oil cooler leak

[bubbu55]

I own a 2008 ck35 hst and oil cooler is leaking. Couple of things, do I have to drain the oil to change it out? Does anybody know where to find a good quality cooler. I think the leak is coming from the cooler itself and not the hoses to the cooler, which are rubber. should I change out all hoses? Any info on this would be appreciated.

 

[VictorW]

I have a 2004 model year CK35hst. My original oil cooler came with steel lines and the cooler ended up leaking. The supposed fix was the same cooler with rubber lines which I did but these lines are pretty stiff. This cooler looked like a small version of a radiator core. Kioti at some year, changed the cooler to use round tubes instead of the radiator style flattened cooling tubes. This cooler is stronger and you can change to this style but you'll need the different hose lines because the connections at the cooler itself are different. There were posts about this problem around 10 years ago. The general idea was to relieve vibration on the cooler and members came up with a few similar ideas. The cooler needs to be mounted with the two original studs at the original location but have it slightly flexible. I used rubber grommets. I drilled the original mounting holes in the cooler to I believe 1/2 inch. I then cut two small pieces of 1/4 inch ID metal tubing, 1/4 inch long, that would go over the studs and inside the the grommets. This tubing allows the nuts and washer to be run up tight against it but still allow the cooler to move slightly and alleviate a good bit of the vibration. Mine has been leak free now for 9-10 years.

No oil to drain when changing the cooler and you should only lose about a pint or less from inside the cooler. I tried looking for a better replacement and came up short because of the small space there is for the cooler, mounting, and how to connect it. I would also think it's the cooler leaking and not the hoses. Give it a good cleaning and try to see from there. There are two rubber o-rings for each connection on the top and bottom of the metal ends that attaches to the cooler where the banjo bolts go through but normally these don't leak. Again, I would't change the hoses unless you decide to go with the new style round tube cooler. The people at Michigan Iron and Equipment are pretty good at this. Home Michigan Iron & Equipment Morrice, MI (855) 265-459 You could give them a call and talk to Robert. He'll give you your options but rubber mounting the cooler seems to work good.

I hope this helped. If I missed something, please post.

 

[bubbu55]

Thanks Vic, The cooler is the type you mentioned and does have rubber lines to it. I cleaned it up and it seems to be leaking at bottom of cooler. The connections all look good, so hopefully I just have to swap out cooler. I let it sit overnight and checked for leak without starting tractor, no leak. Today I'll start it and look for the leak. I will put rubber grommets in for the new cooler.