Got my Johnny Bucket Jr! Thought I'd share my first impressions.
First, the good. The JBJr seems to work great, and I'm glad I got the Power Dump option. Makes dumping and retracting as easy as pushing a button. Carrying material is much easier than pushing it with the dozer blade, no more losing traction. I did find that trying to cut into packed material does cause me to lose traction, so perhaps there is no way around this without adding tire weights (I only have chains now, no weights).
The actuators work great. I can't even imagine using a cable winch. When you reach the end of the actuator limit, it emits a clicking sound, so it appears you cannot damage the actuator by keeping the switch down too long, or at least I hope not. The actuators give quite a great deal of fine control. They are a tad slow, however, but since the up/down distance isn't very far, it's tolerable.
In general, the installation was straightforward, and much easier than the dozer blade, which had a zillion parts. I did initially mix up the actuators, since I assumed they were identical, and had to call Johnny to set me straight. The most difficult is that the winch plate and the bucket mount were the wrong width, and it took me several attempts to figure out the best way to overcome this. More about this later.
Now, the bad. The JBJr frame brackets, which replace the factory frame brackets, do not appear to be compatible with the mower deck or the dozer blade. The mower deck has an "H" bracket that attaches from the front of the mower deck to the tractor frame. This bracket puts rearward pressure on the deck and ensures the belts are tight. The new JBJr frame brackets do not have the holes to which to attach this "H" bracket. I suppose I can try running the mower deck without this "H" bracket, but I feel keeping the tension on the belts is important, especially with tall grass. Likewise, the JBJr frame brackets do not have the holes/slots required for the dozer blade.
I suppose I can have new frame brackets created by a metal shop, but the reason I went with the expensive JBJr (as opposed to a custom Swisher bucket) was to avoid redesigning the wheel. I may have to do this, as I want to use the dozer blade for snow removal in the winter, and I really don't want to have to reinstall the frame brackets each time I switch implements.
Another problem is that the JBJr is built for a GT5000 frame of a different width. I called Johnny about this and he said that the GT5000s have different frame widths. I was able to make it work by using washers as spacers to fill the gaps. It seems to work. I have a 2004 GT5000, by the way. So new buyers, beware.
Since I'm carrying light materials (horse manure), I do wish the bucket were larger. Perhaps some sort of extension plate that bolts to the bottom of the bucket would be nice.
Anyone run into the above problems and have solutions? Especially how do you JBJr owners use the mower deck and dozer blade with the JBJr frame brackets?
Thanks!
First, the good. The JBJr seems to work great, and I'm glad I got the Power Dump option. Makes dumping and retracting as easy as pushing a button. Carrying material is much easier than pushing it with the dozer blade, no more losing traction. I did find that trying to cut into packed material does cause me to lose traction, so perhaps there is no way around this without adding tire weights (I only have chains now, no weights).
The actuators work great. I can't even imagine using a cable winch. When you reach the end of the actuator limit, it emits a clicking sound, so it appears you cannot damage the actuator by keeping the switch down too long, or at least I hope not. The actuators give quite a great deal of fine control. They are a tad slow, however, but since the up/down distance isn't very far, it's tolerable.
In general, the installation was straightforward, and much easier than the dozer blade, which had a zillion parts. I did initially mix up the actuators, since I assumed they were identical, and had to call Johnny to set me straight. The most difficult is that the winch plate and the bucket mount were the wrong width, and it took me several attempts to figure out the best way to overcome this. More about this later.
Now, the bad. The JBJr frame brackets, which replace the factory frame brackets, do not appear to be compatible with the mower deck or the dozer blade. The mower deck has an "H" bracket that attaches from the front of the mower deck to the tractor frame. This bracket puts rearward pressure on the deck and ensures the belts are tight. The new JBJr frame brackets do not have the holes to which to attach this "H" bracket. I suppose I can try running the mower deck without this "H" bracket, but I feel keeping the tension on the belts is important, especially with tall grass. Likewise, the JBJr frame brackets do not have the holes/slots required for the dozer blade.
I suppose I can have new frame brackets created by a metal shop, but the reason I went with the expensive JBJr (as opposed to a custom Swisher bucket) was to avoid redesigning the wheel. I may have to do this, as I want to use the dozer blade for snow removal in the winter, and I really don't want to have to reinstall the frame brackets each time I switch implements.
Another problem is that the JBJr is built for a GT5000 frame of a different width. I called Johnny about this and he said that the GT5000s have different frame widths. I was able to make it work by using washers as spacers to fill the gaps. It seems to work. I have a 2004 GT5000, by the way. So new buyers, beware.
Since I'm carrying light materials (horse manure), I do wish the bucket were larger. Perhaps some sort of extension plate that bolts to the bottom of the bucket would be nice.
Anyone run into the above problems and have solutions? Especially how do you JBJr owners use the mower deck and dozer blade with the JBJr frame brackets?
Thanks!
canada: ), which usually means nothing works out to be the same. But the JBJr did.
