idrobnjak
New member
Hello all,
First of all, thanks to everyone on this forum for the wealth of information contained here. I am amazed as to how much I learned and how willing people are to share their knowledge. Reading through the forums guided me through a decision to get a tractor to begin with, then 4-5 months of research and pricing, buying one and now troubleshooting it. I should mention I am a white collar type person who knew nothing about tractors beforehand, but here I am to the (subtle) ridicule of my neighbors with my BX22. Considering this was going to be a tool first and toy second I needed something to help me build 7-8 large retaining walls on my extremely sloped property where contractors wouldn't even dare bring their equipment and if they quoted it would be an obscene amount. I understand everyone's time and effort are worth something, but out of my range for now and I want to make my yard somewhat usable instead of one large snow tubing hill for kids in the winter. So here I am with a loader backhoe to help me dig and move some dirt and aggregate. I looked at all kinds of new stuff and got some great prices but had trouble justifying $16-$17k. This ~10 year old machine i found for under $10k fit the bill and came with a mid-mount mower although I have no intentions of using it any time soon until some dirt is leveled and grass planted. With saving $7-8k compared to new machine come some issues. I don't have much of a history on it as I bought it from Craigslist (200 miles away) and later i found out the guy is a wheeler/dealer who probably finds and fixes up old tractors thanks to his non-consistent answers. I wish he would have been straight with me to begin with. So he said it was a 2004 BX22, but then i saw in the manual original owner's name/serial number/purchase date and for one it says purchased in 2002, and two that serial number doesn't match the one on the machine. Then machine has 670 hours but the engine looks much newer and it says "Replacement Engine" on it, and something about California emissions. Looked up serial number of engine and looks like it was mfg in 2008. In retrospect I messed up and was quick on the trigger and had rented a truck/trailer to go 200 miles to look at it and get it. But I gave him a cashier's check and here I am and my only option is to fix up a few issues it has and use it for what I need for a couple of years. So after I did all major maintenance (replaced hydraulic fluid, filter, engine oil, filter, both fuel filters, tightened up what i could, replaced one obviously damaged hydraulic hose in the back, replaced broken air filter bracket and the air filter itself, topped of front axle oil) here is what I have left before I can really put it to work:
1. Several more hydraulic hose/fitting fluid leaks. Most of them are on the FEL. So I took apart the 3-way control valve housing and took all 7 hoses off the control valve. 3-4 of them are definitely leaking and need replaced. I figured I might as well replace all 7 since I saw in the manual Kubota recommends having hoses checked/replaced every 3 years... I had a little bit of sticker shock as the FEL control valve hoses come off the 45 degree fitting and the local auto store quoted me $20/fitting plus cost of hose and the fitting on the other end for all 7 hoses. That adds up to ~$250+ and that is just the initial hoses off the control valve with quick disconnect fittings on the other end, not counting other hoses inside the FEL. So my question is - does anyone know anything about these fittings/hoses and is this normal price? My local dealer doesn't make hoses but there is another one 100 miles away that does.
2. 3 point hitch. Need to use a box blade for some initial project but the 3 point hitch this guy sent me later (i forgot to grab it with tractor) is so rusted there is no way I can get those ball joints unstuck in the lift arms. additionally I am missing the top link and the support chain ones that go along bottom ones, and probably all sorts of hardware that holds all this together. I've tried wd-40, pb blaster, hammering them, broke 2 screwdrivers, those ball joints are not budging from the rust. There is not even a crease, it is like they've fused with the arms holding them. So I now plan to buy an entire 3 point hitch kit. Where do I get this? Dealer? anything on ebay or anything else worth looking at? any idea how much this costs?
3. Small leak from the HST. I just noticed it when tractor was in the garage on concrete. It is tiny, maybe 10 drops in 24 hours. Is this something to be worried about or are these small leaks on 10 year old tractors normal? Looks like the leak may be coming from the front tip of where the metal heatsink blades are on the front of the housing. Or it could be the gasket connecting the heatsink assembly to the transmission. HST is not cheap, so I am having all sorts of panic thoughts. Although for me to lose any significant amount of hydro fluid here, it would take a year so my thoughts are since everything works not to worry about it unless it gets larger?
Thanks in advance for advice.
First of all, thanks to everyone on this forum for the wealth of information contained here. I am amazed as to how much I learned and how willing people are to share their knowledge. Reading through the forums guided me through a decision to get a tractor to begin with, then 4-5 months of research and pricing, buying one and now troubleshooting it. I should mention I am a white collar type person who knew nothing about tractors beforehand, but here I am to the (subtle) ridicule of my neighbors with my BX22. Considering this was going to be a tool first and toy second I needed something to help me build 7-8 large retaining walls on my extremely sloped property where contractors wouldn't even dare bring their equipment and if they quoted it would be an obscene amount. I understand everyone's time and effort are worth something, but out of my range for now and I want to make my yard somewhat usable instead of one large snow tubing hill for kids in the winter. So here I am with a loader backhoe to help me dig and move some dirt and aggregate. I looked at all kinds of new stuff and got some great prices but had trouble justifying $16-$17k. This ~10 year old machine i found for under $10k fit the bill and came with a mid-mount mower although I have no intentions of using it any time soon until some dirt is leveled and grass planted. With saving $7-8k compared to new machine come some issues. I don't have much of a history on it as I bought it from Craigslist (200 miles away) and later i found out the guy is a wheeler/dealer who probably finds and fixes up old tractors thanks to his non-consistent answers. I wish he would have been straight with me to begin with. So he said it was a 2004 BX22, but then i saw in the manual original owner's name/serial number/purchase date and for one it says purchased in 2002, and two that serial number doesn't match the one on the machine. Then machine has 670 hours but the engine looks much newer and it says "Replacement Engine" on it, and something about California emissions. Looked up serial number of engine and looks like it was mfg in 2008. In retrospect I messed up and was quick on the trigger and had rented a truck/trailer to go 200 miles to look at it and get it. But I gave him a cashier's check and here I am and my only option is to fix up a few issues it has and use it for what I need for a couple of years. So after I did all major maintenance (replaced hydraulic fluid, filter, engine oil, filter, both fuel filters, tightened up what i could, replaced one obviously damaged hydraulic hose in the back, replaced broken air filter bracket and the air filter itself, topped of front axle oil) here is what I have left before I can really put it to work:
1. Several more hydraulic hose/fitting fluid leaks. Most of them are on the FEL. So I took apart the 3-way control valve housing and took all 7 hoses off the control valve. 3-4 of them are definitely leaking and need replaced. I figured I might as well replace all 7 since I saw in the manual Kubota recommends having hoses checked/replaced every 3 years... I had a little bit of sticker shock as the FEL control valve hoses come off the 45 degree fitting and the local auto store quoted me $20/fitting plus cost of hose and the fitting on the other end for all 7 hoses. That adds up to ~$250+ and that is just the initial hoses off the control valve with quick disconnect fittings on the other end, not counting other hoses inside the FEL. So my question is - does anyone know anything about these fittings/hoses and is this normal price? My local dealer doesn't make hoses but there is another one 100 miles away that does.
2. 3 point hitch. Need to use a box blade for some initial project but the 3 point hitch this guy sent me later (i forgot to grab it with tractor) is so rusted there is no way I can get those ball joints unstuck in the lift arms. additionally I am missing the top link and the support chain ones that go along bottom ones, and probably all sorts of hardware that holds all this together. I've tried wd-40, pb blaster, hammering them, broke 2 screwdrivers, those ball joints are not budging from the rust. There is not even a crease, it is like they've fused with the arms holding them. So I now plan to buy an entire 3 point hitch kit. Where do I get this? Dealer? anything on ebay or anything else worth looking at? any idea how much this costs?
3. Small leak from the HST. I just noticed it when tractor was in the garage on concrete. It is tiny, maybe 10 drops in 24 hours. Is this something to be worried about or are these small leaks on 10 year old tractors normal? Looks like the leak may be coming from the front tip of where the metal heatsink blades are on the front of the housing. Or it could be the gasket connecting the heatsink assembly to the transmission. HST is not cheap, so I am having all sorts of panic thoughts. Although for me to lose any significant amount of hydro fluid here, it would take a year so my thoughts are since everything works not to worry about it unless it gets larger?
Thanks in advance for advice.
