BX23S 50 Hr Maintenance. What I learned

[RWey56]

My BX was at 47 hrs, so I bought my SUDT2, 10W-30, and the engine and tranny filters. Wasn't difficult, but took a bit longer than I thought. Here's what I learned.

• Paper towels on a windy day make me want to break something.
• On a new machine, the engine oil should probably be changed at 30 hrs. Was very dirty.
• Don't tuck a rag under the oil filter when removing it. That will just spill the oil all over. With no rag, it will pretty much fall straight down.
• A LOT of crap makes it through the airflow pre-screen. Do NOT neglect the air filter. Mine was way dirtier than I thought it would be with lots of spruce needles in. How in the world those got that far in is beyond me.
• The front axle does NOT hold 3.8 qts. If you try to fill that much, you'll probably overflow. I used 3 qts in it and its nearly to the top.
• When draining the tranny, do yourself a favor and remove the right rear wheel. Makes everything much easier.
• Before removing the tranny filter, blow out the area real good with an air hose and make sure the receiver is clean before you put the new one back on.
• When cleaning the tranny strainer, do yourself another favor and remover the left rear wheel. Trying to pull the strainer with the wheel on is a pain in the ass.
• The stated 3 gallons for the tranny fluid seems to be pretty close to the mark. You CAN pour 3 gallons in, it will be high, but after you run the engine and fill the filter, etc, it comes down just right.
• I swear the hydrostat is quieter. Maybe I'm just fooling myself.

All in all this wasn't hard; certainly not hard enough to justify the $350~$400 a dealer would charge. The tranny fluid was much cleaner than I expected. I think a person would be OK waiting 100 or even 200 hours (manual says 400), but you definitely want to clean the strainer at 50, which requires you drain the tranny.