Large shavings in hydraulic filter

[RCW]

I was thinking about going 50 hours and changing the filter again.

Super - you got it my friend!

I would be checking hydraulic dipstick/fill port/sight glass more often than usual, not just for level, but color or smell changes in the meantime. (Not sure what your tractor has)

Out of habit, every time I check vehicle's automatic transmission dipstick, I look, then smell. Never fails!

I'm hoping all will be fine!!

 

[hollnagelc]

Super - you got it my friend!

I would be checking hydraulic dipstick/fill port/sight glass more often than usual, not just for level, but color or smell changes in the meantime. (Not sure what your tractor has)

Out of habit, every time I check vehicle's automatic transmission dipstick, I look, then smell. Never fails!

I'm hoping all will be fine!!

Mine has the sight glass. Would rather a dipstick personally.

Im betting it'll all be ok.

Thanks

 

[tempforce]

i did the 50 hr on my L3200, the hydraulic filters looked normal for a first change. the next service i replaced the oil with the super udt2, the filter that came off had some machining shavings in it. one was three inches long. it appears that someone at the factory isn't doing a proper cleaning after machining a part. it must take some time for the shavings to reach the filters. just glad they didn't get stuck in a valve or ruin a pump.

 

[ShaunRH]

I think Kubota, like other heavy equipment manufacturers, doesn't flush their completed components like they should. In the auto industry, everything gets cleaned, flushed, turned by external forces during the process and all these shavings and such come out at that time. I also think the tolerances are much more broad in the sector. Automotive sector has very tight tolerances and everything is "run-in" to a much greater degree. Tractors, they let the gears and such just work against each other to smooth out their mating surfaces. It's okay, it's just a lot of particles in the start up media which is why they want the 50 hour change.

This is not how I'd run things if I made units like this, but it's a bean counter savings process and personally, it's not good marketing. I mean, having a tank you can dunk entire transmissions and engines into and manually run them in with an external motor while all those parts work against each other and the shavings come out in the tank would seem to be smart to me. Then inspect for any 'ooops' mistakes, button it up and ship it. It would pretty much kill the defects off the line and we wouldn't have threads like this one talking about it... which isn't a good thing.

 

[Bulldog]

Think about how much fluid and many filters they sell by not flushing everything out like it should be.

Imagine how much fluid it would take just for the OTT members to change their machines. Now think on a world wide scale, probably in the millions. A few metal shavings here or there sells a lot of oil.

 

[Bluegill]

just glad they didn't get stuck in a valve or ruin a pump.

The filter stops that from happening.

 

[hollnagelc]

Well it's a little reassuring to hear other people had the same issue as me. I agree that they definitely need to do a better job of flushing these units out.

 

[hollnagelc]

Think about how much fluid and many filters they sell by not flushing everything out like it should be.

Imagine how much fluid it would take just for the OTT members to change their machines. Now think on a world wide scale, probably in the millions. A few metal shavings here or there sells a lot of oil.

Show me the money $$$$$ haha

No telling how much they've made off of some metal shavings.

 

[RCW]

Think about how much fluid and many filters they sell by not flushing everything out like it should be.

No telling how much they've made off of some metal shavings.

You guys are spot-on with your assumptions.

I'm thinking Kubota realizes WAY more net-revenue per pound of metal shavings than per pound of tractor!!

 

[lugbolt]

The last 25 or so tractors I've serviced, the magnet has had a LOT of shavings on them. Of those, the ones that came back for 200 hr service, the filters were clean.

Just some manufacturing debris. Magnet picks it up within 10 minutes of run time most likely.

Sent email to Kubota in Fort Worth just so that they know about this issue. I suspect that the machining operations did not get cleaned thoroughly enough, but I'm just a grease monkey-not an engineer or bean counter, and I will not speculate beyond that.

 

[ShaunRH]

Think about how much fluid and many filters they sell by not flushing everything out like it should be.

Imagine how much fluid it would take just for the OTT members to change their machines. Now think on a world wide scale, probably in the millions. A few metal shavings here or there sells a lot of oil.

If I were the cynical sort, I'd probably agree with you. I'm sure there may be a degree of that thinking in the process as a side effect. Mostly it's likely just a simple cost of hours of clean up vs. cost of warranty issues created by the practice. Like I said, some bean counter got it into management's head that it was cheaper to run like they are rather than run clean.

The secondary effect of selling oil filters and oil is probably offset by other mitigating factors (image loss, extra dealer costs, early replacements, customer dissatisfaction, etc.) We love our Kubota's (for the most part) but if I have that many shavings in my first oil change, that love is going to be seriously diminished as I'll always be worrying about the damage those shavings do. Now I have a DT model so it's not as much of a factor for my transmission as it is an HST, but for the engine... eek!

No, I'd run a clean operation and make some hay about it in my advertising media. Eventually, it would force the entire industry to run clean.