#29 Kubota B2601 - Hidden front end loader function? Tractor tips and tricks.

[Music] welcome back to the channel i'm really glad that you're here today i want to talk about the functions of a front-end loader and this may seem basic to a lot of users but there's a hidden function that i just found out about and no i'm not talking about the float function so stick around because you might be as surprised as i was compact and sub-compact tractors have only grown in popularity over the years now i don't have any statistics but i'd venture to say that it's safe to guess that a vast majority of small tractors are sold with a front end loader attachment now i kind of grew up around front end loaders and i have a good understanding of how they work i've used them for several years but i'm finding that there are things that i still don't know and i'm always improving so i'm going to start out by just going over some of the basic functions and then we'll get to that hidden feature let's look straight down at the loader control rod you have four basic functions with this stick when you pull it back it raises the entire loader frame when you push it forward it lowers the entire loader when you move the stick to the left it curls the bucket back when you move the stick to the right it dumps the bucket those are your four basic functions now some tractors are able to combine functions where you can be raising the loader and curling the bucket or raising the loader and dumping the bucket so you're able to use a different axis of functions some smaller and more inexpensive tractors don't allow you to do that you can only raise it and lower it and dump it and curl it individually you don't have that option of combining features or functions so this one you can do it most bigger tractors you can combine those functions a common function when you lower your bucket all the way to the ground is to use the float feature and you use that by pushing the stick all the way forward it locks in place you can still use curl dump and curl but the loader is all the way on the ground and it's floating with the ground there's no the valves are basically open for that function so that the loader can follow the contour of the ground very handy for spreading dirt spreading mulch spreading stone anything like that so that's basically the four functions of a front end loader now you can add a fifth function to your loader by adding a third function valve so if a front end loader has four functions up down curl dump why isn't a third function valve called a fifth function well it's pretty simple when you really think about it a loader really has two functions up and down curl and dump or two cylinders or two sets of cylinders so the first set of cylinders is used for up and down the second set of cylinders is used for curling and dumping some smaller tractors have just one cylinder on the bucket for curling and dumping so adding a third function valve essentially adds operation for a third cylinder or a third set of cylinders and that third function can be used for augers for snow blowers most commonly for a grapple and that function allows you to operate an extra set of cylinders for closing and opening your grapple which is by the way my favorite attachment now when you add a third function valve or in my case when your dealer adds a third function valve it adds two control buttons right on your lever for your loader there's a third button and that's used to turn the third function valve on and off because it's an electronic valve not a manual valve or mechanical valve so you first turn the valve on and there's a green light on mine that indicates that then you have two buttons an upper button and a lower button the upper button for me opens up my grapple the lower button closes my grapple now with this type of third function you can't ease the hydraulics like you can with your typical controls it's really just open or closed so your grapple for me is either opening or closing with no slow control you can tap it and you can bring the grapple in slowly but you can't really ease it in does that make sense i hope it does now here's a great example of using the float function if you lower the bucket down put it slightly on an angle and then go to the float function you can see the front of the tractor came up and then when i hit float it dropped down because now those cylinders have no resistance at all the entire assembly it's just floating the bucket's locked but the rails the frame is floating so when i back up i can still control my bucket like that tilt it forward some but yet it's floating and pulling the dirt back now what about that hidden function i was telling you about right let me just demonstrate this way if i lower the bucket all the way down and then i dump the bucket i've noticed that it doesn't have the power to pick up my front wheels and i always thought that was kind of odd because if i raise the bucket and tilt it forward certainly the loader has the power to pick the front of the tractor up yet again if i lower the bucket and dump it it just can't pick the tractor up so here's that hidden function and it is in your owner's manual now if you look at your owner's manual it shows you the functions of the front end loader i'll show you a screenshot of that you wouldn't really find it there if you turn back a couple pages if it's under something like pre-checks or something like that it's kind of odd where it is but when you use the stick and you move it to the right for a dump you'll see that you can't pick the letter up but just like the float function there is an additional function if you push that lever further to the right look at that now it doesn't stay locked like the float function does it has sort of a detent so you have to push it further so there's to the right push a little further now it has more power essentially what that's doing is it's a slower speed you know let me raise it up and i'll show you see there's the dump very fast what you want when you're calling dirt or mulch you want to be able to dump that bucket pretty quickly but if you use that function all the way to the right now it's so much slower well not so much slower but obviously it's slower because i'll go there and then slow it down but by doing that it adds a good amount of power to the dump feature anyway let's turn this off i don't know if you can hear me or not i hope so anyway that kind of blew me away when i discovered that so even though i did read my manual obviously i missed that part i just didn't even think about that function so i hope it helped you now in my manual loader functions can be found on page 24 and 25 and if you look at the functions it shows you the different directions of the control stick lowering the loader is function g and if you push it all the way forward to function h or position h that is the float feature that's pretty much all it shows you but then hidden in plain sight on page 22 if you just go back a page under pre-operation check well here's this other diagram that i missed and you can see here when you move the rod to the right for dumping your bucket you have position r1 and then if you push it further to the right you have position r2 who'da thunk well i hope you found that little tip helpful it certainly was a surprise for me to discover that if you like the channel and you like the content i really would appreciate it if you would click the like button click subscribe and if you tap the subscription bell and make it turn gray you'll be notified anytime i put out a video and i'd also love to chat with you in the comments so thanks very much for watching by the way this video number 29 could be the one that puts us over the first goal of 1000 subscribers wouldn't it be great for video number 30 to be the 1000 subscriber celebration video thanks again for watching and i look forward to seeing you next time [Music] you

Channel: My Cluttered Garage

Views: 1,271,526

Keywords: front end loader, compact tractor, subcompact tractor, kubota b2601, gp outdoors, outdoor living, cottage country, stoney ridge farmer, kubota b2650, front end loader tips, front end loader training, kubota b2301, kubota b2401, kubota lx series, kubota lx2601, kubota tractor, b series, outdoors with the morgans, sub compact tractor, front end loader tricks, Hidden front end loader function, #29 Kubota B2601 - Hidden front end loader function? Tractor tips and tricks.

Id: UIqKDpNUlo8

Length: 9min 51sec (591 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 04 2020