Singlecoil
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2006
- Messages
- 365
- Location
- Eatonville, Washington
- Tractor
- Kubota BX-24D Cub Cadet LT42e
The day finally arrived about four months after delivery; I broke the 50 hour mark on my BX-24. Fortunately I had thought ahead and purchased UDT, oil, and both filters ahead of time. I figured it would take a couple of hours as I had read the manual and figured it was basically the same thing as doing two oil changes.
The oil drain plug was easy to find and was easy to loosen with a 13mm wrench. The oil drained straight down, which was nice. It seems like my cars always drain in a stream, forcing you to move the catch pan as the stream slows down. Now I was having a little trouble locating the oil filter. I searched high and low, but couldn't put my eyes on the thing. Then I figured I might have to remove the cowling. That shouldn't be a problem; loosen the two knobs toward the front and slide it forward. Uh oh. The grill guard is in the way and I don't have a large enough allen wrench to get the thing off. Looks like a trip to NAPA. Surely they wouldn't make you remove the cowling to change the oil. Eureka! Oil filter located on the right side of the engine near the FEL hose attachments. Uh oh. This thing is reefed on and I can't get very good leverage with all the other gadgets in the way. This one is definitely a trip to NAPA for an oil filter wrench. I got the socket style one in the photo for about 9 bucks. The filter was on so tight it took some grunting even with the wrench to get it off. Ok, new one primed and put on, drain plug in, we're ready to add 10W30. I double checked and made sure I wasn't holding the UDT jug after reading a story on this site! It took a couple checks with the dipstick to get the right amount. I ended up slightly higher than the full mark which ended up being perfect due to the dry filter taking up some of that oil.
Next we're on to the HST fluid. First step is to transfer the engine oil to a milk jug so you have enough room in your drain pan for the 3.5 gallons of fluid. Then the drain plug looks easy to locate from the picture in the manual and....son-of-a.... There is no way I have a socket big enough for that drain plug. Please tell me this isn't another trip to NAPA! The biggest I had was 22mm and that wasn't even close. I took out the needle nose vise grips to use as a caliper so I would know what size socket I needed when I got to NAPA. Luckily, they are only 5 minutes away. The 27mm socket was only about 5 bucks. Ok, now we're back at work and the HST plug removes easily with the 27mm socket. By this time the fluid had cooled down and was draining a little slowly. I removed the yellow dipstick to aid the draining process. But now it was lunch time, so I decided to let it keep draining while we ate. I glanced at the manual again, and noticed the part about removing the HST filter screen when you change the fluid. I'm not sure how I missed that on the first and second reading. After lunch the dripping had stopped so I removed the filter screen with a 12mm socket (I actually had the right tool!) and ran a magnet over it. It seemed pretty darn clean except for a couple of small fibers. The book said to clean it with a non-flammable solvent. Of course I didn't have that. I decided I may as well take all the used fluids back to NAPA for recycling and see if they could clean the screen in their solvent tank. 5 minutes later, the boy and I were at NAPA. They were nice enough to let me clean the screen myself in their solvent tank and they even held the funnel for me while I dumped the fluid.
Ok, back at home; filter screen inserted and bolted in, drain plug on, we're ready to add UDT. 3.1 gallons later, we're done with our first tractor service! I spent a little time wiping up a couple of small spills, seems like there are always a couple, and wiping out the oil pans. I got a plastic bag to put rags and the oil filter in and was about to drop them in the trash when it hit me. Didn't you buy two filters? Why are you only holding one used one? AAAAAHHHH! I forgot to change the HST filter and I just poured in $60 worth of fresh fluid! I am a complete moron. Well, maybe if I'm really quick in swapping the filters, I won't lose that much. I still have almost a gallon left over so that should work. Luckily, this one is easy to get your hands around. It has a decent dent in it from a rock or something. Luckily my birthday is coming up and I'm feeling a new skid plate is in my future. Anyway, just have to get this thing off. GRRRRRRR. No way! This one is on just as tight as the oil filter and the wrench I bought won't fit this thing. I can't go back to NAPA three times in two hours can I? Wait a minute. The gal across the street has the hood up on her Bronco, maybe she has one. Sure enough she did, but it was too big for the HST filter. There had to be a way, because there was no way I was heading back to NAPA and they are the only auto parts store in this small town. I wrapped a rag around the filter, grunted several times and finally budged it loose. This one was on really tight as well. Ok, I had the new filter primed and ready, I just had to quickly unscrew the old one and quickly screw on the new one and I'm home free. I fully expected the fluid to gush out but it didn't at all! I lost only a few ounces. Now I'm officially done!
For any others about to tackle this one, I would highly recommend oil filter wrenches (you might take the 2 new filters with you to be sure you get the right ones), and make sure you have 12mm, 13mm, and 27mm sockets as well as two funnels. The one for the UDT needs to be extra long and narrow. NAPA had them for about 3 bucks. Luckily I already had one of those! I'm not sure if the non-flammable solvent is necessary or if it even exists for that matter. Non-flammable solvent....that sounds an awful lot like water to me.
The oil drain plug was easy to find and was easy to loosen with a 13mm wrench. The oil drained straight down, which was nice. It seems like my cars always drain in a stream, forcing you to move the catch pan as the stream slows down. Now I was having a little trouble locating the oil filter. I searched high and low, but couldn't put my eyes on the thing. Then I figured I might have to remove the cowling. That shouldn't be a problem; loosen the two knobs toward the front and slide it forward. Uh oh. The grill guard is in the way and I don't have a large enough allen wrench to get the thing off. Looks like a trip to NAPA. Surely they wouldn't make you remove the cowling to change the oil. Eureka! Oil filter located on the right side of the engine near the FEL hose attachments. Uh oh. This thing is reefed on and I can't get very good leverage with all the other gadgets in the way. This one is definitely a trip to NAPA for an oil filter wrench. I got the socket style one in the photo for about 9 bucks. The filter was on so tight it took some grunting even with the wrench to get it off. Ok, new one primed and put on, drain plug in, we're ready to add 10W30. I double checked and made sure I wasn't holding the UDT jug after reading a story on this site! It took a couple checks with the dipstick to get the right amount. I ended up slightly higher than the full mark which ended up being perfect due to the dry filter taking up some of that oil.
Next we're on to the HST fluid. First step is to transfer the engine oil to a milk jug so you have enough room in your drain pan for the 3.5 gallons of fluid. Then the drain plug looks easy to locate from the picture in the manual and....son-of-a.... There is no way I have a socket big enough for that drain plug. Please tell me this isn't another trip to NAPA! The biggest I had was 22mm and that wasn't even close. I took out the needle nose vise grips to use as a caliper so I would know what size socket I needed when I got to NAPA. Luckily, they are only 5 minutes away. The 27mm socket was only about 5 bucks. Ok, now we're back at work and the HST plug removes easily with the 27mm socket. By this time the fluid had cooled down and was draining a little slowly. I removed the yellow dipstick to aid the draining process. But now it was lunch time, so I decided to let it keep draining while we ate. I glanced at the manual again, and noticed the part about removing the HST filter screen when you change the fluid. I'm not sure how I missed that on the first and second reading. After lunch the dripping had stopped so I removed the filter screen with a 12mm socket (I actually had the right tool!) and ran a magnet over it. It seemed pretty darn clean except for a couple of small fibers. The book said to clean it with a non-flammable solvent. Of course I didn't have that. I decided I may as well take all the used fluids back to NAPA for recycling and see if they could clean the screen in their solvent tank. 5 minutes later, the boy and I were at NAPA. They were nice enough to let me clean the screen myself in their solvent tank and they even held the funnel for me while I dumped the fluid.
Ok, back at home; filter screen inserted and bolted in, drain plug on, we're ready to add UDT. 3.1 gallons later, we're done with our first tractor service! I spent a little time wiping up a couple of small spills, seems like there are always a couple, and wiping out the oil pans. I got a plastic bag to put rags and the oil filter in and was about to drop them in the trash when it hit me. Didn't you buy two filters? Why are you only holding one used one? AAAAAHHHH! I forgot to change the HST filter and I just poured in $60 worth of fresh fluid! I am a complete moron. Well, maybe if I'm really quick in swapping the filters, I won't lose that much. I still have almost a gallon left over so that should work. Luckily, this one is easy to get your hands around. It has a decent dent in it from a rock or something. Luckily my birthday is coming up and I'm feeling a new skid plate is in my future. Anyway, just have to get this thing off. GRRRRRRR. No way! This one is on just as tight as the oil filter and the wrench I bought won't fit this thing. I can't go back to NAPA three times in two hours can I? Wait a minute. The gal across the street has the hood up on her Bronco, maybe she has one. Sure enough she did, but it was too big for the HST filter. There had to be a way, because there was no way I was heading back to NAPA and they are the only auto parts store in this small town. I wrapped a rag around the filter, grunted several times and finally budged it loose. This one was on really tight as well. Ok, I had the new filter primed and ready, I just had to quickly unscrew the old one and quickly screw on the new one and I'm home free. I fully expected the fluid to gush out but it didn't at all! I lost only a few ounces. Now I'm officially done!
For any others about to tackle this one, I would highly recommend oil filter wrenches (you might take the 2 new filters with you to be sure you get the right ones), and make sure you have 12mm, 13mm, and 27mm sockets as well as two funnels. The one for the UDT needs to be extra long and narrow. NAPA had them for about 3 bucks. Luckily I already had one of those! I'm not sure if the non-flammable solvent is necessary or if it even exists for that matter. Non-flammable solvent....that sounds an awful lot like water to me.
