Hydrolic filter and fluid change.

[Deadi]

I have a 2010 L2800 Std. shift. I have 32 Hours on it and am looking at the first 50 hour maintenance. My question is this. My dealer said I need to change the filter and hydrolic/transmission oil at 50 hours. In reading my manual, it said to change the filter at 50 hours and the hydrlic/transmission fluid at 400 hours. Do I do like my dealer says. Am I understanding the manual correctly?

Also I am new maintenance of tractors and the manual (looks like to me) says there are 4 drain plugs for draining the hydrolic/transmission fluids. The manual is just a simple drawing and I am having trouble figuring out which are the drain plugs for the hydrolic/transmission fluids. Is there an anything on line where I can see a real picture of the above drain plugs? Forgive me if this has been discussed before.

 

[re54drider]

I talked to the service guys and they recommended changing the filter only....If you are quick you will only lose a quart or so when you do the change. Be sure you get the filter with the magnet.....If you decide to change all the fluid it holds 6+ gallons at $32 per gallon. I changed only the filter on mine at 50 hours, no problems. Replace your fuel filter and engine oil and filter while you are at it. Also replace or blow out your air filter at the same time.

 

[Bulldog]

To me the 50hr service is a make or break as far as the life of your tractor. All the gears, teeth, bearings and ect. are brand new and have meshed together for the first time. There will be more metal shavings in the oil right now than you will ever see again. You made a good choice by buying a Kubota. Another by joining OTT, don't cut the life of your tractor short by cutting corners on the service.

Granted, a complete oil change from end to end is hard to swallow at 50 hrs but your tractor will be more likely to give you many yrs of trouble free service by doing this. After this one you can plan out your hyd service and buy a little oil as you are building up the hrs and when the 400 hr mark rolls around it won't hit your wallet so hard.

Drains, it wouldn't surprise me if you had 3 or 4 plugs to remove. More than likely the main drain for the trans is right behind the bell housing in the open. Probably one on either side of the rear end so you can drain the lower portion of the case. If yours is 4wd you will need to service the front axle as well. It should have a main drain in the housing and then at the bottom of each hub. You can most likely crawl under the tractor with your book and do some looking and reading and will be able to find them all without much trouble. Good luck and keep us posted with your progress.

 

[Kytim]

To me the 50hr service is a make or break as far as the life of your tractor. All the gears, teeth, bearings and ect. are brand new and have meshed together for the first time. There will be more metal shavings in the oil right now than you will ever see again.

+1

You wouldn't leave the original engine break in oil in the engine for the life of the tractor so... same kinda deal. I'm even of the opinion magnets should be original equipment on something that cost as much as a new tractor. If you have an old "bad" computer hard drive, those magnets are among the best in the world. Maybe...

 

[kuboman]

Change all fluids end to end.

 

[Hook]

I am going to try and rely on my memory as I am not where I can look at my tractor. If your manual shows 4 drain plugs for the hyd/trans fluid I think you will find two on the body of the transmission itself. They look like drain plugs and one is vertical and one is horizontal. Can't remember the size. There are probably two more on each side for the gear reduction boxes at the rear axles. These plugs are smaller but again they look like drain plugs. If I'm right, when you remove the smaller drain plugs the fluid will actually come out in an upward arc. Each drain plug will have a copper washer attached to it. You can easily loose the washer and if you do the plug will leak. Make sure you account for all those washers. Ask me how I know. I agree with all the others that you should change the fluids at 50 hours. If you do you may want to consider having some catch containers that will hold about 5 gallons of fluid. On my tractor (L3240 GST) I collected about 5 gallons when I loosened the hydraulic filter. I replaced the filter then removed the drain plugs. I removed the two on the transmission first one at a time and then the two at the rear axles one at a time. It is not difficult but it can be messy if you are not prepared. I hope this helps.

 

[re54drider]

Well, you can change the fluid if you want. I got more shavings out of my 2800 at 100 hours and almost nothing at 50. Good maintenance will prolong the life of anything. I don't know your usage so I can't say for sure. 50 hours of light usage is almost nothing to these tractors. I only bush-hog with mine and so my decisions on oil or hydraulic oil changes are based on my usage and the condition of the fluids. Look at the filter when you remove it--if it has a lot of metal then by all means change all the hydraulic fluid. If you have a hydrostatic drive I would change it anyway. Ultimately make your decision based on the condition of the hydraulic oil in your tractor, not necessarily on what the book says. If you don't know enough about diagnosing this to make a good decision, go conservative and change it out.

 

[Deadi]

Thanks for all the responses, I am finding out that there are two schools of thinking on this. I still haven't made up my mind about changing all the fluids at 50 hours or not.

I do have another question. My hydrolic oil was a little over a quart low when I added enough to bring it back about halfway in the site glass. I haven't noted any leaks, so was just wondering why was the hydrolics minus a quart of fluid. It had been at the proper place on the site glass until last week. The tractor has 32 hours and we bought it last October.

 

[Bulldog]

You will find that the site glass will drive you crazy. It never shows the same fluid level.

 

[tk1469]

I have an L3800 HST and approaching the 50 hr mark. If I chose to replace the Hydraulic and Transmission fluid - how do I do this ?

 

[Reklues]

I have a l3800 HST with 24hr on it and looked at the site glass the other day and couldn't see any trans fluid at all. I called the dealer and they told me it was full and that I just couldn't see it ?? So I looked yet again while lifting and lowering the fel and three point, but still nothing in the site glass. Called the dealer again and they told me I was just trying to get some free trans fluid (unreal) I gave almost 25k for this tractor last fall and they tell me I'm trying to get something for free.....I keep my tractor indoors at all times when not in use,it has NO leaks and I didn't take any of it out .....so you be the judge. Am I asking too much for them to give me the fluid to get it at least to the sit glass ??

 

[Bulldog]

Reklues, not trying to defend the dealer but new oil is just barely visable in the site glass. Before you go to the dealer and throw a shoe try parking at a angle and recheck the level. It doesn't take but just a little grade either up or down hill to really affect it. I have seen times when the site glass is completely full but it appears to be low. The background of the glass is snow white and new clean fluid just barely has a little tint to it.

Either way if that's how your dealer treats their customers I'd find me a new dealer. I went thru the exact same thing with my old dealer I bought my L3000 from. My hyd was low and I got about the same responce as you did. Long story short I got the owner to come out and look for himself. It was almost a gallon low and they did give me the fluid. Not the whole gallon though, just the ammount it took the bring it up to full.

 

[BotaDriver]

Take a piece of white paper, fold it in half (ensuring that it's white on white) and put it next to the sight glass. If it's white like the paper it's low. If it's the color of vegetable oil, and not white like the paper it's full. With the 3 pt lifted, and the loader mostly raised, it may be enough to see a difference. If not, park it with the sight glass up hill and use the paper for reference. If you're still not sure park with the glass down hill and reference the paper again. If you pay attention to it every time you're on and off the tractor you will notice that it's all over the place. Only consider how full it is when on a perfectly level surface, 3pt up and loader a few inches from, or on, the ground.

Also, there should be a very TINY bubble towards the top of the glass. The paper test is the easiest though. The indicator inside is bright white. If you have a FEL, when the dealer installs them, they must add fluid to the tractor otherwise it will be very low.

 

[BotaDriver]

I have a 2010 L2800 Std. shift. I have 32 Hours on it and am looking at the first 50 hour maintenance. My question is this. My dealer said I need to change the filter and hydrolic/transmission oil at 50 hours. In reading my manual, it said to change the filter at 50 hours and the hydrlic/transmission fluid at 400 hours. Do I do like my dealer says. Am I understanding the manual correctly?

Also I am new maintenance of tractors and the manual (looks like to me) says there are 4 drain plugs for draining the hydrolic/transmission fluids. The manual is just a simple drawing and I am having trouble figuring out which are the drain plugs for the hydrolic/transmission fluids. Is there an anything on line where I can see a real picture of the above drain plugs? Forgive me if this has been discussed before.

You have a GST, I'd vote no on the fluid replacement. Your trans consists of straight-cut gears. Your filter does more than enough on trapping particles, and the fluid is continually filtered about once a minute when you're at idle, much more at speed. Change the filter (quickly, it flows out fast, and when cold if possible) and top off your fluid. Engine oil on the other hand, change as required in the manual, or every 2 years. Whichever occurs first.

 

[ejhenry001]

Newbie here, and I know this is an old post - but I need some help. I'm in a similar situation as others. I just purchased a 2008 Kubota L2800 2WD, but didn't trust when they stated "well-maintained" . I started with the oil, it was black - changed it. Went to gearbox on cutter, and it was milky white, changed it, and now I have concerns on the hydraul/trans fluid. I see the sight window, but I can't tell whether its full or empty - but what concerns me, is when I ran the PTO after changing the gearbox oil, once I shut the PTO off, and tractor off, while it was spinning down, there was a noticeable knocking where the PTO shaft enter the tractor, inside the tractor. Is this normal, or does this tell me the hydraulic fluid is low?

 

[Rcflyer330]

Newbie here, and I know this is an old post - but I need some help. I'm in a similar situation as others. I just purchased a 2008 Kubota L2800 2WD, but didn't trust when they stated "well-maintained" . I started with the oil, it was black - changed it. Went to gearbox on cutter, and it was milky white, changed it, and now I have concerns on the hydraul/trans fluid. I see the sight window, but I can't tell whether its full or empty - but what concerns me, is when I ran the PTO after changing the gearbox oil, once I shut the PTO off, and tractor off, while it was spinning down, there was a noticeable knocking where the PTO shaft enter the tractor, inside the tractor. Is this normal, or does this tell me the hydraulic fluid is low?

Here is my opinion if it means anything. Since you found dirty engine oil and water in the brush cutter you may want to change the hydraulic oil and front axle oil too then you have the piece of mind knowing its good. If you dont want to change the oil you could use something like a long zip tie as a dip stick and stick it in the fill port and see where the oil level is. Look around the machine at the hydraulic oil filters see if they still have been changed the factory ones are painted the same color as the transmission. You could check oil condition by draining a little oil out of the drain plugs that would also see if there is any water in it. For the noise i cant help with that because i dont know enough but one possibility is you could be hearing the play in the gears for the pto caused by the still spinning shaft.

 

[Bulldog]

Newbie here, and I know this is an old post - but I need some help. I'm in a similar situation as others. I just purchased a 2008 Kubota L2800 2WD, but didn't trust when they stated "well-maintained" . I started with the oil, it was black - changed it. Went to gearbox on cutter, and it was milky white, changed it, and now I have concerns on the hydraul/trans fluid. I see the sight window, but I can't tell whether its full or empty - but what concerns me, is when I ran the PTO after changing the gearbox oil, once I shut the PTO off, and tractor off, while it was spinning down, there was a noticeable knocking where the PTO shaft enter the tractor, inside the tractor. Is this normal, or does this tell me the hydraulic fluid is low?

Without knowing what has been done to it and how often I'd suggest doing a full service including hyd fluid and anti-freeze. Then you have a base point to start your own schedule from. And don't cheap out. Use sudt2 and Kubota filters.

 

[eserv]

Newbie here, and I know this is an old post - but I need some help. I'm in a similar situation as others. I just purchased a 2008 Kubota L2800 2WD, but didn't trust when they stated "well-maintained" . I started with the oil, it was black - changed it. Went to gearbox on cutter, and it was milky white, changed it, and now I have concerns on the hydraul/trans fluid. I see the sight window, but I can't tell whether its full or empty - but what concerns me, is when I ran the PTO after changing the gearbox oil, once I shut the PTO off, and tractor off, while it was spinning down, there was a noticeable knocking where the PTO shaft enter the tractor, inside the tractor. Is this normal, or does this tell me the hydraulic fluid is low?

The knocking noise is the overrunning clutch inside the tractor. that noise is normal.