Mystery. Utterly baffled.

[N80]

I have a 12 year old Kubota L4400. I'm pretty familiar with every inch of this tractor. Yesterday I had to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank. An easy job.

I open the hood as usual. No problem. When I go to close the hood, the hole in the hood that surrounds the fuel tank filler cap catches on the back edge of the filler cap and will not close. Remove cap. Close hood. Replace cap. A little later, after removing and reinstalling the whole hood assembly (which I've done a dozen times) it will not open or close without catching on the filler cap.

Everything is aligned normally. With the filler cap off it opens, closes, latches and unlatches and lines up perfectly all the way around just as it always did. The hinge pins are welded onto the tractor over and behind the fuel tank. The hinge holes on the hood also appear fixed in place (but it occurs to me now that maybe they are bolted on and have gotten loose, but I did not notice it at the time). The fuel tank is firmly in place. I have removed it before but that was over a year ago and no problem with the hood until now.

My tractor is on my property an hour from here. So is the shop manual. Does anyone know if the hood hinge holes on a typical Kubota are bolted to the hood? If so, that has to be the problem and I just overlooked it. If not, I cannot imagine what the problem is.

 

[flyerdan]

Did you have to loosen or remove the tank? The only thing I can think of is that the tank is sitting a little higher causing clearance issues in the hood arc.

 

[N80]

No. Did not move the tank. Found some parts diagrams online and it looks like the hinge holes on the hood are also welded on. So there isn't anything that could be out of adjustment.

 

[flyerdan]

Maybe something keeping the fuel cap from screwing all the way down? Rigid gasket got crooked or something.

 

[PILOON]

The tank is probably sitting on a cradle and held in place with straps.
Either the straps have snapped allowing the tank to slide forward or backwards or accumulated oils have rendered the area slippery.
Generally a tank sits on felt or rubber strips to prevent abrasion.

 

[oldballs]

Not likely, but is the cap screwed on crooked?

 

[ovrszd]

If you lift the front of the hood by hand, beyond the distance required to set the holding mechanism you can bend the hinges which moves the hood forward when closed. Don't ask how I know.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I can't help, but I'll be watching closely. Over the years, my 2006 Kioti DK45 has developed a similar issue. In my case, the fuel hatch cover hinges hit the fuel cap. This means that I have to open the hood slightly to open the hatch cover on the hood, then close it to remove the fuel cap and refuel, then replace the fuel cap and open the hood again to close the hatch cover. Refueling is enough of a hassle as-is; this makes it even more irritating.
Like N80's Kubota, my Kioti doesn't seem to have adjustments for re-positioning the hood or fuel tank.

Bob

 

[ovrszd]

Once you analyze what's going on, remove the hood and bend appropriately.

 

[N80]

Thanks Richard. I'll give it a look but I'm a little worried that if I start bending things to make it fit the fuel cap then something else won't line up. Now, as long as it opens, closes and latches I don't care about much else.

 

[MossRoad]

...Yesterday I had to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank....

You moved something or something bent without your knowledge or the part you replaced was different than the one you took out, etc....

What was the process to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank?

 

[N80]

You moved something or something bent without your knowledge or the part you replaced was different than the one you took out, etc....

What was the process to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank?

All this happened before I messed with the tank. But, the tank does not have to be moved or loosened to replace the sending unit. I have removed the tank in the past but again, that was a year ago and everything has work fine until now.

 

[ovrszd]

I'll stick with my assessment.

 

[MossRoad]

Then something shifted or as mentioned, the hinges got bent.

I am a maintenance technician in a factory. When I PM machines, I have to take a lot of covers/guards off. Many times, they won't go back on. We've found we have to very loosely install ALL cover/guard bolts first, then go back and tighten them down. If you tighten a couple first, chances are you won't get the last ones to start. So, check your hinges for bent. If they aren't bent, loosen your tank and adjust it and see if you can get the hood to close properly, then go back and tighten the tank down.

 

[N80]

Problem solved. Mystery remains. As recommended, I just bent the hinge pins which are part of the tractor body. The hinge holes are welded onto the hood and cannot be adjusted in any way. The pins and the flange they are on is quite beefy and were somewhat hard to bend but after a few tries I got everything lined up right and the hood now closes properly.

The mystery is how did this all get out of alignment? There is no way those pins got bent out of shape without major damage to the hood. Anyway, everything on the tractor is fine so at this point I'm not worried about how it got messed up.