Kubota HST Solenoid Connector Broken Wire - $2300 skinning

[DouglassPE]

I rented a Kubota L45 backhoe to carve up my hillside for steps. During the excavation something under the tractor tore loose one of the wires from the HST reverse solenoid male connector and damaged the female connector end on the solenoid itself. Not being aware that the underside of the tractor was soft and unprotected I believed the tractor to have just stopped going in reverse. After returning the unit to the dealer and reporting that it would no longer reverse, he inspected the tractor and presented me with a bill for $2300 to do repairs on the unit. The parts list is 2 items long, the entire wiring harness (pn 32791-30315 @ $1138.25 -list price is right at $900) and one HST solenoid (pnTD170-59310 @ $288.07 -list price is $226.34) and 8 hours of labor at $89/hr + shipping and incidentals.



I wish I had crawled under the tractor prior to sending it back but that's in the past and I guess I didn't realize the bottom of the unit was that fragile. I've had several lengthy discussions with the service manager at the dealer and they've offered some relief through looking for a used wiring harness from a salvage yard but I believe I'm still headed for a skinning just based on the mark-up above list price on the repair parts.



What I see in the picture is about an hours worth of labor for wiring and valve replacement ($234) and a new connector ($10) if I was working on my Silverado, not 9 hours labor charges and $1350 in parts. Through many conversations with salvage yards and parts places and Kubota Service in Dallas, I understand that Kubota doesn't sell connectors for repairing harnesses so I'm on a mission to find a replacement connector and ask the dealer nicely to be reasonable and repair the harness rather than replace it.



As I don't own the tractor and am unfortunately out of the country on a work assignment, I'd like to ask for some help. Can anyone who has a Kubota that uses the TD170-59310 HST Solenoid Valve take pictures of the valve and the connector disconnected so I can try to find a match for the connector on the internet and order. I'm hoping it's the same connector as used on Toyota vehicles because they're both Japanese headquartered and there is plenty of information for every connector installed in those vehicles available on-line with pictures.



Any help I can get would be appreciated,



Thanks,



Paul

 

[JRobyn]

Right. Like they intend to strip out and replace the entire wiring harness just to repair ONE dinged connector!?! I can't really help with specifics on this, but sounds like the rental place is trying to skin you for sure! Mouser, Digi-key, and Allied all sell lots of different connectors and connector shells. Sometimes there are high minimum order numbers though.

Service Unavailable (Link works despite the text)
Connectors, Interconnects | Electronic Components Distributor DigiKey
Connectors from Allied Electronics

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

- Jay :welcome:

 

[pmsmechanic]

Sounds like someone is trying to make work for their employees over winter.

The dealer could easily go to an automotive supply store and buy weather proof male and female connectors to repair this with. The cost to do this should be under $200.

Check your rental agreement. The dealer should have insurance for this if he is renting out tractors. Maybe a phone call to Kubota's head or regional office would be in order. Does your home owner insurance cover this kind of a situation? Hopefully this can be resolved in a reasonable fashion.

 

[Kernopelli]

Ditto on checking the agreement. The place I usually rent from includes insurance on their equipment rental agreement. I did some serious damage to a large tiller years ago and they didn't act upset at all....said it was covered and unfortunately, accidents happen.

 

[skyhook]

Re-check your rental agreement to verify "if" you are responsible for damages,
fitting the wires with new ends should be an easy fix, although the connector will have to be protected,
wrapping it with electrical tape etc, etc,....there is no way IMO that a new wiring harness is called for,
I mean, come-on, this is a rental.

 

[s219]

They are probably taking advantage of some clause in the rental agreement to have you foot the bill for a cadillac-style repair. But if it was on their dime, I'd bet they'd find a way to fix it cheaply and effectively. In most cases, connectors are only there for convenience during assembly, and as long as you still have access to pins or wires on both ends, you can hardwire in a fix. Now, if the pins are broken off on the solenoid itself, it could be more challenging and may indeed require a new solenoid. But definitely not a harness. They should be able to splice in a new connector, or hardwire it.

 

[Zebrafive]

Another source of connectors is the John Deere dealer. If you are on the hook for the repair, I would think you will have to buy the solenoid,
connector, terminals for the connector and installation labor. You may have to buy a solenoid first then you should be able to match a connector to it. Good luck.

 

[DouglassPE]

Thanks gentlemen,

Thanks for the replies to my post and the information for sources for connectors. I am a controls specialist for industrial equipment and work doing both design of systems as well as commissioning and start-up of oil-field and facility equipment and components. I'm 52 and have been rebuilding engines and doing my own mechanic work since I was 16. This situation is definitely frustrating especially since I'm not there to put my hands on the problem. I'm having trouble getting Kubota to photograph the connector for me as well (they have the part in the Atlanta warehouse), they seem very slow to respond.

I have to agree with all of you that this is a simple repair and the thought of a broken wire costing $2300 is unthinkable.

I will review the rental agreement as you guys have suggested. If I can't get pictures of the connector (which I've also requested from the dealer), then I'll have to do as suggested and buy the solenoid and try to find a match from there.

I'll contact Kubota again today and see if I can get a list of tractors with the same valve and re-post making it easier for anyone viewing the post to determine if they've got a machine with that same valve.

Thanks again, Paul

 

[MHarryE]

Having a little experience with Kubota parts and seeing the connector on the solenoid shown in your picture (and assuming the one torn off is similar), this is a not too uncommon occurrence on Far East sourced machines. At Cat we forced our suppliers to have everything equipped with Deutsch connectors and every dealer's service truck is equipped with a Deutsch connector kit to prevent things like this. I recently got a switch with a connector that doesn't match the one on my Mini-excavator and nobody could identify the connector type. Then I went over my parts search with the dealer's parts guy who suspected I had selected the wrong switch part number. Sure enough I had selected the switch for the Mitsubishi version for sale in Japan only, not the Caterpillarized version for sale worldwide. When Cat got into the mini business the Caterpillarized their partner Mitsubishi's machine which included all Deutsch connectors. Surely Kubota must do something to service oddball connectors instead of making a person buy an entire harness. Have you tried looking the on line parts catalog?

 

[DouglassPE]

View attachment L5740HST_Tranny_Red.pdfThanks MHarryE.

Looking at your equipment list and a parts breakdown of the L5740, if you have the HST then the solenoid valves and wiring connectors are the same as the L45. I've attached a schematic for your tractor with the HST. If it is an HST, can you disconnect the connector and take some photos of it for me? If it's a Toyota-ish connector there will be a microscopically small number molded into the material.

Thanks for the reply, the info and hopefully you have an HST.

Paul