B2920 - Changing Hydraulic Filter

Howard92 · Feb 16, 2017

When I was installing the sub-frame for my new BH65 back hoe, I noticed that the hydraulic filter (filter on the right side) was bent up pretty badly. Apparently I had done this bush hogging some rough mtn land we own. I had chopped off a lot of locust, sassafras and buckthorn trees with a machete. I left them about 2' tall, which turned out to be the perfect dimension to get pushed down by the front axle and then pop back up and hit the hydraulic filter rather violently.

Anyway, I need to change that filter. The owners manual talks about draining all the fluid before removing the filter. When I changed the HST filter at 50 hrs, I had read about using a shop vac to keep the fluid in whit the filter removed. Seems like I drove it up on some boards to get the tractor tilted away from the filter and that worked fine (as I recall). My question is, can I do the same thing when changing the hydraulic filter to keep the fluid from running out?

Thanks for any help,
Howard

s219 · Feb 16, 2017

Yeah, it should work. If you can find the breather tube, plug that with a nail, then angle the tractor away from the filter, and that will minimize any spillage. I've never bothered with the shop vac trick.

rkidd · Feb 16, 2017

That will work. Plug the vent as s219 said, and have the new filter ready to spin on as soon as you take the old one off.

Howard92 · Feb 17, 2017

Thanks for the responses. I had forgotten about using a small nail to plug the vent; thanks for reminding me.
Thanks again,
Howard

Howard92 · Mar 5, 2017

Follow Up - Well, tilting the tractor away from the hydraulic filter and plugging the vent hole did NOT work. As soon as I cracked the filter, fluid came gushing out. I lost about 1.5 qts before I got the new filter installed.

Next time I will try the shop vac method.:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Thanks all,
Howard

s219 · Mar 7, 2017

That's odd --when I did the filter change on my old 2920 I had no issues at all. I parked it sideways on my driveway, which had about a 15% slope. I wonder if there is another air leak into the reservoir somewhere on your machine.

When I did my L3200, I parked one side on ramps but forgot to plug the breather. As soon as the filter came loose, i could hear the breather whistle, and I quickly plugged it with a nail. Lost about 1/2 quart but I am sure it would have been a lot worse if I didn't have a nail nearby.

When I changed the hydraulic filter on my RTV, it was stuck on so tight I had to hammer a screwdriver through it to get it loose, and had to repeat that three times to get the filter turned enough to come loose. So the filter had 6 holes in it by the end of that stabbing, and it was gushing fluid in all directions like a lawn sprinkler. I later discovered that the RTV has two separate breathers, and I had only plugged the one of them that I knew about.

You'd think that Kubota could do something to make these filter changes easier.