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I have a new 2002 L3710 HST Kubota Tractor with 10 Hrs. on the meter. I’ve owned it since April and have had very little time to play on it.
Yesterday I was underneath it just checking things out when I noticed a small amount of oil leaking from the clutch housing. It was coming from the seam between the engine block and the clutch housing and also from the drain valve which is located in the bottom of the clutch housing. I removed the drain valve and used a Q-tip to swab the inside of the clutch housing. I found a very small trace of oil residue in the housing. The front drive shaft travels through the clutch housing on its way to the front axle. I decided to remove the drive shaft tube which covers the drive shaft and protects it from damage to see if I could get a better look inside the clutch housing. There was a small amount of oil or grease on the tube where it entered the clutch housing. The drive shaft was completely dry (except for some assembly grease on the splines of shaft) even inside of the clutch housing. It appears that the tube may have had grease installed on the end of it when the tractor was assembled to keep it from seizing to the clutch housing (I’m just guessing here). This oil or grease was brown. The motor oil in my engine and the hydraulic oil in the transmission are clear as water.
I am concerned as to where this oil is coming from. Again, this it is just a trace of oil, not a drip, just a residue. Is there a simple explanation for this oil? The only place I can think of that the oil could be coming from is the rear main seal , the input shaft seal to the transmission, or the output shaft to the front axle. I have looked on this forum for information regarding this problem and have found only one tread referring to a similar problem. It mentioned a problem with the seals coming out of the transmission on the output shaft to the front axle in cold weather when using a front end loader. This tractor has hardly been used and has yet to see cold weather.
I did have a problem this summer when the tractor had about 5 Hrs. on it. When I changed direction (Forward/Reverse) or started out under heavy load the tractor would occasionally make a loud cracking noise from the rear end. The noise would resonate up through the R.O.P.S.
When I was troubleshooting the problem I ran the tractor forward and backwards changing directions quickly in a grassy field trying to isolate where the noise was coming from. In some cases spinning the rear tires and tearing up the grass. I was a little bit hard on it, but I don’t thing I was out of line. Anyone using this tractor to do front end loader work would be subjecting the tractor to the same forces. Anyway, I found out that the rear lug nuts were not properly torqued and the noise was coming from the rims moving back-n-forth against the lug bolts.
This tractor has been used very little and with the exception of running it back-n-forth quickly troubleshooting this problem the tractor has been babied!!!
Thanks in advance to anyone with any comments or theories about this problem.
Yesterday I was underneath it just checking things out when I noticed a small amount of oil leaking from the clutch housing. It was coming from the seam between the engine block and the clutch housing and also from the drain valve which is located in the bottom of the clutch housing. I removed the drain valve and used a Q-tip to swab the inside of the clutch housing. I found a very small trace of oil residue in the housing. The front drive shaft travels through the clutch housing on its way to the front axle. I decided to remove the drive shaft tube which covers the drive shaft and protects it from damage to see if I could get a better look inside the clutch housing. There was a small amount of oil or grease on the tube where it entered the clutch housing. The drive shaft was completely dry (except for some assembly grease on the splines of shaft) even inside of the clutch housing. It appears that the tube may have had grease installed on the end of it when the tractor was assembled to keep it from seizing to the clutch housing (I’m just guessing here). This oil or grease was brown. The motor oil in my engine and the hydraulic oil in the transmission are clear as water.
I am concerned as to where this oil is coming from. Again, this it is just a trace of oil, not a drip, just a residue. Is there a simple explanation for this oil? The only place I can think of that the oil could be coming from is the rear main seal , the input shaft seal to the transmission, or the output shaft to the front axle. I have looked on this forum for information regarding this problem and have found only one tread referring to a similar problem. It mentioned a problem with the seals coming out of the transmission on the output shaft to the front axle in cold weather when using a front end loader. This tractor has hardly been used and has yet to see cold weather.
I did have a problem this summer when the tractor had about 5 Hrs. on it. When I changed direction (Forward/Reverse) or started out under heavy load the tractor would occasionally make a loud cracking noise from the rear end. The noise would resonate up through the R.O.P.S.
When I was troubleshooting the problem I ran the tractor forward and backwards changing directions quickly in a grassy field trying to isolate where the noise was coming from. In some cases spinning the rear tires and tearing up the grass. I was a little bit hard on it, but I don’t thing I was out of line. Anyone using this tractor to do front end loader work would be subjecting the tractor to the same forces. Anyway, I found out that the rear lug nuts were not properly torqued and the noise was coming from the rims moving back-n-forth against the lug bolts.
This tractor has been used very little and with the exception of running it back-n-forth quickly troubleshooting this problem the tractor has been babied!!!
Thanks in advance to anyone with any comments or theories about this problem.