L200 leaking oil out weep hole in bell housing

[tomcat768]

Hello everybody. This is my first post here. It is about my little L200. I have owned it for 6 or seven years. I bought it with a few hours under 500! But the guy I bought it from got a blank expression when I asked him how often he had changed the oil in the air cleaner, and when I got it home, the oil bath filter was as dry as a bone. He said that he had owned it for 17 years, and had no idea what an oil bath filter even was! Luckily for me, it still has decent compression, and after the glow plugs get hot, it pops off for me every time. Takes awhile to catch up when it's cold though. But anyway.... I have noticed in the past two seasons that when doing work with the rpms at pto speed that when I shut her down, there is a pretty good drip coming out of the weep hole in the clutch area of the bell housing. The tractor has external hydraulic lines from the pump to the top mounted cylinder for the 3 point lift, and there are no visible external leaks, but apparently, there is an internal leak, since the only fluid that I seem to be losing is hydraulic fluid. My guess is that there is a leak from the lift ram into the transmission, and it ends up in the bell housing. The lift works fine, but last summer, I did have to top off the hydraulic fluid in a big way, when the lift got sluggish. This appears to be an American market tractor, since the labels are in English on the stickers that have survived since 1969 or 1970, when it was shipped over here. I know that there is very little support for the L200 from Kubota. I had to replace the starter on it right after I bought it, and what a nightmare it was finding one! After some failed "direct fit" new purchases from EBay, and subsequent returns, I lucked out with a retired starter and generator man who had a shop full of new and replacement starters for all sorts of stuff, and more importantly, an actual PAPER MANUAL with cross reference part numbers and dimensions, and he had a starter for the Lord only knows what that actually fit my tractor!! Anyway, this is a really long post, just to ask if anyone knows where and how hydraulic fluid is ending up on the ground through my bell housing. I have just been keeping the fluid topped off, and working her hard. And that may be the only course of action to take. But then again, maybe someone here has a relatively simple solution that involves parts that Kubota will still sell me, that won't break the bank. Thanks for reading this, and any replies are welcome. Tommy

 

[sandyc]

Sorry....not a clue for your model. Is the tractor a manual shift or HST? If it is manual, could the clutch be engaged/disengaged using hydro power? I'm just guessing but maybe the front seal on the tranny is leaking. The oil will heat up at PTO/WOT speeds and could be being pushed beyond the front seal. Probably the only way to know for sure is to split the tractor and confirm where the liquid is coming from. That will be a tough job!

 

[tomcat768]

It is manual. It is the first model that was imported to the US. It doesn't even have live PTO. It has a mechanical clutch linkage. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Baby Grand]

Check the transmission breather for blockage?
I just experienced this with my King Kutter tiller.
I went to change the oil in the transmission after the tiller had been sitting in the bright Sun on a hot day.
It hadn't been run since last Fall, and I wanted to put fresh fluid in it and slip the PTO clutch before putting it to work.
I put a pan under the drain hole to catch the used oil, but when I unscrewed the drain plug, it shot out horizontally across the garage, propelled by a gusher of gear oil.
What a mess. The breather plug, on top of the gearbox, was completely plugged with crud, allowing the gearbox to become pressurized in the hot Sun.
Despite having to clean up the garage, I'm glad I found out instead of blowing out a seal as the unit heated up, while tilling the garden.

 

[pmsmechanic]

This is in addition to what Baby Grand says.

If you are having to add transmission oil then most likely the leak is from the transmission input shaft seal. You could compare the two by catching a drip on a piece of tin and comparing it to a drip of oil from the transmission and engine oil dipsticks. Unfortunately to repair either seal means splitting the tractor. If you've done it as many times as I have then it's not a bad job. Doing it the first time by yourself without a service manual would definatly be a learning experience.

 

[tomcat768]

Yeah, I have had a dirt dauber clog up the vent to the transmission before, and it did build up pressure in the trans. When I unscrewed the filler, it was slightly pressurized. I am not losing transmission oil, I am gaining it from the hydraulic system, which in theory is completely seperate. The fuel tank on these tractors is a round drum, with a partition on one end that hold the hydraulic fluid for the lift. The lift cylinder is bolted to the top of the transmission, with external hard lines from the front engine driven pump to the tank, and to the lift cylinder. I haven't removed the cylinder to check, but apparently there is a way for a leaking cylinder to make its way to the transmission; robbing the reservoir and adding it to the trans, where it weeps out somewhere inside the casting linking the engine to the transmission. I assume that I actually have two problems: the leaking cylinder into the trans, and a leaking input shaft seal for the trans. I was hoping someone had some dealings with this little tractor's fluid systems, and could point out something that I may be not thinking of. It sure is nice having you guys so willing to help someone out! Thanks for the replies everybody!