MLD
Member
I'm not mechanical. Its a real drawback in the world of tractors but this is the fact. So when my FEL started to stagger and shake and become unresponsive to the point that i couldn't get it into the barn without putting some ramps under the front wheels I called by buddy Farmer Dave as he knows this stuff. He of course was "busy as a farmer" and couldn't drop everything to help me out but told me to go online for some research as to what may be wrong. I did this and found some interesting sites, you tubes movies, things for sale I've always wanted, and generally wasted a couple of hours futzing around. I also found what I hoped was the answer to my question and printed out in full color, any and all info pertaining to the FEL SHUDDERS. It seems that on an older B7100 made sometime in the 70's to the 80's Kubota put in an internal filter system for the hydraulic fluids. They become choked with debris and should be cleaned or replaced.
On the site i visited they had pictures of the filter and descriptions, with pictures, of where it was and it all looked very familiar and it all looked as easy as "I can do this". So I bounced downstairs with my color prints, simple directions and owners manual to take on this "no problem". A couple of looks, a scratch of the head a comparison of the pictures, more looks some bending over a comparison of pictures, some squatting some squinting more comparing, on hands and knees now, derriere in the air now. To the left and under to the right and over. Lying down looking up searching and squinting am I blind? where oh where are the parts like in the pictures?
The print out asks in bold type " Where is my suction filter"? and shows a picture of a red bump pointed to by a chrome antenna thing, and goes on to say " if you have an early B or L you'll find your filter screen on the left side of the transmission". "Just behind the foot rest, secured with two bolts is a cap covering the filter,". I've paraphrased here but basically that is the info on page 3. Then on page 4 with full color diagram it says " if you have a B series Kubota the hydraulic is attached to the large nut holding the suction line against the transmission that has to be removed. Then goes on to say that the suction line is the larger of the two lines and the cap will be located "exactly opposite" (in italic) this point on the left hand side of the transmission. Well not being mechanical I was a little confused. I did have a large nut with a large shaft attached to it but on its opposite side was a single nut with red paint on it. Is this where the filter is, large nut on the right side, or is it the red cap on the left?
One thing they told me in this article that is very important was to drain the old fluid into a basin before removing the filter, where ever it may be, so while waiting for Farmer Dave to bail me out I set to loosening any nuts that may come into play. The bolts where large and of course metric and are hard to get to. I realized I had to take the rear right wheel off to get at the larger of the bolts. I have very large (Fat) turf tires with wheel weights so that was the first thing. I jacked up the rear after making sure it was in gear and chocking the tires. Then with a lot of pull and push manage to get the wheel off the octagonal shaft giving me the room I needed to
loosen the larger bolt. I then loosened the smaller one on the opposite side and waited for Farmer Dave.
He carried the hydraulic fluid in took a look at my print outs and scratched his head. This made me feel better, a little. We sat and talked, got on hands and knees and did together much the same as I had done alone about an hour ago trying to decipher the kubota code. So to make an already to long a story shorter this is what we did and what we found.
We drained the fluid from the left side loosing the red painted nut and found no filter. We then loosened the larger nut on the right side with the suction line and eureka a gunked up cylindrical filter about the size of a medium cigar. This we cleaned carefully with and old tooth brush in diesel and it came out spotless like new. We put everything back together again, poured in the new fluid, started the engine and "voila" perfect hydraulic lift. No shudder no jerking no hesitation.
Next time i'll do it without bothering Farmer Dave. I just needed some good directions. I don't know about any other kubota but that is my experience with an older B7100 gear drive. Hope it helps.
MLD
On the site i visited they had pictures of the filter and descriptions, with pictures, of where it was and it all looked very familiar and it all looked as easy as "I can do this". So I bounced downstairs with my color prints, simple directions and owners manual to take on this "no problem". A couple of looks, a scratch of the head a comparison of the pictures, more looks some bending over a comparison of pictures, some squatting some squinting more comparing, on hands and knees now, derriere in the air now. To the left and under to the right and over. Lying down looking up searching and squinting am I blind? where oh where are the parts like in the pictures?
The print out asks in bold type " Where is my suction filter"? and shows a picture of a red bump pointed to by a chrome antenna thing, and goes on to say " if you have an early B or L you'll find your filter screen on the left side of the transmission". "Just behind the foot rest, secured with two bolts is a cap covering the filter,". I've paraphrased here but basically that is the info on page 3. Then on page 4 with full color diagram it says " if you have a B series Kubota the hydraulic is attached to the large nut holding the suction line against the transmission that has to be removed. Then goes on to say that the suction line is the larger of the two lines and the cap will be located "exactly opposite" (in italic) this point on the left hand side of the transmission. Well not being mechanical I was a little confused. I did have a large nut with a large shaft attached to it but on its opposite side was a single nut with red paint on it. Is this where the filter is, large nut on the right side, or is it the red cap on the left?
One thing they told me in this article that is very important was to drain the old fluid into a basin before removing the filter, where ever it may be, so while waiting for Farmer Dave to bail me out I set to loosening any nuts that may come into play. The bolts where large and of course metric and are hard to get to. I realized I had to take the rear right wheel off to get at the larger of the bolts. I have very large (Fat) turf tires with wheel weights so that was the first thing. I jacked up the rear after making sure it was in gear and chocking the tires. Then with a lot of pull and push manage to get the wheel off the octagonal shaft giving me the room I needed to
loosen the larger bolt. I then loosened the smaller one on the opposite side and waited for Farmer Dave.
He carried the hydraulic fluid in took a look at my print outs and scratched his head. This made me feel better, a little. We sat and talked, got on hands and knees and did together much the same as I had done alone about an hour ago trying to decipher the kubota code. So to make an already to long a story shorter this is what we did and what we found.
We drained the fluid from the left side loosing the red painted nut and found no filter. We then loosened the larger nut on the right side with the suction line and eureka a gunked up cylindrical filter about the size of a medium cigar. This we cleaned carefully with and old tooth brush in diesel and it came out spotless like new. We put everything back together again, poured in the new fluid, started the engine and "voila" perfect hydraulic lift. No shudder no jerking no hesitation.
Next time i'll do it without bothering Farmer Dave. I just needed some good directions. I don't know about any other kubota but that is my experience with an older B7100 gear drive. Hope it helps.
MLD
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