Oil & Fuel Do Hydrostatic Transmissions of Kubota Tractors belch Oil all the time?

[RoyKing]

If you read in the comment feed of that video the oil belch was cause by clogged vent holes, either by painting, or pinched in assemble. These have bee address and two pressure sensors have been added to warn if rising oil temp is causing pressure rise. My shop manual shows the wiring and sensors. If you live in area of mud dobbers this can be a problem on the differentials and the water separator drain on my power stroke. A blaster tube on a WD 40 Can and some 14awg bare copper will open them.

 

[ericm979]

Well I believe we disagree. Tell you what, how about some of the readers raiser their loaders, dump the bucket and raise the 3pt and report back to us how the oil level varies on the dipstick or sight glass?

I said that setting the level with the loader and 3pt cylinders extended should not make the transmission overflow. I did not claim that it would not change the level at all.

The loader cylinders' volume changes by the volume of the rod. The 3pt being single action would change by the volume of the cylinders but I don't know how large those are. I did some back of the envelope guess-calculations and the volume change could be a gallon or more. Probably enough to make a notable change in the sight glass but not enough to cause an overflow.

 

[oosik]

I got what we call mud dabbers here. The only thing I've had them do. Fill the key hole on my riding lawn mower with a waxy yellow stuff. Had to heat the key - insert - now it's a permanent installation. No loss there.

 

[MHarryE]

What am I missing? The tractor in the video is not a hydrostatic. Agree what he has is unacceptable. I was curious how a hydro could cause this type of problem because on the CUT Kubotas the hydro is contained in the transmission housing and is its own subsystem. Draws oil from housing to charge pump, then to its sole opening on the outside, the charge filter, then to the back to back hydro transmission and return to the reservoir through the oil cooler. It’s the rest of the system - the geared portion, blowing oil. Gears churning in oil heating, splashing. Building enough transmission housing pressure to blow oil out the axle shaft seals is very bad. Larger venting, high as possible, with a filter on the end of the vent to prevent dirt being sucked into the housing when it cools. I’ve got to admit the vent on my L6060 is about the cheapest thing they could think of but mine is only an oily mess due to leaking remotes.

 

[k0ua]

Keep in mind this was NOT a hydrostatic drive tractor: Here is more info if any of you missed.. Tractor is fixed now. So NO it is not normal for Kubota tractors to spew oil everywhere. The two I owned never spewed a drop. Neither does my Kioti, unless you want to count the hooking and unhooking of the Quick Disconnects I added up front on the torque tube of the loader for my grapple. That is just the nature of AG QD's to puke out a couple of drops of oil.. No big deal. That is why they make rags.

But shortly after this video posted, in what I'm sure was a complete coincidence, I was contacted by one of the managers from the local dealership out of the blue who assured me they would fix the rear end issues properly this time. In the interest of fairness, after they installed the fix seen in this video, I do not recall giving them another chance to fix this problem, I simply vented my concerns to you guys and contacted corporate. I believe that given the circumstances, it was appropriate to escalate things as I did, but if I had to this again, I would give them the benefit of the doubt here, and see if they could at least try to get it right on the third attempt overlooking the failures of the first two (initial setup/delivery, and the "repair" seen here).

And after they got in contact with me, they fixed this properly! They discovered that the tractor was defective since day one, with a vent that got pinched, or something along these lines. The result was that nothing on the tractor from the clutch backward was venting properly throughout its operation, and thus it purged hydraulic/transmission oil through the pictured relief, causing the oil loss. Their fix was to open up this existing vent and add a second one all together. It was been several months now and the tractor has not lost a drop of oil, and as an added benefit, the steering now turns smoothly and properly, as the excess pressure was previously affecting it negatively. The tractor is working as designed and intended! They even fabricated a tool box stand on the loader bracket in a properly usable location, which I was thrilled with because that location as seen in this video is a design flaw, not a warranty issue, but they fixed it anyway. They also tinkered with the shift mechanism and thus the tractor has not removed itself from the "Park" position since it came back! They even waived the pickup/delivery fees to transport it a second time and changed the transmission fluid/filters (a fairly expensive job) for free after I expressed concern that the "vent" seen in this video created an ingress point for foreign matter. It was a lot more than I was expecting!!!

They did a really good job on this, and really went all out to fix it, for which I am deeply grateful for. I view it as unfortunate that it required contact with Kubota Corporate and the production of this video to get anything properly repaired, however. But the fact remains, that Kubota dealerships (unlike dealerships from other manufacturers which I've also had experiences with) are 100% capable of fixing issues with their machinery! It is my sincere hope, now that everything is fixed, that this machine will serve me well for many years to come. It is operating properly after they dropped it off, for the first time since new. I'm really happy with the outcome and hopefully if there is a "next time", measures this drastic won't be needed to get the machine fixed.