L2501DT Hydraulic Level Dropped Quickly

[Fordtech86]

Why would you not pull the sight glass plug? Don't I need to just drain it to the bottom of the sight glass? I would rather avoid draining all the fluid out unless it is absolutely needed. Is there a way to double check the fluid level apart from the sight glass? I think that the dealer literally put the loader on the tractor the day they brought it to me.

The tractor came in two weeks ago (literally, I looked at it in its crated form). I asked how long they needed to have it delivered and was told they could have it ready on Wednesday because everyone was out all weekend for Labor Day. So I went and paid for it Tuesday, and they called early and delivered it Tuesday (about 3 hours after I paid for it). So they literally put the tractor together and delivered it in about a day (maybe two if they started before the holiday weekend). I really think they just did not run the tractor at all before delivering it to me. It had 0.1 or less hours on it when I got it.

You can pull the sight glass But you will lose fluid all over the side of the transmission case and left floor board, basically wasting good fluid you have dumped in it.

I scrolled back to make sure I wasn’t sticking my foot in my mouth, but seems you seen a fluid line in the sight glass when you got it and when you parked tractor on slope with rear axle facing downhill. So that tells me there is/was fluid in there. It is very hard to determine through the sight glass whether its over or under if its not a definitive line it the glass, especially for a new owner. Not being there to know for sure I’m making the presumption its overfull at this point and was trying to avoid you wasting a few gallons of perfectly good udt2.

edit: you wouldn’t have to drain it all. Drain at least 3-4 gallons into clean container, then maybe pull the sight glass.

if its still overfull more will come out, if not leave the glass out and add back the clean fluid you saved until it starts to come out the sight glass hole, then reinstall the glass. You will be at the low end of the level, slowly add until you see it.

 

[rgOO6]

Thank you for all the advice. I drained out the excess, about 2.5 gallons. I was a bit surprised that the sight glass is plastic. But I guess that matches the oil cap. Fluid level looks perfect.

 

[Fordtech86]

Glad you got it taken care of!

 

[Chanceywd]

Real glad you got it too. That rod idea sounds interesting , maybe i will try while it is flat in the garage tomorrow. That would make a good check if made up ahead of time.

Bill

 

[Chanceywd]

It could and I didn’t mean to totally discount that, but it also couldn’t because of variables we don’t know

I have been thinking about your pulling the sight glass suggestion here again. A good idea if you just loosened it until it weeped or leaked around the threads, it would have shown right away it was overfull. Maybe then (before it was at the 3 gallons over point) you could have let it drip into something for a while or maybe a kerosine transfer pump in the fill hole to get the extra out couple quarts out.

Bill

 

[Mak65]

I had the same issue when I got mine. The dealer had filled it to the upper part of the sight glass but you could see the level split.

I had to stop by the dealer a couple weeks later. I walked over to the same tractors on the lot (pre-COVID) and checked several sight glass levels and even captured a photo. The fluid is a light tan. The background is almost pure white. Your photo shows the shade distinction well. If it is over full you will not see any white - only tan.

 

[lugbolt]

just wanted to add that a lot of times dealer setup techs (and technicians in general) are under time constraints. A 2501 w/ loader is going to be typically a 3.5-4.0 hour job, and the paid rate reflects that. I've done them quite a bit faster but when you get into working fast like that you miss stuff, and you also forget to triple check the fluid level after installing the loader.


Then there's the issue of not so much getting in a hurry because of dealer constraints, rather customer restraints. If I'm a buyer and salesman says come get your stuff at 10am, and set up tech knows this and is behind (which most of them are), it's easy to get in a rush and forget stuff, or skip things in order to meet that deadline.

And to add insult to injury most setup techs are low paid workers so automatically you get lack of experience and the "don't care" attitude. Always running late except to the liquor and tobacoo store on Friday afternoon. Not always the case, but generally is. Setup techs come and go often. It's a physically demanding job of standing, stooping, lots of walking, lifting heavy stuff, and then they gotta know a few things.....and most of them don't. Low pay means if they get wind that the tire shop up the road is hiring for $1/hr more, they gone on lunchbreak with no warning, not even a resignation.

 

[57plymouth]

I had to add close to 3 quarts of hydraulic fluid to my L3901 after I used it some. I think it was just air in the FEL lines purging out. A quick trip to get the right fluid from the Kubota dealer and it was right as rain.

 

[Tornado]

Was going to say 100% was overfilled, but it seems OP has already corrected the issue. One thing I have noticed with my L2501 is when you check the hydro oil you need to do it in the exact same place everytime, with all the hydraulics pulled in exatctly the same, 3 Pt all the way down, etc. Even though the ground may seem pretty level, ive had instances where my oil is not visible at all in the glass, only to drive onto my concrete garage floor and there it is again. It is very sensitive. You should never have to add a full gallon of oil if the oil had previously been proper level. Before adding any hydro oil take mreasures to make SURE it is actually low, and not you doing just a poor/ fast read of it. Level ground is very critical.

 

[Chanceywd]

Was going to say 100% was overfilled, but it seems OP has already corrected the issue. One thing I have noticed with my L2501 is when you check the hydro oil you need to do it in the exact same place everytime, with all the hydraulics pulled in exatctly the same, 3 Pt all the way down, etc. Even though the ground may seem pretty level, ive had instances where my oil is not visible at all in the glass, only to drive onto my concrete garage floor and there it is again. It is very sensitive. You should never have to add a full gallon of oil if the oil had previously been proper level. Before adding any hydro oil take mreasures to make SURE it is actually low, and not you doing just a poor/ fast read of it. Level ground is very critical.

I agree on checking in the garage same place every time. When outside I have found it takes very little to throw it off. That is why I suggested him parking it on a slope with the left side up or jacking the left side to see if it would show the glass empty. I think after re-reading he did on a slope with the back downhill and could see a change. That with the sight glass at the front would have indicated then it was overfull but I didn't catch that then.

 

[Chanceywd]

I was doing some math this morning on the volume of the cylinders. Based on the info in my 525 they are 45mm bore x 476mm stroke x 4 as they are the same size. The extended is about 46 cu in each xs 4 =184 so a little less than 4 qts, if it was dry to begin with. Subtracting for the shafts it is less than 2qts retracted
So add a little for the hoses and loader valve total for the loader I would estimate dry to filled and purged
would be a gallon to 5 qts. If I was topping and adding anything close to a gallon there has to be quite a leak or overfill.