MSRP, base build
Five more horsepower than the BX1880 for about $3,800 more, on the identical BX80 chassis, LA344 loader and drive-over deck. That single step is the whole BX buying decision, and 21.6 hp is where most of the volume lands.
1.06 PTO hp per $1,000 of list price
As published by the maker
On the price: The maker's own published starting figure for the base build. A dealer adds a loader, a deck and freight on top.
Lift figures are the maker's and are quoted at whichever point the maker chose; the about page explains why two loaders with the same number do not lift the same pallet.
Comes with
From owner discussion and long-term write-ups
Gathered from owner reports
This is the machine in the group with the best-documented high-hour record. Owners report 1,700 hours, 600 hours of what one calls hard hours, and 300 hours of heavy use since 2017 — and their fault lists are short. The 600-hour owner says he has spent about $200 on it, most of that on his own mistakes, with no engine or drivetrain trouble at all, starting reliably at ten below and never losing power mowing thick grass on the hottest days. A five-year owner reports no hydraulic leaks whatsoever. The wear that does appear comes from working it hard: loader pivot wear, tie rods and steering cylinder brackets replaced after a couple of hundred hours of rocky fill work, cylinder eyes wallowing out despite a ten-hour grease schedule, and the loader arm cylinder mount ears flaring outward.
The limit owners describe is weight, not power. The 1,700-hour owner says it directly: the limiting factor is always weight for these. A 42-inch rotary cutter will cut as fast as you can drive, a 48-inch tiller gets worked hard, and a 60-inch belly deck has been used to straight brush-hog in two passes — but a bucket in rocky dirt struggles, the small rear tires dig in and tear turf when pulling, and one owner has come close to tipping many times even with the loader and a box blade as ballast. Two owners independently report fixing the lift rather than living with it, raising the hydraulic pressure slightly and fitting aftermarket cylinders that add roughly 30% for under a thousand dollars, bringing them close to a thousand pounds.
The most useful thing owners say about buying one is about the learning curve. One managing five acres with livestock admits he regretted buying small at first and only later realised the problem was technique — it took him about a hundred hours to get genuinely good at grading and dirt work, after which he was impressed by what the machine could do. Implements follow the same theme: a land plane rather than a box blade is the near-unanimous recommendation for gravel, with one owner grading over a mile of road with a 60-inch planer in about 45 minutes, bogging only when pulling gravel uphill. And the belly mower is the one purchase owners second-guess, with two saying outright they would put that money toward a zero-turn instead.
Summarised from public owner discussion, not from testing. Nothing here was measured by this site, and a report that recurs is not the same as a defect rate.
Cross-shopped against
Same brand or same size, nearest in price
Kubota
Top of the BX80 range and the last step before the B series: 23.3 gross hp from a 61.1 cu in three-cylinder against the BX2380's 21.6 from 54.8 cu in. Frame, 6.6 gal tank, 6.2 gpm pump and 680 lb hitch all carry over unchanged from the cheaper models.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
Cheapest diesel tractor Kubota sells in the US at $12,798 base, and the 16.6 hp D722 is the compromise that buys that number. It mows an acre or two and moves light loads; it is not the one to buy if a loader bucket will be full most days.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
A factory backhoe is the entire point, and it is why the MSRP sits about $11,400 above a BX2380 running the same 21.6 hp engine. The BT603 hoe and LA340 loader ship as one Kubota-built package rather than a dealer-fitted afterthought.
Spec sheet & owner notes