Oil & Fuel Low Trans/Hydraulic Fluid

[Joe W]

After putting 2 hours on my brand new L3200 I started checking fluid levels out of boredom. I noticed that the UDT trans/hydraulic fluid was not in sight. I got some fluid and added approx 1 gallon of fluid to bring it to full.

I have never owned a piece of equipment like this. Could I have damaged it? What do I look/listen/feel for to determine if damage has been done? Should I call the dealer up and have him exchange it? What could have happened by running 1 gallon low on fluid?

 

[MattJ]

Sorry, my response is going to sound paranoid but I am currently replacing an HST at 500hr of run time and its expensive and a pain so I'm more cautious now.

I don't know what the overall capacity is on the hydro reservior but that should have been setup by the dealer. On a smaller tractor like my BX1830 that is almost half the total capacity and I would think that would be a pretty negative event but it might not be that big of deal on the L series, 1 gallon could only be 10% of capacity. At a minimum I would have some sort of dealer documentation showing you raised this as a concern to them.

I am not sure technically what the best next steps are if they actually test it, i.e. flow test the hydraulic charge pump, check the hydro high pressure relief to ensure the HST (assuming this is a HST) pistons are still tight with the pump cylinders, but again I would log the concern with kubota. If they say its not a big deal have them put it in writing. I'm not sure it merits a return since it is likely a small percent of the total oil capacity. If this was a BX it would be a much different story.

 

[gwdixon]

One gallon low on that tractor should not be a problem. They have a large "over-capacity" so heat can be more easily dissipated.

The tractors are shipped with low fluid from what I hear. The dealer is supposed to top off everything as one of the dealer-prep procedures.

Notify the dealer of the oversight and see if you can get the issue documented in case something untoward happens down the line.

 

[Joe W]

Awesome! Thanks Guys!

 

[dodge man]

If they added a loader, it can take quite a bit of fluid to fill up the hydraulics on a brand new loader, and that could be why it was low. I wouldn't be to worried about it.