oliver28472
Veteran Member
Duh... My mind was on the cutter.
MT160D
- Thread starter Capricious
- Start date
OP
Capricious
Platinum Member
A busy Saturday; took my elderly father out for a light breakfast and then mowed their lawn (small suburban lawn). Then meet the wife at the place where we do volunteer work, and spent 3.5 hours there. Then came home and worked on the tractor.
As noted before, the tractor was missing the fuel filter bowl, bowl lock ring, O-ring seal and element, and the filter housing had been by-passed with a piece of steel tubing. I initially figured that someone had simply lost the bowl, but lately I have had a nagging feeling that maybe something else was going on with the filter. And there was. No fuel would flow through it.
The filter has a shut-off valve integral with the housing. Although the valve handle turns back and forth, the handle had broken loose from the valve barrel. Found that I could open the fuel valve by removing the handle and turning the barrel with a large regular screwdriver. If I can buy just the "innards" of the valve I will fix it; otherwise, I will live with it as-is, because in order to remove the filter housing the fuel tank has to be removed, and I am not going to go that deep into this machine at this time.
Anyway, drained the tank and installed the element & bowl, bleed the fuel lines & ran the engine for about 20 minutes to insure there were no issues.
Next i drained the hydraulic/trans oil (common sump) and removed the strainer that had casued me so much grief:
Note that someone had mistakenly filled the sump with a chocolate milkshake instead of the recommended fluid.
The hydr. strainer was a bit cruddy:
...but it cleaned-up nicely, and got a new O-ring seal:
Due to time spent trouble-shooting the fuel valve issue I did not have time to change the fluid in the front axle. Will need to do that.
Also want to change the gear oil in the rotary cutter:
The gearbox on the cutter has a plug on top for filling, and a plug on the side for checking the oil level, but I cannot find a plug on the bottom, either above or below the deck, for draining. But the nice thing about little 42 inch cutters is that it is not big deal to just remove the "check level" plug and turn the thing up on its side to drain the oil, and that is what i will do.
Also need to work on the PTO shaft, as there is no shear bolt. Both ends of the shaft use quick couplers, and the input shaft for the cutter gearbox is splined and grooved exactly like the PTO output shaft on the tractor. I will need to buy a universal joint yoke fitted with a shear bolt and install it on the driveshaft. About another $100.00 that I would rather not spend. I can't believe someone was running the thing without a shear bolt, but then I don't think the cutter has been used very much.
Also need to work on the new front bumper:
As noted before, the tractor was missing the fuel filter bowl, bowl lock ring, O-ring seal and element, and the filter housing had been by-passed with a piece of steel tubing. I initially figured that someone had simply lost the bowl, but lately I have had a nagging feeling that maybe something else was going on with the filter. And there was. No fuel would flow through it.
The filter has a shut-off valve integral with the housing. Although the valve handle turns back and forth, the handle had broken loose from the valve barrel. Found that I could open the fuel valve by removing the handle and turning the barrel with a large regular screwdriver. If I can buy just the "innards" of the valve I will fix it; otherwise, I will live with it as-is, because in order to remove the filter housing the fuel tank has to be removed, and I am not going to go that deep into this machine at this time.
Anyway, drained the tank and installed the element & bowl, bleed the fuel lines & ran the engine for about 20 minutes to insure there were no issues.
Next i drained the hydraulic/trans oil (common sump) and removed the strainer that had casued me so much grief:
Note that someone had mistakenly filled the sump with a chocolate milkshake instead of the recommended fluid.
The hydr. strainer was a bit cruddy:
...but it cleaned-up nicely, and got a new O-ring seal:
Due to time spent trouble-shooting the fuel valve issue I did not have time to change the fluid in the front axle. Will need to do that.
Also want to change the gear oil in the rotary cutter:
The gearbox on the cutter has a plug on top for filling, and a plug on the side for checking the oil level, but I cannot find a plug on the bottom, either above or below the deck, for draining. But the nice thing about little 42 inch cutters is that it is not big deal to just remove the "check level" plug and turn the thing up on its side to drain the oil, and that is what i will do.
Also need to work on the PTO shaft, as there is no shear bolt. Both ends of the shaft use quick couplers, and the input shaft for the cutter gearbox is splined and grooved exactly like the PTO output shaft on the tractor. I will need to buy a universal joint yoke fitted with a shear bolt and install it on the driveshaft. About another $100.00 that I would rather not spend. I can't believe someone was running the thing without a shear bolt, but then I don't think the cutter has been used very much.
Also need to work on the new front bumper:
techwrtr2
Platinum Member
Slip clutch on the PTO maybe instead of redoing your shaft?
It's one thing to bypass your filter to test the problem... and it's another to leave it that way. I removed the factory filter assy on my Beaver and repalced it with a generic, largely because I didn't want to wait for one ordered while I tried to work out other problems.
Before I tried tipping my mower deck on its side to drain fluid out of, I'd seek out a suction pump and draw it out that way instead.
It's one thing to bypass your filter to test the problem... and it's another to leave it that way. I removed the factory filter assy on my Beaver and repalced it with a generic, largely because I didn't want to wait for one ordered while I tried to work out other problems.
Before I tried tipping my mower deck on its side to drain fluid out of, I'd seek out a suction pump and draw it out that way instead.
oliver28472
Veteran Member
I had a similar issue with my fuel valve. I ordered a replacement handle from Valley Power. How did you get that bolt out of the strainer? As you probably know the oil had water in it. Good thing you were able to get that out.
OP
Capricious
Platinum Member
Well, I flipped her on the side and drained the cutter gearbox oil yesterday- oil looked good. Only issue was getting the thing back onto the little 4-wheel dolly I was using to roll it around. Had to jack it up onto jackstands. Still need to replace the oil in the front axle, but I'm out of containers for holding used oil.
Adding a slip clutch would be a good option, but would cost more than replacing one yoke on the shaft with a shear bolt yoke. This PTO shaft seems to me to be a lot heavier-duty than it needs to be. The bearing caps are 1 1/4 inch diameter.
OP
Capricious
Platinum Member
Ending up drilling the bolt. Had to cut-away part of the running board that extended into the rear fender well and was blocking straight-in access to the bolt. The same running board extends into the engine compartment and makes getting a filter wrench on the oil filter difficult. I just bent it out of the way there.
If I can get the parts for the valve, I will probably fix it. But I'm not going to replace the whole filter body- besides probably being expensive, I think the fuel tank needs to come out first.
Drained the old fuel out of the fuel tank and ran a small bit of fresh fuel through it as well, but did not flush as much as i would have liked as I am about at the limits of my slop oil capacity at the moment.
oliver28472
Veteran Member
Does your tractor have a screen in front of the radiator? One issue that you will probably encounter when bush hogging that much is overheating. Make sure you have all the radiator fins clear. Don't use a pressure washer for this, it will bend the fins. I would also recommend plumbing in a mechanical temp gauge where the idiot light is plumbed in. I built screens for both of mine out of quarter inch plywood and screen wire stapled to it.
OP
Capricious
Platinum Member
There is real light 'bug" screen in front of the radiator.
I was thinking i would like a temp. gauge. The idiot lights come on when you push the "test" button, but by the time they come on things are already heating up.
I am hoping the smaller cutter (42" instead of the 48" I was thinking i would end up with) will not load the tractor too much.
i try to do something on the tractor every day; Monday night i attacked the adjustable downlinks (turnbuckles). Both were rusted immoble. After a session of oiling and greasing and a lot of threading back & forth with a box-end wrench on the "ears" I have one which can be run up and down it's threads with the fingers. The toplink had much less serious issues but got that straightened out as well. Tuesday night's project will be the other downlink.
I hope to have this thing ready for the field in a couple of weeks, which is not to say that everything will be repaired. The ignition switch needs replaced- it works, but it is a two-hand job to start the tractor. But that is one of several things that will wait until I see just what this tractor will do before i spend the money on them.
oliver28472
Veteran Member
If you have a spare coping saw blade laying around, cut it in two and stick a piece in the switch beside the broken key and try to hook it and pull it out. If you can get it out, take the key to a Kubota dealer and tell them you need a key. Some Kubotas had the same key.
OP
Capricious
Platinum Member
The switch currently rotates because the end of the key is stuck in it. If i remove the end of the key, then the switch will not work. I do not have another key.
Also, the switch is loose in the panel, so i will probably have to remove the panel anyway, so i would rather just install a new switch while it is all apart. i can get a switch with the glow plug position for about 40 bucks or so. If i was willing to operate the glow plugs with a push-and-hold switch (instead of the key switch) I could probably get by cheaper, but then I would need a high amp push button switch in addition to a key switch, and the little bit of money saved would probably not be worth the extra hassle.
I would like a temp gauge, but would like to keep the idiot light as a back-up. I will have to poke around to see if there is an unused water jacket plug somewhere where a sending tube can be threaded in. Or maybe tap into a water line with a "T" or something.
Also, the switch is loose in the panel, so i will probably have to remove the panel anyway, so i would rather just install a new switch while it is all apart. i can get a switch with the glow plug position for about 40 bucks or so. If i was willing to operate the glow plugs with a push-and-hold switch (instead of the key switch) I could probably get by cheaper, but then I would need a high amp push button switch in addition to a key switch, and the little bit of money saved would probably not be worth the extra hassle.
I would like a temp gauge, but would like to keep the idiot light as a back-up. I will have to poke around to see if there is an unused water jacket plug somewhere where a sending tube can be threaded in. Or maybe tap into a water line with a "T" or something.