neverfailyou
Silver Member
The LS saga continues wherein I seem to get encounter weak designs in my 2017 XR4140 with 760 hours on the clock. It’s a long post with details and pictures.
I noticed a goodly amount of fluid leaking while the engine was running from underneath the chassis by the operator’s left foot near the fuel tank. Crawled underneath and noted a significant hydraulic leak from the HST filter area. This was similar to a leak several months ago which I fixed by tightening the HST filter. (The filter is in an exposed area and had several dings probably from branches and brush probably hit during heavy use). Everything was fine in the ensuing months until the newest leak and only this time the filter was still tight but leaking profusely with multiple dings and creases.
I went to R&R the filter and noted that after loosing, it didn’t spin off easily. Initial inspection I suspected that one of the dings/ceases leaked under pressure. I keep on hand a complete set of spare filters (fuel, hydraulic, HST, etc). While installing a new filter it would not start spinning because the left brake rod was keeping the filter from aligning properly onto the thread and machined surface.
Long story shortened.... the bracket that holds the filter is shaped like a z and attaches to the trans housing (?); the brake rod bends (breaks) around the filter from the pedal to the rear axle. The bracket is found on page 6-21 item 10 of the service manual.
Well... on my tractor one of the bracket z legs was twisted slightly like a noodle.... sorry no before picture. The twist threw the alignment of the filter screw/machined mount just slightly enough that the brake rod had rubbed against the filter and caused a high pressure leak.
The corrective action was to remove the bracket and straighten the noodled z-leg. I used the anvil on my bench vice and a ball pen hammer. Everything went back together but installing the 4 mounting bolts was a chore with only about 1/8 inch final clearance between the filter and the brake rod.
The design flaw is that the filter mount, the filter, and all the rigid hydraulic lines are held in the tight alignment by the z bracket and the bracket is made of super soft metal only taking a free gentle taps of the ball peen hammer to change bracket twist. The improvement would be to make a bracket out of harder steel or reinforce the z legs with welded gussets or similar.
An additional comment ... two of the mount bolts are more difficult to access but their nuts are ready accessible... only the nuts are welded to the brackets! Which one discovers after the bracket is removed. And hydraulic fluid got everywhere but fortunately only about a cup full.
It was a job!
I noticed a goodly amount of fluid leaking while the engine was running from underneath the chassis by the operator’s left foot near the fuel tank. Crawled underneath and noted a significant hydraulic leak from the HST filter area. This was similar to a leak several months ago which I fixed by tightening the HST filter. (The filter is in an exposed area and had several dings probably from branches and brush probably hit during heavy use). Everything was fine in the ensuing months until the newest leak and only this time the filter was still tight but leaking profusely with multiple dings and creases.
I went to R&R the filter and noted that after loosing, it didn’t spin off easily. Initial inspection I suspected that one of the dings/ceases leaked under pressure. I keep on hand a complete set of spare filters (fuel, hydraulic, HST, etc). While installing a new filter it would not start spinning because the left brake rod was keeping the filter from aligning properly onto the thread and machined surface.
Long story shortened.... the bracket that holds the filter is shaped like a z and attaches to the trans housing (?); the brake rod bends (breaks) around the filter from the pedal to the rear axle. The bracket is found on page 6-21 item 10 of the service manual.
Well... on my tractor one of the bracket z legs was twisted slightly like a noodle.... sorry no before picture. The twist threw the alignment of the filter screw/machined mount just slightly enough that the brake rod had rubbed against the filter and caused a high pressure leak.
The corrective action was to remove the bracket and straighten the noodled z-leg. I used the anvil on my bench vice and a ball pen hammer. Everything went back together but installing the 4 mounting bolts was a chore with only about 1/8 inch final clearance between the filter and the brake rod.
The design flaw is that the filter mount, the filter, and all the rigid hydraulic lines are held in the tight alignment by the z bracket and the bracket is made of super soft metal only taking a free gentle taps of the ball peen hammer to change bracket twist. The improvement would be to make a bracket out of harder steel or reinforce the z legs with welded gussets or similar.
An additional comment ... two of the mount bolts are more difficult to access but their nuts are ready accessible... only the nuts are welded to the brackets! Which one discovers after the bracket is removed. And hydraulic fluid got everywhere but fortunately only about a cup full.
It was a job!
