fluid change??

[Fred Barbour]

Changing the front axle fluid can be a challenge. The drain plugs are situated directly above the tire so without help directing the flow it goes all over the place making a mess. I've seen pics of people taking off the tire to make the axle fluid change, all sorts of labour intensive ways to do this procedure.

Solution: Rip a chunk of cardboard off one of the many boxes sitting in your garage, fold it and jam it up abainst the rim of the tire under the drain hole, it will natuarlly follow a 45 degree angle. Drain the oil into your old plastic cat litter box, the height is perfect, you don't even have to jack up the tractor. Next take the carefully made funnel you just fashioned and throw it away! Next change, find another cardboard box and repeat the above. Simple and fast.

Fred

 

[Andrewnewy]

Yes normally you would fill till the oil is level with the bottom of the check plug, the sight glass is so you can check it during operation, I.e when using it the oil will heat up and expand causing it to show in the sight glass. Admittedly not really a useful function but it's one of those extra features thank makes buying a kioti worthwhile!

For changing oil, the loader trick is a good one, you can also do this with a jack on the opposite wheel if you don't have a loader on. Too other things I find really useful, for an oil pan I use a 44 gallon drum cut in half, or less than half for thigh spots, this gives a nice big surface area to catch the oil, the other really useful thing is a bit of card board, in hard to get a places you can use the cardboard to funnel the oil to where you want it, because it's cardboard you can bend it any way you like to get the best shape, works a treat every time!

 

[Fred Barbour]

After draining your front axle your refill should bring the level to the middle of the window, the white ball should be dead centre.

Be carefull not to overfill. What I did was place the old drained oil back into emty quart containers to ensure I knew how much came out, this gave me a good reference on what to put back in. After replacing approx the same amount in as you took out, drive the tractor around for awhile using both 2 and 4wd. Let it sit overnight, check the level and carefully add to bring the ball to dead centre on the window. Do this for a few days checking every day until the level is static with the white ball in the centre.

The reason for doing it this way is to prevent an overfill (which I did) and, it's a pain in the rear drainig out small portions to get it right.

Fred

 

[kco]

Yes normally you would fill till the oil is level with the bottom of the check plug, the sight glass is so you can check it during operation, I.e when using it the oil will heat up and expand causing it to show in the sight glass. Admittedly not really a useful function but it's one of those extra features thank makes buying a kioti worthwhile!

For changing oil, the loader trick is a good one, you can also do this with a jack on the opposite wheel if you don't have a loader on. Too other things I find really useful, for an oil pan I use a 44 gallon drum cut in half, or less than half for thigh spots, this gives a nice big surface area to catch the oil, the other really useful thing is a bit of card board, in hard to get a places you can use the cardboard to funnel the oil to where you want it, because it's cardboard you can bend it any way you like to get the best shape, works a treat every time!

I'm glad I read these tips before reaching the 50 hrs. I've been wondering how I would go about it, particularly draining the 11 or so gallons of transmission oil. I have a couple of small (20 gallon) drums and will cut one in half to use as an oil pan.

 

[mx5guy]

you may want to cut it a little less thann 1/2 half or you will be looking where to put the extra gallon in a hurry LOL:laughing:

 

[csholler]

Wow, disappointed I didn't think of that! Great suggestion Highbeam!

 

[dennis52]

Yes, also I find it difficult to drain the front axle without spilling oil. Any ideas on this??

My dealer did my free 50 hr service at my farm today and I learnt quite a bit.
The mechanic just tore off some glossy coated cardboard from a box, twisted it to make a half funnel and stuck it under the front axle drain plugs with a small container below to catch the old oil as it flowed onto and down the cardboard half funnel .

He also did the refill of the axle. firstly from the the two red painted filler plugs on top of the wheel hubs, tightened these two plugs when oil reached thread height, and then the final fill from the filler plug on the axle. Said this made the job a lot quicker as you do not have to wait so long for all of the thick oil to make it's way down the entire axle.

 

[dennis52]

The mechanic who did my front axle fill today said that you fill it to when the top of the white ball is level with the top of the window. He gave it plenty of time to flow through the axle before checking the level.

He also slightly overfilled the transmission oil a couple of litres to take into account the steep country I am working. Said this would help ensure adequate oil flow to the pump on steep inclines.