Industrial Toys
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2008
- Messages
- 17,393
- Location
- Ontario Canada
- Tractor
- Kubota R510 Wheel Loader + Cab and backhoe, JD 6200 Open Station, Cushman 6150, 4x4, ten foot 56 hp Kubota diesel hydraulic wing mower, Steiner 430 Diesel Max, Kawasaki Diesel Mule, JD 4x2 Electric Gator
I could be wrong in various points but here is my experience.
I crawled around the ground for almost an hour trying to figure out how to do an engine oil change on this thing. I started to take things apart that I did not need to. I finally as a last resort looked in my owners manual. I found nothing! The only clue I had was a parts list mentioning a "cock" on the Kubota VS drain plugs on the other gas models. Yet, that thing is so compact, that I still could not find it.
Finally I had an idea. I have an old burned Steiner (in pieces), and went to inspect that engine. It had a funny drain cock with a kind of locking mechanism on the bottom of the crankcase toward the rear of the machine.
So, I came to the conclusion that one must remove the oil filter, to get ones hand to the drain cock. Then, the oil runs out via a tube to the front of the machine. The tube that I had seen earlier, I mistook as a crankcase vent.
Anyway, it was still not easy to open that valve. I had to go back four times and look at my burned machine and get properly oriented particularly with regard to that locking mechanism. In the end, I realized that I needed my left hand to open the valve and the right to close it as your fingers can't push backwards with much force. My forearms were totally covered in scratches and dirty black DMO!
Of course, I made the stupid mistake of installing the new filter without having closed the cock, first!
I am annoyed with Steiner! I fully appreciate the difficulty in designing such a robust yet compact machine. Yet I curse them for not taking the time and effort to fully outline this proceedure in great detail.
I crawled around the ground for almost an hour trying to figure out how to do an engine oil change on this thing. I started to take things apart that I did not need to. I finally as a last resort looked in my owners manual. I found nothing! The only clue I had was a parts list mentioning a "cock" on the Kubota VS drain plugs on the other gas models. Yet, that thing is so compact, that I still could not find it.
Finally I had an idea. I have an old burned Steiner (in pieces), and went to inspect that engine. It had a funny drain cock with a kind of locking mechanism on the bottom of the crankcase toward the rear of the machine.
So, I came to the conclusion that one must remove the oil filter, to get ones hand to the drain cock. Then, the oil runs out via a tube to the front of the machine. The tube that I had seen earlier, I mistook as a crankcase vent.
Anyway, it was still not easy to open that valve. I had to go back four times and look at my burned machine and get properly oriented particularly with regard to that locking mechanism. In the end, I realized that I needed my left hand to open the valve and the right to close it as your fingers can't push backwards with much force. My forearms were totally covered in scratches and dirty black DMO!
Of course, I made the stupid mistake of installing the new filter without having closed the cock, first!
I am annoyed with Steiner! I fully appreciate the difficulty in designing such a robust yet compact machine. Yet I curse them for not taking the time and effort to fully outline this proceedure in great detail.