While in Bangor on other business, I ran by the Toy Store and bought filters and a bucket of Kubota's UDT2 Transmission/Hydraulic oil. Supposed to be specially formulated for their hydrostatic transmission. Change from a pair of Benjamins wasn't worth stopping at McDonald's with. Didn't really need the oil right now, but wanted to have it on hand for the next full service.

The plan was to do a quickie filter change. Usually I can yank the transmission filter off and spin the new one on and only lose a quart or so of oil out of the 4 gallons it holds.

Last time I serviced the tractor, I decided to save a couple of bucks and use NAPA equivalent hydraulic and transmission filters. After doing so, I noticed increased noise and pokey hydraulics especially when cold. My theory was that the NAPA filters were "almost right" and causing some restriction, so I decided to go back to $Genuine$ $Kubota$ $Filters$.

I also wanted to be sure I hadn't swapped positions on the Hydraulic and Trans filters, so I checked the book, both the operator's manual and the $Workshop$ $Manual$. The filter pointed out in the manual as the transmission filter and the actual filter that Kubota was telling me was the one that went there didn't match. "Well, Dumbass, you swapped the filters!"

Except that I hadn't. BOTH books have it bass-ackwards. AND the "transmission" filter will NOT fit on that base. Which, of course, I didn't discover until I'd dumped 3 gallons of UDT on the floor of the garage while trying to get the the wrong filter started on that mount. Sigh.

So I wound up doing a complete trans oil change early but all is well, both filters are on and the tractor does sound a bit quieter. We'll have to see if it's any better in cold weather. Which, being Spring in Maine, shouldn't take long...

Sounds like fun. I can’t wait to get to that point on my Kubota, but not even at the 50hr mark. Hopefully, the maintenance will go smoothly for me.

I am going to get a loan on the house. My L-39 takes 15gal and 2$$$ filters.

I had just finished my shop when I pulled the Kubota in there one day to quickly check the tire pressures as I was too lazy to drag the hose out in the driveway.

I had the compressor fired up and checked all four, finding one that was quite low. I added air with the hose and as I removed it, the stem came out. Unfortunately the valve stem on that tire was in the 6 o'clock position and it hosed down the inside of my shop with ballast. I grabbed a piece of plywood in a failed attempt to direct the spray towards the door. All it did was go everywhere. It took me hours to clean all that crap up. Sticky beet juice all over everything. What a mess!

I'd bet a video of it would be rather comical to watch though.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Unfortunately the valve stem on that tire was in the 6 o'clock position and it hosed down the inside of my shop with ballast. I grabbed a piece of plywood in a failed attempt to direct the spray towards the door. All it did was go everywhere. It took me hours to clean all that crap up. Sticky beet juice all over everything. What a mess!

That's the main reason I went with a rear counterweight, rather than ballasting the tires. I made it myself, using a blue poly barrel filled with 800# concrete (the approximate limit of my FEL lift). I stuck a couple of 4" ABS pipes in the concrete to use as tool carriers (like rakes, shovels, digging bars, and things). I only have one 3 point implement which also serves as ballast when I use it, but it is so wide (landscape rake) that I really have to watch my turns. The blue barrel stays nice and close up to the 3 point, and it is on there 95% of the time.

Well, bright side and all, that spot of floor won't be a rustin' on ya.

And you suspected in the back of yer head you was right and the documentation$ was wrong, eh, Chief?

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

And you suspected in the back of yer head you was right and the documentation$ was wrong, eh, Chief?

Yup, and I was right. Feller on a Kubota board pointed me to a PDF of the corrected manual.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
While in Bangor on other business, I ran by the Toy Store and bought filters and a bucket of Kubota's UDT2 Transmission/Hydraulic oil.

....Which, of course, I didn't discover until I'd dumped 3 gallons of UDT on the floor of the garage while trying to get the the wrong filter started on that mount. Sigh.

So I wound up doing a complete trans oil change early but all is well, both filters are on and the tractor does sound a bit quieter. We'll have to see if it's any better in cold weather. Which, being Spring in Maine, shouldn't take long...

You bought filters and 5-gallon bucket of fluid, were you not planning on changing the fluid? I guess not or you would have drained it before removing the filters. Well it's always good to change the fluid every few years, how many hours on your Kubota now Paul?

I'm "Kubotaless" now having recently sold my L2501.

It must be a spring thing. I've had my 3240 out a bit and just ordered the oil filter & picked up the oil for it. I bet its been 10 years since I did anything with the Hydo fluid (filters and oil).

I guess that is going to be the next project, sigh.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:


You bought filters and 5-gallon bucket of fluid, were you not planning on changing the fluid? I guess not or you would have drained it before removing the filters. Well it's always good to change the fluid every few years, how many hours on your Kubota now Paul?

I'm "Kubotaless" now having recently sold my L2501.

No, I was planning to just change the filters and top it off as I'd just changed fluid and filters ~100 hours ago. Object was to see if genuine Kubota filters would get rid of the noisy hydraulics. (Which preliminary evidence indicates they have) I bought the UDT2 just to have it on hand as I only had a gallon or so left.

The Cabota has a hair over 500 hours on it now. Didn't get used much this Winter, only had to blow snow maybe 3 times.

I've arranged to sell my big rotary (bush hog) mower to my grandson as he's trying to build a property maintenance business. I haven't needed it around here in years as everything is groomed enough to do it with the finish mower and I only had one field I was doing on the side.

About all it gets used for now is grading the driveway, mowing the pastures and a little tilling.

100 hours may be a little sooner than necessary to change fluid but if it's been a couple years or longer probably it's probably good you did, and now you're good for at least a couple years or 250 hours.

I picked up a 2013 Deere 3520 last Summer, it only had 155 hours but to start a base line I changed all the fluids (engine, hydraulic, front axle, coolant) and filters. But at least I know it's all fresh at that point.