BX v B

Baltimoremike · Jan 4, 2013

I'm about to purchase a new tractor and have been searching for some type of tractor selector guide, but have found nothing. I realize these "help me select a tractor" threads are probably a bit repetitive...but I'm going to ask your advice anyway.

I have 5 acres, about 3.5 in horse pasture, and about 1.5 acres around the house. I finish mow with a regular Cub Cadet riding mower. I will be using my new tractor to mow, move manure, remove snow and occasionally move stone for my driveway.

My feeling is that if I want to replace my current riding mower that I could do everything with a BX, however, it feels a little underpowered for snow removal and the FEL doesn't have as much lift capacity. I'm worried the B series will be to large for finish mowing around the house. My thought was to maybe go with a smaller B like a 2320 or 2620, and try to do everything with that, but my concern is that it will be too large for finish mowing.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

TripleR · Jan 4, 2013

I own a couple of BX's and the BX will do what you want, I have plenty of power to run a 4' rotary cutter and 50" reverse tiller with my BX2660. However, the B will also do all of this as well. I looked very closely at the B Series and really liked them, but while they are only slightly bigger than the BX, a few inches was too much. I could have modified my property to adapt to the B Series, but settled on the BX as "best" as I have larger tractors for the heavier stuff. If it was going to be my only tractor, I would have gone with the B Series.

G-Man · Jan 4, 2013

I looked at the BX but instead went with the B as I liked the longer, taller, wider, better ground clearance aspect. With the B I feel better moving my 16' trailer around.

Eric McCarthy · Jan 4, 2013

You could keep the old faithful Cubby Cadet for around the house and look at a small L series like an L3200 or L3800 for farm chores if you're worried about power and capability.

skeets · Jan 4, 2013

Ok Mike heres the skinny,, My CUB is in the barn with a blown hydro pump thats where it has sat since I got my BX 2360, 60 inch deck and dozer blade, Im sitting on SWPa ridge with hills and 5 ackers a small orchard and some wood lot,, Trust me you will run out of traction long before you run out of power inthat BX, I do things that I could only dream of doing with the cub,, Had I know what a great little tractor the Kubota was I wouldnt have that yellow thing laying dead in the barn. A couple years ago right after I got it we had a very bad snow storm ran on the gen for 13 days,, and ya know what that little BX never missed a beat plowing snow I even pulled a guy of of a ditch at the end of the driveway.
Now my reason for going with the BX and not the B was the height, I have a small orchard and mowing would be a real beeach under the limbs, I have a 60 inch back blade as well pulls it no problems,, Anyway I could go on for hours about my BX,, all cat 1 and if you use it for what your saying,,
Dude ya cant go wrong,,,
Just MHO you understand

Scottinvt · Jan 4, 2013

Love my Bx 2350, I have the 54" mower, loader, 5' York rake and snowblower.

Paulemar · Jan 4, 2013

I have a BX25 that I use on my 2 acres plus I do some work on another 2 for a neighbor who isn't up to it anymore. It's enough of a tractor to plow my 500 ft gravel driveway in the winter and mow the combined 4 acres in the summer. It hasn't failed me yet! Having said that, if I had known that I would be using the 3 point hitch as much s I am, I would have bought the "B". The extra capacity in the loader, 3 point, larger tires would have been a plus for me. Remember, everything is going to look much larger than what you have now. That is for about the first 2 weeks until you get used to the size of the new tractor. You can run a 72" MMM or rear finish mower on the B. When it's 90 degrees outside, mowing loses a little bit of the fun.

Burtonbr · Jan 4, 2013

I'm a new B2620 owner and I really like it. We have 3.5 ac mostly wooded so mowing wasnt a concern for me, It is a tough decision, I know, I was real close to buying a BX, I knew it had enough HP to do what I need. For me it was the little extra clearance, and lift capacities of the loader and hitch that was important. I probably didn't need it but i thought I did so it felt better for me, and the cost difference wasn't enough to sway me one way or the other. I knew I wanted HST and a loader, the rest was all gravy.
The One thing that I have found out about the B series that I don't like is the option for rear remotes is more like an afterthought and not real user friendly in my opinion just a clamp on kit that sticks out rather than a built in attachment, seems even awkward to reach and use from what I've seen, I don't have them but thought I might like to add them but am looking at other options before I buy them. I don't know how the remotes attach on a BX you might want to check that out before you decide if it's something your interested in.
Good luck in your decision though, and if you do decide to buy I hope you half as happy with your kubota as I am.

ipz2222 · Jan 4, 2013

I have a bx2230 and am very satisfied with it. It does have limitations, ground clearance is only ablut 5 inches, a 5ft heavy duty rotary cutter will probably be too much but a 4 ft is fine, the fel is small but it is a small tractor, just takes a little more time. The mowing is excellent and the 4wd is really great if you have hills to mow. With a little practice, you can shift in and out of 4wd while mowing. The only reason I would get rid of my bx is to get another one.

hodge · Jan 4, 2013

"I have plenty of power to run a 4" rotary cutter"

Triple, I bet even a JD has enough power to run a 4 inch cutter...

DanDan · Jan 4, 2013

Baltimoremike said:
and the FEL doesn't have as much lift capacity...

Any advice appreciated.

We also have about 5 acres on a horse ranch, and we bought a little BX1860 last year. It is a mighty little beast, indeed. One of our prerequisites was fitting through all the gates on the property (in and out of horse pastures, etc.) and that kinda limited us. In retrospect, I wish we would have bought a B2320 which is a bit bigger, but still has a 48" bucket/width, allowing us in and out of all the pastures/corrals.

If fitting into tight spaces is not a concern, I'd recommend going as big as you can get/afford. The little 48" buckets on the BX's don't actually hold a lot of horse poop.

We recently bought a bigger L2600 bcause the little BX was not up to the task with some of the implements (could not get the 3PH wide enough to connect to the 60" disk harrow!).

We still use the riding mower to do the lawn(s) around the house, but I won't hesitate one second to put a rear finish mower behind the L when the grass starts to get the best of the little Craftsman.

Have fun choosing.

Baltimoremike · Jan 5, 2013

Thanks for all the comments. Looks like either machine will work. I'm going to go test both before I decide. I'm leaning tirades the B because of the extra FEL capacity.

TripleR · Jan 5, 2013

hodge said:
"I have plenty of power to run a 4" rotary cutter"

Triple, I bet even a JD has enough power to run a 4 inch cutter...

Imagine my embarrassment, I went back and corrected it. I was going to make a comment on our John Deere, but decided to take the high road.

bobkeyes · Jan 5, 2013

Right up front, I'm a newbee to this, but I have a BX2200 with a 60" MMM, FEL, and backhoe, and Tiller. I just LOVE my tractor. I have 3 acres. I mow it all with the Kubota and have NO problem with the way the lawn looks. It has done everything I have asked of it. Like ipz2222 said, the only way I'd get rid of my BX is to get another one.

Iowan · Jan 5, 2013

This is one time where bigger isn't always better, a Bx will go places a B will not. I mowed with a cub 1641 before getting my Kubota and I had to trim every tree on my property before I could mow, the 60 inch deck does help keep you away from the trees and the ROPs on the B's are even taller. Before I purchased my new 2660 I looked at a used BX2360, I called the owner and asked him why he traded after only 150 hrs and what he used it for, he said he needed a hoe and used it for cleaning out the stalls in his horse barn and the BX just fit thru the doors so he traded for a BX25.

My BX tills, digs, mows, moves gravel ( I put down over 30 tons in my drive ) moves my trailers when I mow ( largest is a 27 ft camper ) and removes snow.
So far it has done EVERY THING I have needed it to do and done it very well, plus its its a blast to operate.

That's a complete 460 Ford motor 700 lbs plus hanging off my BX.

DavidM · Jan 11, 2013

Not sure if linking is allowed in here. If it is not, I can cut and paste the main entry, but for an excellent talk about which to get, try here:
ttp://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=265741

dmanlyr · Jan 11, 2013

While not a direct BX to B comparison, my thoughts on a larger and more capable tractor over the BX... Having owned a BX25 which I purchased new, and now a L3200 also bought new, I find that I am not really challenged by the additional size, the L3200 fits in the same area I work as the BX. It will even turn sharper than the BX by using the independant brakes to help turn. So in one way the L3200 is MORE manuverable. and to be honest the bigger machine can do considerable more work in a shorter time which equals a whole lot less hours of use, wear and tear.

The BX was pretty good for what it was, very capable, and given enough time, it would move a mountain! But there were a few things that I really did not care for. Limited or non existant hydraulic pressure / volume to raise the FEL at idle was one. The lask of a three range HST was another. But on the plus, the BX was a little easier to mount up into the drivers seat.

Funny thing I find is all this talk about fitting through gates and such. Really, we are talking 15k + tractors, is changing out a few gates for a few hundred dollars really that big of deal in the larger picture of costs? And the wider and larger larger tractor is definatly more stable feeling, so the width is really a plus. Heck, one or two services not having to be performed on the BX as the bigger machine can do more in less time would pay for at least one of those gates.... just sayin'

Just my thoughts, but it is not a apples to oranges BX to B comparison for sure.

David

Looney · Feb 6, 2013

I went through this same decision about a year and a half ago. I was looking at the BX2620 and the B3300. I ended up buying the B3300. Having used it on my 5 acres over the last 18 months, I have a couple of comments. At times I really wish I would have went with the BX. Mainly because I could have gotten more implements at the time of purchase. I have also had a couple of times when I would have liked to have gotten between some trees while mowing. On the other hand, I've had times when I wish my B3300 was heavier and had more lift on the FEL. In the end I really like the B3300. Power wise, she is a brut. Either way you go, you will happy. I'm sure of it.

Charles

chim · Feb 6, 2013

Ten years ago I went shopping and the final choice was between a BX and a B7500. The BX felt, spec'd and looked too small so I went with the B7500 and a 5' RFM. My preference is a RFM and unless you have one of those yards with a laughable number of ornaments it would do just fine.

There were a number of times the B7500 seemed just a tad small / light so after 10 years with the B7500 went shopping last Spring. After looking at four different colors we stuck with Kubota and had an L3200 delivered with a 6' RFM. What a difference! The L3200 never breaks a sweat where the B7500 had to work. It also goes places in 2WD that the B7500 had to be locked in 4WD.

Base mowing is our 2-1/4 acre home plus a widow's 1/2 acre. Settled on an adjoining 1-1/3 acres a couple months ago. I do move some dirt, mulch, etc and wouldn't want to be without the loader. Also do snow on approx. 700' or so of driveways between mine and neighbors.

I recently built a cab that is removeable but I may only lift off doors for the Summer. If that happens I will need to do some pruning due to height. It sits a few inches under 7' with the top.

hodge · Feb 6, 2013

The BX is a fine tractor, and in the same horsepower range as the B2320/2620. I mow with a B7100 and a finish mower, which does well; if I were shopping between the two, I would spring for the B because of ground clearance. Otherwise, I would be very comfortable with either one.

BX v B

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