hydraulic cooler leak

   / hydraulic cooler leak
  • Thread Starter
#21  
For the loader repair it is not too hard to take the loader arms off of the tractor with two beafy people and good backs. I dropped the bucket and then my neighbor and I lifted the arms off. He had brought his BX22 over in case we needed it to help lift but we managed to get it off and loaded in the back of my old Ranger pickup with just muscle power. It just took the two of us to unload it from the pickup and put it back on. He also helped heft some granite slabs back when I was doing countertops. Neither one of us are not what you would call small boned.
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #22  
Boy I rember when I first started in business...
That is how I put on all my loaders.:eek:
Now I just work smarter not harder
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #23  
cag said:
Hydraulic cooler leak! same thing happen to me about two months ago,it appears the hose feeding the rad are made of solid steel and tend to crack over time, I had mine replace with the new flexible line available from kioti...cag

I have a CK20H that developed a hydraulic leak while snowblowing back in February with temps in the single digits. Just today I was able to finally take a look at it. I determined it to also be a hydraulic cooler.

For someone new to tractors it took me most of the day and disassembling the front of the tractor to discover. There was absolutely no obvious damage or hole in the cooler but when I tilted it to one side with both inlets to the cooler plugged the fluid began to drip out steadily. I figure its a small crack or hole invisible to the eye.

This made an awful mess blowing hydraulic fluid all over the engine compartment.

How much would a new cooler and the flexible lines cost ? What is the best way to clean up the hydro fluid? Is there some sort of cleaner to use or would it be fine to just wipe everything down the best I can and call it good?
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #24  
Hello,
I replaced the hydraulic cooler. It took five minutes. Why not take it out, drive to the dealer and trade it in on a new one.
a. make sure he has one in stock.
b. make sure you filled out the appropriate paperwork to tranfer the warranty you mentioned prior to this.
c. ask the dealer to help you with this.

If you need the tractor right away, buy it from the dealer with the understanding once b. above is right you can get you money back because transfer takes a while.

Also, the leaks appear on the inside of the cooler so it will be easy to see it is not damaged from abuse if that is the case.

Hope this helps.

CBB

twigpig said:
I searched tbn again using different key words for other people that had this problem and found a couple that had to replace the cooler. Ok. So I call Peninsula Feed Company in Port Orchard WA and ask for a new one since this one is leaking. They said sure the tractor is under warranty but I would have to haul it the 104 miles to their shop so they can make sure it is a manufacturing defect and nothing punctured it. My reply is of course is; It is between the battery and the radiator. How in the world is something going to puncture it? I asked them to send me a new one and I would bring them the old one or I could just take the old one out and bring it to them and then they could give me a new one. No, they said I have to bring the whole tractor the 104 miles for warranty parts. I have read so many good things about the Kioti and the dealers here on TBN I just assumed I would have the same experience. My mistake. Buyer beware!
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak
  • Thread Starter
#25  
CBB
Peninsula Feed and Equipment is not disputing the fact that the tractor is covered. They looked it up in their records somehow. They are insisting that I bring the tractor to them. When I first called them about the cooler I asked if I could take the cooler out and bring it in for exchange. They said no. They told me I had to bring the whole tractor. They said all of their customers are required to bring their tractors in for warranty work. The warranty exchange paperwork is not an issue since the previous tractor owner lives relatively close to the dealer and has said he would go with me to help take care of it. At no time did the dealer say the warranty exchange was an issue. Another dealer is helping me with that paperwork for the warranty. It ticks me off that the dealer that originally sold the tractor will not take care of it after they made the profit on the sale and a different dealer that did not make the profit from the sale is stepping up to fill the customer service gap. That is wrong on so manny levels. It is not right that the helpful dealers are left holding the customer service bag while the not so helpful ones take the money and let the customer hanging.
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #26  
Had my hydraulic cooler tested at a radiator repair shop today. It definitely has a leak that is not at all visible. The guy at the shop said that it must be a manufacturing flaw. He said that hes seen that on much older radiators where the thin aluminum wears out or corrodes but my tractor is an '04 w/155hrs and not abused. He could repair it but said that he'd be concerned about it failing similarly somewhere else and I'd have the same mess again.

Prices for a new one were between $310 and $350. Much too high.

My question: is anyone aware of a much less expensive replacement not necessarily a Kioti specific part or although my tractor is out of warranty what is the chance that Kioti would relplace it, any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

John
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #27  
Holy criminy! 300+$ Holy smokes, I'm in awe.

The cooler itself looks very similar to the very available engine oil coolers for trucks and cars. I would try Summit racing and look at the inlet sizes to be sure you are not restricting anything. Stacked plate coolers are superior to finned tube coolers and are not very expensive.

Trouble would be the high pressure that this cooler might see. Engine oil is only like 90 psi max.
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #28  
Thanks I'll take a look at that. Any idea how much pressure is going through the hydraulic cooler?
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak
  • Thread Starter
#29  
Jewease.
Have you discussed this with the dealer you bought the tractor from as a warranty issue. From what I understand the metal tubes going into and out of the cooler are causing the failures and the fix is to replace them with flexible hoses. Since this is a known issue ask around to other Kioti dealers in your area if you do not get a satisfactory response and then try calling Kioti USA Corp. 1 800 number and see if they can help you. How old is your tractor?
 
   / hydraulic cooler leak #30  
jwease said:
Thanks I'll take a look at that. Any idea how much pressure is going through the hydraulic cooler?

I'll guess and say a couple hundred psi at most, coolers are usually in the return side of a hydraulic system.

Steve
 
 
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