah. There’s a piece of that stick I ran over on top of the deck and it’s kind of chewed up. What’s that got to do with it? Why do you ask me these crazy questions when I ask you something simple and just want a simple answer?

Because they’re relevant. Or maybe I’m just an a$$hole. Jury’s still out on that one.

So how do I fix this stupid mower?

You don’t. You ran over a stick and it got tangled up in the belt, knocked it off a pulley, which toasted the belt. Stuff happens. Just a thing. Park it in the shop and I’ll order a belt tonight. Hopefully it was just a fluke stick strike instead of a spindle or idler seizing. If a spindle or idler seized, I suppose I’ll have to get with the dealer about possible warranty.

What’s a spindle or idler?

The spinny circle things on the top of the deck that look like little shiny wheels.

I didn’t need to know that and don’t care.

Agreed.

So how am I supposed to mow the grass?

Either use the Honda (push mower) or get the zero turn from the neighbor (our son) or leave it and I’ll do it when I get home.

So I can’t use the Kubota?

No.

But I want to use the Kubota. Don’t you have a spare deck belt?

No. We have a spare for the zero turn but not the T.

So I can’t use the Kubota?

Mowers without deck belts don’t cut grass. If you MUST use a Kubota you’ll have to take the chipper off the L and hook up the bush hog. Technically possible; practically unlikely; not recommended. I’d go with the Honda or the Cub unless you’re planning to mow a lot more limbs.

Fine. I’ll get the Honda.

————————————
She hates the zero turn for reasons beyond my comprehension. So she push mowed about half the yard. I finished with the Honda when I got home because it just wasn’t worth going to get the zero turn and return it.

After 9.5 hours on the meter I now need a $84 deck belt (Messick’s, Coleman, and a couple other places I never heard of all within $2 of each other). All the pulleys spin freely so apparently it’s just a random stick in the belt. I’ll call the dealer tomorrow. If they’re cost competitive and have one in stock I’ll get it local.

Stuff happens. $84 for a 102” x 5/8” Kevlar belt is pretty stout, though. Might have to check into a A/M spare.

T


I'm late responding to this one, but thats an awesome story, reminds me of the Mrs over here using the ZT last fall with my homemade franken- bagger which consists of a large wooden and plastic mesh/fence box and a 7" sheet metal duct fabricobbked/attached to the deck output. To say it gets a little light in the front when the box gets full is an understatement. You have to back it up the hill in our front yard when the box gets full or it will do wheelies the whole way and that's with weight hanging off the front. Anyway she was doing me a "favor" bagging the enormous amount of leaves we have to deal with from the maples and I see her coming up the hill frontward with the 7" duct dragging behind her obviously ran over a few times, I ask "what happened? " and "wheren't you paying attention" to which she responded it stated to flip (front wheels came off the ground) it literally cannot flip there is a frame bar and the frame of bagger box hits the ground before it even gets remotely dangerous . Anyway moral of the story is do the bagging myself becuase someone doesn't respond well when things even appear to get "dangerous"
O, and what did I do on the kubota today. Put it all back together only to have a clutch that won't disengage. No matter how far I adjust the peda. Thinking the fork for the throwout bearing got put in backwards, at least that's the hope. Got it stripped back down to the bellhousing bolts in an hour. It's amazing how fast you can work when you feel.like you just wasted 2 days l.

 

[GrizBota]

T


I'm late responding to this one, but thats an awesome story, reminds me of the Mrs over here using the ZT last fall with my homemade franken- bagger which consists of a large wooden and plastic mesh/fence box and a 7" sheet metal duct fabricobbked/attached to the deck output. To say it gets a little light in the front when the box gets full is an understatement. You have to back it up the hill in our front yard when the box gets full or it will do wheelies the whole way and that's with weight hanging off the front. Anyway she was doing me a "favor" bagging the enormous amount of leaves we have to deal with from the maples and I see her coming up the hill frontward with the 7" duct dragging behind her obviously ran over a few times, I ask "what happened? " and "wheren't you paying attention" to which she responded it stated to flip (front wheels came off the ground) it literally cannot flip there is a frame bar and the frame of bagger box hits the ground before it even gets remotely dangerous . Anyway moral of the story is do the bagging myself becuase someone doesn't respond well when things even appear to get "dangerous"
O, and what did I do on the kubota today. Put it all back together only to have a clutch that won't disengage. No matter how far I adjust the peda. Thinking the fork for the throwout bearing got put in backwards, at least that's the hope. Got it stripped back down to the bellhousing bolts in an hour. It's amazing how fast you can work when you feel.like you just wasted 2 days l.

Sorry guys, but if this stuff wasn’t so frustrating, expensive and easily avoidable, it’d be funny. As it is, it’s almost humorous, if it isn’t your stuff that’s getting needlessly screwed up.

My wife literally blew up the front brakes on the ATV by setting the parking brake on them. Forgetting, driving it, hearing the front tires slide on the gravel and deciding it must need to be put in 4WD to solve the “problem”. It’s still sitting where she parked it a month and a half ago. I’ll get to it, but not in any hurry.

 

[NCL4701]

Started out with some pruning followed by chipping. Then what for me was an unusual experience with the L and a more routine interaction with the T.

We had a sourwood tree between the front of the shed and the junk log pile. It has been a nuisance trying to get larger things in and out of the shed for years so we finally decided to cut it and grind the stump. Looking at it from a felling standpoint it was small but big enough to cause some harm. Sourwood’s are typically kind of gnarled little trees and this one was C shaped, leaning away from the shed at the bottom and heavily toward it up top. Since it wasn’t huge figured maybe with a decent hinge left after cutting, the L might push it over. Before cutting, pushed on it a little with the grapple about 7’ up just to see how heavy it felt. And it moved. So I kept pushing until the near roots on the stump got closer to the grille than I preferred. Pushed on the stump from a little different angle and the whole thing came out. I was honestly shocked. Cut the stump off afterward so it won’t stick up like that for the next several years. Bringing up some clay from the pile by the first creek crossing cut to fill the hole is on the list for tomorrow.

Then to the T. As previously posted, wife blew the deck belt a couple days ago. Local dealer had one and agreed to hold it for a couple hours until I could pick it up. Wife found out that’s what I was doing for “lunch” and insisted on picking it up and paying for it herself. Picking it up was nice as it was a bit out of her way. Paying for it is kind of a running joke with us because we both know it all comes from the same pot. She did feel bad. Told her several times it’s not common but could have happened to anybody because, well… it could.

The T wasn’t surprising. This was the deck and belt as presented to me in the shop.

Despite not being ASE certified, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t match the belt routing diagram and there shouldn’t be any appendages extending from the belt.

This is why, “The mower runs fine but it’s not cutting grass.”

New belt installed. Happy, happy.

BTW, whoever designed the 3 dimensional upper level, lower level, angled idlers, overlapping belt routing on this thing: I’m pretty sure when they were a kid they didn’t have to pull the stickers off to solve their Rubik’s cube. (Like I did.) I’ve changed a bunch of belts on a bunch of stuff. That wasn’t exactly hard but it was special.

Test run successful.

And our son told me last night he got a flat on the zero turn and asked if I would help him replace it if he paid for the parts. I reminded him those tires have always been a little leaky and they’ll run off the rims eventually if you don’t air them up every couple months. He said he knew that from using it when he was in high school but forgot. We took the wheel off, mashed the tire sort of in shape, and it took air without even having to do the rope thing. Overall, a pretty good day…

 

[6869704x4]

Moving another trailer

 

[g_man]

In June I spread 40 tons (30 yds) of 3/4" stone, 3 tons at a time, on a 1/4 mile stretch of our road/driveway. 22 years ago this was a seasonal dirt woods road. This is how I turned it into a year round driveway.

Yesterday I used the L3010 and my 650 lb 5' wide land plane grading scraper to mix the stone into the existing road surface so that it will pack. It takes a couple passes before good mixing occurs.

This how it turned out

Here is a little 4 minute video tail gating one load of stone and the land plane working on a couple different passes. Some vibration on the LPGS parts.

gg

 

[mdhughes]

Used the L3901DT to put pallet forks in the truck and take down to my brother-in-law's. They are getting a wheelchair lift and they are going to use them with his LX. Not sure what model he has. They had to take his other leg a couple of months ago. So he is missing both legs just above where the knees were. I had never used a HST before, took a little to get use to. But I think I will stick with my geared tractor.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Oly smokes! Seeing that dump truck driver spread that gravel was seriously impressive. It wasn't his first rodeo.

 

[NCL4701]

Stormed most all morning so couldn’t do anything outside until late afternoon. Didn’t do much, but did swap the grapple for the bucket and chipper for boxblade. Then filled in the hole left by pushing out the tree in front of the shed yesterday. The Piranha worked well getting dirt from a pile that had been there for several years and had the roots in it to prove it.

Pre-trip; swapping implements front and back; two buckets from a dirt pile a quarter mile away; running over the fill about 6 dozen times to pack it, relevel, pack, repeat; hose off, and park: ALL that took a total of 35 minutes.

I know we’ve had the L for a few years now, but sometimes I still feel a little spoiled running a reasonably capable modern tractor. Today was one of those days. From pushing over a decent size tree yesterday to filling the stump hole today, this was all just too easy.

Didn’t exactly wash, wax, and detail after, but at least hosed off the wet clay before it dried into something resembling brick, which can actually adhere sufficiently to negatively affect performance if not removed. Much more easily removed before it dries.

 

[DustyRusty]

Moved the B2672 snow blade to its summer storage location. Thinking that since I haven't had a use for it in a few years, I will kick it down the road to someone that will have a use for it. I now use the snowblower more often with the K Connect and the K Connect plow when I need a plow.

 

[g_man]

Oly smokes! Seeing that dump truck driver spread that gravel was seriously impressive. It wasn't his first rodeo.

I have had plenty of time to practice

gg

 

[pokey1416]

The “hoe” and I removed landscape rock from the kids house to make room for outdoor AC unit.

 

[Siesta Sundance]

Moved more hay.

 

[Siesta Sundance]

In June I spread 40 tons (30 yds) of 3/4" stone, 3 tons at a time, on a 1/4 mile stretch of our road/driveway. 22 years ago this was a seasonal dirt woods road. This is how I turned it into a year round driveway.


View attachment 106876


Yesterday I used the L3010 and my 650 lb 5' wide land plane grading scraper to mix the stone into the existing road surface so that it will pack. It takes a couple passes before good mixing occurs.


View attachment 106877


This how it turned out


View attachment 106878


Here is a little 4 minute video tail gating one load of stone and the land plane working on a couple different passes. Some vibration on the LPGS parts.

gg

Nice video.

Just curious if you go back and crown the road?

 

[ajschnitzelbank]

Last few days I’ve been testing out a new spot I cleared and leveled for wood related hobbies. Cut some firewood, and grabbed some logs from my brothers property I’m going to mill for him.

Between the forks, grapple, and backhoe, I’m getting good at moving wood around!

 

[g_man]

Nice video.

Just curious if you go back and crown the road?

Good question - That section in the picture a keep a flat slope draining from the high left side to the low right. There are some big boulders just beneath the surface on the left side that I don't need to deal with right now and it drains fine. This is the profile of that section looking up hill taken several years ago after mud season.

Other portions I crown. But I crown it first with a blade

Then finish it with the LPGS

gg

 

[Vlach7]

Scaffolding, scraped paint in prep for painting.

 

[Flintknapper]

Scaffolding, scraped paint in prep for painting. View attachment 106993

Please be careful doing that.

Working out the bucket has gotten more than one person hurt.....so really watch yourself.

I use my tractor to move 'scaffolding' around. I welded up some brackets that attach to the bucket which allows me to pick it up, move it and to help anchor/steady it.

Needed it to reach a tree limb recently, since I don't have a bucket truck.

 

[Trustable]

Continued to work on a trail from my one driveway where my house is to another driveway that used to be (I think Based on the sketchy electric hookup when I moved) a camper parking area a long time ago well before I moved in or the house even being here. Cut down 4-5 trees a month ago and now pushed them out of the way with a bucket. I also tried to dig out a rotting Stump that’s right in the middle of the trail, but after 10 minutes I was already a foot deep on one side and it wasn’t moving, so I went around it for now.

 

[fried1765]

Continued to work on a trail from my one driveway where my house is to another driveway that used to be (I think Based on the sketchy electric hookup when I moved) a camper parking area a long time ago well before I moved in or the house even being here. Cut down 4-5 trees a month ago and now pushed them out of the way with a bucket. I also tried to dig out a rotting Stump that’s right in the middle of the trail, but after 10 minutes I was already a foot deep on one side and it wasn’t moving, so I went around it for now.

Bigger tractor (TLB, or mini-ex) with root ripper, needed for stumps.

 

[Trustable]

Bigger tractor (TLB, or mini-ex) with root ripper, needed for stumps.

I was thinking the same thing! If on,y I had a blank check LOL