Hi all,
I've been creeping on this forum for the past few days and decided to join and post today.
First some background:
My wife and I have been living on 5 acres in Central FL for a year and a half without a tractor, been making due with a Murray rider that I bought used. It's showing it's wear since it's not a commercial unit and I use it a lot, I've also hired a local guy once to bush hog and borrowed my neighbors L3350 a couple of times.
I've worked in agriculture for almost 20 years and have experience with use and maintenance of medium size JD's (4300, 5400, 5425, etc), my current employer has a Kubota B7300 HST and I have used and maintained my mother-in-law's L2350 4x4 FEL tractor as well when we lived closer to her! Additionally I've fixed & flipped a whole bunch of motorcycles, mostly Yamaha and a couple Hondas, and I maintain my cars, truck and horse trailer myself.
I'd say I have a reasonable level of mechanical aptitude, but I've never torn down/rebuilt and engine before. Every company I've worked for would have the dealer do the major jobs on the equipment and I've steered clear of any projects of my own that exhibited any major engine problems.
So now for my tractor find:
I bought what was advertised as a B6100E on CL for a ridiculously cheap price from a flipper that said he got it as partial trade and just wanted the value it was traded for, no history and no hour meter. I've been looking for a while and the price was downright cheap so I rolled the dice and bought it. When I went to the dealer yesterday they said it was a grey market B6001E based on the chassis number. They still had everything I needed and the parts guy talked my ear off for an hour about grey market Japanese tractors. The tractor is ugly, missing the hood, no lights or hour meter/tach and has obviously been somewhat neglected. Also it was sitting outside and the trans fluid is milky, the oil was black and I was a little concerned about how thick it was when I replaced the oil filter (though the oil flowed out of the pan ok and didn't seem to have many or any metal shavings and wasn't really sparkly). The good news is that its starts really easily, I know Kubotas are good but I was really surprised how easily it starts given it's cosmetic condition, seems to have power (though I haven't spent much time at all with it) and has good tires. One puff of black smoke on startup then no smoke after that. It goes through all the gears, hi/low and all three speeds of the PTO work, no unusual noises from either the engine or trans. It has a funny stubby little PTO output shaft, I thought somebody cut it shorter for some reason but saw on YouTube that others are like that.
I've already changed oil and filter (Rotella 15w40 plus Sea Foam and Kubota filter), replaced the fuel filter and filled it up with fresh diesel with Kubota fuel treatment added. The air filter is very clean so I didn't change it. This afternoon I plan to drain the trans, clean the screen filter and add TSC premium Trans/Hydraulic fluid and spend a little time with it if it stops raining.
So now for my current questions/concerns:
The most pressing issue is that the vent tube that comes out of the valve cover does emit a little bit of white/grey smoke (looks a little like fog actually), it's not a lot and I can't smell it or anything like that. I noticed a little smoke in that area when I went to look at the tractor, but thought it was a hole in the exhaust or just the fan pulling exhaust back through the rad. Noticed a little again when I got it home and found it was coming from the vent tube but it wasn't coming out of the tube steadily that I could see. BUT after the oil change last night it was coming out steadily but I only ran it for a few minutes because it was getting late. Again, didn't seem like a lot and couldn't see any oil droplets, also not dripping oil from the tube after sitting overnight. After reading this and other forums I realized it may be from some blow-by and may or may not be of significant concern. Given the amount I paid and the unknown history/hours my level of concern is fairly high. So the question is, how much blow by is too much? Since it was sitting outside without a hood could the vent tube be emitting water vapor from moisture that got into the engine? Maybe that's just wishful thinking! I've read on other forums that a little blow by smoke from the vent tube is nothing to worry about as long as there is plenty of power. Again, the tractor starts easily and seems to run fine. Unfortunately my compression tester only goes to 300 psi, so not suited for testing a diesel engine.
My second question is about the flow of oil to the valves/rockers, I looked in the filler hole last night with the tractor running after the oil change and couldn't really see much oil flowing around the valve springs, rockers, etc., all of the parts seemed 'wet' with oil but I did just fill it up. The valve cover seems to leak a little oil so I'm confident that oil is getting up there, but shouldn't I be able to see oil actively flowing in there? I only ran it for a few minutes, maybe the oil filter wasn't completely filled up when I looked, though I assume the oil system would fill up pretty quickly. I will check oil flow to the filter, etc. when I run it. The oil pressure dummy light seems to work, I'll probably buy an actual oil pressure gauge, any advice on which to buy and how to hook it up?
I plan to use this small tractor to bush hog about 3 acres, pull a small ground drive manure spreader, pull a chain harrow and a ground drive seeder/fertilizer spreader and save my Murray for mowing the actual yard. If the Kubota works out after some testing/use I may try to source a hood and the other missing parts for a cosmetic restoration.
Last question, I haven't bought a rotary mower (bush hog style) yet, there are several clean 4' ones available in my area for reasonable prices, should I instead look for a swisher or DR style with it's own power so the tractor only has to pull a light implement and not run it with the PTO too? My thinking behind this is that this tractor is old and if I put less stress on it it'll last longer!
I apologize for the length of this post and I thank you all in advance for your replies and opinions of my tractor purchase!
I've been creeping on this forum for the past few days and decided to join and post today.
First some background:
My wife and I have been living on 5 acres in Central FL for a year and a half without a tractor, been making due with a Murray rider that I bought used. It's showing it's wear since it's not a commercial unit and I use it a lot, I've also hired a local guy once to bush hog and borrowed my neighbors L3350 a couple of times.
I've worked in agriculture for almost 20 years and have experience with use and maintenance of medium size JD's (4300, 5400, 5425, etc), my current employer has a Kubota B7300 HST and I have used and maintained my mother-in-law's L2350 4x4 FEL tractor as well when we lived closer to her! Additionally I've fixed & flipped a whole bunch of motorcycles, mostly Yamaha and a couple Hondas, and I maintain my cars, truck and horse trailer myself.
I'd say I have a reasonable level of mechanical aptitude, but I've never torn down/rebuilt and engine before. Every company I've worked for would have the dealer do the major jobs on the equipment and I've steered clear of any projects of my own that exhibited any major engine problems.
So now for my tractor find:
I bought what was advertised as a B6100E on CL for a ridiculously cheap price from a flipper that said he got it as partial trade and just wanted the value it was traded for, no history and no hour meter. I've been looking for a while and the price was downright cheap so I rolled the dice and bought it. When I went to the dealer yesterday they said it was a grey market B6001E based on the chassis number. They still had everything I needed and the parts guy talked my ear off for an hour about grey market Japanese tractors. The tractor is ugly, missing the hood, no lights or hour meter/tach and has obviously been somewhat neglected. Also it was sitting outside and the trans fluid is milky, the oil was black and I was a little concerned about how thick it was when I replaced the oil filter (though the oil flowed out of the pan ok and didn't seem to have many or any metal shavings and wasn't really sparkly). The good news is that its starts really easily, I know Kubotas are good but I was really surprised how easily it starts given it's cosmetic condition, seems to have power (though I haven't spent much time at all with it) and has good tires. One puff of black smoke on startup then no smoke after that. It goes through all the gears, hi/low and all three speeds of the PTO work, no unusual noises from either the engine or trans. It has a funny stubby little PTO output shaft, I thought somebody cut it shorter for some reason but saw on YouTube that others are like that.
I've already changed oil and filter (Rotella 15w40 plus Sea Foam and Kubota filter), replaced the fuel filter and filled it up with fresh diesel with Kubota fuel treatment added. The air filter is very clean so I didn't change it. This afternoon I plan to drain the trans, clean the screen filter and add TSC premium Trans/Hydraulic fluid and spend a little time with it if it stops raining.
So now for my current questions/concerns:
The most pressing issue is that the vent tube that comes out of the valve cover does emit a little bit of white/grey smoke (looks a little like fog actually), it's not a lot and I can't smell it or anything like that. I noticed a little smoke in that area when I went to look at the tractor, but thought it was a hole in the exhaust or just the fan pulling exhaust back through the rad. Noticed a little again when I got it home and found it was coming from the vent tube but it wasn't coming out of the tube steadily that I could see. BUT after the oil change last night it was coming out steadily but I only ran it for a few minutes because it was getting late. Again, didn't seem like a lot and couldn't see any oil droplets, also not dripping oil from the tube after sitting overnight. After reading this and other forums I realized it may be from some blow-by and may or may not be of significant concern. Given the amount I paid and the unknown history/hours my level of concern is fairly high. So the question is, how much blow by is too much? Since it was sitting outside without a hood could the vent tube be emitting water vapor from moisture that got into the engine? Maybe that's just wishful thinking! I've read on other forums that a little blow by smoke from the vent tube is nothing to worry about as long as there is plenty of power. Again, the tractor starts easily and seems to run fine. Unfortunately my compression tester only goes to 300 psi, so not suited for testing a diesel engine.
My second question is about the flow of oil to the valves/rockers, I looked in the filler hole last night with the tractor running after the oil change and couldn't really see much oil flowing around the valve springs, rockers, etc., all of the parts seemed 'wet' with oil but I did just fill it up. The valve cover seems to leak a little oil so I'm confident that oil is getting up there, but shouldn't I be able to see oil actively flowing in there? I only ran it for a few minutes, maybe the oil filter wasn't completely filled up when I looked, though I assume the oil system would fill up pretty quickly. I will check oil flow to the filter, etc. when I run it. The oil pressure dummy light seems to work, I'll probably buy an actual oil pressure gauge, any advice on which to buy and how to hook it up?
I plan to use this small tractor to bush hog about 3 acres, pull a small ground drive manure spreader, pull a chain harrow and a ground drive seeder/fertilizer spreader and save my Murray for mowing the actual yard. If the Kubota works out after some testing/use I may try to source a hood and the other missing parts for a cosmetic restoration.
Last question, I haven't bought a rotary mower (bush hog style) yet, there are several clean 4' ones available in my area for reasonable prices, should I instead look for a swisher or DR style with it's own power so the tractor only has to pull a light implement and not run it with the PTO too? My thinking behind this is that this tractor is old and if I put less stress on it it'll last longer!
I apologize for the length of this post and I thank you all in advance for your replies and opinions of my tractor purchase!
