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I've been to a lot of service schools over my 30+ year career and this has probably been the most challenging.

It's been fun so far, lots going on with 8 machines that are bugged to be diagnosed.

A little closer view

I'm in lovely Salina, KS at Great Plains Manufacturing attending a class on Kubota M7 electronics diagnosis. Thought I'd start a thread and share some pics and thoughts along the way. Brian

I'm not sure I'd call an M-series mid-sized.

Here's the proper tool for the job. Brian

Here we are with the M7 hooked to the dyno. It made 142hp at 580 PTO RPM. With the throttle turned down to 2005 RPM/540 PTO RPM it made 110 HP. Brian

Here's another shot

A B3030 for comparison

We have our first M7-151 in the yard now, working on doing the pdi. Here are a couple pics of it in the shop. Brian

Here's another view.

This is how I keep mine neat. Socket rails pop-riveted to the bottom of the drawer. From 3/16" to 1 1/2" and 4mm to 36mm plus various specialty sockets.

If and when you turn one over. Don't try to start it without pulling the glow plugs before cranking over to pump out any engine oil that is likely in the cylinders. The picture is the result. This machine was practically brand new with only 9.5 hours on the clock. It bent all 3 connecting rods...

Things are certainly picking up around here, but this is nothing yet. On top of the customer work we'll have once it stops raining, there will be an additional 170 Kubota Harvest Rental tractors coming in that will need to be assembled by May 1st. I'm not even bringing up all of the Bobcat work...

Do you mean in this pic? That's the way the wheel is built so you can change the offset of the wheel to change the track.

Here are some more pics, sized a bit more friendly. Let me know if you have any requests. I will say coming from a non-ag background I'm impressed by the electronics and adjustability of theses machines, the parameters that are adjustable with the touch-screen are incredible to me...

Hi everybody, long time no see. As you may or may not remember I went to work at the somewhat local Kubota dealer a little over a year ago as a technician and soon found myself as the shop supervisor. Fast forward a year. I'm in Texas for M7 training. For those that don't know this is Kubota's...

Does this count as diesel? It runs on kerosene. Does the 1/4 mile in 5.2 seconds at 300 mph. The most fun I've ever had turning a wrench. Brian

I'm considering selling all of my manuals. I pretty much have everything up to the year 2000. G, F, B, L, M, R, and K series, there may be a few missing and also have some duplicates. I also have some short lines too, there's some Satoh and Case and others. Not to mention a bunch of Kubota...

Some here know I gave up my own mobile equipment repair business at the end of last year and went to work for the somewhat local Kubota/Bobcat/Doosan/Tigercat dealer at the beginning of this year. The plan was that I would work in the shop for a year or two wrenching and then transition into a...

Grilled bacon wrapped cube steaks stuffed with cream cheese Brian

We have three M96 mudders on the lot right now. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow. I'm working on a M108S and a M105X right now. Oh yeah and a M9540.

This is me and a little hydraulic cylinder I reassembled today for a Tigercat. I say reassemble, because I didn't do the resealing, we don't have the tooling for the 4 1/2" piston nut. Brian

It doesn't still look this bad. It has all fresh fiberglass front fenders and hood along with a trick custom aluminum radiator and support. I haven't worked on it in several years now, mostly because I hate doing paint and body and can't afford to send it out. Brian

So a new customer called complaining that the 3-pt on his MF 135 just quit working all of a sudden. This is what I found. I scooped this goo out of the transmission housing by the handful. What a mess this is going to be to get cleaned out. Brian

I was at a new customer's place replacing the o-rings on the governor shafts in the injection pump on his Ford 445C and a couple other little things. When I was wrapping up he lead me over to his M7030 in a tentative kind of way. I told him that now we were getting into my wheelhouse. He seemed...

I was reading that thread and the results seemed pretty unanimous that even in perfect circumstances 120v welders weren't the answer to 3/8" plate. I'm not sure about starting a thread about '55 Chevy parameters, but here's a pic of what happens outside those parameters. Lol :-)

Thought I'd post an action shot of my rig from today. Just out servicing some Kubotas. They have 4 R-series wheel loaders, 6 RTV's, and 2 B7500's at this location. Brian

Not so much interesting as puzzling. As many know I do mobile equipment repair. I have been working on utilty tractors for 27 years now and spent twelve of those in Kubota dealerships. Anyway, I have a competitor so to speak, that calls me from time to time with problems. He's a nice enough guy...

Is the only way to replace the broken spring on the tensioner to remove the engine and pump assembly. I managed to get the broken spring out, but there doesn't seem to be a way to install the new spring and set the tension with the engine and pump in the machine. Brian

Here's the call I got today for a broken track. Actually I told them a few weeks ago they needed a new track when they complained that it seemed to be skipping. Then a couple weeks ago when the track walked off, and again earlier this week. Today there wasn't anything left for me to put back on...

Hopefully this is readable. Brian

Here's a bit of a teaser, except mine will be white and have aluminum full rear fenders. Brian

My "oops I forgot to engage the PTO clutch before I split the tractor" tool. A piece of 5/8" round stock wrapped with masking tape to the proper dimensions. Works like a charm. Brian

Well I got it split and found the problem. The gear here is broken not allowing the synchro ring to engage. It looks like it had been this way for awhile. Here it is all split too. Brian

Got started on splitting a 4430 yesterday. When you try to put the mechanical shuttle into forward it just grinds and makes all sorts of noises and the only way it will move is if you hold down on the lever with pretty significant force. I'll pressure wash it before I get started today...

The International truck salesman came to see me today with a quote for a truck I think I'm going to buy. He met me on a job, on a Sunday, and brought two hats, and two t-shirts. :-) Brian

Pretty much decided on a 2015 International DT 4400 with the Navistar Max 9 engine and Allison 3000 transmission with a crew cab. I was surprised that the quotes from the two local dealers were within $100 of each other. I'm meeting with the second sales guy on Sunday. He seems to be more...

So a customer calls me to look at "hydraulic" leak on his tractor. I start it up and lift the 3-pt, the tube between the hydraulic pump and flow control is leaking. So I let the foreman that called me know what was going on and that the front diff was leaking at the pivot and we decide that...

You may be able to see in this pic how the edges off the arm are higher than the surface. My mount was the same width as the arm. If I had welded the mount to the arm without the filler plate there would have been nearly a 1/2" gap between the mount and the arm. They were very specific on...

There are some pics. Because the width of the mount and the arm were neatly the same I had to add a filler plate so the mount had a solid surface to mount to. Here it is mocked up. Here's the mount clamped down and then welded on. Here's a few with it all attached and...

Picked up the thumb at the freight terminal this afternoon. Looking forward to putting it on tomorrow. Brian

These are the welding instructions I have so far. We'll see if they send any more with the thumb. Brian

I couldn't decide which forum to post this in. I finally decided it was more of a welding job than anything for me. Anyway, I ordered an Amulet thumb for a customer's Caterpillar 305 CR excavator Friday. They have to build it and ship it to me. I expect to see it the coming Friday and put it on...

I got schooled this morning by the friendly neighborhood California Highway Patrol officer about motor carrier permits and class A licensing. He dispelled any myth there may have been about where the line is. My F-450 though it has a pick-up bed is not a pick-up, its unladen weight is over 8300...

Customer complained that the loader didn't seem to have the power it once did and was slow lifting a loaded bucket. Not being from the school of "put a pressure gauge on it" I usually skip all that and eliminate the pump first. Here's my flowmeter installed. At 2000 rpm the no load flow...

Just another day as a mobile equipment mechanic. Customer called needing a clutch in her TN75. Turns out the clutch fork had somehow come disengaged from the release bearing holder, the holder rotated so the fork wasn't contacting it at all. I put the holder back in place and re-attached the...

I know this is probably wishful thinking. I need the procedure for setting the injection timing on a 345D with a turbo. It has the Delphi injection pump and the gear isn't keyed like it is on the Lucas CAV pumps. New Holland keeps telling me the manuals are the same, but they aren't. There must...

My biggest client took delivery of 3 new R420S' s and 2 new RTV X900's. They already have 1 R420S, 2 R520S's, 1 R520, 1 R510, 5 RTV 900's, and 4 B-series tractors. Their current R420S has over 10,000 hrs and one of their R520S's has over 8000 hrs. Brian

I didn't even know there was such a thing. Brian

I have a customer with a 259B compact track loader. He was complaining about lack of hydraulic lift power and the boom drifting down. I checked it out and determined that the LH boom cylinder was leaking fluid past the piston seal. Though the machine is under warranty he felt is was less hassle...

Here is the tool I use for removing tractor steering wheels.

It wasn't a bad job, suspended the engine and transmission from the upper frame rail and removed the lower frame, then split the transmission. It was an all day job done at their location. Replaced all 4 u-joints while it was apart.

I noticed the rear inner u-joints going bad on a client's machine while doing the routine maintenance and also saw that transmission gasket had blown out a small section. I let him know that it didn't make sense to tear the machine part way down to do the u-joints and not go ahead and replace...

Trying to take more pictures of jobs that I do. Here I am doing the boom pins and bushings on a Cat TLB yesterday. Not too bad of a job. Using dry ice to shrink the bushings makes driving the new bushings in so much easier.

What part of California? I'm in the SF bay area, East Contra Costa county. Welcome!

I'm very pleased with the performance of my current Wells Cargo trailer it just doesn't suit my needs if I hire a full-time helper. Since Haulmark bought them or they merged, or whatever happened, my trailer dealer doesn't have any faith in them anymore not to mention it doesn't seem like they...

Here is another machine I saw at the same dealer today.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/enginedriven/product.php?model=M00458 Considering this for my new mobile shop if/when I upgrade. I currently have a Redi-arc ZR-8 I use it to run my LN-25 wirefeeder. I also have a separate air compressor. Since the compressor in this unit is a screw type it...

I wonder how much damage I did. I filled my F450 up this morning with about half a tank of gasoline. It seemed to be acting funny, I drove it about 50 miles pulling my 17k lb trailer. It was due for service anyway so I dropped the oil and was changing the fuel filters when I figured out what I...

Spent the day making repairs to this L48 for a customer. The power steering cylinder was leaking, so I had to remove the cylinder. It wasn't terrible but did require some heat and persuasion and took a bit longer than I expected. The loader boom cylinders needed new seal kits too. It needed...

In writing my business plan one of the topics is "future industry trends". I have my own ideas but wanted to see what others had to say. I expect the "green" movement to follow into the equipment world. Obviously we are seeing the push for lower emissions with the Tier IV engine and I believe...

Much easier to preach than to practice at times. As you can see, I need a day off to get reorganized. Brian

This is the only thing I've ever run straight kerosene in, lol.

I've seen this tractor at the dealer the last few times I've been there picking up parts. I have to wonder what the application is. Brian

And another, my phone app keeps crashing. I think it turned out pretty well, the customer was very happy. Brian

A customer of mine sent me this pic last week telling me he wanted to be able to push it with his Bobcat skid-steer. I had no idea at first how I was going to accomplish it. This is what I came up with, though my first thought was to weld it to the bucket.

I think that's what they used on these "welds" for the forklift attachment hooks on this bucket. Versus my "weld". I'm hoping mine holds up a little better. Brian

I'm sure I made a long term customer today. He took his machine to one of the local Bobcat dealers to have the roller and idler bushings replaced along with the rear idler wheels. They quoted him 26 hours of labor to do the job as well as telling him it was too much work to knock the old...

My helper and I did full services on 4 machines this weekend. A Cat 420D, a 420E, a 928G, and a John Deere 410G. These poor machines haven't been getting their services done. I did a 420E earlier this week for the same customer that had 900 hrs on the engine oil. None of the 4 this weekend had...

Thanks for clarifying that. I had already figured on a class A with a haz mat endorsement since I will have so much bulk oil with me. Here is the oil I picked up for my job this weekend.

This is what I am thinking about for my next truck. Hino 338CT I will be upgrading my trailer too since I have outgrown it already. For those that don't know. Right now I have a 2008 Ford F450 and a 28' gooseneck trailer that contains my mobile shop. I do on-site maintenance and repair for...

Does anybody know yet what type of diagnostic interface is going to be used. Is it going to be like the early days of automotive computers where every manufacturer has a different plug, or are they gonna be smart enough to come out with a universal interface like OBD II? I work on a lot of...

I love my 2008 F450, even though I'm a GM man, but I broke my 6.4l. Last week I was towing my trailer over a little grade like I do, at least a couple times a week when I heard it start knocking. At first I thought it was just a weird echo off the hills, it was only noticeable at an idle. The...

Here are the pics I promised. The machine is a Ditch Witch RT115 The third pic is of the wheel before I re-hardfaced it. Obviously the last pic is after. It takes me about 10 minutes per side, per section, and there are 12 sections. So 4 hours of welding plus cleaning it up so I'm not trying...

A customer of mine asked me to R&R the loader pilot control valve on their Cat 928G because the dealer wanted 6 hrs labor to do what looked like a 2 hours job. I swapped everything over no problem, marked the lines and got everything back in the same spots as before but it is not working...

I'm looking at doing a job hardfacing the sides of an 8' trencher wheel. I will be doing it with my wirefeed and likely .045" flux core wire. I'm pretty sure I'm going to remove the individual sections and welding flat rather than trying to do it horizontal on the machine. I'm just not that...

Well I've had my 2008 F-450 for just over 8 months now and have put over 20,000 miles on it. I have been very happy with it. It pulls my mobile shop trailer very nicely. I have had a couple of problems but they were handled under warranty. I had the high pressure fuel pump fail and the 4wd...

My buddy bought this 2001 F550 and wanted to shorten the bed so he could tow gooseneck trailers with it. He gave me some money a couple of months ago when I was short, so I got a chance to repay him. These first two pictures are before I started.

Well, I bought this truck 4 months ago yesterday and it had performed near flawlessly up until last Thursday. I had put just shy of 12,000 miles on it in that short period, most of that towing my 17,000 gn trailer, that is my mobile shop. It started having loss of power and turned on the check...

What model ASV has the same undercarriage as a Cat 257B? I have a customer that needs his front idler bearings replaced and is about due for tracks and would like to price ASV parts vs. Cat. Thanks, Brian

I figured since I've had my trailer for two years now, it wouldn't hurt to check the brakes and adjust the wheel bearings today. I expected to pop the drums off and then call to order new shoes. I was surprised that it didn't need brakes, they were probably 90%. I guess that is the difference...

I went to work on a customer's 2110 today. The complaint was that it had overheated and the oil was milky now. I expected it to be a head gasket, pretty straight forward. So I pulled the head, but the gasket was pristine. Now I'm starting to think cylinder liner electrolysis. I wasn't sure...

Here is my initial review after the first 330 miles. I have had this truck 3 full days now. My first fill up on Friday cost $143, it was down to an 1/8 of a tank and has a 37 gallon tank. The mileage computer says I'm getting 12.7 mpg, I will confirm this on the next fill up. Not the 15 mpg...

Well, I'm going to bite the bullet in the next week or so and buy a new truck. I have been fighting my 2001 GMC Sierra K3500 with the 8.1L and Allison for the last 2 years. It was a great truck and was nearly flawless for the first 165K miles. I decided to have the engine and transmission...

I was too hard for me to really pick one tool or even limit it to a few tools in the "What shop tools can you not live without" thread. So I decided to start this one. The two tools I wish I had most are a TIG welder and a plasma cutter. I'm a tool junkie like others here. Being a...

This is a tractor I started working on yesterday for a customer of mine. I'm replacing the clutch, I repacked all of the loader cylinders, will be replacing all of the hydraulic hoses, and putting new o-rings in the loader valve. It's getting a new seat, exhaust pipe, drag link and tie-rod...

I am in the process of competing for a mechanics job with a local Parks and Recreation Department. I have made it past the first 2 rounds. The first was the application, resume, and questionnaire, second was the 150 question written test. They narrowed it down to 20 applicants with the...

A couple of months ago I posted about changing the intake gaskets on my 8.1L in my 2001 GMC Sierra K3500 dually. intake-gaskets-2001-gmc-k3500 Well, things slowed down enough for the winter that I decided to go ahead and pull the engine out, because the 2 quarts of oil every 350 miles was...

We live in a sub-division in Northern California probably 200 yards from an open field and a quarter mile from many orchards. Definitely not what I would consider rural, our lot is a whopping 8000 square feet. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we got tired of the cats waking us up to go out in the...

I graduated from Universal Technical Institute in Phoenix, AZ from their Auto/Diesel program. It seems like a lifetime ago and like yesterday at the same time. I left there a punk ***** kid that barely knew anything other that what a book can teach you in 11 months. And now consider myself to...

I have been putting off changing the intake manifold gaskets on my 8.1 for too long. I had this engine gone through over a year and 40,000 miles ago. It had 165,000 miles on it and had burned 2 quarts of oil every 3000 miles since the day I bought it new. I wanted to make sure it was sound to...

For those that hadn't followed my previous thread, here are some before pics. Here are the completed after pics. Brian

Here are some shots of a 220 excavator I repaired today. I forgot to take the before pics while it was still all assembled, but I think you can tell what happened by the pieces I cut off. Brian

I posted some of these pics a while back piggybacked on someone else's post, so I thought I would re-post them in my own post. This is my mobile shop, I do on-site equipment maintenance and repair. I work primarily on compact utility tractors and also do a lot of work on Bobcats, but will work...

Took the wheels and tires down Saturday and had new tires installed at Les Schwab $550 later. And today I made all new hydraulic hoses for the loader. This tractor had sat for about 4 years without being started. It fired up first hit of the key, but when I went to lift the loader fluid...

Does anyone have some real world mileage numbers for a 2010-2011 K3500HD with the Duramax and Allison 6-speed towing 14K+. I'm curious, I think I can just about justify a new truck on fuel savings alone, switching from my 2001 K3500 with the 8.1L and 5-speed Allison. I'm towing a 14K+ lb GN...

Does anyone have the head bolt and connecting rod nut torque specs. handy for a 545. Thanks, Brian

I'm being given this tractor by a customer of mine. It has sat for a few years so it needs stuff replaced that you would expect. Tires, hoses, seat, battery, etc. It also needs bevel case seals and a good washing and servicing. It looks like I'm going to have about $1600 in parts, my cost...

I just want to share my recent experience. Last Wednesday the 24th of March at about 10:45 am I ordered a bunch of parts to replace the center pivot pin and bushings on a Kubota R520S wheel loader. Three of the parts were backordered to Japan, the center pin and two of the bushings. A couple...