Tiller King Kutter tiller water in oil

[Alan L.]

My tiller is only a year old. A few months ago after my brother in law used the tractor/tiller to till some very hard ground on his property, when I got it back there were missing bolts on the side gearbox. Afraid there could have been dirt in there I took the cover off, cleaned the gears with brake fluid, put it all back together with a new gasket, and filled with fluid. I used it very little after that.

Today I put the tiller on and checked the gearbox oil and found that it was YELLOW! Somehow apparently water got in it. It has been stored outside, but it shouldn't get water in it.

So once again I drained the yellow gear oil, ran some UDT through there, then filled with new gear oil.

This really hacks be off. First off, the only way to drain the oil is to loosen all the bolts holding the plate down, then prying out the cover plate. The gasket is rubber, so you really can't tighten the bolts too much because it just sqeezes the rubber out. I put locktite on them last time, but today I already had them back in when I thought of it.

The tiller works great, but WHY did it have water in the gear oil?

 

[Shmudda]

Condensation.........

Its amazing how it will collect in enclosed metal containers.

Craig

 

[john_bud]

Store it outside and any rain can and will leap at the opportunity to stampede down the vent on the fill. Happens every time. You wouldn't think it could, but dern near every drop hits that fill vent first!

 

[Soundguy]

Does it have a breather plug? if so.. that's how water is getting in.

Also.. if it's so hard to service.. I think I'd pry that cover off one more time and add a drain plug to it.. shouldn't take too long if you have a drill, welder/tap/die set.

guess there is no chance of making one of the lower bolt holes 'non-blind' ?? ( ie.. drill thru the casting into the end of one of the lower holes.. that way you can just remove that bolt to drain.. etc. .. will always have to pucky that bolt.. etc...

soundguy

 

[Bill Barrett]

I just serviced my KK finsh mower, it was 5' under water . We have been in the national news for flooding. Anyway I knew there would be problems. I put it in the heated shop for a week before working on it, drained the gear box, looked like was just changed! Belts and everything else was fine. I could of hook it up and went to work!

 

[Alan L.]

I didn't realize the fille had a vent, but seen now that it does. Also, I didn't actually try removing the bottome bolt to see if it would drain it. I don't think it would, but I'll try it next time.

Funny, it didn't have any signs of water in it when I took it apart before.

 

[daBear]

I got a Bushog Finish Mower from a friend who had let it sit up. I started mowing with it since it was fairly new and blew the seals out of the gear box because it was full of oil and water. The water jumped down the vent hole in the plug which all gear boxes have since oil expands when it warms. I paid $65 for the seals to be replaced after I dismounted the gearbox and took it in. Morale of the story: Cover your implements with gearboxes with a tarp.

 

[Soundguy]

I got a Bushog Finish Mower from a friend who had let it sit up. I started mowing with it since it was fairly new and blew the seals out of the gear box because it was full of oil and water. The water jumped down the vent hole in the plug which all gear boxes have since oil expands when it warms. I paid $65 for the seals to be replaced after I dismounted the gearbox and took it in. Morale of the story: Cover your implements with gearboxes with a tarp.

Tarps cause condensation.. I like to take old buckets and cut a notch out for the pto shaft, then flip em over the gearbox like a hat.

soundguy

 

[GinNB]

Any rubber seals or O-rings around? I've been told that oil softens brakefluid o-rings so presumably brakefluid isn't good for oil-rated o-rings, etc.

 

[Soundguy]

Perhaps he meant 'spray brake cleaner' ?

soundguy