Mr Paul, I would support Mr Menards' comments for the following reasons. Firstly, I bought a GR 2120 March 2015. Living in the Ottawa (Canada) area, snow is abundant. Secondly,, I replaced a Bolens H14 XL that did a good job and got something that does a wonderful job. a 21 horsepower diesel engine is mor than enough to clear a path and does it with such ease! It is a great investment. Hope this helps.
Hi Al, real helpful video for my search. After having the tractor for awhile now would you recommend it over say a deere 500 or 700 series...I'm looking into upgrading my 300 series
I wish I could give you an educated comparison of my GR2120 to any of the John Deere tractors/ mowers. I felt that they were out of the price range I was able to afford at the time. I have looked over their specs and sure do think they look like great machines. But having my GR with the diesel and adding the after market Johnny Bucket with the plow and having the OEM snowblower. There is nothing I can't do around my yard. I would have liked to have the drive over mower deck thAt Deere offers. Sometimes getting the deck on and off is a bit of a pain. I know that does not give you much to go on. But that is all I can offer. Good luck with picking an new machine.
Hi Al - thanks for sharing this. I am looking at this exact setup to replace my older Simplicity tractor. Could you possibly measure the length of the tractor & snowblower as installed? I have a limitation of how long my storage is (the tractor is stacked with my car in my garage)? If so I would really appreciate it! Thank you!
Glad it helps. I have a lot more experience with it now. It has been a great machine for all the snow this year and last. Upstate NY has had our fair share. It makes cleanup so easy. It measures 8'10" in length and is 46" wide. the 46in is the width of the snowblower itself and is just a couple inches or so wider than the tractor. With the all wheel drive I did not even put the chains on this year, and it does not feel front heavy even without the wheel weights. I got lazy and did not put them on and clears a foot and a half like it was butter. The impeller spins so fast it throws the snow 20-30 ft. I also have the 54in Mower deck and with the side discharge that makes things a little wider.
That hitch is from www. johnnyproducts.com. It is their Universal sleeve hitch. it is an electric actuator. I also have their Johnny bucket Jr and plow attachment. Use the plow for the lighter snow . all great products. very well made.
Just wanted to know what about the wet slushy have snow. Does it do a good job. Also when the city snow plow passes and leaves 3 feets of snow in your enterance does it go through that with ease? Thanks mate.
As far as the slush. I have only had a couple instances over 7 years of some buildup and a clog in extremely bad circumstances. And one time it was me not realizing i had a shear pin break and one auger was not going. As far as the really dense plow packed snow, It will cut right thru it allowing appropriate time for it to clear and throw with out jamming it forward too fast. It does a great gob.
the guy at the kubota dealership said for the money you pay for the gr you're better off paying the extra $ an going witch the bx1870. I drove both the gr an the bx1870 also the 2370 loved all 3 but honestly I went there for just a lawn mower an ended up trying to convince wifey that we need a brand new bx2350 with belly mower pto bagger an snowblower. u loved the gr but where I live in mass we get record breaking snow an I rather be over powerd then under powerd. only few draw backs are price an weight as I can see, I also conciderd a jd x738 their just expensive asf.
I agree. The only reason I went with the GR machine was the fact that it's low enough to get under our apple trees. We have about 9 semi-dwarfs in our orchard, and about five more growing. Even a folded down ROPS won't go under them. The turning radius of the GR is phenomenal, but the BX machines are much more versatile. Even the JD diesel garden tractor was too high for cutting under our trees.
thanks for the great video. How do you like the Johnny Products Universal Sleeve hitch? Was it easy to install? I am thinking about purchasing. I appreciate your time and comment. Thank you very much.
Michael , The sleeve hitch install only presented difficulty in the upper attachment area. The tractor frame is wider than the hitch, I used initially two metal bars and spanned the difference with wood block and a long bolt, I then had the idea to run a threaded rod the full length across. All of the Johny products have been great, I have the front bucket and it served me really well. I probably pushed the tractor a little tougher than I should have digging around my property but for hauling mulch etc it was perfect. I use the actuated rear hitch to haul my garbage cans with device called the cansporter. Another note on the sleeve hitch, i tried using a ground scraper but could not get enough down pressure as the weight of the tractor and the downforce could not penetrate my hard ground, if it were a soft garden it might be better for that. Hope all that helps. I will try and get some pics posted someplace and get a link up.
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I just bought a used GR2120 with 41 hours on it. I already have the Johhny Plow for a sears suburban tractor. I believe I would need the bracket to fit the GR2120 as well as the front bucket only since I have 2 acutators that came with the plow. I am highly considering the sleeve hitch and am very thankful for your feedback. I like the idea of the down pressure. I have other tractors that I added a liquid to the tires called "rim guard". It doesn't freeze and is 30% heavier than water. This would add a decent amount of weight to the rear. Thanks for telling me about installation of the universal hitch. I don't know if I could do it myself. If I get one I may get it professionally installed. I wasn't sure if the tractor frame was "strong enough" to support the hitch with attachments. I really appreciate your writing and would love some close up pics of the sleeve hitch mounted and how you did it if possible. I searched all over the Internet and your one of only 2 people who I could find with the hitch on a 2120 and the other gentleman hasn't responded. btw, I'm in PA.
Michael I just posted a short slide show of the attachments. You will see at first I bridged the gap with a block. And am now using a threaded rod for the upper attachment.
Are the shoes that I think I see (black on back/bottom) on that blower adjustable? I'd be using it on unpaved drive and would have to have it high enough to avoid digging rocks. Also is that a hydraulic line to the mount? Is that for controlling the lift? How long does it take to put this attachment onto the tractor? I would definitely need the chains - are they a Kubota item, and if not, is there any problem with clearances with the chains and the tractor fender/frame?
MiserableOldFart Sorry for late reply. I first saw your question while at work and forgot, 1. Black skids are adjustable. 2. Hydraulic line connects to snow blower attachment and powers the lift. 3. Rear tire chains clear easily. I did not buy them from my dealer, it was three years ago now. I searched for the place I ordered from. Could not find the email. A quick google search and you should find chains. Hook up takes about 15min. You need to be nice and squared up and lift the attachment so it catches on the frame. It can be a little fickle. Then you need to connect the driveshaft from the rear to the attachment. That involves getting on the ground. I try and get it done in the dry in the garage.
Good to know. thanks. I've had my GR2120 for three years and have had a lot of annoying problems, most small, the latest large. Not sure where I'm going with it. Might be trading it in or gritting my teeth and hoping for more reliability in the future. 180 hours on it, barely broken in. It's a good thing I never sold my RFM on my bigger tractor that this was supposed to replace, at least not yet. The snowthrower interests me because my old body is just too stiff to work with the 3 pt. blower on my other tractor much longer.
Sorry to hear you have had significant issues. I have 184hrs on mine. Two issues I have had is the brake not holding reliably, pops off with vibration of engine. And I was a bit rough with the Johnny Bucket I have did some digging and ground scrapping and must have fatigued the front steering brackets and they fractured. I replaced those myself, not a difficult job and again i do blame myself. Anything I should watch for? I have about 180 hrs on mine.
MiserableOldFart I wish they had this type of connection here in the US. www.kubota.ca/images/db/brochures/0548.pdf. Not sure where in Canada you can get this. I do not like the lifting I have to do to get the attachment onto the frame. It is a bit heavy and if the lip is not lined up square it does not settle on correctly. Something to think about. I find it heavy to move around and lift to get it into position to get it on the frame.
My steering brackets also broke. A pin hole appeared in the fuel tank, which a spot of SealAll seems to have taken care of. Engine vibration caused the plastic panels in front of the floor pan to crack. I get quite a bit of shimmy at shutdown and have bought new panels, which I have reinforced on the inside with gorilla tape, but haven't put them on for fear of them just breaking too. The front drive shaft bracket that bolts to the frame broke, and when I went it replace it, the bolt on the universal joint just came apart. The mower gearbox is shot and the deck has been at a dealer (my dealer went belly up) for almost three weeks now. When the tractor was still brand new, the idler pulley bearings gave up the ghost, and they replaced that under warranty, but it took a while for them to get the part.
I used them the first year. Not since. That first year however when we had 2 1/2 foot. Snowfall I cut a path off of the drive way across the lawn to my back deck to provide emergency access to the rear of the house if needed. I could not have done that without because I lifted the snowblower a bit as not to cut into the ground. Otherwise it has been fine.
I have a Kubota GR2120 and am also planning on buying the Johnny Bucket and Plow blade but I know there will be times the snowblower will be useful especially in deep snow. Can you tell me how easy or hard is it to swap over from one implement to the other? Also are you snowblowing gravel or pavement in the video? BTW: nice video.
So, at first i started having the blade on for the first part of the winter, and using it for the first few lighter snowfalls. It will handle a moderate snowfall. It will not however push the snow far enough off the driveway that when you have a couple of deep snowfalls close together that there is room for more snow. As I had purchased the plow, i felt obligated to use it. As the years have gone on. I mount the snowblower and it stays on. The front frame attachment is six bolts to get to and take off to remove the bucket/plow mount. It is not as quick a process as i would like. I now do not use the plow. As nice of an implement as it is the transition back and forth is not optimal. Even in the garage. And i would certainly not want to do it outside when cold. Getting the snowblower hooked onto the frame sometimes is as much as I want to do once in November or so. So if you live close to NY i have a discounted plow I would sell.
7 years in now and all is well. A few shear pins here and there. But the snowblower implement has been a beast. My neighbor who I share a private road with got the Kubota side by side UTV with plow. We had a couple 2 ft snowfalls. That was about his limit of ability to push. I ran the edges of anything he plowed to clear more room to push snow off to the side. I could throw it all 30 -50 ft away.
@@AlMenard Thanks for your reply Al, I live in northern New Hampshire and will keep the plow in mind. My drive is gravel and I live on a state road which they plow the crap out of and it leaves me with large rocks and pieces of roadway at the end of my driveway. This doesn't bode well for a snowblower but the large storms almost require one so that's my dilemma. Both a plow and a snowblower seems like a perfect match but Kubota wants 5K for both with the fun connect hitch and that's not installation costs included.
I do not have the Fun connect. Not sure if it is an option for my set up. Need to ask my dealer. I see the conundrum with the gravel and pavement bits from plow. The back and forth with the Johnny Bucket frame adapter may be a pain for you still. The rear smaller bolts and nuts are awkward to get at.
Авто/Мото
Mr Paul, I would support Mr Menards' comments for the following reasons. Firstly, I bought a GR 2120 March 2015. Living in the Ottawa (Canada) area, snow is abundant. Secondly,, I replaced a Bolens H14 XL that did a good job and got something that does a wonderful job. a 21 horsepower diesel engine is mor than enough to clear a path and does it with such ease! It is a great investment. Hope this helps.
How easy/difficult to install was the sleeve hitch? Also, how do you like it? Does it work well? I see it has down pressure. thank you!
Michael Mengel The down pressure is only the weight of the blower, only one hydraulic. I have this setup.
Hi Al, real helpful video for my search. After having the tractor for awhile now would you recommend it over say a deere 500 or 700 series...I'm looking into upgrading my 300 series
I wish I could give you an educated comparison of my GR2120 to any of the John Deere tractors/ mowers. I felt that they were out of the price range I was able to afford at the time. I have looked over their specs and sure do think they look like great machines. But having my GR with the diesel and adding the after market Johnny Bucket with the plow and having the OEM snowblower. There is nothing I can't do around my yard. I would have liked to have the drive over mower deck thAt Deere offers. Sometimes getting the deck on and off is a bit of a pain. I know that does not give you much to go on. But that is all I can offer. Good luck with picking an new machine.
Hi Al - thanks for sharing this. I am looking at this exact setup to replace my older Simplicity tractor. Could you possibly measure the length of the tractor & snowblower as installed? I have a limitation of how long my storage is (the tractor is stacked with my car in my garage)? If so I would really appreciate it! Thank you!
Glad it helps. I have a lot more experience with it now. It has been a great machine for all the snow this year and last. Upstate NY has had our fair share. It makes cleanup so easy. It measures 8'10" in length and is 46" wide. the 46in is the width of the snowblower itself and is just a couple inches or so wider than the tractor. With the all wheel drive I did not even put the chains on this year, and it does not feel front heavy even without the wheel weights. I got lazy and did not put them on and clears a foot and a half like it was butter. The impeller spins so fast it throws the snow 20-30 ft. I also have the 54in Mower deck and with the side discharge that makes things a little wider.
+rg01740 Nine feet long with the blower attached.
that rear hydraulic hitch, where did you get that from or is it something you made to work with the tractor?
That hitch is from www. johnnyproducts.com. It is their Universal sleeve hitch. it is an electric actuator. I also have their Johnny bucket Jr and plow attachment. Use the plow for the lighter snow . all great products. very well made.
Just wanted to know what about the wet slushy have snow. Does it do a good job. Also when the city snow plow passes and leaves 3 feets of snow in your enterance does it go through that with ease? Thanks mate.
As far as the slush. I have only had a couple instances over 7 years of some buildup and a clog in extremely bad circumstances. And one time it was me not realizing i had a shear pin break and one auger was not going. As far as the really dense plow packed snow, It will cut right thru it allowing appropriate time for it to clear and throw with out jamming it forward too fast. It does a great gob.
the guy at the kubota dealership said for the money you pay for the gr you're better off paying the extra $ an going witch the bx1870. I drove both the gr an the bx1870 also the 2370 loved all 3 but honestly I went there for just a lawn mower an ended up trying to convince wifey that we need a brand new bx2350 with belly mower pto bagger an snowblower. u loved the gr but where I live in mass we get record breaking snow an I rather be over powerd then under powerd. only few draw backs are price an weight as I can see, I also conciderd a jd x738 their just expensive asf.
I agree. The only reason I went with the GR machine was the fact that it's low enough to get under our apple trees. We have about 9 semi-dwarfs in our orchard, and about five more growing. Even a folded down ROPS won't go under them. The turning radius of the GR is phenomenal, but the BX machines are much more versatile. Even the JD diesel garden tractor was too high for cutting under our trees.
thanks for the great video. How do you like the Johnny Products Universal Sleeve hitch? Was it easy to install? I am thinking about purchasing. I appreciate your time and comment. Thank you very much.
Michael , The sleeve hitch install only presented difficulty in the upper attachment area. The tractor frame is wider than the hitch, I used initially two metal bars and spanned the difference with wood block and a long bolt, I then had the idea to run a threaded rod the full length across. All of the Johny products have been great, I have the front bucket and it served me really well. I probably pushed the tractor a little tougher than I should have digging around my property but for hauling mulch etc it was perfect. I use the actuated rear hitch to haul my garbage cans with device called the cansporter. Another note on the sleeve hitch, i tried using a ground scraper but could not get enough down pressure as the weight of the tractor and the downforce could not penetrate my hard ground, if it were a soft garden it might be better for that. Hope all that helps. I will try and get some pics posted someplace and get a link up.
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I just bought a used GR2120 with 41 hours on it. I already have the Johhny Plow for a sears suburban tractor. I believe I would need the bracket to fit the GR2120 as well as the front bucket only since I have 2 acutators that came with the plow. I am highly considering the sleeve hitch and am very thankful for your feedback. I like the idea of the down pressure. I have other tractors that I added a liquid to the tires called "rim guard". It doesn't freeze and is 30% heavier than water. This would add a decent amount of weight to the rear. Thanks for telling me about installation of the universal hitch. I don't know if I could do it myself. If I get one I may get it professionally installed. I wasn't sure if the tractor frame was "strong enough" to support the hitch with attachments. I really appreciate your writing and would love some close up pics of the sleeve hitch mounted and how you did it if possible. I searched all over the Internet and your one of only 2 people who I could find with the hitch on a 2120 and the other gentleman hasn't responded. btw, I'm in PA.
Michael I just posted a short slide show of the attachments. You will see at first I bridged the gap with a block. And am now using a threaded rod for the upper attachment.
Are the shoes that I think I see (black on back/bottom) on that blower adjustable? I'd be using it on unpaved drive and would have to have it high enough to avoid digging rocks. Also is that a hydraulic line to the mount? Is that for controlling the lift? How long does it take to put this attachment onto the tractor? I would definitely need the chains - are they a Kubota item, and if not, is there any problem with clearances with the chains and the tractor fender/frame?
MiserableOldFart Sorry for late reply. I first saw your question while at work and forgot, 1. Black skids are adjustable. 2. Hydraulic line connects to snow blower attachment and powers the lift. 3. Rear tire chains clear easily. I did not buy them from my dealer, it was three years ago now. I searched for the place I ordered from. Could not find the email. A quick google search and you should find chains.
Hook up takes about 15min. You need to be nice and squared up and lift the attachment so it catches on the frame. It can be a little fickle. Then you need to connect the driveshaft from the rear to the attachment. That involves getting on the ground. I try and get it done in the dry in the garage.
Good to know. thanks. I've had my GR2120 for three years and have had a lot of annoying problems, most small, the latest large. Not sure where I'm going with it. Might be trading it in or gritting my teeth and hoping for more reliability in the future. 180 hours on it, barely broken in. It's a good thing I never sold my RFM on my bigger tractor that this was supposed to replace, at least not yet. The snowthrower interests me because my old body is just too stiff to work with the 3 pt. blower on my other tractor much longer.
Sorry to hear you have had significant issues. I have 184hrs on mine. Two issues I have had is the brake not holding reliably, pops off with vibration of engine. And I was a bit rough with the Johnny Bucket I have did some digging and ground scrapping and must have fatigued the front steering brackets and they fractured. I replaced those myself, not a difficult job and again i do blame myself. Anything I should watch for? I have about 180 hrs on mine.
MiserableOldFart I wish they had this type of connection here in the US. www.kubota.ca/images/db/brochures/0548.pdf. Not sure where in Canada you can get this. I do not like the lifting I have to do to get the attachment onto the frame. It is a bit heavy and if the lip is not lined up square it does not settle on correctly. Something to think about. I find it heavy to move around and lift to get it into position to get it on the frame.
My steering brackets also broke. A pin hole appeared in the fuel tank,
which a spot of SealAll seems to have taken care of. Engine vibration
caused the plastic panels in front of the floor pan to crack. I get
quite a bit of shimmy at shutdown and have bought new panels, which I
have reinforced on the inside with gorilla tape, but haven't put them on
for fear of them just breaking too. The front drive shaft bracket that
bolts to the frame broke, and when I went it replace it, the bolt on
the universal joint just came apart. The mower gearbox is shot and the
deck has been at a dealer (my dealer went belly up) for almost three
weeks now. When the tractor was still brand new, the idler pulley
bearings gave up the ghost, and they replaced that under warranty, but
it took a while for them to get the part.
I'm looking for AWD so I don't have to mess with chains and wheel weights like I do with my Cub Cadet.
Are you using chains and weights on four wheel drive? Are they necessary?
I used them the first year. Not since. That first year however when we had 2 1/2 foot. Snowfall I cut a path off of the drive way across the lawn to my back deck to provide emergency access to the rear of the house if needed. I could not have done that without because I lifted the snowblower a bit as not to cut into the ground. Otherwise it has been fine.
Not one use this year in Upstate NY. NO SNOW!
I have a Kubota GR2120 and am also planning on buying the Johnny Bucket and Plow blade but I know there will be times the snowblower will be useful especially in deep snow. Can you tell me how easy or hard is it to swap over from one implement to the other? Also are you snowblowing gravel or pavement in the video? BTW: nice video.
So, at first i started having the blade on for the first part of the winter, and using it for the first few lighter snowfalls. It will handle a moderate snowfall. It will not however push the snow far enough off the driveway that when you have a couple of deep snowfalls close together that there is room for more snow. As I had purchased the plow, i felt obligated to use it. As the years have gone on. I mount the snowblower and it stays on. The front frame attachment is six bolts to get to and take off to remove the bucket/plow mount. It is not as quick a process as i would like. I now do not use the plow. As nice of an implement as it is the transition back and forth is not optimal. Even in the garage. And i would certainly not want to do it outside when cold. Getting the snowblower hooked onto the frame sometimes is as much as I want to do once in November or so. So if you live close to NY i have a discounted plow I would sell.
Paved driveway.
7 years in now and all is well. A few shear pins here and there. But the snowblower implement has been a beast. My neighbor who I share a private road with got the Kubota side by side UTV with plow. We had a couple 2 ft snowfalls. That was about his limit of ability to push. I ran the edges of anything he plowed to clear more room to push snow off to the side. I could throw it all 30 -50 ft away.
@@AlMenard Thanks for your reply Al, I live in northern New Hampshire and will keep the plow in mind. My drive is gravel and I live on a state road which they plow the crap out of and it leaves me with large rocks and pieces of roadway at the end of my driveway. This doesn't bode well for a snowblower but the large storms almost require one so that's my dilemma. Both a plow and a snowblower seems like a perfect match but Kubota wants 5K for both with the fun connect hitch and that's not installation costs included.
I do not have the Fun connect. Not sure if it is an option for my set up. Need to ask my dealer. I see the conundrum with the gravel and pavement bits from plow. The back and forth with the Johnny Bucket frame adapter may be a pain for you still. The rear smaller bolts and nuts are awkward to get at.