New owner of BX-23: servicing questions

I bought a (new to me) used 2005 Kubota BX-23 back in late November and used it all winter for snow removal. It did a surprisingly outstanding job of plowing just using the bucket, and I had no incentive to buy a plow for it, based on how my driveway is configured.

Now that winter is essentially over and grass-mowing season looms, I want to service the tractor properly. I believe I can change the oil myself, but I'm wondering what else I might be ignoring. I don't have any sense of what the previous owner did on the tractor but I suspect not much. I'm used to having my old gasoline engined John Deere serviced by a guy who came over and worked on it, but I'm not having much luck finding someone for the Kubota and not owning a trailer, I'm loathe to pay expensive pick up and delivery charges to a dealer.

So my question is: how important might it be for a professional to go through the entire tractor, given the circumstances, and is that overkill and should I simply do this kind of thing myself? If I knew what had to be done for sure I'd feel more confident about making that decision. I should point out that the tractor starts and runs flawlessly and works just fine. I did notice that when plowing and especially dumping using the bucket sometimes I'd get a groaning noise from the hydraulic system, not sure if that's normal or not but it didn't do it the other day when I used it to dump some debris I'd cleared.

I'd welcome opinions on this, thanks very much in advance.

-Mike R

The first thing that come to mind is the hydraulic oil and filter. If you can change the engine oil, its not much harder. There is also a screen that need to be cleaned. That's not much more than a large nut that come off and the screen sit behind it. Also the air filter and fuel filters. Have you greased the front end loader and the mower deck yet? Take care of that stuff also. If you do a search you can probably find some posts that shows how some of this stuff is done. How many hours on your machine?

dodgeman is right on here. With no maintenance history known, I would do oil and hydraulic fluid and filter changes, grease all the zerk fittings, and also replace the fuel filters.. assuming nothing has been done. Do you have the manual that came with it? There is a chart that shows maintenance intervals for various checks/changes. Also some good posts here on doing all of this yourself. DIY will save you a ton of money.

Agree. Do it all, including the front axle. Great way to learn the machine and feel good about it all.

Messicks.com has some training photos on the maintenance, but there's also been some good threads here on Do It Yourself Service a BX.

If you can change the oil, you can do the transmission. It's basically a plug and filter too. But, there is a screen to pull and clean, but it is quite easy to do. Air filter clean, grease everything. On the front axle, there are vent cap screws to bleed the air. Easy. Drop the fluid from one side and the other. You'll need 4 or 5 quarts of 75w-90 semi-synthetic gear lube. You can also use the UDT, but it's a choice and I must prefer the semi-synthetic gear lube. Very cheap at WalMart of TSC type stores as well.

Just ask!!! We'll walk you right through it.

I know I'm spending your money but purchasing an owner's manual would be a very good investment. Even if you have someone else service the machine, they will have precise guidance and the hour guide for what to do when. A service manual is the next step up but for periodic maintenance, it's all in the owner's manual.

Here is a helpful thread with lots of experienced contributors and some pictures.
Do your own Fluids and Filters on a BX - Page 29

Welcome to tbn. Changing all of the fluids and filters as well as cleaning the strainer (if you have one) is recommended. Get a small grease gun and go after all the zerks you can find or are referenced in the manual.
I would buy an operator's manual from Kubota. they sell them through their website and are available in pdf. I think there may be another site they link to but well worth the money.

Here is a link that I use to service my BX2360. I need pictures!! I even bought the kit from them.:thumbsup:

Kubota BX Service

Thanks, fortunately I do have the manual, it came with the machine. First thing I'll do is acquire the filters. I'm convinced by everybody here (thanks!) to do it myself.

The Trans filter is likely best bought at Kubota. It's kind of a specialty item.

While you're there, consider the new synthetic based Super UDT2 fluid for your transmission. Yes, it is expensive. BUT.. the performance in these BX's is outstanding. Really outstanding. A BX only take 3.5 to 4 gallons anyhow. It's not like some big M series that consumers 16 gallons of fluid or something.

Well worth it. As for the engine oil and filter, the filter is a very common Wix or NAPA filter. The oil can also be your choice. Lots of folks like the Rotella T-6 synthetic or the Delo Synthetic. Wally World has those. But, you can always buy the Kubota oil at the dealer. It's Ashland-Valvoline rebranded.