rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 8,258
- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
Our M59 machine maintenance is an ongoing effort. I like to turn the wrenches myself and tend to do a little bit each time I get around to it - with the result that a service can stretch over a period of 50 or more machine hours. That's OK; my service schedule is a bit more conservative than Kubota's anyway.
Yesterday the project was changing all the hydraulic fluid filters and replacing the HST/hydraulic fluid. This same job had been done by the dealer at 50 hours. The difference being that this time I planned to change the fluid to Kubota's Super HST.u
Some thoughts:
1.The OEM Kubota filters sure look like good quality. Gotta make sure I have the right size strap wrench, though.
2. 12+ gallons of used hydraulic oil are going to fill up every available old oil container. Good thing I spilled some on the ground....
3. Leveling the tractor is easy with the BH legs. Some oil inevitably is trapped, though. Now how should one read a Kubota dipstick? With the dipstick pushed all the way in or not? and what about the various hydraulic cylinders? How much oil is normally trapped in them? Does it matter?
4. Solve #3 by deciding in the future to take my daily oil level readings with the dipstick all the way in and everything in the normal parked position, bucket down & horizontal. Since the oil level can vary so much, I'm guessing that doing it the same way each time is the important thing.
5. Important to check the filter mount faces carefully. The filter gasket should bear on polished metal. Apparently the dealer's mechanic had accidently doubled up the twin hydraulic filter gaskets and had also put the HST filter back on with a loose NPT pipe insert. That's 3 out of 3 against him. None had caused trouble, but sloppy work for sure. The odd thing it that he is normally real good. I'm thinking he tried to change the filters before he drained the system & found himself fighting a stream of hot oil.
6. Where is the most forward of the 4 hydraulic drain plugs shown in the owner's manual? I can't find it anywhere! Oh well, using the back 3 drain points I've gotten 11.5 gallons drained. And the rest is probably in the various cylinder bodies. Is this a misprint in the book?
7. It sure is difficult to see where the oil level line is on that shiny dipstick. Darned hard to see clean transparent oil against a shiny metal background.
8. Solved the dipstick visibility problem by cleaning the dipstick and putting the tip in the kitchen burner flame (propane=no carbon) until it it just begins to glow. Cool slowly. Now the first two inches of the dipstick are a nice straw color that shows oil perfectly and will not rub off. Gotta remember to post this trick to the list.
9. The oil filler opening is small. Any reasonable style funnel needs several hose adapters to neck down so small. These John Deere funnels with caps for the bottom and top are sure nice. It was necessary to spend some time adapting hoses to make them fit the filler opening.
10. Hmm...the lift plate covering hydraulic fill and 3pt area won't open all the way due to poor & globby welds on the hinges. Remember to grind them down so they work properly.
11. Another promise to myself: Never again order oil in five gallon containers. Too heavy and unwieldy for this older guy. It's would be boring if it wasn't so messy holding five gallons in the air while delicately aiming a steam of oil into a funnel leading to a too-small filler opening. Probably good for muscles and meditation, though.
12. Nice to have a way to clean up everything afterwards. Soap, power washer, and a shovel plus clean dirt. This is a job better on a dirt parking pad rather than concrete.
It will be interesting to see if there is a detectible difference in the way the system works with the Super UDT versus the fluid (probably New Holland) that was in there from the dealer. Both types are very clean and transparent. One thing that was immediately obvious is that the old oil didn't foam at all when draining while the new Super UDT foams quite a bit going in. I wonder if that changes as it is used?
Enjoy! rScotty
Yesterday the project was changing all the hydraulic fluid filters and replacing the HST/hydraulic fluid. This same job had been done by the dealer at 50 hours. The difference being that this time I planned to change the fluid to Kubota's Super HST.u
Some thoughts:
1.The OEM Kubota filters sure look like good quality. Gotta make sure I have the right size strap wrench, though.
2. 12+ gallons of used hydraulic oil are going to fill up every available old oil container. Good thing I spilled some on the ground....
3. Leveling the tractor is easy with the BH legs. Some oil inevitably is trapped, though. Now how should one read a Kubota dipstick? With the dipstick pushed all the way in or not? and what about the various hydraulic cylinders? How much oil is normally trapped in them? Does it matter?
4. Solve #3 by deciding in the future to take my daily oil level readings with the dipstick all the way in and everything in the normal parked position, bucket down & horizontal. Since the oil level can vary so much, I'm guessing that doing it the same way each time is the important thing.
5. Important to check the filter mount faces carefully. The filter gasket should bear on polished metal. Apparently the dealer's mechanic had accidently doubled up the twin hydraulic filter gaskets and had also put the HST filter back on with a loose NPT pipe insert. That's 3 out of 3 against him. None had caused trouble, but sloppy work for sure. The odd thing it that he is normally real good. I'm thinking he tried to change the filters before he drained the system & found himself fighting a stream of hot oil.
6. Where is the most forward of the 4 hydraulic drain plugs shown in the owner's manual? I can't find it anywhere! Oh well, using the back 3 drain points I've gotten 11.5 gallons drained. And the rest is probably in the various cylinder bodies. Is this a misprint in the book?
7. It sure is difficult to see where the oil level line is on that shiny dipstick. Darned hard to see clean transparent oil against a shiny metal background.
8. Solved the dipstick visibility problem by cleaning the dipstick and putting the tip in the kitchen burner flame (propane=no carbon) until it it just begins to glow. Cool slowly. Now the first two inches of the dipstick are a nice straw color that shows oil perfectly and will not rub off. Gotta remember to post this trick to the list.
9. The oil filler opening is small. Any reasonable style funnel needs several hose adapters to neck down so small. These John Deere funnels with caps for the bottom and top are sure nice. It was necessary to spend some time adapting hoses to make them fit the filler opening.
10. Hmm...the lift plate covering hydraulic fill and 3pt area won't open all the way due to poor & globby welds on the hinges. Remember to grind them down so they work properly.
11. Another promise to myself: Never again order oil in five gallon containers. Too heavy and unwieldy for this older guy. It's would be boring if it wasn't so messy holding five gallons in the air while delicately aiming a steam of oil into a funnel leading to a too-small filler opening. Probably good for muscles and meditation, though.
12. Nice to have a way to clean up everything afterwards. Soap, power washer, and a shovel plus clean dirt. This is a job better on a dirt parking pad rather than concrete.
It will be interesting to see if there is a detectible difference in the way the system works with the Super UDT versus the fluid (probably New Holland) that was in there from the dealer. Both types are very clean and transparent. One thing that was immediately obvious is that the old oil didn't foam at all when draining while the new Super UDT foams quite a bit going in. I wonder if that changes as it is used?
Enjoy! rScotty
