I get it now. Although my tractor looks like there are discrete settings with notches, it's not. It is continuous. You can stop the lever anywhere and it stays there.
Yeh, my lever is spring-loaded. You hold it in the Up or Down position and when you let go it returns to center/Stop. The other kinda interesting thing is that the mechanics of raising & lowering the belly mower are tied in to the 3 point hitch. When I raise the 3 point hitch, it engages the linkage that connects to the belly mower attachment points. Same thing when I lower it. I was doing some work on our right-of-way and I removed the lift arms because they are at risk when I back down steep embankments (that wasn't an expensive lesson but it was one well-learned that actually took me down a different rabbit hole.) When I was done I put the belly mower back on to cut my grass, and I could not figure out why the deck would not lift. I had to reinstall the 3 point lift arms in order to engage the belly mower lift mechanism. In one sense it's a clever design. In another sense it's kinda Rube Goldberg. But they gotta do what they gotta do. And it works. I'm sure glad I had all that stuff installed at the dealer when I bought it.
Looks like that mysterious lever I asked about might be to lock the rear wheels together, like limited slip. I thought that switch was somewhere else. Mixed it up with the golf cart. This tractor is not 4WD.
That's interesting. I have two small pedals I press with my heels. -The one on the right that's behind the gas & the brake pedals is Reverse. -The one on the left locks the differential. I've had to use it a few times, even with 4WD. Does that lever actually lock the wheels until you unlock them? My differential pedal is spring-loaded just like any other pedal. I push it down and hold it, and the differential is locked. I let my foot up and the differential is unlocked. There is no way to keep it in an Engaged state without holding my foot on it.
Yeh, these are all hydraulic, with hydrostatic transmissions. I don't believe there's a single mechanical thing on mine except for maybe the linkage to control 2WD/4WD and maybe the linkage for Hi/Med/Lo speeds.
My valve knob will set the rate of fall for the hitch and will lock it at a level, but I cannot set it to stop the hitch at a previously-set point of drop.
So how does that work, Don? Do you have to release the valve to unlock the the hitch, then use a hydraulic lever to readjust its height, then lock it in place again with the valve? I have these settings: -I can adjust the valve to change the rate of fall...that's all this knob does. -The hydraulic lever raises & lowers the hitch. The hitch locks where I choose to stop raising/lowering. -I have a sliding mechanical stop that's held with a set-screw to change the low-drop limit. --This is adjusted at the rear of the tractor with hand tools. I've never seen a need to mess with it. In fact, you cannot get in there with a sizeable implement attached, so its purpose confuses me. Maybe I could fine-tune the height of a landscape rake and always return to that position by going to Maximum Low Point. Like you, I cannot return to a pre-set drop point. Other Kubotas have that feature (a 0-9 scale on the lever.) I have no idea how consistent they are.
Mine is just like yours. The tractor forums recommend adjusting the drop to 2 seconds from top to lowest point. With the attachments I have, I seldom do anything other than drop it to the full bottom setting.
As we talk, it occurs to me that one implement that would benefit from not being fully dropped would be my bottom plow. If it is not set perfectly parallel with the tractor, it just digs deeper. Another thing I've seen that would be handy is a hydraulic upper link. I don't even know if I could tap one into my system, since there's already the rear outlet on the system for the backhoe.
A hydraulic top link would be nice, but I am sure my little tractor hydraulic pump wouldn't handle more attachments on it. You could ask a dealer or someone with a lot of experience with such things if yours has the capacity to add one.
I don't think anyone here is in the market for a new attachment for their tractor or skid steer, but maybe you know someone who is. EverythingAttachments is a U.S. manufacturer of tractor attachments and they are running a 6% off sale through midnight August 15. Use Coupon Code "6x6" They are in the Carolinas and pay for delivery up to 1,000 miles. Of course, given where prices on things are these days, 6% off today's price is not an historically low deal, but it's good quality stuff if someone happens to be in the market.
Here is a video of some new things @John Brunner or @Nancy Hart might be interested in. Perhaps a 400-hp small frame tractor would fit your needs...or an aerial ATV that would allow you to fly around your property? tractor video
I'm gonna cross-post this from another thread. It's a hydraulic scythe/trimmer you attach to your front end loader and connect to either an accessory port or to the front end loader's bucket roll hydraulic port. You retain the ability to raise and lower the bucket. You can set it vertically as you see above so you drive down your right-of-way and cut the intruding branches, or set it horizontally and use it as a hay scythe or a standard hedge trimmer at whatever height you raise the bucket.