New BX owner - oil filter confusion

mclaire · May 12, 2006

I just bought my BX1800 last week with 320 hours on it. The first thing I'm doing is changing the engine oil and filter. It figures - I'm already running into issues.

The prior owner installed a Kubota filter 70000-74034. Kubota specifies a different filter for this machine - the 15853-32430. If it were simple we could just say he bought the wrong filter. It's not really that simple.

For instance, the BX2230 and BX23 can run either filter. The 74034 filter is physically much bigger and I'd like to continue to run that if it's compatible. Any ideas? I suspect either filter is OK and because it's lower horsepower they specified a smaller filter. I'd rather be conservative about it and run the bigger one.

This link shows all the models supported by both filters:

http://www.jenningsequipment.com/kubotaoil_filters.htm

Extra credit question: The manual specifies 10w30, and I live in NH - summer's coming and I'd be more comfortable with something like 15w40. Kubota makes an oil in this weight. Thoughts?

Thanks
Mike

proudestmonkey · May 13, 2006

Here's my take (from a fellow newbie). Kubota built the tractor. They know what it needs. Go with the spec. Its probably cheaper anyway.

rbarker · May 13, 2006

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Extra credit question: The manual specifies 10w30, and I live in NH - summer's coming and I'd be more comfortable with something like 15w40. Kubota makes an oil in this weight. Thoughts?

Thanks
Mike )</font>

The manual for my BX2200 says 10-30 or 10-40 for all temperature ranges so I would say you would be fine if you wanted to try the 15-40.

Dooze · May 13, 2006

I have a BX1800 and I live near the Canadian border in VT. I run 10w 30 in the winter when I'm blowing snow and 15W 40 in the summer. The tractor has 560 hours on it and runs fine.

ericbx1500 · May 13, 2006

Every time someone brings up an oil question there are always many views on what weight and brand to use. We all have are own opinion and can never come to a happy medium. Just find good oil and stick with it. I use amsoil series 3000 5w30 all year round. This is just my choice as there are other good oils out there.

ScottGilfordNH · May 13, 2006

Comment on Kubota brand oil filters. The last two I bought I rejected becasue there were loose ring burrs on the female threads. The filters came from 2 different sources.

At my place of work, we do a lot of aeorspace threading and hence, a habbit I have. The filter works by pumping oil from the outside in. If you push the burr through when you thread on the filter it goes right into the engine. I switched to a HASTINGS brand and have not noticed this problem. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

I live in NH and run Mobil 1 synthetic 10W30 year round.

Scott