The good news is it wasn't the tranny in my rarely driven pickup, or anything serious with the L3301. I had both in the shop, unloading something, and only until both were parked outside again did I notice the spreading pool of oil on the floor. One of the short hoses that are on the FEL arms failed. A bit surprising as it's a 3 year old tractor and always kept inside. The failure seems to be due to a bit of flexing in the hose every time the FEL is raised or lowered, and the short length of the hose does not have enough flex like a longer hose would. So it work hardened on the bottom, and that's where the leak was.
No big deal, I'm not going to change anything, it was cheap and easy to replace, but in the future I will be more aware of the bottom of the short hoses that raise and lower the FEL. I'd call it a design error, and maybe it is, than again I could have got a bad or older batch of hose. I've got a lot of hose on my 30 ton boom truck, built in 2007, that is original, 3 years lifespan indicates a bit of a design issue.
No big deal, I'm not going to change anything, it was cheap and easy to replace, but in the future I will be more aware of the bottom of the short hoses that raise and lower the FEL. I'd call it a design error, and maybe it is, than again I could have got a bad or older batch of hose. I've got a lot of hose on my 30 ton boom truck, built in 2007, that is original, 3 years lifespan indicates a bit of a design issue.
