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.

I did a bit of research on the NC guy that allegedly shot the three Asplundh tree workers. Certainly not a "model" citizen, but previously, non-violent. DWI multiple times and a concealed weapon charge.

https://webapps.doc.state.nc.u...chresults&listpage=1

I did call the Yancey County, NC Sheriff's Department today and spoke with the lead investigator assigned to the case.
It's a very mountainous rural county, with only 13,000 or so permanent residents, and the tallest USA mountain east of the Mississippi River is located in Yancey County, NC.
I have likely ridden my Harley Davidson motorcycle through Yancey County before, while on a M/C Touring trip and the "Tail of the Dragon" ride.

The case has not yet gone to trial, and they were not able to discuss the matter very much at this time.
They stated, call back in several months, and when the trial has concluded, a significantly more free flow of information can take place.

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:

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.

I'd venture a guess that the difference being your have a home on the residential property, they know that, and since this is a residential property they want to be sure the crews are not met by someone like the NC guy and get hurt so you get a card and visit..

They see your recreational property as unoccupied and just didn't send a notice to the owner, or, feel the need to pay to send an employee to drive around to each property to check. Wonder if any of your neighbors got a postcard or notice from them. If so it sounds like they have a rule in the company that they don't notice unoccupied parcels...

The problem is, NYS Public Service Commission regulations require advance tree trimming notifications for ANY parcel that will receive easement tree trimming.
The reason they require notification is to minimize as close to zero as possible, North Carolina events, West Virginia events, and events like mine.
By Mail, Phone, or In Person.
The Cabin is visible from the town road, and it IS occupied at times. The recreational property/cabin also has an "Official" 911/EMS street address.
Those Asplundh and NYSEG people are just simply lazy. And GREED plays into the equation as well.

The Asplundh foreman made three statements in front of the NYS DEC Police Officer. This segment below, between the "stars" is from Page 11 in this thread, at the top of the page.

*******
2.) At my on site meeting addressing the trespassing, that same Foreman made three statements in front of sworn Law Enforcement personnel. (The NYS DEC Police Officer, and he wrote every statement the Foreman made in his "official case files" field notebook. My lawyer got that official case file information via subpoena)
a.) The Foreman stated that his crew did the trespassing/road building.
b.) The Foreman stated he knew it was wrong to trespass and build the heavy equipment roads in my woods, and even knowing it was wrong, he still did it.
c.) The Foreman stated that the power company paid the tree trimming company "by the mile" of easement tree trimming, time is money, and he didn't have time to follow laws, rules and regulations.
*******

The Asplundh foreman knew they hadn't followed the NYS PSC regulations. They had not provided any advance notice.
Both the house and the cabin have a NYSEG utility/electricity monthly bill. They know who to contact, and where, and how. NYSEG hired the subcontractor, Asplundh.
HRK, to me, it "reeks" of corporate laziness and greed.

My home is very close to being as rural as the recreational property/cabin.
I actually have closer distance neighbors at the recreational property/cabin vs at the house.

I'd agree based on the comments that it was laziness and indifference on the tree companies part.

We've had a few companies come into the neighborhood to trim up trees, post hurricane, maintenance etc. Not once have I met a tree worker that has a lick of sense, most are nuts based on the way they'll get up in a tree.

In short they only care about removing trees, and getting paid.. Everything else is in the way.

My brand new Cuddeback/Cuddelink trail camera system has arrived!

One home camera (central image collection/transmission device) and six remote cameras for out in the woods. One of the remote cameras will be set up in surveillance mode, and continuously watching the recreational property cabin/gate. So five remaining remote cameras for watching deer, turkeys, bears, and trespassers. Perhaps more remote cameras can be added next year, the system will allow up to a maximum of 23 remote cameras all using one home camera as a image collection/transmission device.

Each camera unit runs on four D size alkaline batteries, so 28 in total needed for my initial setup.
Sam's Club had the best deal for D size alkaline batteries, and had 14 batteries in a blister pack.
The perfect numerical quantity per blister pack for my needs, and I bought two.

I will wait and see about long term battery life for the home camera, before buying the 120 vac power adapter. ($20) We do have grid power in the cabin, so long term, that may be the most practical solution.
I expect the home camera will be the most battery power hungry, as it consumes battery power
while collecting images from all of the remote cameras, and sending images to the Cuddeback server
via LTE cell signal for eventual remote camera image distribution to email addresses and texting cell phone images.

Amazon had the best deals on San Disk 32 GB SD cards, with one 32 GB SD card needed for each camera.
I found three packs (three 32 GB SD cards packaged as one unit) of what I needed, so I bought three of the three packs, and will have several SD cards leftover as spares.
(10,000's of full resolution camera still images per card using the 32 GB SD cards, the maximum capacity SD card size allowed)

In my spare time, I am "digesting" perhaps fifty or more pages of detailed trail camera system documentation.
The remote cameras have two distinct separate user interfaces.
The first, the "Simple" uses mostly pre programmed settings and is quick for setup & deployment.
The second, the "Advanced" allows almost any stock pre programmed camera setting to be modified as needed. They do however, suggest starting with the "Simple" user interface and the stock pre programmed settings.

One item that really grabbed my attention, the camera system is bi-directional.
If you log into your account on the Cuddeback website, the camera system will work in a reverse direction and allows changing most (not all) remote in the woods trail camera adjustments/settings from anyplace in the world with a decent internet connection.

Also, as camera "firmware" over time is improved, or remote camera features are upgraded, the camera firmware version can be upgraded to the most recent by plugging a properly equipped SD card into each camera, and upgrading the camera firmware. The trail camera firmware updated versions as features/bugs are addressed, is available for free from the Cuddeback website.
You only need one SD card with the updated firmware on it, and it plugs into each camera one at a time, out in the field, for the remote camera firmware updating process.

Initial setup, various camera settings, both user interfaces, troubleshooting, and expected system performance information is all in the documentation available as a downloaded zip file from Cuddeback.

The Cuddeback/Cuddelink trail camera system is designed here in the USA.
It is manufactured in China (like most all consumer electronics is) and built to the USA specifications.

So far, the documentation translation from foreign language to English appears quite good.

The detailed documentation shows some real thoughtful/smart people designed the system.

For example, when you set up the system, you enable, setup/deploy the home camera first. (in the cabin)
When you go and setup/deploy the first camera in the woods, before beginning the walk or drive to the location for that first remote camera, you use the Simple user interface, and put that camera you are going to deploy into a "Signal Strength Meter Mode" and it will continuously show the level or strength of the "Mesh Wi-Fi" signal being transmitted/received from the previously setup/deployed home camera.

The first remote in the woods camera will display on the LCD Simple interface ---- if the remote camera
being set up is not receiving any transmission signal from the home camera. So now you know you have exceeded the distance the signal is capable of traveling. The signal strength meter can display from
---- No signal, and up to 99 which is the maximum interconnected camera Wi-Fi signal strength.

They recommend a signal strength of 40 or higher for good image speed transmission between the various distributed remote cameras. They do advertise quarter mile remote camera distance separation for in the woods usage, and up to several miles distance for remote camera distance separation in open/ flat terrain.

It is some Hi Tech electronics!
I will likely print out the Simple user interface documentation and the quick start guide before beginning the camera system setup/deployment task. I now have all the needed hardware, batteries and SD cards for system setup/deployment.

There are three different available flash choices for nighttime photos/video capture.
You order your cameras with the flash unit choice that you prefer.
However, you can purchase separate flash modules, and change them out if your initial preference needed to be changed. The end user can change the flash modules out in the field.
"Strobe" is white light flash, highly visible to the human eye, and the longest distance flash option.
"IR" is medium distance flash performance, and somewhat visible to the human eye.
"Black Flash" is the shortest distance flash performance, and completely invisible to the human eye.
They advertise fifty foot distance for good quality nighttime still photos using Black flash modules.
Nighttime color video capture is only available with the White light strobe option.

I ordered my Cuddeback camera system with the Black Flash option, as it is less likely to be spotted at night, and have expensive remote cameras stolen due to visible light flash being spotted by humans.

My safety decals/stickers for the top surface of the mower deck have arrived. I will stick them in place the next time we get a warm sunny day here.
I took photos of a brand new Kubota mower deck sitting on a shipping pallet at the Kubota dealership when I picked up the replacement safety decals/stickers.
I want the finished appearance/look to be just like the Factory done decal/sticker installation/placement.

Also, for the second time in the last month, maybe six weeks, my local Kubota dealership offered me a job.
I told them this time, and the same as last time, no thanks, not interested. Find somebody else!

Those that know Kubota tractors and implements, they have a sticker on every tractor and implement with the Model number and Serial number. This is for ordering the correct parts and is for Serial number break points during a particular Model production run. Those Model/Serial stickers are not available from Kubota, and quite costly to reproduce via aftermarket due to setup cost for producing a one off sticker. I did successfully remove my Model/Serial sticker from my mower deck before repainting it, and without tearing or delaminating it.
I believe I will try some two part epoxy for reattaching that sticker.

Navigating Chronic Wasting Disease Webinar - Recorded Apr. 1, 2025

New ways to test real time with monitored licks.

Wisconsin's Green Fire and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation bring you a presentation by Dr. Peter Larsen of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research & Outreach. Dr. Larsen will cover the latest research discoveries and technological innovations in the study and management of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Learn more at wigreenfire.org.

^^^
@41, Thanks for the CWD update video!

Today, 37 Fahrenheit and a few snow flurries. Grass growth rate has slowed to almost none.
I got the replacement safety stickers back onto the repainted deck.

That pesky OEM sticker on the mower deck that has the Model number and Serial number on it has proved to be somewhat troublesome.
You cannot buy a replacement Model number/Serial number sticker from Kubota.
Aftermarket reproduction sticker quote was $288 for a one-off replacement. (a company in Boston that specializes in that type of product line)
I do understand, high setup cost, graphic designer to do the job, machine setup/materials cost, for the payout/profit on one stinking reproduction label.

Over on a tractor forum, somebody suggested sticking a piece of 3M Pro clear stone chip paint protective film over the top of the somewhat loosely attached Model/Serial numbers sticker.
I spent multiple hours several days ago stopping in at every local auto body shop, parts store, and auto detailing shop.
I need a 4" x 4" square max size of that clear protective stone chip film.
It's easy to buy a big roll of the stuff that will cover the side of a tractor trailer, and I only need about four square inches.

I did finally find a supply, and they gave me a square about 5" x 5" and refused any payment.
When/if it ever warms up again, I will stick a square of the clear stone chip protective film over that Model/Serial numbers sticker!

IMG_20250414_142357599_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

IMG_20250414_142334985_HDR by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr