kolmstead
Member
I drained the front axle of my L39 a week or so ago and replaced the lube with Amsoil ATH, which is the synthetic equivalent of Kubota UDT. The 50 hour old lubricant appeared to have lots of small particles in it; I could see swirl patterns in the draining fluid. Looked like tiny flakes of brass, but the yellow color could have been from the oil. I didn't try rubbing the lube between my fingers to see if the particles were solid. Should have done that. I thought perhaps it was a special Kubota extra pressure additive.
OK, this past Monday I drained the 90-wt. gear oil from my L2950 DT front axle. It has 700 hours on it; 500 since I last changed the lubricant. It looked exactly like the L39 lube; swirls of tiny brass-colored particles. I know that the lubricant was absolutely clear when I added it, about ten years ago. The transmission lube on both tractors comes out clear, but it is filtered. Front axle fluid is not. If I had thought of it ahead of time, I would have glued a powerful magnet to each front axle drain plug while I had 'em out. Too late now. Wouldn't remove brass or aluminum (or water or air) particles, though.
Has anyone else observed this phenomenon? I suppose the contaminant could be air bubbles; I always drive tractors around right before I change fluids. At this point, I'm not too concerned. If the L39's lube had been contaminated and the L2950's was clear, I'd be upset. But I've owned the L2950 for twelve years, and its performance has been flawless.
OK, this past Monday I drained the 90-wt. gear oil from my L2950 DT front axle. It has 700 hours on it; 500 since I last changed the lubricant. It looked exactly like the L39 lube; swirls of tiny brass-colored particles. I know that the lubricant was absolutely clear when I added it, about ten years ago. The transmission lube on both tractors comes out clear, but it is filtered. Front axle fluid is not. If I had thought of it ahead of time, I would have glued a powerful magnet to each front axle drain plug while I had 'em out. Too late now. Wouldn't remove brass or aluminum (or water or air) particles, though.
Has anyone else observed this phenomenon? I suppose the contaminant could be air bubbles; I always drive tractors around right before I change fluids. At this point, I'm not too concerned. If the L39's lube had been contaminated and the L2950's was clear, I'd be upset. But I've owned the L2950 for twelve years, and its performance has been flawless.