Orange Fever

[mikenbrew]

Hi fellas,

My name is Mike, I'm from Montana, and I think I've got the "orange fever"…

I've got a few different land parcels with a total of about 90 acres to take care of (just small maintenance issues…no farming, just weed control, fences, brush clearing and some mowing). I had been using a little vintage cub cadet to take care of things, but last summer I decided to pick up a larger tractor because of the work load. I'd been hearing a lot of good things about Kubotas over the years and began to look on Craigslist. Unfortunately, used Kubotas in this area are rare. I passed up a couple larger ones because they had looked too well used in the photos and seemed a little high priced. After a long time of not seeing anything advertised, one showed up on the list with a blade and FEL. It was a B6100D. I went to look at it and it looked worn, but I decided to pick it up and trust my luck that it wasn't TOO worn. I paid $3k even for it with the blade and FEL. I got it home and started looking more closely at it. I then realized my luck wasn't running so good because almost everything I looked at appeared to need work(plus blowby, smoke, etc. I thought, OK….I'm recently retired, enjoy tinkering on things, and am a pretty good mechanic, I'll just take my time, nurse it along and bring it back to being a healthy machine. It'll be ok….

Then….. about a week later…..a really nice BX22 (365 hours and well maintained.) with FEL, backhoe, disc, rear blade, and homemade ground leveler came up! There was a bunch of other guys trying to get it but I beat them to it. Got it for $10K even. It's now my pride and joy, and an unbelievably handy machine and a real workhorse! Now I know I've got the "orange fever".

So I've been reading the OTT forum a lot and really doing a lot of learning. Now I've started looking at the B6100D and thinking…."well, if I have two Kubotas, that would be twice as good, right?". Looking further, I thought…"well, it's not a Kohler or Briggs and Stratton….and it ONLY HAS 3 CYLINDERS!…This could be fun."

Anyway, I've recently started in on the B6100D in a fairly major way. I've been pulling off the FEL and sheet metal and radiator. Planning to first look at the cylinders and crank to determine if they are serviceable or not.. If so, then doing the clutch, brakes and a couple other things. The big bonus is that I have 2 grandsons (10 and 12) who both seem to REALLY enjoy working on the little tractor(although they can't work at the same time…too many quarrels). Got the fingers x'ed that I don't run into any major "dealbreakers".

Anyway, I'm happy to have this list to refer to and will likely have a question or two along the way!

Thanks for listening!

Mike - with "orange fever"

 

[procraftmike]

Welcome from one rookie to another..... It sounds like you will be having a bunch of fun. I just purchased an older B7100 a month ago. I am starting to dive into it as well. Enjoy the ride!!

 

[bcbull378]

Your going to enjoy your Kubota I grew up with tractors most were yellow my dad loved track layers Cat D-2 and D-6 on the ranch now. I came across a Grand L3830 with 640 hours on it with a front loader Gannon , pallet forks and a spring tooth I picked it up for 15K it's been a great little tractor it's done all I've asked it to do with room to spare I've picked up several other implements for it mostly off craigslist . I'm headed to your area Miles city Montana next November for a deer hunt on a friends ranch . Enjoy your Kubotas and this site lots of nice guys with great info.........Dan from Ca

 

[TripleR]

Welcome to OTT, you've found what many of us have, one tractor really just often enough.

 

[Kubota_Man]

Welcome to the neighborhood. It would appear that you are only 4-5 hours away from me. We are kinda a visual bunch here. Pictures are always wanted of any new addition to the family. As for the Orange Fever take 2 and call us in the morning

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If you haven't done so yet go to Kubota books.com and download the 3 part service manual (WSM).
Pick up a copy of the owners manual too.

 

[mikenbrew]

Thanks for the welcome!

Here's a couple of pics. Unfortunately I can't find where I took any pics of the 6100 before I started. The little guy and I pulled the head and the good news is that I can't see any cracks in the head and none of the pistons or cylinders look damaged. I was expecting scoring marks and chipped pistons.

Procraftmike ...I'm following your thread.
NIW...thanks! downloading them now.
KM...I've got a niece in Spokane that I visit from time to time. Might try to meet you for a cup of coffee in Kellogg someday.

I need to find some smaller coveralls for the kids to work in. Where should I look?

 

[Kubota_Man]

KM...I've got a niece in Spokane that I visit from time to time. Might try to meet you for a cup of coffee in Kellogg someday.

I need to find some smaller coveralls for the kids to work in. Where should I look?

Perfect or sometimes I get to Missoula.
I'm sure you can find a set of coveralls for the lil helpers in Butte or Missoula. I know of a place in Coeur d'Alene that has youth coveralls.

 

[mikenbrew]

3/3/16 ******Update******

I have to say, my first thought about the project is that I’m impressed with how easy the little tractor is to work on. All the bolts and fasteners are easy to get to and as much as possible, they are all the same size. So it’s been fun. Matter of fact, its was so easy, I couldn’t stop and pretty much tore it all the way apart.

Soooooo….I’ve been lucky so far(knock on wood). When I bought it, it looked completely neglected, greasy from top to bottom, hard to start even when warm, smoked really bad, lots of blowby, the PTO lift worked intermittently, radiator hoses were rotten, rear wheel hubs both loose and wobbly, clutch jerked badly when engaging, the body was beaten up a little, and the right brake lever was frozen in position with the wheel dragging badly. I was really feeling like I made a dumb mistake buying this thing.

But….
I’ve pulled the head and the pistons and cylinders look terrific. No chips, no scoring, smooth, and the ridge is small enough that the pistons will probably come out with requiring a ridge reamer. I expected to see chaos, thinking I would be changing sleeves.

And the head looks good too...

Then…
With difficulty I pulled the right brake assembly off, expecting to see shoes worn to the rivets and a ruined drum. But it was only the actuator arm frozen in the bushing. The shoes and drum actually look great. Left side looks a little rusty, but good.

I don't know much about the wheel hubs yet, but my pins have elongated holes....

Then…
I split the tractor at the bell housing expecting to see chaos in there as well since the clutch jerked so badly. Turns out it is just oil from a leaky rear main seal. The flywheel and pressure plate look great… no heat, no scoring. The throwout bearing is till intact, but noisy. I’ll go with new pilot bushing, new clutch disc, and new throwout bearing.

Not wanting to waste a great opportunity, I read Vic's articles about the steering box. I tore into it expecting chaos, but found that the bearings and races were reusable and I really only have to change the seals. Still debating between using grease or 80w90 when it goes back together...

Next…keeping fingers x’ed, I’ll get the engine onto a stand and take a look at the crank. Of course I’ll be using my new engine hoist. It’s orange, Model BX22. Got big hopes the crank’s in good condition and I’ll just be putting bearings in it.

Thats it so far…. no big questions yet. Thankful to be able to search the forum and read about others experiences. Kids are loving tearing this thing apart.

Mike

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If you want to completely eliminate the hub wobble, get the new style hubs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/H6640-17300...hash=item541f71d7f5:m:meKg4EBk1Prn2vzyM2FRh-Q

 

[Tooljunkie]

Nice project. Looking forward to the finished product.

 

[Jim L.]

Thanks for sharing the pictures and narrative. Hope you'll keep posting.

 

[procraftmike]

Impressive job with the tear down!! Warmer weather is coming next week. I have plans to get started on the old girl next week.

 

[Ramos]

The Kubota project you have going on is great. At some risk to my reputation, as a first time poster here, can you spare a paragraph to clue us in on the airplane project in the background? It is, after all, just a few shades from orange!!!

 

[mikenbrew]

Thanks for the encouragement everybody.

PCM - I think we’ve had significantly better weather than you this winter! Good luck on the 7100.

NIW - Those new hubs look pretty nice. Does that guy keep building inventory? i.e. there are only 4 left. Do I need to make a decision quickly and jump on two of them or will there be more?

Ramos - That other thing lurking in the background is an RV-4 kit plane. Sad story…a very close buddy of mine had been building it. His dad had mental illness and wound up killing them both. I bought it out of his estate and have been working on it(slowly) for about 8 years now. I think I’ll really start into it next winter and finish it up. Its not as easy as the Kubota.

I got a lot of work done last evening and a lot more today. But also had to move my daughter(and fiance) into her new house today. So too tired to write about it. I’ll get a look at the bearings in the little kubby tomorrow. fingers x’ed. I think this thing had more of an injector problem than anything else. Today I look at the filthy gascolator and guess what. No filter element inside. hmmm.. It needed torn down anyway because of the clutch problems. I’m happy that I will have a pretty reliable little machine when finished.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[BRUIN]

Amazing project, you will be an pro with the 7100 D when this is done

I just picked one up last Friday - Its sort of the exact opposite of yours < 300 hours, one owner, completely insane - it should be in a museum, i spent th day looking for something to do on it, not a leak or a drip - nothing

All i could do was grease the grease fittings, all fluids and filters are new.
But what i did to was learn how to operate it - these little machines are little tanks, not much that they can't do, I think it will outperform a comparable tractor with 3x the HP.

 

[mikenbrew]

Bruin - WOW! An amazing difference. ROPS, wheel weights, shiny paint.
Is that a snowblower on the front? I've been daydreaming about one of them. We get alot of snow.
Didn't get to work on mine today. Busy moving stoves, refrigerators, microwaves..... Maybe tomorrow!

 

[mikenbrew]

********* Update + help needed *******

Well things are still going pretty good here. I'm done tearing down. And finally got a chance to look at the crank and bearings. To my surprise, the bearings and rod journals look pristine!

After seeing that, I scratched my head wondering why this thing was so hard starting and smoked so badly, leaning more and more to blaming the injectors(But I remember there was significant blowby). Next, I proceeded to remove the pistons from the pristine looking cylinders(with no significant ridge even), and then...

Cylinder

The lower compression ring on the #3 piston was in pieces. Unbelievably, there isn't a mark in the cylinder. I would have thought it would be scored badly. Just guessing....but did overheating cause this? I'm thinking I'll just be honing and putting a new set of rings in. I'm going to leave the crank in the case and leave the mains alone. Thinking about plastigaging the rod bearings to see what wear they actually have. Then make a decision about replacing them.

I can't take this thing apart much farther. The PTO lift wasn't working so I'm inspecting it. Looking into the trans, everything looks really good.

I'm pressure washing it and getting ready to order parts to start putting things back together. Oh...that strange looking piece?....it's off the 4-wheeler.

Here is the big question I have.....
Is it possible to tell from this picture if I have the nefarious soft plug that likes to fall out? I've read a lot about it, but I don't know what to do here. Can anyone tell me? If so, how do I tackle it?

I'm welcoming advice.
Mike

 

[Ramos]

Mike, sorry to hear the circumstances behind the Vans project. Imagine your friend would have found some comfort in knowing it will be completed.

Sounds like rings and injectors will cure much of what ails your Kubota. Best of luck and enjoy the journey.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The PTO lift wasn't working
Here is the big question I have.....
Is it possible to tell from this picture if I have the nefarious soft plug that likes to fall out? I've read a lot about it, but I don't know what to do here. Can anyone tell me? If so, how do I tackle it?

Not a PTO (Power Take Off) lift, it's a three point lift.

Yes and No, yes its a plug, but no it's not the one that's the issue, it would be the one on the gear side that's the nefarious one.
But if both plugs are in I personally wouldn't mess with it!