It’s almost as if they didn’t care when assembling. Random assortment of holes taped over and painted. Some missing from assembly and now corroded. (Bottom left/top right) I assume to keep paint out of the hole- instead there’s now bare steel, and the holes are as well- which means water + dissimilar metals and vibration… awesome 80% of the bolts pulled out are corroded where there is metal on metal - which means more parts delayed while ordering replacements
BX23s rear differential replacement.
- Thread starter Tuckntruck
- Start date
it’s nice to find bare metal because they couldn’t be bothered to actually move the spray gun while painting the tractor. (All the light silver colored stuff is bare aluminum. I’m aware that it won’t hurt anything generally… but, either do it right or don’t do it. If you’re going to paint it in protective epoxy paint, at least do it correctly.
it’s clear that Kubota factory workers (at least on mine) don’t give a crap and are just there to collect a paycheck.
Regardless rear units out, HST oil is drained, but no metal came out.. so I’m expecting to find a split shaft. Will pull the right side after having a beer and reading the WSM. (If you buy the wsm its $100 and loose leaf, no binding and not even punched out to be bound. Had to take it to staples and have them bind it for me).
Thankfully can scratch and future Kubota purchases off the list however. Will be my last orange tractor.
Some were, some weren’t. If isolating dissimilar metals, then they should have made sure the tape stayed on each. Instead it was a haphazard 50:50 job with some painted and some not.
Regardless.
spider gears in the diff blew up, part of one sized in the bevel gear for the left axel stub. Bevel gear snapped off the stub shaft and gouged the crap out of the housing.
full diff it is for me. Dif lock is not seized, there are some marks on the back of the bevel- part of the bevel gear has a hole punched in it- not sure how it stayed together.
- No, I was not using the dif lock, I only lock the diff when the driveway is iced up and I need an extra wheel to drive straight with the snow blower. The dif lock pin was siezed and the dif lock actuator rusted past the o-rings into the case.
Mrlunchbox
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
2023 BX2380 loader/mower. Land Pride snow pusher, Kapteyn pallet forks
Mrlunchbox
Active member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
2023 BX2380 loader/mower. Land Pride snow pusher, Kapteyn pallet forks
That’s under the deck and just above the mower deck- mowing in dusty conditions up here gets that all over and you can’t wash there without taking off the foot deck etc.
Sandy / dry soil most of the time for me.
It does. I’m just disappointed with the assembly job that’s been done now that I’m pulling it apart. These are supposed to be top quality machines- you pay more for a Kubota than a Big boss tractor. I kinda expect them to make sure that the stuff they are putting together is up to spec, not assembled like a Walmart bike.
A Different color for sure. Primarily used for the front mount snow blower, mower deck and moving mulch/bark/ top soil etc. I shouldn’t need a 40horse tractor for yard mx. I mean it’s a glorified lawn mower.
This is the “missing paint”. These areas were absolutely meant to be painted.. just didn’t have coverage and QA didn’t care. The frame bracket that’s dark colored wasn’t supposed to be painted
Hmm, maybe cause he spends more time USING it than washing and waxing it !!! My BX23S has 1600 hours on it in 7 years , it's scratched, dinged, dirty, bent, missing 1/2 the labels off it BUT all the oils are clean, Zerks greased and ready to go at a moments notice. When I get my power washer back, it'll get it's annual fall cleaning, same as my 'real' tractor
BAP
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2012 Kubota 2920, 60MMM, FEL, BH65 48" Bush Hog, 60"Backblade, B2782B Snowblower
You will probably be disappointed too, if you buy a different color next time. Most of them are put together with components made from all over the world and parts supply can be almost non existent for some. Yes, your Kubota should have lasted longer, but the other brands aren’t really any better, especially in that size range.
New differential, bearings, locker, 3.5gallons of UDT2, two tubes of RTV ~$930usd. The 66t final drive gear was reused, if you damage that the gear is $1100. 20 hour cure on the final drive gear bolts, then I’ll close it up and start putting it back together. Freezing the diff and baking the bearings @250for an hour worked perfect- no need for a press. I was not reusing the bearings so no extra tools needed. I sprayed if down with a water displacing oil after freezing while it came back up to room temp to prevent rust.
in the shop I’d ballpark this job at 15-20 hours labor + parts. Probably $3600 if lucky, 5k+ at a dealer.
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whitetiger
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Kubota tech..BX2370, RCK60, B7100HST, RTV900 w plow, Ford 1100 FWA
You had better stick to your day job.
This is a screenshot of the BX23S Repair Time Schedule, updated 08/2025.
They assemble everything and then it gets a coat of paint. Was the same on my tractor (built around 1990), some parts got no paint, but mainly aluminium, so I'd say this was done intentionally.
Was doing some repairs on a friends 2016 Kubota L1. Bare metal brackets bolted onto the frame and then sprayed, rust under every single one we took off.
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