Sept 2014:
Here’s a photo of a 1997- B2400 tractor.. not the one I just got.. nope.. this is what it would look like if it was in better shape not in pieces. And if it had a mower deck.. (I do not). Here’s the one I have…
And this is where I found it .. Way up a rural road.. Way up.. Truth is this is the second time I’ve seen it .. The first time was the winter of 2012.. and it had a lot of snow on it and it was down at a shop in the Kettle Valley.
And I was not very impressed. However the owner dropped the price .. a lot.. And I hemmed and hawed.. for a year and a half.. What the heck.. I can’t really lose.. The motor runs.. and it’s a Kubota ! would be a great winter project just like the Kubota F2400 was. This too has been sitting for years .. because something went wrong in the gears… locking up the rear wheels.. The owner did not want to pay thousands to fix it ..so here I am.
And there it goes… great way to try the new trailer out.. This photo was taken quickly at the Midway Scale.. Yes this is a small tractor. And fixed up it will fetch $6000. to $7000. so hell yes I’ll fix it..
The Loader alone is worth quite a bit.. But the loader & tractor together has more value.
It’s more than just the gears. Cosmetically this tractor is a hurting unit.. Needs new tires too. So it’s not a cheap fix. But ! This is a Kubota.. and I know how hard they work and how durable they are. This was a very nice one .. with lots of good features. :
- Hydrostatic Drive with Hi / low range
- 4 wheel drive
- Bi- Speed Power steering ?
- Separate wheel Brakes for fast turns
- Two Speed PTO.
- Mid PTO.. so a Mower deck can work to.
- Legendary 24 hp 3 cylinder Kubota Diesel
What more could you want..? Maybe someone to figure out where the pieces go.. Naa I’m good at that. But there is a lot of levers and no labels. But I’ve got the Operators manual… and the Shop manual on my computer.
How does this Kubota Differ from My BX :
Aside from the size.. And the B2400 is a bit bigger, both the wheels and the motor. There is some more conventional tractor stuff.. a clutch, split brakes, also a cruise control.. Missing stuff.. well even though there is a mid PTO all the mower deck hook ups are missing. The BX has turn signals.. the B2400 just has hazard flashers.
I’m not thinking this tractor ever had a mower deck.. Given that all four farm tires were filled with calcium for weight .. this was just a front end loader tractor..
Into The Shop :
No good just sitting on the trailer.. There was a break in the rain so I figured it was time to get the poor thing in out of the weather.
First I took the chains off the rear wheels.. Then with the BX I could lift the rear..UGGG.. well I guess there must be calcium in the tires.. because it’s heavy. The little guy could only bare some of the weight.. but enough to move it.. And that lifted my rear wheels off the ground.. Good thing for 4×4 ! Once I had it in the middle of the driveway.. I used the BX to lift the loader off.. and set it aside.
Then I picked up the rear again and into the shop..
The Work Starts:
I’m actually starting this project kinda early.. so there will be a lot of time when nothing is done.. and I’m playing with other stuff.. No worries..no hurries. Better stock up on brake cleaner & penetrating oil… there is a lot of rusty bolts. I putzed a bit on it after getting in the shop.. The rear wheels need to come of .. But the nuts won’t budge. I removed the remaining fender.. motor covers.. the very dead battery.. Peeked into the top of the differential case.. hmm The mechanic had taken some stuff a part to see if the problem was obvious.. so all the covers are off the transmission and diff.. and some leavers are hanging there too.. oh fun..
LOCKED WHEELS…. FIXED !
Dave got home from the coast and was really wanting to check out the tractor.. last time he saw it was when it was buried in snow. So curiosity got the best of us.. And here’s an example of how good Dave and I are at diagnosing a problem when we put our heads together. First I have to say that the mechanic that looked at the tractor and said “big job to fix” did not raise the rear wheels off the ground.. AND may or may not have noticed that the floor boards where the return springs for the foot brakes are attached… were so beat up that those springs were gone.. (I have them in a bucket of parts).. Not that he is not a good mechanic.. no I would not say that.. I think he just wasn’t interested in the job …. SO with the wheels in the air we are able to turn shafts and try different levers… to see what was stopping the wheels.. One of those things was the brakes.. Dave was able to wiggle the wheels just a bit.. and so I thought I’d try the brakes to see if they worked.. Well there was not much movement in the pedal… but they seamed floppy. so I pulled back on them and …. the wheels turned ! The freak’n brakes were on! Just the weight of the big brake pedals was enough to hold the wheels from moving ! Wow are those good brakes. So the cause of all the problems is the poor condition of the floor boards.. They are seriously bent up and the metal is broken in lots of places.. They are interfering with the operation of the brakes as well as the forward & reverse controls.
See how beat up they are.. the bottom one in the photo is the one that caused the most grief. It even has a hole worn in it..
In the above photo you can see how the weight of those big pedals and their arms can pull on the brakes.
SO now I need to put those covers back on the transmission.. Move the tractor back outside and give it a good bath.. Then replace the filters and new fluids.. and see how it runs.
Ok I got the three covers back on the Transmission.. Had to sort out which bolts go where.. and Clean everything good. I use Permatex silicone gasket goo.. for sealing thing up. It now makes sense what lever is what.. and where it goes.. Looks like I’m missing the control knob for the rear lift. Considering all the bits & pieces were in a soggy falling apart box.. I’m doing good.
Rob Puttith together… Rob Takeith apart:
No not the stuff I just put together.. I want to clean up the tractor.. One hidden area was behind the dash panel. So I took that apart.. And look at the crap there.. Plus after I pulled the steering wheel off I noticed a missing bearing or bushing ? So that needs a fix.. Also the wiring is back there and that needs attention. Oh ya..
The Kubota light switch is a weak spot. I had to fix the one on my BX. They are not very water proof.. and tend to stop working.. Good thing I made sure to check this one out.. Look at the wires they are melted ! In fact there was a bit of a fire in the dash.. because a few things are melted.. Mostly wires .. no real damage. Now that switch would not have worked well.. or at all. and could have caused the meltdown or fire.. I’m thinking that replacing this with two sturdy toggle switches would be wise.
Got most of the parts:
And I’ve also given the tractor a much needed bath..
Now that things are clean ..it will be easier to work on. See the difference in the fuel tank.
And the motor too.. Next step is too change the oil , the filters and run the motor… test the drive & hydraulics .
It’s the thanksgiving long weekend.. and I can’t get the new filters till Tuesday.. So I did two things.. Cleaned and repaired the fuel filter.. The shut off was not working so I took it apart and found the handle just bent enough that it would not make contact with the valve in side.. FIXED. and the new fuel filter was installed. That’s one step closer to starting the motor. Clean Fuel ! Also I did the cleaning and checking of the dash..
You can see the damage done to the back of the dash panel.. none of that is seen on the front.. Lucky me !
See it’s now clean and no damage.. Almost 6000 hrs on the tractor.. It’s 17 years old.. but hasn’t moved for at least 3 years.. so 14 years and that would be about 430 hrs a year.. That’s a lot..
I polished the lens and painted the bezel.. so it’s ready to go.
While I was waiting for the oil filters .. I thought I’d hook up the battery and see that the starting circuit was working.. Well that’s where I found out the Fuel shut off solenoid has failed.. went through all the tests and it’s hooped. The rest is good .. the motor turned over , the glow pug light is on.. So with a new solenoid we should have the diesel running in no time.. ( I’ll be working alone now that Dave has gone hunting so he will miss that starting up of the motor) .
Oh and no you can’t run the motor without it .. cause when you turn the key on ..it powers the solenoid to open the fuel injector. turn the key off, no power ..solenoid shuts off fuel.. that’s how this diesel stops. Some diesels have that the other way .. power needed to shut down the motor.. those motors will run with no battery too. So add a solenoid to the list of parts needed. Ordered and on the way..
Meanwhile……
Went and got the new filters today.. but still can’t test the motor.. So I turned my attention to the seat support.. which also holds one of the levers .. the Bi-Speed steering control.
Yes SIX.. here you can see the rear seat mount (blue) and how it holds the Bi-speed select lever (red knob). Now all the levers are in place and proudly functioning they way they should. They look kinda weird .. but when the fenders are on and the guides, it will make sense. See the very first photo to see what I mean.
These seat slide parts were badly rusted and a weld was broken. So with a liberal amount of liquid wrench.. and the impact I got everything into a pile of pieces. Not sure about salvaging the seat.. one of the bolts broke off.. The seat has a slider for back & forward adjustment..and it was locked up tight too.. The seat mounts help hold up the fenders.. witch help to hold up the floorboards.. everything is connected.. so it’s important to fix these parts and making them stronger is my goal.
The new box of parts came and they sent the wrong solenoid ! so I need to go to Kelowna and exchange it. Good thing I’m not really in a hurry.
Ok I got the right parts now.. and put things back together.. air filters, solenoid.. Filled the motor oil. And I thought it would be good if I turned the motor over a few times to get the oil moving… and Bam! the motor started.. WTF.. there is no diesel in the tank.. or fuel lines.. But there must have been some in the injectors ! It ran for less than 30 seconds and I turned the key off.. Well I guess the motor is OK.
I put some fresh Diesel in the tank and ..this time ran the exhaust out the door…
And here’s a short clip… proof that the motor runs.. and good too !
But the wheels still won’t turn……
Nov 11 2014:
By running the motor I could test the drive train.. and found out the the PTO’s both work fine. The clutch is working good.. The three point lift arms go up and down.. We already know how well the brakes work 🙂 . But the hydrostatic moaned and did nothing.. So after alot of studying so as to understand how that unit works .. we tried to get the hydro motor to turn using the rear wheels.. and that took a lot of pushing on a big bar & socket on the axle.. But we did get it turning.. Maybe Buddy kept tromping on the hydro drive after the brakes locked on.. and heated things up … and we are hoping no damage was done. Oh and to do the test we needed to drain the tranny and remove the top cover to see make sure the shafts were turning.. And of coarse that meant dropping a part down into the tranny.. No today I’ll fish that out clean the filter screen , reseal the covers and refill the fluid.
Also of interest … I made a trip to Salmon Arm just to get a three point hitch setup for this tractor.. so now I have these much needed parts..
Well not so good news… The HST is pooched.. so it’s rebuild or replace ? Makes a lot of not good noises.. This could be a pricey part.. so some thinking has to happen here…
Ok thought about it.. I put the Kubota up for sale as is.. and see if I can at least get the money back that I’ve spent.. and I sold it within two days.. to a local fella.. Actually same guy I bought the tandem trailer from.. And I used his old trailer …now improved to take the Kubota over to his shop.. GONE SOLD… on to better things.