LED light upgrade for my tractor!

For some reason tractor manufactures love sealed beam worklights. I don't One. they draw a lot of juice and two, they don't make the light I need to do field work at night. Lost them all a while back. If anyone wants them, I have them under the bench collecting dust. You pay the shipping, you can have all four for free.

 

At least we agree on something...lol Been my experience that people who buy the light bard and mount them on their pickup trucks (even thought they are for 'off road use only' and state that right on the light bar, always aim them high. Has to be kids because I don't know adults that have them. A quick blip of my KC Daylighters and they turn them off, probably because I cooked their eyeballs. at 55 watts each, they are wicked. I don't drive at night much anymore, but I do tractor after dark quite a bit, during planting time and harvest. Really though, my pet peeve are the discourteous drivers when I'm going from field to field or coming home. Always in a big hurry to go nowhere. I can only to 23 mph in 12th on the road. If you have to drive that fast and drive like an idiot, you should have left earlier.

One time I had a state cop follow me and when I turned on my dirt road he came around me and stopped and got out of his car. I thought he was gonna write me for something. Not at all. he wanted to comment about I was all 'lit up' on the road. All my implements have the required lights (amber flashing) red for stop, turn signals and I run an amber LED flashing beacon on the tractor roof plus the required SMV placards on each implement and the tractor and I had my forward facing LED spots on too. I also have 3 camera's facing back. One in the center and one each looking left and right. Have to see where the edge of my planter is and where the edge of my hay mower is and the mower hangs out the side 11 feet right or left when mowing first pass.

 

I like your screen name 'Well Seasoned'. That's me at 71, well seasoned. Just ask my wife...lol

I see Kubota's are popular on here. Popular with me as well. Most times I don't have my bucket on, just the loader. Both of mine have the SSQA quick attach so on and off is about 15 seconds. My issue with my M's is, I cannot really see the bucket anyway when it's on the ground, I just watch the level rod and hope for the best...lol. Usually, I have the pallet forks on anyway. How I fill my cans with corn and pellets and set it on the deck. I know she has power, couple winters ago guy down the road high centered his truck on a rock (boulder) he has at the end of his drive and he asked me if I would get it off. Told him no issue but not responsible for any damage. I slid the forks under the truck and picked it up off the rock. Easy-peasy. 1500 GM 4x4. She's got plenty of lift power. Never got light in the back either. I run cast centers on both of them which is an option on the bigger tractors. Tires aren't filled either. Used the cab tractor. In fact, the open station hardly ever comes out in the winter. I like staying warm, I'm old.

Like your canopy too. I went with the 'Tuff Top' because if I need to haul the tractor on the Gooseneck, I can fold it down so it don't get damaged. Thought about buying an old golf cart top and painting it but the Tuff Top was easier.

 

Well, well, Stanwood Michigan! My mom & dad lived in Canadian Lakes for years. Son graduated FSU years back. I've got 3 OBS F250's & a 350 you really should come see. 3 from out west that are clean & one that's decent from McBain. I look forward to meeting you someday & fully agree on the idiot kids with the light bars. Real nuisance.

 

Stanwood / Canada Lakes is nice but too much snow in the winter. The older I get the less I like snow. Seems like every time I go hunting up there, there is a blizzard to contend with....

 

"Now I’m pondering trying to wire the front windshield wiper so it has an intermittent switch." ... hook it up to yer TV remote...

 

The TV remote is my best friend! I don’t weigh 210lbs from working!

 

I guess if you like inane commercials, TV is wonderful. Me, I don't. Wife watches those 'Home improvement' shows. Me, I surf the net and watch YT video's for entertainment. Most of them are that, just entertainment with little other value. She does facebook too. I don't

 

Finally found a little time to wrap this up Here is what I came up with. Will probably use them mostly for doing snow and just around the yard. They are bright and will be a help with the snow pusher on the front that would block a lot of the light from the regular headlights.
I did end up drilling the ROPS and running the wires inside but that is not a concern for me.

 

Nice job and nice tractor!

 

I like your style sir!

 

I did make a small panel and put the switches under the back of the seat, there was an empty spot so I chose to mount them there. Out of the way and won't be used all the time, I just couldn't bring myself to drill into the dash-board. It actually worked out well.

Thanks for the compliments.
I did look for over a year (probably closer to two) for a used machine but the prices everyone was asking was insane. When the wife said " Will you just stop looking for someone else's headache and just buy a new one " that's all it took.

 

Lol, that's as good as permission as most will get!

If you ever want to sell it, you could always weld the holes closed, grind it smooth, and spray paint it.

Looks good, how's the light in front when operating?

 

Hopefully good? I haven't tried it yet other than lights off in the garage and it has good light over the top of the bucket from best I can tell. It won't get a ton of use other than doing snow but seems like it should be fine.
If we don't get snow, I am fine with that but it is probably more of when we get and not if.
Hope it is like buying a new snowblower and then it doesn't snow.
Have to wait and see.

I thought the same thing about welding the holes if I had to, but don't really need anything bigger so if I take care of this one it will outlive me.

 

I’ve found the factory lights are really lacking in the 9;30/2:30 directions, particularly with a round bale on the loader blocking a bunch of light. Somewhere I saw several pictures of the top panel removed from a Kubota cab - quite demystify once you see how simply it is up there.

 

Depends on the model year how complex or not complex the top panel removal is and what is under it, but never attempt to remove the inner headliner on a Kubota as it won't allow you access to what is under the 'lid'.

I remove mine yearly and clean out the AC condenser and heater core because all my 'works' are up top, but on later units, Kubota moved the 'works' under the seat pan. Easiest way to tell where the 'works' are is look at where the adjustable vents are located. If you have vents in the control console, the 'works' will be under the seat pan. If the vents are in the headliner only, the 'works' are overhead.

Like I said, I clean mine yearly by removing the lid. Pretty easy really (does take 2 people as it's cumbersome). I believe there are 8 screws to remove or every other one that go through the inner headliner. You can start anywhere, you just look at the length of the removed screw. Remove the next one and if it's short, replace it and move to he next one. Long secures the lid, short secures only the headliner. One thing I did have to do was, I replaced the Rivnuts in the lid with new ones with backing washers. Kubota sets the Rivnuts without backing washers and they get l0ose and make removal of the securing screws that go through the headline and secure the lid a pure bitch to remove.

I also insulated the underside of the lid with foil-bubble-foil insulation as the sun beating on the lid with no insulation causes the ac to work very hard and my lid developed some stress cracks which I fibeglassed. A new lid costs 1300 bucks from your dealer.

I've enclosed some pictures so you can see what I did, as well as the Rivnuts and the fiberglass repair.Also replaced the perimeter gasket (100 bucks dealer) because mine was deteriorated.

 

I replaced the bulbs in the front work lights on the cab. The original bulbs are an H3 so I was able to buy LED bulbs on Amazon. The new LEDs actually use more current so I had to put the front lights on a different circuit (the cigarette lighter), luckily it wasn’t a big job. I’m not confident that those LEDs are gonna last but we will see.