B7100 fluids/maintenance questions

[andrewj]

Hi folks...

picked up a B7100 for 4250.00 this week. It's either 1994-1996. It has a 60 inch belly mower. around 11 hundred hours on the machine. Appears to be in fair shape, well used, loved, but worked hard. (by the way, let me say as a John deere guy I am thoroughly impressed with my little orange machine!)

I bought it from a large Kubota dealer. They are doing well, having sold a record number of new Kubota machines this year.

They assured me all fluids and filters had been changed prior to my taking delivery. I am not the kind to suspect foul play, esp. from a dealer, but when i got it home and was admiring the little machine, I noticed the oil filter was obviously not new. I pulled the engine oil dipstick and found dark black oil, obviously old. The fact that they did 100 bucks worth of service was the basis for the deal being where it was moneywise.

What course of action do you recommend? I want to maintain a good relationship with this dealer.

ALSO: I want to resume a regular maintenance schedule and don't have a manual - did Kubota put any online?

ALSO: (haha) the hydraulic seems to groan like the sump filter might be clogged - where is the sump filter and how do I clean it?

 

[grossgary]

Bizarre, same tractor and price i paid a few months ago.

I have the B7100 manuals I can email. I can't do it now though, I'm on dial up. PM or email me and I'll send them later. (might need a reminder!) I have some in electronic format and others I just bought on Ebay.

As for the loud hydraulic system, it would probably quiet down if you changed the Hydraulic fluid and used Kubota SUDT..maybe even just UDT. But you're not going to like the price of that stuff, particularly if you're paying them to do it.

As for course of action, I wouldn't do anything but consider it a lesson learned. Be more specific about services up front.

Sounds like they just did a "maintenance" check, which is probably BS for making sure you have fluids. The fluid "had been changed"...I'm sure it has in the past 15 years!

You are always best with any dealer for any kind of equipment or vehicle to specifiy what services you want. One of the largest wastes of money is the "30 point check ups" and "60,000 mile" service packages. They add on extraneous items that really don't matter like "make sure lights work, seat is attached"....like 100 of those kinds of things and you're essentially paying top dollar for only a few items that you "need".

Of course it requires some background knowledge on what is needed and important, that's where this place is awesome.

Good luck with it! I feel like I won the lottery with my B7100. It was my first tractor and I had no clue what I was doing. Just saw it and bought it, and am totally glad I did.

 

[Blagadan]

What course of action do you recommend? I want to maintain a good relationship with this dealer.

Maybe its me, but I wouldn't let it pass. I'd contact the dealer and raise the points you have discovered. Maybe suggest that the service must have been "inadvertantly" missed seeing as the dealer was so busy.... If its convenient, you could drop it back and have them complete the service that was originally negotiated.

I wouldnt get nasty, keep it friendly. You're just trying to keep them honest... If you dont do anything... they might try the same trick on the next guy that buys a used machine from them..... ;-(

My brother used to work for a crooked used car dealership and the full mechanical service prior to the customer taking delivery was giving the oil filter a rub of a cloth and topping up the engine oil and washer fluid....