I came across this 1998 Kubota B21
TLB this summer, and I bought it as
an interesting repair project. It was owned by a small water company, which
took good care of it, having frequent maintenance done at the Kubota dealer.
It seems to have been stored inside and greased frequently. This tractor has
about all the options the buyer could get from the dealer: a 4-in-1
FEL bucket
with front auxilliary
hyd valve. Factory work lights on the
FOPS. A triple-spool
rear aux
hyd valve block, also factory. The 4-in-1 is only about 510 lb and not
made by Kubota or any known 3rd party. It has some wear and tear, but it
seems quite servicable.
The tractor experienced transmission problems, so it went to the dealer for
repair back in the spring. The dealer cracked the tractor and gave the owner
the bad news....my guess is more than $10,000 for repairs. Instead they
sold the owner a new tractor, taking this machine in trade. The dealer re-assembled
enough to get it rolling, then sent it off to an auction yard. They left out and
"lost" many of the important internals, including gears, shafts, and various
misc pieces. This is a mechanic's nightmare. The missing parts and how they
go together would need to be deduced from the cryptic parts diagrams and
the marginal factory service manual. I like a challenge.
Following are the steps I took to disassemble, analyze, buy parts, and re-assemble.
First photo is how the tractor arrived, off the trailer. I also filled the bed
of my PU truck with parts.
Next: further dissassembly