Thats one good thing about being up north, you get plenty of down time on machines to maintain and improve/upgrade things like mowers and motorcycles.

That new/used machines leaks created the opportunity to find and fix other things, usually the way it goes. the Deck looks good too.

BTW was that safety loop made for Shaquille O'Neal? That's one tall loop.

Can you run lithium batteries in your cameras, imagine they would last longer, it's what we run in my security cams.

Yes, the height of the ROPS was undoubtably influenced by the Kubota legal department.
The higher the ROPS is, the less likely a foolish operator can get the machine upside down.
It is however hinged, and when folded down, extends to the rear of the machine.
The hinge point is just about the height of the top of the seat back.
I will have to use it under the trees folded down.

It is better to have a ROPS and not need it, than need a ROPS, and not have one.

If I could locate the upper half of a second hand ROPS, I would cut it down in height, reweld, and use it in a shorter height form factor.

I have run the Lithium non-rechargeable "AA" batteries in trail cameras before, with vastly increased service life.
So far, I have been unable to source non-rechargeable Lithium batteries in "D" size. (I haven't looked very hard yet)

The Cuddeback/Cuddelink trail camera system is on the big brown truck today. I should get to see what a grand buys in consumer electronics later this afternoon.

I got the Kubota deck reassembled and installed yesterday. I may need to remove it and disassemble it for the second time.
I drove the machine around the driveway for about 20 minutes while having the mid PTO engaged. I saw a little puddle of what appeared to be gear lube near the belt pulley
on the deck gearbox. It was popcorn fart dry in that location when the deck was on the steel sawhorses.
Generally, when a seal on a gearbox leaks, the spinning shaft "flings" the leaking lubricant, and it makes a gigantic pig mess.
I didn't see any flinging, just a little puddle. I was interrupted with rain yesterday, and I'm heading to the barn later today for further investigation.

@HRK,
The repairs/upgrades time is shorter than you think. My barn building isn't heated. I don't mind going out and working in the building when it's 40+ Fahrenheit or higher.
In the dead of winter, no way I'm doing that.

I won't bore anybody with the technical jargon, but I am 99.99999% sure that the Kubota mower deck gearbox is NOT leaking.
After looking it over again today, and cleaning up gear oil residue, I drove the tractor while spinning the mower deck blades, and zero leakage.
The source of the gear oil appears to be leftover from the dealership service work.
(they changed the gear oil in the mower deck gearbox, and them draining it, filled a depressed area in the deck, below the mower deck gearbox)

The mower deck gearbox lubricant fill plug is located on the top of the gearbox, and is readily accessible without removing the mower deck from the tractor.
Using a short piece of coat hanger, I made a mower deck gearbox lubricant dipstick, for easily checking the lubricant level. I filed little graduations in the coat hanger for easy visibility.

After assuring myself that the gearbox leak wasn't real, I painted the factory Kubota BX grill guard/front bumper that I bought used. I used the same paint that I put on the mower deck.
I was down to my last Dollar Store paintbrush, so the painting was one heavy coat on the grill guard, that likely will take a week to dry/cure.
I'm really happy now the way the machine turned out. The Kubota Orange paint is an oil based Rust-Oleum implement paint product, sold at Lowe's in a quart can.
It is a pretty good color match for brush paint on a tractor.

I ordered two replacement safety decals for the mower deck. The ones that say Don't place any body parts under the deck, or they will get cut off. They were removed for painting, with a scraper.

I'm ready for mowing season!

IMG_20250402_150855266_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_20250402_150749599_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_20250402_150934202 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_20250402_150952831_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

We got significant rain over the last 12 hours. The grass at the house is turning green fast, and the winter "brown" is disappearing.
When the grill guard paintjob had dried for a day inside the building, it was dry enough to pick it up and place it outside in the sun and wind yesterday.
After some outside time for solar powered paint drying/curing, I bolted it on the front of the machine.
It's about time for the BX 2370 to earn it's keep.

I got a heavy duty steel shelving/racking unit for Christmas, and a pair of heavy duty cast black reinforced rubber ramps for my Birthday. The ramps are rated for 5000 pounds.
The shelving/racking unit is for inside the shipping container, to get smaller items and tools up off of the shipping container floor.
There is about a five to six inch transition from the ground outside the shipping container up to the interior floor of the shipping container.
I have been using pieces of 4" X 4" lumber for easing machinery in and out of the shipping container, those cast black rubber ramps are 5" tall, and should work much better than chunks of wood.
We have guests arriving mid April for a Funeral, and I've got to get the shelving/racking unit and the rubber ramps out of the house and up to the recreational property/shipping container.

IMG_20250404_150246271_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_20250404_150545686_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Front Brush Guard looks good, I agree about cutting the ROPS down if you can find a spare out there.

You could also put some LED lights up there, fore and aft, for those times you want to night mow or whatever. LED light bars are not expensive on Amazon, stuck one on the front of the Golf Cart, lights up the road/path big time...

Link

There is an opportunity for a potential settlement for the recreational property unauthorized timber cutting/road building/property destruction/trespassing problem that I had back in late summer 2023.
Any settlement offer will likely come with the requirement of signing a non disclosure agreement. (NDA)
But at this time, nothing has been signed yet.
And if/when I sign the NDA, I won't be able to discuss the event or any potential settlement.

So I will publicly identify the two corporations involved in my dispute here and now, for the world to see, before I can't.
The "power company" involved in the dispute is New York State Electric and Gas.
The "tree trimming" subcontractor is Asplundh Tree Expert Company LLC.

Doing a public information search for similar type events, the following items were located.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/3-tr...t/story?id=112258777

https://wvrecord.com/stories/5...-property-in-lawsuit

Regarding the event in North Carolina, the alleged shooter, WHY did he shoot the tree company workers? Fun? Target practice? Shits & giggles? Highly Unlikely.
What is the possibility that the tree company workers were doing something someplace they should not have been doing it?
An enraged property owner, fed up with corporate backed/encouraged trespassing & property damage?

I've been told in the past that I can be an asshole at times.
This is likely another one of those times that I'm an asshole yet again.
I don't condone/promote/deliver/or encourage violence, but in my own personal/uninformed/simple opinion, that guy in North Carolina should have received a medal, not a prison sentence.

^^^
HRK,
I do have two of the LED light bars up on the front/rear of the ROPS on my other Kubota, the loader/backhoe model. They work great!
I had four mounted, and using the machine in the woods, the L/R side ROPS mounted light bars have been destroyed and are now removed.
Proof that a cab tractor is not the correct choice for my usage.

The mower Kubota, up here you just can't night mow. As twilight is arriving, the grass is soaked with dew.
I did install a pair of LED headlight bulbs in the mower Kubota, replacing the stock halogen bulbs.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
There is an opportunity for a potential settlement for the recreational property unauthorized timber cutting/road building/property destruction/trespassing problem that I had back in late summer 2023.
Any settlement offer will likely come with the requirement of signing a non disclosure agreement. (NDA)
But at this time, nothing has been signed yet.
And if/when I sign the NDA, I won't be able to discuss the event or any potential settlement.

So I will publicly identify the two corporations involved in my dispute here and now, for the world to see, before I can't.
The "power company" involved in the dispute is New York State Electric and Gas.
The "tree trimming" subcontractor is Asplundh Tree Expert Company LLC.

Doing a public information search for similar type events, the following items were located.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/3-tr...t/story?id=112258777

https://wvrecord.com/stories/5...-property-in-lawsuit

Regarding the event in North Carolina, the alleged shooter, WHY did he shoot the tree company workers? Fun? Target practice? Shits & giggles? Highly Unlikely.
What is the possibility that the tree company workers were doing something someplace they should not have been doing it?
An enraged property owner, fed up with corporate backed/encouraged trespassing & property damage?

I've been told in the past that I can be an asshole at times.
This is likely another one of those times that I'm an asshole yet again.
I don't condone/promote/deliver/or encourage violence, but in my own personal/uninformed/simple opinion, that guy in North Carolina should have received a medal, not a prison sentence.

When you mentioned the NC incident I thought you were going to cite an event that occurred here in Moore County, NC last year.
Seems there was an alleged utility worker walking down a power line easement taking pictures. That easement went through a guys property and when the owner went out to see what that guy was taking pictures of apparently he didn’t like the answer and a scuffle broke out and the property owner shot the guy….

It turns out that the “utility worker” wasn’t a utility worker at all but a Russian national. And the property owner was a Delta Operator…

No charges were filed. A classic case of FAFO.

Yeah, that NC guy in my linked ABC news article.

I do know he's likely screwed. A bunch of years in the joint as a reward for being screwed over by corporate culture, get the job done at any cost mentality, even if/when you encourage your employees to trespass to get a job completed faster, through pay plans that may reward performance over regulations/laws, and property owner notification compliance, all for obtaining more easement tree trimming money from the utilities.

It appears the NC guy lost his temper and really overreacted. I get that.
I can't say for sure, as I didn't personally witness the event.
I don't believe anything from the news media, or corporate and LEO spokespersons.
Looks like a perfect example of FAFO to me.

So in my book, he is still a hero. Even with the probable out of control overreaction.
I will need to contact that County Sheriff and see what the final disposition is on the case.
I don't have any problem at all with making a generous contribution to his NC prison
commissary account. I might even write him a letter and tell him that he is "my" hero.

Like I said earlier, I have been called an asshole before.
If anyone wants to call me an asshole now, have at it.
I have thick skin.

Here is a great funny.
We received a postcard from NYSEG/Asplundh this winter at the house.
The notice said some tree trimming was going to take place nearby.
Someone from Asplundh would come to the house and discuss the nearby tree trim work.

Several days later, someone did show up, and we discussed the who/what/where for the nearby job. Simple, smooth, problem free. I casually mentioned the ABC news article about
the NC incident, and the intelligent well spoken young man hadn't heard anything about the incident. Looks like corporate didn't want the employees outside the incident area to hear anything about it. It will likely for some, "chill" the desire for trespassing, cutting illegal roads, and unauthorized tree cutting. I got my phone out and let the young
Asplundh guy read the article. He turned pale. Corporate hadn't said a word about the NC incident. I asked him to share the news article with his coworkers.

What's really sad, we never received any notification at all, that easement tree trimming would be taking place at the recreational property. All the misery, lost sleep, money spent, trees cut down, property damage, historical stone wall destroyed, and more, all for the lack of mailing out a simple postcard notification for upcoming tree trimming work.