Garden Tractor

[PeteD]

My lanscaper does serviice on the house Pete knows cost me 50 a time. That's going rate for budget mowing/trimming and we do it ever two weeks. Need to do it more now that grass is coming in strong. I did weed and feed and then limed this year so lawn is very lush after we move out right?

Oh yard size 0.4 acres for old place, new one is 1.5 acres with 50 acres of woods behind the house....ah peace and quiet.

IIRC a Scag Zero turn mower was included in the purchase, right?

[M-technik-3]

oh decided to pass on that, as i was dealing with seller and he started to bulshiit me too much. he sold it to a neighbor for less than he tried to sell it to me and it had a burn out clutch....glad i didn't buy it.

[PeteD]

^ good call. My uncle was nice enough to bring his Case 580e over. I am very impressed - it moved/dug up some BIG rocks. That road was a hill before. Probably about nine hours of work to get to that point.

[PeteD]

Alright people, I finally got one. 1979 Kubota B7100. It's a nice little 4x4 workhorse. It was in the same family for three generations.

[flyboyx]

looks to me like you made a really good choice. the bucket is huge for that size tractor. looks to be 2x the volume of mine.

how many horsepower? judging by the size, i would guess around 20? does it by chance have power steering?

i have probably already posted it here, but my L275 is very similar to this model. i would have thought mine would be older, but i think mine was built in the mid to early 80's.

[PeteD]

Thank You! It's deep 4 foot bucket. Tractor data says it is 16HP, but I have read if it is 4x4 to 10HP to that estimate, which mine is 4x4. The owner said it was 28HP. Frankly, I have no idea, but it's a little beast.

Yes I remember your tractor. You and I are now connected through e30s and kubotas haha. Are your back wheels extra wide? They look huge.

[flyboyx]

Thank You! It's deep 4 foot bucket. Tractor data says it is 16HP, but I have read if it is 4x4 to 10HP to that estimate, which mine is 4x4. The owner said it was 28HP. Frankly, I have no idea, but it's a little beast.

Yes I remember your tractor. You and I are now connected through e30s and kubotas haha. Are your back wheels extra wide? They look huge.

Yes. It’s complicated. Originally, I bought a 2wd tractor with turf tires. The price was a whopping 700 bucks! I miraculously found that pair of r4 monsters in a craigslist ad. They were brand new on the rims for 350 dollars. Time passed and another miracle happened when I found a 4wd L235(same tractor with detuned engine) with factory front end loader (5 foot bucket). It was in “puzzle condition” according to the ad. Located in Prescott, az.

After a couple weeks of negotiation and about 2500 shipped, a big pile of parts was unloaded in my back yard. It was complete except no head and no crankshaft. I spent about 2months selecting the best parts from the 2 in order to build the tractor you see in the photo above. The awesome part is that those r4 tires you see were exactly the same diameter as the tires that came with the 4wd but they are about twice as wide.

I also wound up with extremely rare power steering, a rops bar, and underslung muffler.

I sold off all the surplus parts and ended up with almost a free tractor when the dust settled.

[flyboyx]

By the way, I highly recommend taking off the (manual) steering box,cleaning it up, installing new seals and lube. If water gets in there, the bearings go bad, and it will ruin your recirculating ball syst. For my tractor, the parts are Nla. I bet they are for yours as well.

Man, when I was selling off parts, I bet I had 40 calls for the steering box. My guess is that this is a very common kubota failure point.

[PeteD]

Wow very cool! Thank You for the tip. NLA parts was my big fear when purchasing this tractor. I'll have to find the seals and then do a clean up, especially because I plan to plow with it. Is there a good go-to spot for Kubota Parts?

[flyboyx]

Wow very cool! Thank You for the tip. NLA parts was my big fear when purchasing this tractor. I'll have to find the seals and then do a clean up, especially because I plan to plow with it. Is there a good go-to spot for Kubota Parts?

Locally, all we have here is about 5 landsdown moody dealerships. They are pretty pricey, but sometimes you need a part yesterday. I try to buy on line when I can, but still Have not found much of a discount. All four of my loader cylinders are pissing fluid and I really need to rebuild them. Unfortunately, kubota charges 110.00 a kit for a few small orings and seals. I need to take one apart and see if I can find the parts at McMaster Carr.

[M-technik-3]

Nice tractor Pete. I couldn't afford a bota they command too high of a price still here in the NorthEast as you know.

[mrsleeve]

I am shopping hard for a 40ish HP 4wd unit with a lift capacity of 1800+ on the loader. so if anyone runs across a case IH 3220 4wd thats not beat to shit let me know.....

[gwb72tii]

Good thread
I just bought 8 acres to build our house on and shortplat down the line.
PO uses a 4wd Kubota diesel to mow it and keep the grass under control.

So here’s a question. From all the mowing over the years the acreage is furrowed, to the extent that when I used his Kubota to mow where our house is going I kept on almost getting bucked off the tractor.
How can I smooth out the furrows?

[flyboyx]

Good thread
I just bought 8 acres to build our house on and shortplat down the line.
PO uses a 4wd Kubota diesel to mow it and keep the grass under control.

So here’s a question. From all the mowing over the years the acreage is furrowed, to the extent that when I used his Kubota to mow where our house is going I kept on almost getting bucked off the tractor.
How can I smooth out the furrows?

what kind of soil do you have? depending on your answer, possibly the bucket would work. maybe you need a rototiller. possibly a box blade, or maybe if you have sandy ground(doubt it) you could get by with a drag.

if your soil is clay, the best thing would be to wait for a good rain. let it sit for a couple days and then push it around with a box blade.

[gwb72tii]

what kind of soil do you have? depending on your answer, possibly the bucket would work. maybe you need a rototiller. possibly a box blade, or maybe if you have sandy ground(doubt it) you could get by with a drag.

if your soil is clay, the best thing would be to wait for a good rain. let it sit for a couple days and then push it around with a box blade.

Sandy loam, essentially really good topsoil without much rock. Builder said we should plant vegetables and not build a house.
PO suggested renting a roller and waiting until the soil is nearly dry and rolling it