50 Hour service

[PAB_OH]

Well I worked well into the night last night digging up the back yard so my CK30 would be sitting at exactly 50 hours on the clock when I got up this morning

I greased all the fittings I could get to (stupid brake levers, see pics) and drained the engine oil, replaced the oil filter and filled it back up with Rotella 5W-40 Synthetic.

There are 3 zerks that are near impossible to get to with my tools. The zerk on the hydrostat treadle was one. That one I was able to remove the linkage and get the gun on it. The other two (one on each of the brake linkage pivots) I couldn't get my gun into. Take a look at the pictures.

The loader mount bracket is less than 3/4" away from the zerks on both sides. I have a flexible hose on my gun but the end has a steel fitting that links to the zerk and it's probably 1-1/2" long. Disassembling the brake linkage didn't look near as simple as the hydrostat treadle linkage mentioned above. So I left them ungreased but I am not going to leave them that way. Is there a 90 degree fitting for grease guns or should I just take the straight zerk out and replace it with a 45 or 90 degree one?

And for those of you (myself included) who have never seen how much metal comes out of a new hydro system check out the pic of the main hydro drain plug. WOW!


I know the manuals for these foreign machines usually leave a lot to be desired but I found the one that came with the tractor to be pretty decent. One thing that confused me though was a decal that I found on the inside of the right hand side engine cover. It said to replace the oil after 35 hours and every subsequent 75 hours. That's news to me! I'm sure it's not supposed to be in there but I'm just making sure. I don't want to be changing the engine oil every 75 hours. 100 is bad enough!

Compared to the old grey Kubota I used to have (gear) this was more involved obviously but I have to say, the drains for the hydro are a serious PITA!!! I didn't have any of the problems that I read about some of the others having (over torqued from the factory) but getting to them is difficult. I didn't help myself any by leaving my back blade on but there just isn't a lot of room to work in there. One of the things I really didn't like was you can't get a socket on the two drains in the axle housing.

All in all it was pretty painless and I LOVE all the grease fittings on this machine.

After I got the tractor all ready to go I spent an hour putting my Woods RFM back together. I had to remove both right side gauge wheels, cut the shafts, drill out remainder of welded in shaft, and weld in new shafts. A friend made me new shafts at work. The guy I got the mower from used it at the end of last season when his MMM went out and he must have used the Woods deck for a bull dozer Oh well, price was right when I got it from him and cuts really well.

Another productive day!

 

[TBDonnelly]

90 Degree grease coupler:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Handy seven piece kit of various couplers:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Don

 

[PAB_OH]

I like that kit. Good excuse to buy some more grease guns!!

I'll probably be up at HF tomorrow if they have them in stock. Thanks for the link.

 

[rimshot]

90 Degree grease coupler:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Handy seven piece kit of various couplers:

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Don

===================

I'm glad tp hear that Harbor Freight has a grease gun accessory kit that works but don't expect to buy their air grease gun and expect it to work. I got one and it neither worked period nor did the tip go on and off a grease zerk effectively. I howled and so they sent me another to their credit.......but it wasn't about to work either. I just couldn't seem to get the Harbor Freight gun to take a prime. I ended up getting a good air grease gun from Sears Craftsman and it's a keeper.

I recently did the 50 hour on my CK20 and it went pretty well. I was able to hit all the fittings with my gun using a flexible rubber hosed tip. Hope I got them all. I'm glad I had a big enough tub to take on the hydraulic fluid when I pulled he plug. My machine has a backhoe on it and I had to work around the subframe. It was helpful to carefully park machine on some spare 2 X 8 wood block on garage floor when servicing. Sometimes an 1 1/2" can mean a lot.

rimshot

 

[JoelD]

Agreed on HF air grease gun, junk, I've got one, worked correctly maybe once.

I've got a sears gift card, maybe I'll grab a craftsman.

Joel

 

[PA hayseed]

I have an 18" flexible rubber hose end on mine, and it has been worth every penny. Just about every auto part store sells them in various lengths, 8 - 12 - 18. I think if they would have had a 2.5 foot one I would have bought it. I am firmly convinced that all companies make their vehicles with grease fittings that are difficult to get to, so that you neglect the maintenance and they can sell you new vehicles. I know - crazy conspiracy theory...

 

[ERE]

I'm actually surprised by how little metal you had on the magnets of your hydro pump. I think I must have had twice that much.

I gave up on the fittings for my grease gun and finally replaced the zerks with 90 degree fittings. I have a 90 degree swivel for my grease gun, but I still couldn't get at two of them.