Brand New L-4701 - Leaking hydraulic fluid

[Cottonmather0]

Hello All -

Longtime lurker with a new tractor and need some guidance.

I have a brand new L-4701 with less than 5 hours on it. Today is Sunday; it was delivered on Friday.

Both times I used it this weekend to brush hog, after about an hour I noticed hydraulic fluid leaking out from under the seat. At first I thought it was spurting our under pressure, but then I realized that it was just splattering a little bit with the vibration from the engine but that it was a more of an ooze than a fountain.

When it first happened on Saturday, I noticed it too late and enough fluid had leaked out that it caused the HST to quit working and become non-responsive. Even though the engine was running, nothing would happen when I pushed down the pedal. Didn't have time to work on it on Saturday - had to get to my kid's baseball game - so I just left it in the field.

This afternoon (Sunday), I checked the dipstick and ended up putting 2 gallons of hydraulic oil in the reservoir the back. Once I did that, I climbed up and started it up and the pedal worked fine. So I started brush hogging again and after about an hour the fluid started splattering out again. This time I drove it to the barn and parked it and found the leak and took a picture (looking down from the right hand wheel well with the seat flipped up):

It appears that fluid is oozing out from around this particular bolt. Thing is, I have no idea what this particular part is. Is it the charge pump?

(You can see from the photo how everything under the seat is coated in oil)

So, notwithstanding the easy response of "That's the dealer's problem", if this is an easy fix or a known problem, I'd rather not mess with having it hauled back to the dealer and be out of commission for a couple of weeks. If it is indeed a major issue, then I'll take it back to the dealer, but I want to make sure of that first before I call.

Any ideas or advice? Thanks a bunch.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

That is not the HST unit (which is where the charge pump is).
It looks like they added a couple of valves to the tractor, Rear remotes?
It's a adapter block that is leaking, might be as simple as a loose fitting, but I wouldn't mess with it, that's a pretty serious leak, call the dealer first, as with that few of hours they may just come pick it back up.
And tell them to reimburse you for the hydraulic fluid, you did use Kubota SUDT2 fluid didn't you and not some generic fluid?
If didn't use SUDT2 fluid, I would recommend you drain all of it and start over as break in fluid is the most important.

 

[Cottonmather0]

That is not the HST unit (which is where the charge pump is).
It looks like they added a couple of valves to the tractor, Rear remotes?
It's a adapter block that is leaking, might be as simple as a loose fitting, but I wouldn't mess with it, that's a pretty serious leak, call the dealer first, as with that few of hours they may just come pick it back up.
And tell them to reimburse you for the hydraulic fluid, you did use Kubota SUDT2 fluid didn't you and not some generic fluid?
If didn't use SUDT2 fluid, I would recommend you drain all of it and start over as break in fluid is the most important.

Yes, I added two rear remotes when I ordered it as I had heard it's a lot easier and cheaper to do it up front than to add them later.

I am back at home in town but when I get out to the farm later today I will try and tighten that bolt and see if that might be the issue. I didn't want to touch it last night in the dark and while it was hot. If it's not a main component of the system, maybe that bolt was just left loose on the install. Which, if that's the case, I feel better about the whole situation.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Don't over tighten it, as most fittings and bolts that seal hydraulic components have O-rings or copper sealing washers for them, and maybe a O-ring or seal got left out.

 

[edritchey]

I like to work on my own stuff too but if I had a new machine with 5 hours and it already leaked a couple gallons of oil in the field that dealer would be making the trip to fix that puppy.

 

[Cottonmather0]

So I went ahead and called the dealer and they had someone out to pick it up within a couple of hours. The manager was very apologetic and responsive.

I'll let you guys know what the final verdict is. Thank you for the responses.

 

[edritchey]

When you get her back you'll be good to go.

So I went ahead and called the dealer and they had someone out to pick it up within a couple of hours. The manager was very apologetic and responsive.

I'll let you guys know what the final verdict is. Thank you for the responses.

 

[Cottonmather0]

Finally got her back yesterday. The fluid was leaking from between some o-rings on the added hydraulic cylinders, so the dealer replaced those o-rings and that solved the problem.

It's still unclear to me whether the problem was with the part itself or with the original dealer installation, but he did come and get it and fixed it with no questions asked. I ran it for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and had no problems.

 

[edritchey]

Awesome that will probable be the last time you need to send it to the Dealer for any work these are good machines. Now you can get some work done.

 

[Cottonmather0]

Yeah, never mind. This is even worse than before. 3 hours of mowing and here we go again. 7 hours on the engine is all.



I think I***8217;m just going to ask for an entirely new unit w/o the added hydraulics.

 

[edritchey]

Wow that is freaking unreal let us know how you make out.

 

[skeets]

Yep that sucks , sad part is a lot of dealers have kids that dont know a socket from a crowbar doing work on these things,, OH yes I would be one irate customer !!!

 

[mbu]

Did the oil ruin your tractor seat? If so, I would think they should get you a new replacement. Also, before you get it back from them, have them steam clean the entire tractor.

 

[beaterboss]

Had a similar issue with my brand new L3901, but it was an oil cooler line.....And wasnt THAT bad. I would be farting fire if I were you.

 

[Cottonmather0]

I took the video to the dealership yesterday and showed it to the maintenance supervisor and the general manager.

They both said they could tell from the video that it's leaking from between the joints of the added hydraulic cylinders just as before. Since they already replaced the o-rings, they are guessing something is milled poorly and is moving around and damaging the rings and causing the leak after a few hours of work bumping around in the pasture. They're going to just completely replace everything with brand new parts and hope that fixes it.

They said they'd send somebody out Monday to pick it up and try to have it back to me by Wednesday or Thursday, so we'll see. We're supposed to get a lot of rain this week, so it's not like I'd be able to get much work done anyway, but if this drags on into another wasted weekend I will indeed be expressing much more displeasure than I have thus far.

 

[edritchey]

They should provide you with a loaner to get your work done.