Replacing the LX2610 as the entry point to the LX20 range, rated 23.3 gross hp from the indirect-injection D1305 with a three-range hydrostatic as the only transmission. It sits between the B01 series and the Standard L02 - more loader than a B2601, less hitch than an L2502, and about $2,900 dearer than the L2502.
0.95 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
Almost every LX2620 owner arrived from somewhere smaller, and they arrived for the same reason. People trading up from a BX describe the loader on their old machine as the thing they could not live with - one says he is sorely disappointed every time he gets back on his father's BX - and they picked the LX over the B specifically for lift and ground clearance. The move is generally judged a success: owners clear land, move rocks, drag downed trees with a grapple and maintain long gravel drives with it, and several say the only regret is not buying one years earlier.
And then the same owners say they want more lift. That tension runs right through the evidence. People on five acres who use it constantly still wish for more loader capacity, and one points out that a six-foot hardwood log weighs more than the machine will pick up, so logs get bucked shorter instead. Filled rear tires and wheel spacers come up in nearly every serious answer as the fix for both stability and lifting, and one cab owner says that even with three-inch spacers he would prefer the machine were wider. The cab is the other defining choice: owners who have it will not go back, citing heat, air conditioning and a dust and insect free environment for mowing and snow work, but they are honest about the cost - roughly seven and a half thousand dollars - and about the nuisance of climbing out to reach the three-point controls, which is why one owner uses the right-hand door for hitching implements.
The fault that shows up most in ownership is the third-function circuit. Separate owners describe hydraulic fluid weeping from the third-function fitting into the pump, a distribution valve sticking so a grapple would not close properly, and a failed valve at eight hours - all fixed under warranty, in two cases by a technician sent to the house at no cost. Two other buyers report rough handover condition, one of them serious enough that the dealer replaced the entire tractor. For snow, the combination owners keep recommending is a front blade set a few inches high with a rear blade doing the cleanup, on the reasoning that a tractor is built to pull rather than push and the rear blade acts like a rudder.
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
Stepping off the BX frame buys a real Category I hitch and a 1,411 lb three-point, roughly double what a BX lifts at the rear. At $20,017 it sits between the BX80 range and the L02 compacts, and it is the smallest Kubota that takes full-size rear implements.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
Cheapest hydrostatic B-series Kubota sells, sitting between the BX80 range and the B2601 on 20.9 gross hp from the 61.1 cu in D1005. It shares the B2601's LA435 loader, 8.3 gpm pump and 1,411 lb hitch outright - the difference between the two is 3.4 gross horsepower.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
Replaces the L2501 at the bottom of Kubota's Standard L range, now rated 23.3 gross hp where the older machine was rated 24.8. Same cast frame, all-metal hood and Kubota-built LA526 loader; the 8F/8R synchronised shuttle is the base build and a three-range HST is the alternative.
Spec sheet & owner notes