Fan uner BX24 mid-section

[Danilo]

JTwillie
New Member

Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Redwood Valley, Ca
Posts: 14

Default BX24 New Fender replacement
My BX 24 with maybe 55hrs on it had the fender replaced this week. Took almost a month from the time the dealer said it would be covered under warranty. They welded some additional support to the frame rail and mounted some hard rubber which sandwiched between the new support and the floorboard. Looks pretty well done. I will add a pic later.

Now the bad news for other BX24 owners. I also had to have the HST fan replaced. I must have gotten a stick up under the tractor and took all the blades off the fan. Would have never known it except for when I had the 50hr service done. That was not covered under warranty.
Dealer was going to replace it when he put the new fender on. This was going to be a minor thing since it would be so exposed with the fender off. Probably as no charge.

Now the bad news. Unlike a BX23 which has room to pull the drive shaft out far enough to remove the fan, the BX24 does not. My dealer called Kubota since they could not get enough clearance to pull the shaft out and find out why. Seems with the BX24 you have to either pull the engine or in my case disassemble the rear end to remove shaft and replace fan. Total cost to me... $607.82

I have a skid plate on order and should be here anytime. So BX24 owners. Protect that little plastic fan as it is really expensive to have it replaced.

Cheers JT
PS... I live in Ca. and it seems that everything is more expensive out here.

$600 Bucks? You got robbed!!! I had my fender replaced as well and when it was in for that issue, they also replaced the fan. No charge. I would switch dealers and fast!

 

[Dusty]

I would think that it would be easier to pull the engine mounts and move the engine forward than it would be to take the rear apart. Without a service manual, I have no idea, but then I have no idea why Kubota would make the hydro service such a difficult procedure on the BX24, when it was easy on all the prior models. I wonder if this change is only on the BX24 or is also across the entire new BX line?
Dusty

 

[Petethenomad]

Well, we have replaced the fan in my BX25 - quite a process. My brother and I did it in about 4.5 hours. We unbolted the four engine mounts and moved the engine forward a few inches and unbolted the shaft from the engine. Then we hacked off the old fan hub and got at the cross bolt in that holds the shaft/constant velocity joint on to the engine spline. Then we had to take apart the CV joint to get the damaged rubber boot off the shaft. This requires a good pair of internal circlip pliers and some fiddling about. Then we tried to get it back together without taking off the floor pan and rear fenders and ROPS. We failed, there just is not room to get the cross bolt back in and tight - plus we had to put the CVJ back together in place. So we did all that and re-assembled the shaft and new fan. Then we put the whole thing back together - it was fiddly to get the engine back in place as the engine fan kept catching on the radiator shroud.

So, bottom line, in our opinion is: Don't try any short cuts, get your tools together, including an electric or air socket tool, and circlip pliers (if your boot is damaged), and fly at it. Take off the hoe and the loader, the ROPS, the rear fender, the floor pan, move the engine forward (try without removing the shaft from the engine), remove the hood and side panels and bush bars, and the rad grill under the dash.

Sure glad that's done. I will make a skid plate - easier as I don't plan on getting a mid-mower.

Hey, usually I am pretty lucky in life - this time I wasn't with the fan, but it was a cheap part and we were capable of the labour. I know the BX25 a bit better now and not many jobs will daunt me in the future on this machine.

Regards,
Pete

 

[DGS]

I have posted in other threads about this very topic
So to repeat ad nauseam,is not possible to add an oil cooler with an elecric fan on hydraulic return line
If not why not?
Hoping for an answer this time around
Regards
DGS

 

[MacTractor]

After all of these posts, I made me take a good look at the HST Fan on my new BX25 and so far it is fine. I am spending the majority of my time in the woods these days and I have no desire to have to do what Petethenomad has had to do. I agree with others on a poor design. I bought my BX25 with a MMM and I have not taken it off yet because of fear of damaging the HST Fan. I am ordering a Bro-Tek plate but as I have the MMM I can only get the rear plate. I am wondering how protected I will be with just the rear plate. I am wondering if any others with just the rear plate have still damaged the HST fan?

I hope I never have to do this repair.

 

[Petethenomad]

With regards to the idea of a cooler and an electric fan, there's not much room to put it and then you'd have to protect it with a shield. Might as well just protect the existing one and call it good. I"ll make a plate as soon as I can and be careful as I can to protect my fan in the meantime. If I damage another fan before that then that's just by bad luck and a known risk. I have too much other stuff to do that requires good fall weather so I'll wait until it's crappy out to make a template and fabricate a skid plate. The Bro-Tec plate looks great but I'll like to make one myself.

By the way, did I mention - my local dealer was very helpful with phone advice as I dismantled the machine - with tips on how the shaft and CVJ were held together.

Pete

 

[DGS]

Hello Pete
Could the cooler be put up front by the grille
Looks like enough room on my 1830
Just a thought
DGS

 

[Singlecoil]

After all of these posts, I made me take a good look at the HST Fan on my new BX25 and so far it is fine. I am spending the majority of my time in the woods these days and I have no desire to have to do what Petethenomad has had to do. I agree with others on a poor design. I bought my BX25 with a MMM and I have not taken it off yet because of fear of damaging the HST Fan. I am ordering a Bro-Tek plate but as I have the MMM I can only get the rear plate. I am wondering how protected I will be with just the rear plate. I am wondering if any others with just the rear plate have still damaged the HST fan?

I hope I never have to do this repair.

I have just the rear plate and I have had no problems with the fan. I drive my tractor through the brush quite often and haven't had any issues.

 

[milkman]

Messing around with Picassa Web Photos and thought I'd post the link that is appropriate for this thread. Hope it works.
Picasa Web Albums - Hurschel - SkidPlateDim-...

 

[quarencia]

This post is a little old, but DGS's question about an oil cooler had me thinking so I thought I pontificate on the matter a little. I don't see why you couldn't add an oil cooler to a BX. But I have two questions...

First is why?
I don't think there's a serious overheating problem on the BXs. Especially in Ontario. Are you trying to replace the HST fan with an oil cooler? If so, I'd be leery of that idea. Most of the oil flow in the HST is closed loop in the pump and motor and this is where the heat is generated. The HST is cooled by the HST Fan and the oil flow from the power steering loop (~ 7 L/min). Without knowing more about temps and oil flow inside the HST, I wouldn't trust only the oil flow through the HST to cool it, even with an oil cooler. On the plus side, an oil cooler would add insurance in case you corn cobbed the HST fan.

My next question is how much good would it do?
With the open center design of BX hydraulics, the power steering and FEL loops are basically cooling circuits. Seems like you'd have to be doing some serious heavy duty work to overheat the system.

If I were going to put an oil cooler on a BX, I'd get an adapter for the Hydraulic Filter mount and cool the fluid just before it goes into the HST. I'd run steel lines to the front of the tractor and mount a very small cooler somewhere on the left side of the engine bay in front of the injector pump or in front of the flywheel (a little risky). A cooler like this...eBay Motors: 12" Aluminum Transmission/ Oil Cooler. Don't know that I'd try to add a fan. Just leave it passive and let the laws of thermodynamics do their thing. If I did add fans, they would have to be electric computer type fans to be small enough.

These in-line types might fit under the dash infront of the radiator. They might even fit in-line with the FEL lines if you could find a place close enough to the frame to be protected. But it's pretty tight in there with the mmm attached.
eBay Motors: Al Transmission Engine Oil Cooler 7 row Hi Performance
eBay Motors: Inline transmission power steering engine oil cooler

Of course adding the adapter in front of the hydraulic filter would only push it further out in harms way and increase the need for a skid plate, which (in my mind) would protect the fan and negate any need for the oil cooler.