Help

biplane · Sep 15, 2007

Please help - I'm clueless. My hydrostatic transmission started slipping yesterday on my Kubota 7200 HST. I checked the fluid and it's so milky I could pour it on my Cheerios. I don't have a manual for it, but I thought I would change fluid and see if that fixed the slipping problem. I went to the dealer today and bought 4 gallons of oil, and a filter. They pointed out 3 drain plugs on a similar tractor. I found 1 on each side of the rear axle and 1 near the mid PTO. Out came about 2 gallons of milk. Are those the only plugs??? Is the lubrication in the front of the tractor a separate system? If not, where do I find the drains on the front?
I changed the filter, which is mounted vertically and inverted under the panel on top of the transmission. Now, and this shows my ignorance, where do you add oil? There is a 1/2" bolt right next to the filter, but I can't image I'm supposed to pour 4 gallons of oil into that bolt hole.
Please help as I need to get this tractor back up soon!
Thanks!!!!

cheesehead · Sep 15, 2007

I'm not familiar with that model. My fill plu and dipstick are at the very rear of thr tractor at top of the transmission housing.

Egon · Sep 15, 2007

My tractor is a B7100 HST - very similar.

The drain plugs are as you mentioned.

To fill I'd use the filter location and then make the final addition, after the filter is installed, through the dipstick hole. This is a a small hole and will require a funnel and patience.

The dipstick is located below the seat just behind the the filter cover and on the right hand side. If you have a loader it will be to the right and back from the loader hydraulics return line.

If fluids do not help check the clutch for slippage.

biplane · Sep 15, 2007

Thank you for that help! I'll fill through the filter hole.
One more question - I understand by reading this forum that there are probably screens as well. A 6" bolt or some such thing on the side of the transmission. Any help locating that would be appreciated. Are there screens on both sides?

MarkV · Sep 15, 2007

Sounds like water got into the system. The question is how?

MarkV

biplane · Sep 15, 2007

The parts guy speculated that it was just years of condensation. Which means, of course, that I've been operating it for a long time with badly deteriorated oil.

DiezNutz · Sep 15, 2007

Some tractors have bolt-in screens, some don't. It would seem that the ones with an extra suction filter (like the B3030) do not, as that takes the place of the screen. If yours does have a screen, it will be an obvious large bolt head on one side of the HST, near the bottom.

Here is a great link for service on a B7800, which has the strainer (Thanks Messick's). See about 2/3 of the way down the page.

Kubota B-Series Fluids and Filters

Seriously, these 7xxx models don't have a top fill hole?? I hope that guy was fired...

mrron_tx · Sep 15, 2007

Condensation?? How old is Your tractor?? Do you live in a high humidity area?? Have You checked Your cooling water to see if it's low? It's kinda hard to believe You can get enough condensation to make "milk" out of oil. I live in a high humdity area and I've never seen that situation before....Hmmm...except when My helper left the hyd.cap of My bobcat and it rained real hard overnight...that was a mess...LOl. Good luck.

biplane · Sep 15, 2007

Thanks for all the help. You guys are great.

I live in the St. Louis area, so it's pretty high humidity. I've owned the tractor for about 5 years, and it has not sat outside a night since I've had it. I don't know about it's prior history.

I did find the screens - they were prominent on each side of the transmission. I cleaned them both - they were pretty gummed up.

The oil does not go in through the filter hole. The filler hole is quite obvious when you know where it is - about 3" from the dipstick. But it's extremly well hidden by the seat mounting bracket from the angle I was looking. Argh! Once that was found I was able to add about 3 gallons of fluid in no time.

I ran the tractor for about 15 minutes up and down some hills on my property, and it seemed to not be slipping anymore. I don't want to declare it healthy until I've done some work with it, but so far so good. When I rechecked the level it did not appear milky (yet), so maybe I got most of it out of there.

Guess I should turn my attention to the front axles now. I'm embarrassed at how little maintenance I've done on this machine. They are hearty little beasts.

I final (I hope) question. I saw a link to a site with online manuals awhile back, but the site doesn't work (mediashare or something like that). I don't mind paying $15 for a manual, but if I can access one online for free that would be even better. If anyone knows how I can get to that manual I would be most appreciative.

Thanks again!