M6-141 50 Hr Service....15 GALLONS of Hydraulic oil? Don't Think So!

[capngeo]

Did my 50 hr (at 84 hours) The WSM says to dump the ENTIRE hydraulic oil supply and put in fresh. $420 worth of the stuff! Well I figured that was a pile of Bull Manure. Oil doesn't really go bad; it just gets dirty. ESPECIALLY in only 50 hours.

Way back in my old feeble mind, I remembered having the same thoughts on my last new Kubota tractor (L6060). Back then I took a vacuum, connected it to the fill hole and didn't lose any beyond what was in the filter. It was crude; only a rag for a seal. So, fast forward a few years to today... I decided to do the same trick, but I wanted it to be more.... uh....elegant (as if there's any elegance in changing oil and filters).

Fired up the old lathe and built this:

One short piece of sch 40 1" PVC and a 2" cap. Cut the threads, and put a shoulder on the other end of the pipe. Cut a hole in the cap and pic glued it together.

 

[OntheRidge]

Hmmm, 125k tractor, not worth $420 worth of hydraulic fluid?

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

The mating surfaces of new gears wear in, shedding microscopic metal bits in the process, which cause significantly more wear than gears riding on oil film without metal bits, which is likely why Kubota says to change the oil as doing so would add significant life to the tractor.

 

[TheOldHokie]

What the Hedgehog said. The flush is to remove break in wear metals and any manufacturing debris that may have been missed at the factory. Spend the money

Dan

 

[ItBmine]

To each his own. I don't mind buying a couple hundred bucks of oil and filters for my large investments. Especially since I'm one of those people that keeps my stuff forever, I don't sell or trade up constantly.