B2410 front wheel hubs freezing

[oldryder]

Tractor is stored in unheated shed. Once it gets cold and stays there (about now in MN) the right front hub freezes up. I've never had it in water and it works fine except for this. an hour of heat lamp is enough to free it up.

Took the wheel off today but was expecting a familiar automotive style hub and brake which, of course, is incorrect.

The wheel hub is mounted to a larger housing with a bunch of bolts around the perimeter. I stopped at this point as I'm not sure what I'm getting into and the manual I have is no help.

However, I obviously have some moisture somewhere it's not supposed to be and need advice on how to fix it.

thx in advance to anyone offering advice or links.

mark in MN

 

[RCW]

Your tractor is 4WD? Sounds it by your description. Always best to give us the entire Model #, as there are several variants of most. (There's 3 for your B2410)

I don't know your B2410, but I'll give some advice.

If 4WD, your front axle and hubs are all filled with fluid or gear oil.

Your front hubs should have drain plugs at the bottom of the hub, maybe a "vent" bolt at the top, and a fill port on the top of axle housing itself.

I would not disassemble anything, but drain the fluid and refill. It may take a couple drains/fills, if the fluid or oil is milky.

Two links:

https://apps.kubotausa.com/illustrated-parts/

Agree to the legal , and enter B2410. Will give you parts diagrams. Should help showing how things go together.

http://www.kubotabooks.com/

He has Workshop Manual (WSM) for free download. I see one there for B2410. That should give the how-to to service the front axle.

Good luck!

 

[oldryder]

RCW. thx for reply.

full model no. is B2410HSDBF.

The parts link worked but the other did not. Hoping that's temporary and I'll try it again later. I'll also check my owners manual for a spec for the lubricant.

mark in mn

 

[gssixgun]

My first Kubota L185dt did that too

I got through the first winter by attaching a Magnetic Oil Pan Heater to the axel.
That summer I drained and refilled the front axel and never had a problem again..

 

[oldryder]

Thx for advice. Drained the wheel hubs; the right side had 3 or 4 ounces of water in it; the left had 1 or 2 oz.

Drained everything and refilled with specified lubricant. Hopefully all that water didn't damage the internals.

mark in MN

 

[NoJacketRequired]

I wouldn't worry too much about the water having been in there. Many older farm tractors have sat outside for many years. They use the transmission as the common storage tank for fluid so it's transmission/differential/hydraulic fluid (TDH). These things just soldier on, year after year.

As a case in point, my MF-135 gets condensation inside the transmission case. I know it's not getting water any other way since it's stored indoors and didn't get out to play in the snow last winter so it hasn't even had so much as a morning dew on it in about 18 months, yet there's plenty of moisture in the TDH fluid.

I keep a full change of fluid in plastic pails in the garage. Drain the fluid from the tractor into clean pails and seal it up. Let it sit in the garage for a year. The repeated freeze/thaw cycles seem to cause the water in it to condense into goop in the bottom of the pail. Next fall I drain the fluid from the tractor and pour in this "recycled" TDH. I lose about two quarts every cycle to the 'goop' in the bottom of the pail.

I've been following this process for about 25 years and now own three complete changes of TDH, one in the tractor, one in pails settling out, and one "fresh" change, just in case (bought on sale at a price I couldn't pass up). If I recall it takes about 7 gallons to fill the transmission so one pail is definitely not enough for a change.

Oh, the other thing I didn't mention was that I use two magnetic heaters on the bottom of the transmission to heat the oil before I drain it. In the depths of winter I may need to run those heaters before starting the tractor as there may be enough ice in the bottom of the transmission to cause the piston-style hydraulic pump that sits in the bottom of the transmission case.

One other point to those who may be operating similar Massey tractors... if there is moisture in the TDH fluid, the intake filter screen on the hydraulic pump will ice over as fluid is drawn into the pump. You'll start off on a cold morning with hydraulics fully functional, then only a couple of minutes later you'll have no hydraulics at all. Frustrating... and seemingly an inherent part of this old design.