Mowing Kioti Finish Mower

[jgold]

I purchased a Kioti Finish mower this spring. Everytime I use it it slings gear oil out all over the deck. There is no dip stick to let you know how full it is so I add to where it looks to be half full in the gear case. The lube slinging problem seems to be worse in very hot weather. Any ideas why it leaks so much or how full the gear case should be. The manual is no help. It appears that the lube is coming out the plastic fill cap. The cap is tight and has an O ring seal. Should there be a vented cap on it? I would appreciate any help. Thank You. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[markie61]

I am having the exact same problem with my First Choice mower. My understanding is that FC and Kioti mowers are made by the same company. The cap on mine is vented and has a dipstick built into it. Every time I use it more than 1/2 hour, it pumps oil up the vent, which spills out over the gearbox and onto the deck. The other symptom I notice is that the gearbox gets VERY hot. I am ready to ask my dealer to get a new gearbox for me, because it is not getting better. My theory is that the gears are wearing incorrectly or the bearing are not spinning, causing friction, causing the oil to overheat, and pushing it up the vent all over the place. My dealer suggested that I change the oil - which I have done twice - and make sure it is not overfilled - which it has never been. I am not worried, though. FC's warranty is 2 year on the gearbox and the dealer has a sterling reputation on this website.

Let me know what your dealer does for you.
Mark

 

[jgold]

I am going to call them 1st thing in the morning. Thanks for your help!

 

[nhman]

I am also located in Northern Va. I have the same problem with my first choice deck (72 rfm). I believe I fixed the first problem. My deck to began to have oil come up from under the cap where you add oil after I screwed and unscrewed it several times. I go another one of those black 0 rings and now screw the cap down with 2 o rings and that has fixed the leak problem. I suspect that the o rings wear and need to be replaced, try it.

My gear box gets hot as well. I will be interested to hear what the dealer says. I am on my second season with the rfm. It does ok. Have already replaced the blades once to improve the cut.

 

[Nasty135]

My Brother in-law has 5' bushog brand finish mower that does the same thing. I'm not sure whether his is a pipe plug or O-ring seal type plug,but none of these should be leaking /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I have a King Kutter and it has a pipe plug and it doesn't leak, so maybe there is something about the O-ring seal type that is an issue?? Could the plug be bottoming out before the seal is really tight and double O-rings does the trick? This is an interesting problem /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[markie61]

Nasty and nhman -

Nope - I am POSITIVE oil is getting pumped up the vent tube. When it first started happening, I suspected the O-ring. If you don't tighten it enough, obviously it would leak. If you overtighten it, the o-ring distorts and allows a leak. I just "snug" it down and the seal is good.

As part of diagnostics, I removed the snapped-in "cap" and foam "breather element" pieces of the assembly and screwed the vent tube/dipstick assembly back on. Once it heated up, I watched the "cup" portion fill with oil then overflow. This means the oil is expanding about 2 inches up to get to the bottom of the vent tube.

All of this happens with the oil level at the "low" mark on the dipstick. There is no oil frothing (no water) and, since I have changed the oil twice, it is clean and clear.

Mark

 

[Nasty135]

Well it sounds as if you could just put an extension nipple on the vent to help keep it from over flowing, especially if the vent is in the path of the oil slinging of the gears ?as long as the vent extension wouldn't get broken off. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[HayDR]

If the gearbox is spewing oil out the vent, the usual cause is the box is over filled with oil. Many of the vent plugs that have dip sticks have the improper length stick. The normal operating temperature is 50-80 degrees above the ambient temperature when under load. If there is some water in the gearbox due to condensation it usually will evaporate without any problems but if there is 3 oz. or more of water it could cause the oil to be wicked out the vent as the oil boils off. Check the gearbox temperature, if it only spews on hot days you understand that it's a heat issue that could be solved by using 85-140 gear oil instead of 80-90 gear oil. Sicma may have some gear sets, due to improper gear matching. You can determine this by the extra noise and extra heat in the gearbox. If it is a bearing going out, the oil is being burned off and will give off a different odor. If you stop up the vent for sure this will cause the bottom seal to be blown out, and loss of the oil will happen. That could cause complete failure of the gearbox.

 

[jgold]

I finally got the mower to my dealer. The dip stick had fallen off and went through the gear case. They had to rebuild the gearbox under warrantee. The dealer stated that Kioti told him they never had this problem before. I have not tried it out yet due to the weather. I will let you know how it does.