The toothless, inbred, booger-eating, banjo-picking moron that designed the transmission linkage should be tenderized with a Lousiville Slugger, shot, hung, drawn and quartered and burned at the stake.

It has a treadle-type control. Push on the front to go forward, push on the back to back up, take your foot off it to return to neutral and stop.

Problem is twofold: It has to be adjusted EXACTLY right to find neutral and if you don't have it in neutral A) it won't start or B)it shuts down if you get off the seat.

Plus, the fucking thing moves on it's own and will drift into forward just sitting there idling. Unless you shift the range lever into neutral and set the brake, it will creep forward and/or shut down.

If I clean, lube and adjust everything just right, it works for a month or two and then goes back to it's old habits.

We actually got enough snow to bother moving (first time in 2 years) and hooking up the snowblower was a friggin' nightmare.

First the tractor wouldn't start, neutral switch was frozen. Jumpered around it and got it started, then I couldn't get it to stay in neutral unless I had my foot on the pedal holding it. With the neutral switch jumpered out, at least it didn't shut down, but I had to put it in neutral and set the brake before I dared to get out of it.

The blower hasn't been hooked up in a couple of years and has set in the barn so (as is often the case with unused equipment) things needed fixing for no apparent reason. Hydraulic adjuster for the chute deflector spit out a mounting bolt and the connector for the electric chute rotation had a wire come loose.

But at least I didn't break any shear bolts!

If I can catch a warm day, I'll put it in the garage and go all through the linkage. Again. Maybe replace the neutral detent roller and spring.

I have a little Bolens/Iseki hydro tractor and the treadle is just crap. I'm starting to think when I upgrade I'll go with the 2 pedal design of the Deere machines.

The Bolens saving grace is at least it has a separate clutch pedal so I don't have to worry so much about being exact with it. Just makes the learning curve for teaching others a bit more involved.

quote:

Originally posted by Gibb:
I have a little Bolens/Iseki hydro tractor and the treadle is just crap. I'm starting to think when I upgrade I'll go with the 2 pedal design of the Deere machines.

The Bolens saving grace is at least it has a separate clutch pedal so I don't have to worry so much about being exact with it. Just makes the learning curve for teaching others a bit more involved.

I much prefer the 2 pedal design myself (my LX178 lawn tractor uses it), but everything else about the comparable John Deere comes in a distant second to Kubota IMHO.

Plus the local JD dealer is an asshole.

Preach it brother!

I loathe the parking brake on the Kubota. I would like to take a rubber hose to whomever designed it. Of course, when I get off the seat I can tell immediately if it is set correctly by whether or not the little diesel conks out.

No problems with the treadle yet.

should be a sensor in the seat, pull the wire and jump it with a paperclip and you can get out whenever you like and the engine should still run.

My JD has that as well, unless the parking brake is on, if you get off with it running it kills the engine.

same for the reverse switch when the pto/blades are engaged, you have to press a button to back up, that gets a paperclip jumper as well...

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by Gibb:
I have a little Bolens/Iseki hydro tractor and the treadle is just crap. I'm starting to think when I upgrade I'll go with the 2 pedal design of the Deere machines.

The Bolens saving grace is at least it has a separate clutch pedal so I don't have to worry so much about being exact with it. Just makes the learning curve for teaching others a bit more involved.

I much prefer the 2 pedal design myself (my LX178 lawn tractor uses it), but everything else about the comparable John Deere comes in a distant second to Kubota IMHO.

Plus the local JD dealer is an asshole.

I had to check to see where you live.

Your JD dealer sounds exactly like the previous one here. They finally came in and took the JD dealership away from him.

I have forgotten what he tries to sell now.

I have a Mahindra with a hydrostatic drive. It has separate pedals for forward and reverse.

The treadle is the primary reason I went with the JD over the comparable Kubota.

quote:

Originally posted by the_sandman_454:
The treadle is the primary reason I went with the JD over the comparable Kubota.

My old JD750 had steel fenders/hood/cowl. On the JD equivalent to my Kubota, they are all plastic. Kubota is still steel (except for the outer portion of the fenders, dammit...) The loader control allows multiple simultaneous operation (raise and roll back, for instance) where the JD didn't. Kubota allows for PTO operation without the operator in the seat (log splitter, for instance) JD didn't

I would find a way to bypass some of that.

I just spent a pleasant couple of hours crawling around on my belly like a snake under a cold, wet, dripping tractor. Lubed and attempted to adjust the hydro linkage only to find out that the effin' neutral safety switch has defecated in the sleeping apparatus. Again. Another $50 plus shipping for a replacement. I'm gonna order two and have one on the shelf as it appears to be a consumable on this tractor.

I did wire around it so I can use the tractor. In fact, I may just make up a permanent jumper plug and not even bother to replace the sumbitch. As long as the pedal is in neutral, there's no issue anyway. Just gotta be smarter than the tractor.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

It has a treadle-type control. Push on the front to go forward, push on the back to back up, take your foot off it to return to neutral and stop.

Problem is twofold: It has to be adjusted EXACTLY right to find neutral and if you don't have it in neutral A) it won't start or B)it shuts down if you get off the seat.

Plus, the fucking thing moves on it's own and will drift into forward just sitting there idling. Unless you shift the range lever into neutral and set the brake, it will creep forward and/or shut down.......

I haven't experienced any creep, when I let off the peddle it just comes to a complete stop. Was your B2650 always like this or did it start doing this at some point?
Kubota's treadle seems perfectly natural for me. Personally I don't like two peddles where you push one forward to go forward and another peddle right beside it forward to go backwards.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

I haven't experienced any creep, when I let off the peddle it just comes to a complete stop. Was your B2650 always like this or did it start doing this at some point?
Kubota's treadle seems perfectly natural for me. Personally I don't like two peddles where you push one forward to go forward and another peddle right beside it forward to go backwards.

Started about a year after I bought it. I've adjusted it to work properly several times, lasts a few months. MUCH worse in cold weather. Replaced the neutral switch once a couple of years ago when it shorted to ground and kept blowing the OPC fuse.

The switch is inadequately protected/waterproofed/designed and the return spring on the treadle linkage doesn't have enough tension and isn't adjustable without major disassembly, if then. Just a piss-poor design and my research indicates that it's pretty much endemic to treadle-controlled Kubotas.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
If I can catch a warm day, I'll put it in the garage and go all through the linkage. Again. Maybe replace the neutral detent roller and spring.

Another hobby! What joy!

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Started about a year after I bought it. I've adjusted it to work properly several times, lasts a few months. MUCH worse in cold weather.....

The switch is inadequately protected/waterproofed/designed and the return spring on the treadle linkage doesn't have enough tension and isn't adjustable without major disassembly, if then. Just a piss-poor design and my research indicates that it's pretty much endemic to treadle-controlled Kubotas.

OK thanks it's something I'll watch out for on my L2501 which is now 2 years and 98 hours old.

Take a look at this link I found on a tractor forum. It offers some possible fixes to your problem. Who knows? LINK

Part of the reason I love my old John Deere GT262 mower is the manual transmission. I've fought with hydrostatics enough that it's just not worth the hassle to me anymore. Push the clutch in, select the gear, release the clutch, and go. No muss no fuss. That's the way it ought to be.

That said, I've had to rewire the seat safety, and completely bypass the ignition switch and install a starter button in order to get the PTO to engage. The thing will probably run forever if I can keep on top of the electrical stupidity and the deck doesn't rust past my buddy's ability to weld it.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
The thing will probably run forever if I can keep on top of the electrical stupidity and the deck doesn't rust past my buddy's ability to weld it.

I bought my LX178 in 1995, so it'll be 26 years old this Spring. Still running the original deck and spindles. Only thing I've ever replaced on the deck is belts and blades.

Two reasons for this: It's kept under cover (garage in the Summer, toolshed in the Winter) and every Fall before I store it, the deck is removed, scraped/wire brushed to shiny metal on the underside and given a good coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. Top is touched up as needed.

Yeah, sadly my deck is a bit past that point. I take it off and clean it every fall, but I probably should have gone further and sandblasted/painted. It does get stored inside, but it's a '93 or '94 (I got it used about 10 years ago) and it's starting to show it's age. I missed a chance to buy another one locally on craigslist a couple of years ago for $600, and I'm still kicking myself for not jumping on it.

I have not had the same problems as Paul is having. When I take my foot off the pedal, it returns to neutral and stops. Now, I do have around 41 hours on it, so maybe with time it will do the same thing?
I was really worried about getting the turf tires on my new tractor. I was worried that it would be bad in the mud and the snow.
After this fall and with the new house being built, I had plenty of mud and yes it was pretty bad, but not as bad as I thought.
Now, with all the snow we have had here, I find that it is much better than I thought in the snow.
I had turf tires on my last tractor and it was passable in the snow, but this tractor is better in the snow, must be the added weight?
I will really find out tomorrow how it does in the snow. I will be plowing my long driveway with about 10-12 inches of snow in it.