Kioti LB2204 with KL122 Loader Proportioning Valve Issue

RandR10 · Jan 4, 2022

By the way I gave him a call earlier today (actually yesterday now) and we had a talk. He was not able to find a cross reference but he had it in stock. The parts stack up is identical in both drawings except for the old machine's book having it drawn backwards, so I've decided to take a gamble on this. Being that the Kubota machines kept using the same or superseded part numbers when the Kioti LK series came into being, I'm guessing the manufacturer didn't just suddenly change up their tooling for only one of their customers and continued to send the same parts to both customers. Won't be the first time I've found identical parts that don't cross-reference in any of the books, but I won't know for sure until I check. He's going to complete the order and send one out to me. I'll update when I get it in hand.

K5lwq · Jan 4, 2022

Great. I hope it works for you.

K5lwq · Jan 17, 2022

@RandR10 Any updates to your issues?

RandR10 · Jan 19, 2022

K5lwq said:
@RandR10 Any updates to your issues?

Yes. I got the new cartridge valve and it does indeed fit into the block perfectly with the proper thread form. By external dimensions it's identical to the old one. The guts do look different though. It only sends oil to the steering when I install it. When I had it apart I noticed really bad aeration of the oil though, so I need to track down what's wrong there before I continue. It may not be working properly due to that. I was just out of town for 5 days and I'm a bit under the weather so it may be a bit before I get back to working on it.

RandR10 · Jan 28, 2022

So I've been waiting on some bonded seal washers until today which just came in the mail. Just changed the two out on the filter housing and still getting aeration. I was sure it would be that, especially given the condition of one of those washers, but alas it did not fix the aeration issue. That's every seal all the way from the pump back to the transmission case that's brand new or in very good shape. Two new o-rings, two new bonded seal washers, the filter itself. Coupling hose looks like it was recently replaced, but I ordered a chunk to replace it just in case. I'm thinking either the hard line has a pin hole in it or a seal on the pump is leaking. I'm leaning away from it being the pump because if it leaked it would fill the crank case with oil from what I've read, and it is not making oil. I did find a spot on the hard line where there's some abrasion. Doesn't look like it's worn through, but who knows? I'll pull that off next and take a closer look. When I changed the oil I tried to take it out to clean it up and I couldn't get it out of there with the loader bracket in place, so looks like I'm removing that now. Ugh.

RandR10 · Feb 1, 2022

So I finally got around to pulling the loader off so I could get at the inlet hard line today. With the visibility that allowed I could see that the old rubber coupler hose wasn't in quite as good of shape as I had thought, so I decided to address that before draining the whole system and pulling off the hard line. I found some 1" heater hose in my spare hose pile and popped that on there as a temporary measure until the actual piece designed for oil arrives. I also noticed that the old hose that the previous owner had on there looked a little bigger than 1", so it was less than ideal even if it was brand new. Putting that heater hose on took care of the aeration problem immediately and so I re-installed the new cartridge valve in the valve block to test it. I am very happy to announce that this problem has been fixed! The steering now works as fast as I can turn the wheel and the loader valve dead-headed will build pressure immediately, even at idle and when the steering isn't being operated. I haven't actually put the loader back on to fully test it, but I don't anticipate it giving me any issues now after that test. Once I get the proper coupler on there this job will be done.

K5lwq · Feb 1, 2022

That is fantastic news. Good job of sticking with it till you determined a definitive cause. You should be good to go on the hydraulic front.

RandR10 · Feb 16, 2022

So one last update on this. When I tested for aeration the first time, it seemed like it was fixed. Next time I ran it when I hooked up the loader however, the aeration issue came back. The new priority valve continued to function perfectly though. I'm assuming just higher RPM operation yielded more aeration than when I idled it in the shop and tested it. Maybe because it was warmer and the oil was thinner when I ran the loader? I don't know, but it wasn't resolved. I went through and cleaned everything to try to find leaks on the intake side. Leaving it sit overnight, still spotless, no drips on the floor, so no external leaks. I figure at this point, it's gotta be letting air in at the pump. Found a cheap replacement pump on eBay, slapped it on today. Had some issues with mounting because the body of the pump was about 1/4" longer and the intake pipe was hitting the allen-head bolts with the rubber hose on it. I was able to swap in the hex bolts off the old pump since they had a little bit shorter heads, and that gave me enough clearance. Took it out, hooked up the loader and moved some dirt around with it, then came back and checked the sump for foam, no foam. I think this hydraulic system's issues are finally licked.

That old pump, when I pulled it off, was actually binding a little as I rotated it by hand. That definitely had to be the problem with the slow movement of the loader at low RPM too. I don't know how air was getting into it with no leakage when it was off, but it was. Maybe through the shaft seal? Again, I don't know, but changing the pump finally cleared those issues up. Hopefully it stays fixed this time.