redsox1
Silver Member
I've been worried about the 1st service (50 hour) and my decision to do it myself vs dealer. I'd heard different opinions on the level of difficulty. If you are on the fence also, not to worry, I did mine yesterday and it was a complete piece of cake. Zero problems other than a bit of a mess. I'd advise putting down a sheet of cardboard to catch the drips.
For what its worth I'll go through how I handled things. First I got out the owners manual and made up a checklist of all the 50 hour items. Basically in my case it consists of :
1. some additional zerk grease points that are not included in the regular 10 hours greasings. For example in the case of my tractor it adds 3 point lift arm, tie rod ends, front axle support and 3 pedal linkage points. You may have to bend, stretch and crawl around a bit underneath but they were all relatively easy to locate and service w/ the regular grease gun.
2. drain engine oil, (run engine briefly before to warm oil) again very simple and similar to a regular car oil change except that there are two drain plugs instead of one and they took longer to drain. Both were not over torqued and easy to remove.
3. replace engine oil filter, no mess, no problem removing w/ standard oil filter wrench.
4. refill engine oil, fill port is near dip stick and required a long necked funnel to prevent a mess. Run engine briefly, check for leaks and recheck oil level
5. remove transmission filter (again it took a regular oil filter type wrench) and replace w/ new (remember to prelube rubber gasket w/ clean hyd. fluid first), have a catch basin underneath, you will lose a small amount of fluid (maybe a half a cup at most, I think it is just what is in the filter at the time).
6. Now for the messiest part, but still not bad. The hyd. suction filter is located near the engine oil dipstick area. Have the new filter ready w/ gasket prelubed, make sure magnetic filter is attached. Have catch basin underneath w/ cardboard under that. As you start to remove filter the fluid will flow out, not a flood but a pretty good flow. You need to work fast after removing old filter. Grab the new one and without panicking carefully screw it on (care to keep it level and don't cross thread). The filter can get pretty slippery but it only takes a few seconds to get it on enough to stop the flow. Tighten to proper amount, not too tight! Check sight glass and add SUDT fluid to proper level. Run engine briefly, shut down, recheck level and top off if needed. I noticed a fair amount of metal shavings attached to the magnetic ring of the old filter. I expected that but was still glad to have changed the filter and got that out of the system.
You are done!!!! Maybe an hour or two from start to finish depending on if you take it nice and slow. No heavy lifting and it will give you a better understanding of the tractor by the time you are done. I also took the time to lube the hood latch, check the air filter and blow out the radiator screens but these steps were not a part of the 50 hour.
Have a ball and safe tractoring.
For what its worth I'll go through how I handled things. First I got out the owners manual and made up a checklist of all the 50 hour items. Basically in my case it consists of :
1. some additional zerk grease points that are not included in the regular 10 hours greasings. For example in the case of my tractor it adds 3 point lift arm, tie rod ends, front axle support and 3 pedal linkage points. You may have to bend, stretch and crawl around a bit underneath but they were all relatively easy to locate and service w/ the regular grease gun.
2. drain engine oil, (run engine briefly before to warm oil) again very simple and similar to a regular car oil change except that there are two drain plugs instead of one and they took longer to drain. Both were not over torqued and easy to remove.
3. replace engine oil filter, no mess, no problem removing w/ standard oil filter wrench.
4. refill engine oil, fill port is near dip stick and required a long necked funnel to prevent a mess. Run engine briefly, check for leaks and recheck oil level
5. remove transmission filter (again it took a regular oil filter type wrench) and replace w/ new (remember to prelube rubber gasket w/ clean hyd. fluid first), have a catch basin underneath, you will lose a small amount of fluid (maybe a half a cup at most, I think it is just what is in the filter at the time).
6. Now for the messiest part, but still not bad. The hyd. suction filter is located near the engine oil dipstick area. Have the new filter ready w/ gasket prelubed, make sure magnetic filter is attached. Have catch basin underneath w/ cardboard under that. As you start to remove filter the fluid will flow out, not a flood but a pretty good flow. You need to work fast after removing old filter. Grab the new one and without panicking carefully screw it on (care to keep it level and don't cross thread). The filter can get pretty slippery but it only takes a few seconds to get it on enough to stop the flow. Tighten to proper amount, not too tight! Check sight glass and add SUDT fluid to proper level. Run engine briefly, shut down, recheck level and top off if needed. I noticed a fair amount of metal shavings attached to the magnetic ring of the old filter. I expected that but was still glad to have changed the filter and got that out of the system.
You are done!!!! Maybe an hour or two from start to finish depending on if you take it nice and slow. No heavy lifting and it will give you a better understanding of the tractor by the time you are done. I also took the time to lube the hood latch, check the air filter and blow out the radiator screens but these steps were not a part of the 50 hour.
Have a ball and safe tractoring.
