K5lwq
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2017
- Messages
- 4,685
- Location
- Mineola, TX
- Tractor
- Kioti LK2554, Branson 4815C, Satoh Beaver, Speedex
The purpose of this thread is to hopefully assist others with slow hydraulics on the LK 2554 and LK 3054 Kioti tractors. I am in no way an expert on this subject, but have a mechanical background and years of experience growing up on a farm and owning tractors.
First the background. I bought my LK 2554 about 12 years ago at a local equipment auction. It was in bad shape and I had to replace the engine right out of the gate. The day I brought it home, it threw a rod backing it off the trailer. The 4 wheel drive did not work and the hydraulics were weak.
I fixed all the issues and increased the pressure on the hydraulics from 1500 PSI to 2200 PSI. This has met my needs over the years, but I finally got tired of having to run such a high RPM in order to use the loader. The loader would lift the front wheels off the ground, but only at 2500 RPM and barely could get it done. I have always felt like the pump was just weak and needed to be replaced.
Thanks to TBN, I found out that Kioti upgraded the hydraulic pump from a 7 GPM pump to a 10 GPM pump on later year models of the LK 3054. Seeing as the two tractors are so similar, I decided to research the possibility of upgrading my pump to the 10 GPM unit. Turns out that the only thing different between the 10 GPM and 7 GPM pump is it uses two long bolts instead of studs on the outside mounting holes. So I ordered the pump and bolts Tuesday, and they arrived on my door Friday. In the box was the pump, new bolts, new gasket, new O-rings and a new pressure-relief valve. Below is a picture of the old pump on the tractor.
First thing I did was warm up the tractor and hydraulics, then run a series of speed tests at different RPMs to compare the two pumps. Then I installed a pressure gauge and lowered system pressure down to about 1200 PSI. I did this for safety, seeing how I had to increase it so much when I first got the tractor.
Next I cleaned the pump real well so I did not get any dirt in the system. Then, I loosened, but did not remove, the two nuts and two bolts that held the pump in place. Then I loosened the bolts for the pressure line and the bolts for the suction line. I was expecting to lose a lot of fluid at this time. To my surprise, very little fluid was lost during the entire process.
I removed all the nuts and bolts I had loosened earlier and bumped the pump with a hammer to separate from the housing. I then fished the pump out, being carful not to knock any trash into the open suction line. The fuel line going to the fuel pump was in the way, but I managed to get the pump out without disconnecting the fuel line.
Then I placed a shop towel over the exposed suction line to keep it clean. To remove the two studs I used the two nuts and jammed them together tight on the stud and put my wrench on the inboard nut to remove the studs. Worked great! Next I cleaned the old gasket off of the housing, making sure it was clean. I removed the O-rings from both the pressure and suction lines again making sure to put the shop towel back over the suction line when I finished. Time to install new pump.
Now that I don't have the studs to hold the new gasket in place, I decided to use grease and coat the housing to hold the gasket. I put the new O-rings in both the lines again, placing shop towel over the suction line before fishing the new pump in place.
After getting pump in place, I turned the pump to line up the splines to the gear shaft. Once aligned, I slid the pump as far as I could onto the housing. Then I started all the mounting bolts and tightened hand tight. I then cross-tightened each bolt a little at a time till the bolts drew the pump up nice and snug against the housing. I did not use a torque wrench but instead used my Dad's method of getting the bolts as tight as you can, then going another half a turn. Not recommended but worked for me. You must be careful using this method not to strip threads or break a bolt.
Next I bolted the pressure line to the new pump. Then I removed the trusty old shop towel and bolted the suction line in place. Below is a picture of the new pump installed.
Now it is time to replace the pressure-relief valve. I had to take one line off in order to get a wrench on the valve. I took out the old one and put the new one on. Below is the relief valve installed. It is the non-painted bolt head.
I am now ready to start the tractor and check for leaks. After finding no leaks, I cycled the hydraulics to get all the air out of the system. I then increased the pressure back to 2200 PSI. Now I ran the same test as I did before I replaced the pump. Below are the results of those tests.
RPM @ idle: Old pump = no movement. New Pump= Raise 26.85 seconds, Lower 4.85 seconds, Curl 13.32 seconds, Dump 9.87 seconds.
RPM @ 1500: Old Pump=Raise 27.01 seconds. New Pump=Raise 10.68 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 5.11 seconds. New Pump=Lower 4.11 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 14.52 seconds. New Pump=Curl 5.81 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 11.40 seconds. New Pump=Dump 7.94 seconds.
RPM @ 2000: Old Pump=Raise 12.28 seconds. New Pump=Raise 6.25 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 4.64. New Pump=Lower 2.75 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 6.70 seconds. New Pump=Curl 3.58 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 8.62 seconds. New Pump=Dump 4.97 seconds.
RPM @ 2500: Old Pump=Raise 8.25 seconds. New Pump=Raise 4.81 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 3.47 seconds. New Pump=Lower 2.27 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 4.62 seconds. New Pump=Curl 2.91 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 5.98 seconds. New Pump=Dump 4.04 seconds.
Hopefully this proves to be helpful for others with these tractors.
First the background. I bought my LK 2554 about 12 years ago at a local equipment auction. It was in bad shape and I had to replace the engine right out of the gate. The day I brought it home, it threw a rod backing it off the trailer. The 4 wheel drive did not work and the hydraulics were weak.
I fixed all the issues and increased the pressure on the hydraulics from 1500 PSI to 2200 PSI. This has met my needs over the years, but I finally got tired of having to run such a high RPM in order to use the loader. The loader would lift the front wheels off the ground, but only at 2500 RPM and barely could get it done. I have always felt like the pump was just weak and needed to be replaced.
Thanks to TBN, I found out that Kioti upgraded the hydraulic pump from a 7 GPM pump to a 10 GPM pump on later year models of the LK 3054. Seeing as the two tractors are so similar, I decided to research the possibility of upgrading my pump to the 10 GPM unit. Turns out that the only thing different between the 10 GPM and 7 GPM pump is it uses two long bolts instead of studs on the outside mounting holes. So I ordered the pump and bolts Tuesday, and they arrived on my door Friday. In the box was the pump, new bolts, new gasket, new O-rings and a new pressure-relief valve. Below is a picture of the old pump on the tractor.
First thing I did was warm up the tractor and hydraulics, then run a series of speed tests at different RPMs to compare the two pumps. Then I installed a pressure gauge and lowered system pressure down to about 1200 PSI. I did this for safety, seeing how I had to increase it so much when I first got the tractor.
Next I cleaned the pump real well so I did not get any dirt in the system. Then, I loosened, but did not remove, the two nuts and two bolts that held the pump in place. Then I loosened the bolts for the pressure line and the bolts for the suction line. I was expecting to lose a lot of fluid at this time. To my surprise, very little fluid was lost during the entire process.
I removed all the nuts and bolts I had loosened earlier and bumped the pump with a hammer to separate from the housing. I then fished the pump out, being carful not to knock any trash into the open suction line. The fuel line going to the fuel pump was in the way, but I managed to get the pump out without disconnecting the fuel line.
Then I placed a shop towel over the exposed suction line to keep it clean. To remove the two studs I used the two nuts and jammed them together tight on the stud and put my wrench on the inboard nut to remove the studs. Worked great! Next I cleaned the old gasket off of the housing, making sure it was clean. I removed the O-rings from both the pressure and suction lines again making sure to put the shop towel back over the suction line when I finished. Time to install new pump.
Now that I don't have the studs to hold the new gasket in place, I decided to use grease and coat the housing to hold the gasket. I put the new O-rings in both the lines again, placing shop towel over the suction line before fishing the new pump in place.
After getting pump in place, I turned the pump to line up the splines to the gear shaft. Once aligned, I slid the pump as far as I could onto the housing. Then I started all the mounting bolts and tightened hand tight. I then cross-tightened each bolt a little at a time till the bolts drew the pump up nice and snug against the housing. I did not use a torque wrench but instead used my Dad's method of getting the bolts as tight as you can, then going another half a turn. Not recommended but worked for me. You must be careful using this method not to strip threads or break a bolt.
Next I bolted the pressure line to the new pump. Then I removed the trusty old shop towel and bolted the suction line in place. Below is a picture of the new pump installed.
Now it is time to replace the pressure-relief valve. I had to take one line off in order to get a wrench on the valve. I took out the old one and put the new one on. Below is the relief valve installed. It is the non-painted bolt head.
I am now ready to start the tractor and check for leaks. After finding no leaks, I cycled the hydraulics to get all the air out of the system. I then increased the pressure back to 2200 PSI. Now I ran the same test as I did before I replaced the pump. Below are the results of those tests.
RPM @ idle: Old pump = no movement. New Pump= Raise 26.85 seconds, Lower 4.85 seconds, Curl 13.32 seconds, Dump 9.87 seconds.
RPM @ 1500: Old Pump=Raise 27.01 seconds. New Pump=Raise 10.68 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 5.11 seconds. New Pump=Lower 4.11 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 14.52 seconds. New Pump=Curl 5.81 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 11.40 seconds. New Pump=Dump 7.94 seconds.
RPM @ 2000: Old Pump=Raise 12.28 seconds. New Pump=Raise 6.25 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 4.64. New Pump=Lower 2.75 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 6.70 seconds. New Pump=Curl 3.58 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 8.62 seconds. New Pump=Dump 4.97 seconds.
RPM @ 2500: Old Pump=Raise 8.25 seconds. New Pump=Raise 4.81 seconds. Old Pump=Lower 3.47 seconds. New Pump=Lower 2.27 seconds. Old Pump=Curl 4.62 seconds. New Pump=Curl 2.91 seconds. Old Pump=Dump 5.98 seconds. New Pump=Dump 4.04 seconds.
Hopefully this proves to be helpful for others with these tractors.
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