L3600 Full Maintenance Rundown

[gssixgun]

As I had posted in the past, over the Winter I purchased a bigger tractor, when I bought it the ticker was showing 1073 hrs, now she has 1100
The previous owner was pretty good about keeping records for dates and times, he marked the filters so I knew that many things were in pretty good shape, but the details he left off were the brands...
I knew the oil had been changed at 1006 hrs and I saw 15w-40 but I had no clue what brand not really a huge deal as I had decided that when she hit 1100 or when the weather got warm enough I was going to change everything out regardless. Supposedly we have a couple of days in the next week that will reach into the mid-high 50's so I have been collecting everything needed


From Kubota

Air Filter
Oil Filter
Fuel Filter
Trans/Hydl Filter
$87.50


From Wal-Mart

15 Gal HD Tractor Trans Fluid (Kubota UDT rated) changing front axle too
1 gal Prestone
New 5 gal drain pan
Engine cleaner
$155

O'Riely's
2 gal Valvoline 15w40
$23 (so on sale right now)

I stocked up on tubes of grease on sale at Big R, today to and it was hard to pass up the KK Middle Buster on sale at $169 might give in over the weekend

So for just under $300 I am going to dump every oz of fluids I can find, clean, scrub, flush and replace everything and start from square one with the Tractor..

I am going to try and start at page one in the Maintenance section of the manual and work my way through everything in there.. the only thing I am not going to attempt is doing the valves myself...

Any tips or tricks you can mention will be much appreciated, I asked a ton of questions from all three Kubota service depts in the area, but they do it everyday in a shop so many issues that we have at home they don't see LOL

 

[Eric McCarthy]

It should go pretty smoothly. Kubota's are an easier tractor to work on and they keep the owner in mind when it comes to a DIY service.

 

[freewheel3]

Sounds exactly what I'd do. You mentoned doing the front diff but I don't see any 80w90 gear oil on your list. Or do you use UDT in the front diff?

 

[gssixgun]

Reading the manual was an effort in futility when it came to the Trans and the Axle..

Basically it says use whatever
It recommends SUDT for both, but trying to find actual SUDT was a nightmare, I would have had to drive 250 miles to get 10 gals then been left a few gals short for both..

Talking with the three nearest service depts got me "We use NH-134" so I decided that if I couldn't get real Kubota fluid and all I was after was UDT equivilent that I could go with the SynTech or the Extreme... I had 5 gals of SynTech already so I was off and running..

Here is what I was told "If you have an FEL use a UDT type for the trans/hydro which agreed with what Vic says in his very infromative Vids, so I went that direction...
For the front axle, the service guy up here closest to me asked "What is the tractor used for the most" I said "Moving Snow" he said "Use the UDT" I said "Ok"
Then I said "Why" he said "It works easier when the axle is butt deep in snow" you know what I said next right

 

[Bulldog]

You may not have anywhere close to you but this might be worth looking into for the future. Do you have a fleet supplier that sell big truck parts? I just bought outer air filters for both tractors, 1 fuel filter for the L3000 and 2 for the M9000 and it cost $30. They were Donaldson filters, that's about as good as you can get.

 

[Stubbyie]

Remember to pull the plug on each side rear axle of the final drive: you'll get out a few more quarts and maybe some of the slop that settles down deep in the works. Sloppy mess but worth it.

 

[gssixgun]

You may not have anywhere close to you but this might be worth looking into for the future. Do you have a fleet supplier that sell big truck parts? I just bought outer air filters for both tractors, 1 fuel filter for the L3000 and 2 for the M9000 and it cost $30. They were Donaldson filters, that's about as good as you can get.

I could find WIX filters, but after shipping they were running slightly more then the Kubota.. The local O'Rielly's stocks WIX but I have to double check the numbers myself to see if they might have them, the Oil Filter is a probability, everything else doubtful...I will check on the Donaldson filters and see what I can find..

Many Thanks

 

[gssixgun]

Remember to pull the plug on each side rear axle of the final drive: you'll get out a few more quarts and maybe some of the slop that settles down deep in the works. Sloppy mess but worth it.

My manual actually shows both, I was watching a Vid with a guy changing out a L3240 IIRC and he was mentioning that his manual only showed one side..

Thanks for the Slop heads up

 

[gssixgun]

Well finally got to start this project, got the engine oil and the Transmission done. Air Filter of course took seconds, going to tackle the Fuel Filter, and Front axle tomorrow morning if the weather works with me..

Need to drain the radiator, but I have to really take a look and see how that is going to work
I would like to not only drain it but flush it too, if possible..

 

[gssixgun]

So far so good, the bolts were not quite the sizes that I was expecting but I had wrenchs to fit luckly..

Seems the manual is a bit optimistic on how small my hands are because I am going to have to remove a bottom panle to get to the Fuel Filter, have to remember to always do the Oil and Fuel at the same time the same panel hides both..

The front axle is draining S L O W L Y as I type this, Now that was the first fluid that I has drained that look like it needed to be changed.
Everything else looked only slightly used, The Trans/Hyd Filter was marked at 743 so within the 400 Hr suggested period.
I was wrong about the oil filter it was marked at 1070 so it was changed right before I bought the Tractor.

At least now I know everything is all new at 1100 hours,and I know what brands were used, the messy part with the Radiator comes next. Now that should be fun

 

[gssixgun]

Drained the Radiator and the Reserve tank, refilled with Clear, Distilled, water and running the tractor up to Temp right now..

The fluid that drained out looked and felt too pure, seemed to be well over 50/50, probably should have tested it.. Will see what I think after I mix the new stuff.. Guess there really isn't anything I can do to change it now other then what I am doing

 

[gssixgun]

So I learned something new today, after I mixed the Prestone at 50/50 to refill the radiator and the overflow, I was now sure that the old mix was more than 50/50..

I start reading the Prestone label and learned that 50/50 is no longer the Max protection, you can actually mix it at 70/30 to take it down to -84°F.. It has never hit -34° let alone colder, so I am just going to leave well enough alone

The second drain of the clear water looked good too, no rust or scale that I could see..
So my first complete service went pretty smooth, learned some tricks for keeping things neat and clean that I will have to remember. The Radiator drain is right above the Power steering Hoses and Knuckle so getting it to darin neatly is pretty much a joke Not sure what I can do to solve that one..

Also found that the Air Bleed valve for the fuel lines was left open from the previous owner, didn't notice any real change in performance once I shut it down after bleeding off the air today.. The manual mentions that it can cause rough running if left open...

 

[Bulldog]

Sounds like you have spent several hours of quality time with your baby. After all the service is done it will be ready for it's first wax and polish.

 

[Stubbyie]

We keep a 2.5-gallon plastic gas can in the shop full of antifreeze mix we mix outselves using only WM purple-cap distilled water at less than a buck a gallon. Cheap insurance.

Especially after draining and refilling it takes a few hours running to get all the bubbles out and for that reason we top it off every hour or so.

Paint the gas can 'green' and label it.

With a lot of iron on the place we're always topping off a radiator or overflow tank on something.

 

[gssixgun]

So after reading about Front Axle fill issues on the L series here

http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5727

And on one of the other forums, I decided to just for S&G to go check mine after 17 hours..
Sure enough I added just over 1 Qt more to top off the axle