Almost lost the BX25D to the lake.

LOL was mowing along sideways on the West slope of what we now call Maple Hill, its a slope that is just on the safe side of the line to mow sideways across. I had my R14 tires on the little tractor which are great dry ground traction tires. A little down pour came down and I just kept mowing through it, it was at most going to be a 10 minute rain with blue skies to the west behind the clouds.

Got to the end of the strip I was mowing and the R14s had collected enough surface mud to turn into racing slicks and we slid sideways all the way down the slope to edge of the deep channel. The Channel is where we mined all of the clay for the Key and core of the lake dam and is a pretty consistent 12-14 feet deep with a pretty much straight drop to those depths from the banks. So the soft mud on the edge stopped the tractor slide but it was still slowly sliding into the lake. I had enough time to drop the backhoe stabilizer arms and extend the backhoe out to the East and bite it into solid clay. I have the loader off and on a trailer to get some repairs done at a welding fabrication shop Tuesday, so had nothing on the front end to drop and bite in.

I made the mile walk back to the Shop and got the M5660, a chain and pinned the clevis onto the draw bar and flew back out to the lake. While I was away the front end continued sliding and pivoting and the front end and engine were now under water with back hoe bucket starting to lose its grip in the clay bank. I booked it chaining onto the backhoe bucket , not the ideal place to chain onto for pulling but I was in a hurry LOL. Got the chain through the clevis and hooked just as the backhoe gave up its grip and the BX made a 8" lurch forward snapping the chain tight. Would not have been purdy if I had been a second slower and got a hand or fingers pinched in the chain. BX with the backhoe on weighs around 3500 pounds more than enough weight to make a chain cause pain. Slowly inched the BX back, I really did not want to bend the stabilizer arms when they hit something more solid than mud.

As I had hoped would happen the stabilizers bit into solid clay and caused the front end and engine to tilt up and out of the water. I let it hang there for a few minutes shedding water and climbed over from the back and popped the hood and pulled the air filter out, it was totally saturated but not much water went down the air intake. So I started it, fired right up and raised the stabilizers half way and slowly retracted the backhoe pulling the BX another 3 feet out of the water or rather over the water. It looked like it was parked on the water. I then disengaged the hydro tranny and went back to the M5660 ( had the brake set and big chocks behind both back tires.) Put it in creeper gear and slowly pull the whole BX back onto dry land. Back to the BX and engaged the tranny, set the brake and unchained and then drove it to a nice safe flat spot. Parked the bigger kubota M5660 on top of Maple Hill and drove the BX back to the shop. It at a minimum needed a new air filter. Somehow got a good amount of water in the oil and a little water in the hydraulics.

It was getting dark so I called it a day and went out this morning and changed the engine oil and the hydraulic oil and gave them both new filters. Also explored why so much water got into the engine oil. And finally found the reason, the O Ring on the dipstick was gone and let the water seep in around and down the dipstick hole. How it got into the hydraulic oil remains a mystery for now, it is a sealed system. Unless there is a vent somewhere I am missing, it was only a couple of tablespoons worth of water VS the engine oil having about a quart of water in it.

A major and expensive disaster averted the BX25D is older (2012) but would cost around $35,000 to replace. If it had slid all the way in and down it would have been at the bottom of a nearly straight drop under 12 feet of water. It would have taken some a lot bigger than anything I have to lift it up out of that and I suspect would not be cheap. The R4 Industrial Bar Tires are going back on. They shed Mud Very well and have 1000X better traction in mud than the R14s do. Where the R14s shine is their much better traction on dry ground but they do not shed mud for shit! If I had the R4s on I could have turned into the slide and had enough bite to steer away from the lake. The R14s packed with mud I may as well have been riding a well waxed sled on ice. The R14s are a great general use tire that doesn't tear the ground up on turns like the R4s do and they give you the traction to push and pull 600-800 more pounds than the R4s and probably are the the best tire selection for most property owners. They are not so great if you are going to be getting into wet and mud on a regular basis.

I abuse the hell out of the little BX25D and break the bar between the arms about every 2-4 years on the loader. It is actually designed to break so the much more expensive arms don't bend or break and it is only about a $500-$700 part to have fabricated and the broken one cut off and the new one welded on depending on which shop I use. Considering I push 4000 pound logs around with it (Yes I have beefed the hydraulics up and the push power, I modify pretty much everything after it is out of warranty. LOL the loader and BX are rated for lifting 500 pounds, my suit case weight mod and the beefed up hydraulics let me lift 1200 pounds with it. The arms and sub frame are reinforced and the tube between them is heavier gauge than factory but still breaks before the arms can be damaged. )


Sure would have been nice to have the loader on the tractor last night, It makes a fine emergency brake and also would have stopped the slide pretty quick. But there it sits waiting to go to the shop. I changed the back tires back to the R4s this morning, LOL need to locate the front R4s, things got moved around in the shop and the back tires got separated from the front tires. And it appears I missed the top of the hood when I blew the mud covering off. And yep I cut the ROPs off, it gets real old getting slapped with branches on the back of the head when mowing the orchard and the ROPs would catapult a apple that would knock you silly. My Bug and Little fish net is much more functional. And well there is no place here I can roll the BX over to need the ROPS. Also why I NEVER take the BX to a Kubota Dealership for work. They always want to put a new ROPS on and I just ain't gonna have that! It would not be so bad if mine was not the one model year and model that they put the ROPS that don't fold down on, it was a solid piece and I cut it off about where they typically fold back. And ran a wire between them to hang my clothes on to dry when I can't resist jumping in the lake to cool off LOL not uncommon to find me mowing in my underwear waiting for the pants and shirt to dry. Sometimes I remember to shed the clothes before diving in, sometimes its just so hot there ain't time for that!

 

And, the moral of the story is...Mother nature is a bitch! LOL!
Glad it turn out okay. I'd say be careful but I imagine the wife gave you an ear full and rightly so or did you conveniently forget to tell her about it?

My next door neighbor, who lived alone, was out on his tractor, didn't watch what he was doing and backed over a stump, throwing him off, and the tractor ran him over. It broke his leg, compound fracture in 3 spots, really bad break, and it took him 3 hours to crawl to his house to call for help. He lived on 10 acres but no one was in hearing range of his screams for help and he had forgot his phone. What a mess. He was lucky as one of the bones could have cut an artery and that would have been game over. Afterwards, he was forced to sell his place since he no longer could take care of it as the accident crippled him.

I always think of that story whenever I work outside, especially with a chainsaw. I do a lot of work clearing trees as most here know and heard me bitch about it . Since most always I work alone, I always carry my mobile phone and a tourniquet, one of those CAT tourniquets, and if the wife is home, I also carry a small 2-way radio that's only good for a couple of miles but it's enough. She carries hers if she is in the garden working or leaves it turned on in the kitchen. Nevertheless, no matter what we do, accidents do happen so all we can do is prepare for the worse and...Mother nature is indeed a bitch.

 

I have a newer model of the BX, love it. I got it with the R4 industrial tires and use the BX primarily for mowing. When I owned 20 acres of hunting land, I used the box blade and bush hog many times during the year. I know my little tractors limits and sometimes I do push them. Came close a time or two to tipping by getting too aggressive on a task.
I know it impossible to do sometimes, but I hate working alone. Always have a FAK and a way to call for help.
Glad you were able to save the BX from a swim.
Looks like you removed the top of your ROPS? Mine folds down and stays down unless I'm doing some heaving lifting on either end. Recently I spread 15 tons of gravel for a parking pad, picking up bucket fulls that if I didn't have the box blade on the back would have just lifted the rear tires. Sure beats shoveling into a wheelbarrow and moving around. My BX has been one of my best purchases, going to be hitting 400 hours soon so a round of maintenance to perform.
Knocking on wood, still running the original belt for the mower. Figure I need to go ahead and get a replacement soon as the original is 6 years old but still looks good.

 

Yes, you get it; however, most of us in the lower 48, including myself, don't tend to think of these things. I am lucky to have a great wife that seems to really enjoy taking a bite out of my a$$ when I forget it. LOL!!!

 

ol boy was fishing a local lake and found an old jeep in 16 feet of water with his graph. He caught a couple crappie off it and called it in. Turned out it was stolen in the early 90s. Coulda gave your fish some structure lol

 

VERY EXPENSIVE STRUCTURE LOL

I keep eye balling the new BX23s I like a lot of the features but I sure don't like their price tags. For Whatever reason the 2012 BX25Ds Came with solid non folding ROPS My 2001 BX22E has folding lol and I cut the bolts off it and removed the ROPs on it to, got old raising it everytime I used the backhoe. Talked to a friend that is a Kubota Dealership Mechanic about the BX23s and according to him you can mod the hydraulic pressure, engine power and tranny like you could with the older Kubota BXs and the 3 safety switches are more complicated to disable, guess you can just unplug them and make U copper wire and stick in them now. And they have EWWWWW Computer Chips in them! So I will keep the 22 and 25 running forever I can add some of the newer features like the much better 3pt hitch and the belly mower mounts and connections but those parts are on the expensive side.

I do like the R14s when pushing and pulling just wish they shed the mud out of the tread better. The R4s just dominate the R14s on soft or muddy ground. I went with the narrow R4s on the M5660 and have only gotten it stuck when I was building the lake and hit a patch of bottomless mud.

When the new machines break or get stuck Oliver is there and just keeps on going.

 

She never even knew it happened All she knows is I was doing the regular services and maintenance on it this morning. She will eventually go out to the lake and see the skid marks from the sideways slide ending at the waters edge and interrogate me about it, but it won't be today

 

Sooo, gravity still workin' at your place.

 

You won't catch me and my John Deere on a slope because, #1 All my land is flat and #2 I have a healthy fear of slopes! I know of too many people that have died doing stupid and/or careless things on a tractor! Next time you will know to not mow if it is raining or has rained that week! You might want to consider spraying or burning that strip of grass!

 

Sure happy to hear everything worked out for the best ,, back in the late 70s, I just about killed myself on an old late 60s Ford backhoe,, was riding on a dike around them big fuel tanks at one of them tank farms ,, it was lightly raining, grass was wet ,, was going to fast ,, tires were about slick ,,, and brakes were about wore out ,, but they weren't much good on wet grass anyway. Driving to fast had the weight of the backhoe causing the front tires to be bouncing off the ground,, so slick tires on the front, and bouncing didnt make for a whole lot of steering abilities. How I was able to get that tractor slowed down enough to make that 90 degree turn in the last foot or so of them front tires going over the edge of a 30 foot embankment,, was nothing less than the good lord giving me a real life scary learning experience,, and another chance at life . I learned a whole new respect for heavy equipment,, and stupidity that night . It didn't completely cure the stupid part ,, but just made me a little more aware of the different scenarios that could occur making stupid choices .

 

Glad you saved the BX,We flatlanders don't do well on slope cutting.
best get a cheap push mower and a rope you can lower the mower down the hill and pull it back up running,
save the BX Pops!

 

Gravity + Momentum is as power here as ever LOL.

Slope is not bad it is actually a pretty gentle slope and you would have to work pretty hard to roll a low center of gravity tractor over on it. That being said it is steep enough to slide sideways on and build momentum on the 150 foot trip to the bottom I would not put a tractor like Oliver with a high center of gravity on it, that would not be so hard to lay it on its side.

This is the South side slope of Maple Hill South/West/North all have the same gentle grade. It is a artificial hill made from all the clay and top soil taken out of the South Arm of the lake to make depth. The top is 250'x300' I planted a couple dozen red maples around the edges and closer to fall will rough it up and seed it heavy with K31 grass. Right now it is Johnson Grass, Rag Weed and Cockle burrs LOL. I keep all mowed down every couple of weeks to keep it from making seed. The East side slope is not so gentle I mow it with the BX but that is straight down mowing and drive around and go down again because it is to steep to drive back up. But not so steep that the weeds can't root in and grow good. Right now a dirt road goes behind the East side slope/cliff. Next year I am going to build a 3rd pond in the low area in the background of the picture. I already built the clay key under the dirt road for its dam. I am going to rent a dozer for a Month to do it. LOL I proved my point last year that a big pond and dam can indeed be built with a 57hp tractor and a 6' box blade...... It just took 4 Months of 14-16 hour days to get it done. A Cat D6 with a 6way I can have the top soil pushed out in 3 -4 days and the clay pushed to the next dam and compacted in about 10-12 days and have another 6 acres of water above the lake. I have a couple of other decent size dozer jobs that will take up the remaining couple of weeks of the rental. Local Cat Dealership rents older trade ins out at very reasonable rates. Dozer will be around $3500 for a Month, Might rent the 313 or 314 trackhoe they rent out for $2500 per month to be consort to the dozer and teach a friend how to operate the dozer. The next pond will go a lot faster with me digging with the excavator and him pushing it with the dozer. Anyway the dam will eliminate the East side slope cliff on Maple Hill and be pretty much level with the top. And still be a East-West road on top of the dam.


I do have to finish Maple Hill this year with a water line and electric service and pour a 20x48 4" concrete pad and put a aerated septic tank in below the North slope. Someone bought in on the long term 10 year lease for that site instantly after I let it out what I was doing with the 5 lake lease sites. I have the 20k buy in, in hand and their occupancy begins May 1st Next year. And they are aware and understand that pond construction will be going on behind and adjacent to their site next year. No big deal since they are moving a 16x48 portable cabin shell in and will be doing their own construction building the interior. LOL had my lawyer write up the leases and paperwork that goes with them and went to pick them up. He handed me the leases with a 20k Check paper clipped to the top lease and application already all signed in Filled out and said "I believe we can skip the vetting and application process." He has been a good and trusted friend for 20 years so yeah we skipped all of that. Doc is going to take one of the Beach Sites after his wife caves on it. We both figured she would jump right on it, we both were wrong. She is not so much opposed to it, she is just uneasy committing to a 10 year lease. And I have a qualified candidate for a 3rd site that is working on putting the up front money together. The first 20k covers the septic tanks, running the water lines and putting the 5 underground electric services in and pouring the concrete pad....... Mostly. Septic tanks eat up $17,500 Electric service are only $500 per feeding off of my last electric service and that spends $20,000. Water line I will run myself so will only cost time, pipe and fuel to run a 2" line from the water main and branch out to the sites. Concrete pads will be out of pocket and will be around $12000 total for all. I will cover that and the road rock when Docs Wife allows him to pull the trigger The next 3 sites are $60,000 in my pocket that I will reinvest into the Recreational area and a 8 site RV camping area. Then every 10 years I get a $100,000 lump on 10 year private site renewals or new leases. And Regular income from the by the night, weekend or Weekly RV Campground. Not to mention the Store sales of campy type things like firewood bundles, propane, bait and fishing tackle. The Commercial Kitchen goes back into service with pavilion dining and the Meat and Produce comes back online for unprepared meats and vegetables. The big pond remains totally private and my own personal secluded retreat It should turn into a nice steady retirement income and keep me busy and active as a bonus. And at the same time give Mini me lots of apprentice learning to prepare her for when she takes everything over. If possible I think she is even more devoted to Kamp Krap than I am! Will spend the next 20 years or however long I am living and functional laying a solid foundation for her to keep building on after I am dead and gone. In 20 years she will be 30 and I plan on putting her in full control of everything at that time. That will put me at 75 and I will step aside and actually really retire at that time assuming I am still sucking air. In the meantime until then she will be earning a good income, going to college for classes that will benefit her in running this place and the businesses and have her knowledgeable and prepared to run it all.

LOL it was cute today she walked up put her foot next to my foot and said "Yep I have a lot of growing to do before I can fill your shoes!" And walked away without another word back to finish up what she was doing. I love kid logic and thinking so simple, pure and honest in its nature. And way off the rails I went again LOL.

 

I KNEW IT!!! Well, post a photo of what's left of your backside when she has chewed the hell out of it. LOL!

EDIT: On second thought, let's not do that...LOL! Besides, I'm guessing there will be nothing left if she is anything like my wife.

 

I have seen people use a mower on a rope to mow slopes near lakes.

 

New tractors are junk, regardless of maker! Throw in the computer chips, inability to work on them yourself, the need for DEF fluid, etc., and I wouldn't have one if they gave it to me...well, only if I could sell it to some sucker. I have seen these things up close, both on the lot and in the shop, and they are toys! Granted, I grew up on a farm in the 60s and 70s, and we used John Deere 3020s and 4020s. I'm currently using a John Deere 830, that was built in West Germany in 1974, and all of the 2-row equipment needed to garden or farm. And yes, you can farm with a small tractor and 2-row equipment (my grandfather did it... and his father did it with mules). I would like to get a gasoline fueled older tractor, maybe a 1960s John Deere 1020, maybe even a Ford, but only if I can paint it John Deere Green!

 

Anything over 25hp is supposed to have DPF last time I checked.
All the gold plated junk is junk.
Maybe my old 6.5L diesel turbocharged with a T76 will power a tractor some day.

 

Not really the M5660 built a very large pond dam, a medium size pond dam, and scraped God know how many millions of pounds of dirt out of the lake bed and literally paid for itself in 4 Months in money saved. Oliver could have done it, JD3020 and 4020s couldn't have done it. All the Massey or Oliver could do was pull the sheeps foot, they could have pulled a single small-mid size dirt pan but I was not going to buy a dirt pan. I have a 4020 sitting in a shed and will go for the Oliver 1755 or 1855 before I even glance at the 4020. I have a Ford 9N and Ford Golden Jubilee that I restored and converters to alternators and 12V that I do A LOT of field work with and a old AC pull behind combine for Small Grains. If I tried to commodity row crop with that old equipment I would go bankrupt pretty quick. You can't farm enough land fast enough with it to even begin to be competitive in the modern world. Can make a decent dollar growing custom small grains like buckwheat or hard wheat and a 2 row corn picker is great for harvesting novelty corn and popcorn but you still have to shell it and clean it, which requires different equipment. Don't get me wrong I love my old equipment and have scratched out a great living with it in the Farm to Table and Custom Niche markets but a 2 or 4 row planter and harvester in the main market just won't cut it competing against the modern equipment that is really not Junk at all.

Do I like the new equipment? Nope not really but when a M5660 57HP can do the same work and lift more weight and a 100hp Massey 285 Massey could lift 2000 pounds with the loader and M5660 can life 2500 and they could both drag 10,000 pounds. The big difference is I could service and maintain the Massey, the M5660 requires a service Tech to do the maintenance. And I hate DPF Parked Regens don't see where it saving the planet to have to park it and let it idle at 2400rpm for 30-45 minutes and have to run at 1800rpms to minimize the number of regens and duration of the parked regens. Running regen not so bad just have to kick the RPMs up until the light goes off and it regens while working just have to run at 2000-2200 RPMS I like running low RPMs for most work in the 1400-1500 range, it burns a lot less fuel running low RPMs but its a guaranteed at least one if not two parked regen cycles every day.

OLD JDs are not bad tractors I just prefer Oliver and Case/International over them. The only reason I have the 4020 is it was a free fence row find and project tractor. If I ever finish restoring it, I will put a $20,000 price tag on it and get rid of it.

 

The John Deere 830 belonged to my Father, and I keep it and the equipment as part of my preps for an uncertain future. I wouldn't try to make a go at modern farming with equipment like I have now, but it is good enough for gardening...for now! Besides, like my Father, I can't imagine not owning a tractor or land.
I say, ROLL TIDE! and some say, WAR EAGLE! I like John Deeres and other folks like Fords, Olivers, Massys, Internationals, etc. Ain't no fun being right all the time, unless some folks are wrong!

 

I hear the pig farmers send their daughters to college at Auburn, any truth to that?