Hose leak and unknown linkage loose

[Alan L.]

I hopped on my '99 B2710 tonight to mow a low spot I have been waiting to dry out before the rains hit. Noticed my power steering was binding but I went ahead and finished -about 30 minutes of brushhogging.

When I got the tractor back in the shop building I started looking it over and found quite a pool of hydraulic fluid on the floor. I killed the tractor and checked the fluid and it didn't show on the stick so I added maybe 2 quarters to get it up to an acceptable level. I hope I didn't do any damage.

While crawling around looking for the leak I found that a piece of linkage under there is loose and I don't know what it goes to, as everything seems to work. It is on the left side. The back end is attached to a lever on the left side of the gearbox and the front goes well, I don't know. The linkage is a light brass color and has an a threaded adjuster on it, but is obviously bent into nearly a loop. I could not figure out where the front would attach. The clutch pedal is up there on the left side but it seems to work fine (its a hydro).

I cranked the tractor and finally found fluid squirting out right where the metal end meets the rubber. The front hose on the right hand side that leads from the tractor down low up to the front loader control - a lower hose.

The connection on the tractor appears to be hard to access, I hope I can get a wrench in there to loosen it. I presume that I will need to drain the fluid to replace the hose. Would there be any kind of bleeding procedure?

I guess I will also need to replace that linkage once I figure out what it is.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Soundguy]

Good luck on the repair.

My only advice is to next time investigate the problem rather than 'pushing' to get it done.

Mechanical things made to run in oil don't like it when there is no oil. Biggest problem is pump cavitation and / or pump starvation. In extreme cases. both can hose the pump and contaminate the rest of your hyd system.

That hard steering was your tractor telling you it had a problem that needed fixing. Same thing happens when you step on a nail.. the pain signals from your foot that your nerves send to your brain are there to tell you that you have 'damage' that needs correcting.. that's when you take care of it.. not take another 30 minutes and finish your job with the nail sticking up thru your foot.

again.. good luck on the repair..... remember.. a man put it together.. thus you can take it apart and fix it..

soundguy

 

[Volfandt]

The linkage may be for the rear wheel lockup. Look and see if theres a rod connected at the foot lever.

As for getting at that fitting, sometimes a wrench can be modified (bent) or other things may have to be removed inorder to get at it. Alot of hose connections don't get tightened down until a tractor is about fully assembled.

As for possible damage, you're probably safe but when it comes to hyraulics, it's always safer to save the work for another day and shutdown the tractor until the hydraulic problem is fixed.

Good luck.

 

[Alan L.]

I wish I had shut it down early. The only thing that kept me from doing so is that I had had early power steering problems with the tractor back on 1999 or 2000 that were not the result of any leaks, and I attributed it to a recurrence of those problems. I should have not made that assumption. Hopefully I will not regret pushing her to get it done.

Since the loader and hydro seem fully functional and even the power steering some of the time hopefully there was enough fluid to avoid any damage.

I spoke with my dealer today and he advised me to have a hose made at NAPA which I will do in the morning. As for the linkage, he thinks it was for the left brake. Does not have the linkage rod in stock so I will first try to bend it back (if I can figure out where it hooks) and order one if necessary. It is definitely not the clutch, and I seldom use the brakes anyway so it won't hold me up from doing something.

Will I lose enough fluid changing out the hose to plan on changing out all the UDT in the tractor? Its not quite due but I could do that. I had enough on hand to top it off so right now its pretty much full.

 

[B2400]

You shouldn't lose much fluid changing the hose. It sounds like that is the pressure feed line for your FEL and as long as the tractor isn't running the only fluid lost will be the capacity of the hose itself. You may want to check the other hoses for any wear/ damage as this would be a good time to replace those also.

 

[Alan L.]

One other thing. How tight should the hose be tightend down to prevent leaking? Seems like I have read that teflon tape on the threads would be a bad idea.

 

[Soundguy]

'How tight' depends on the connector type.

JIC connections seal with a cone and cup connection.. they don't have to be near as tight as taper pipe thread fittings which rely on thread deformation for sealing ( except for special case scenerio fittings which have a female swivel or similar.

ORB or ORF fittings have a non taper 'straight' bolt thread that merely pull sdown pressure for on 0-ring in a face or boss type fitting.. also do not need to be as tight as pipe thread fittings.. etc.

In those 3 cases.. JIC and ORB, thread dop or tape does -NOTHING- to help seal the fitting.. as the sealing is either done by oring or a cup/cone .

Pipe thread is the only one listed where a tape or compound may benefit you.. and i would advise against tape.. it can shred and those shreds always seem to find there way to pilot valves or check balls. A good oil safe ptfe or similar metal thread dope that is oil safe.. like an aiphetic resin base.. should be adequate for pipe threads.. just keep the first couple leading threads clean to limit contamination of the thread dope into the oil sump..

As for how tight on the pipe fittings... tighten them to 'just before' soemthing strips (wink)

soundguy

 

[Alan L.]

I went ahead and pulled both hoses off, the ones that go from the tractor to the FEL control box and took them to NAPA. They built me some for about $33 each with tax.

I had very little trouble installing them, pretty tight up next to the tractor but I managed. I also managed to straighten the linkage and reinstall it. Turns out it was the left brake linkage.

Check fluids, fired it up and did about 3 hours of hard mowing in the trees and brush, much of which was under water 3 or 4 weeks ago.

The fittings are JIC I think. At NAPA they recommend that I not use any locktite or teflon.

I also went to a Kubota dealer (not the one where I bogt my tractor in '99) to get some UDT. Turns out they make their own hoses, whereas my own dealer does not and sent me to the NAPA store.

Thanks for all the help.

Now, it looks kind of oily wet around the PTO shaft. The seal might be leaking slightly, but not enough for it to drip. I guess thats a project for another day.