Plastic gear oil cap fell into the gearbox!

[snowbgone]

Hello,

I was topping off the high pressure gear oil in my BX2755HD Snow Blower, when I accidentally dropped the little plastic oil bottle cap into the gear box. I've tried everything to get the cap out, including tipping the snowblower upside down and draining the oil, blowing out with a high pressure air, etc.

The cap is about the size of a small fingernail. I'm contemplating letting gears grind up the cap and then drain and refill the oil once more. My only other option is to open up the gear box.

Any opinions on whether or not the gears would be damaged if they grind up the plastic cap?

Thanks,

John

 

[Kubota Newbie]

I hate it when that happens!
Last time did something like that used one of those little spring loaded retriever tools. You know, 12-18 inches long, looks like a chunk of the throttle cable off your old lawn mower, has a push the button on one end and three little grabber fingers pop out the other. Kind of need to be able to see it though or at least get it corralled into a corner to grab it.

 

[Tughill Tom]

Run it like you stole it... change the oil out when warm. As they say this too shall pass!

 

[Vacula]

My dogs will eat little plastic things laying around and in time, they pass them without issue. I would bet that little bit of plastic in the gearbox won't hurt a thing. Just drain it after the season when it's nice and hot.

 

[Russell King]

If you want to get it out you can try this...
Buy a boroscope camera that will hook to your phone by Bluetooth for 15 to 35 dollars. Drain oil out and see if you can see it laying in the bottom. Then try to pick it up or move it to drain hole.

I would just leave it and forget it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It's easy for people to make the comment "just run it and grind it up", they won't be paying for a gear box if it goes out.
Yes best case scenario is that it will just get ground up and lay at the bottom.
Worst case scenerio is it will wind up in a bearing or a seal and lock it up or burn it up from fluid loss!
Melted plastic can gum up a bearing real quick!
Either get a grabber and a scope (you can get them on ebay or amazon for cheap) or pull the gearbox apart.

 

[snowbgone]

The springy retriever grabber was tried with the snowblower upside right and upside down. I just ordered a borescope that connects to my phone, and will give that a try to see if I can see it. The problem is that you can only get so far into the gear box with the springy retriever, and probably the same with the borescope.

 

[Ramos]

Another option if the 'grabber' does not retrieve it... Adapt (duct tape) a piece of small tubing to your shop-vac and lift it out with suction. Obviously, drain oil and locate cap before flipping the switch. Your vacuum is going to be pretty amp'd up.

As others mentioned, odds are you would be fine ignoring it. However, as NIW stated, that could prove to be quite costly!

 

[Kubota Newbie]

I've done that one! (shop vac) Doesn't work too bad but doesn't hold on as well as you expect.
The parts diagram shows a drain (of the same size?) in the bottom of the box aside from the front fill port. Get some fuel oil, kerosene or mineral spirits and a little hose to hook up to the container and see if you can "wash" it out the other hole (or which ever one is the biggest of the two). It may not float completely out but you can watch the flow and when it seems to float up against the hole you can grab it with the spring loaded grabber. Use a long chunk of vinyl tubing or the like so you can flush from the far side (back) of the case too.
I' try to wash it toward the hole with the most apparent depression around it so that it can't help but go toward the hole.
Don't use gas.
Good luck!

 

[armylifer]

One method that worked for a friend of mine, many years ago, was to overfill the gear box and let the plastic piece float to the top of the fill hole. You may be able to fish it out if you can get it close enough to the fill hole. I can't guarantee that it will work but it may be worth a try. If it works, you can drain the excess oil to the proper level and save the excess for the next change. Good Luck to you!

 

[In Utopia]

Two years ago I was trying to suck the oil out of my Bush Hog gearbox. I was using a turkey baster. As luck would have it, the rubber end came off while I was trying to get it deeper in the box. After about an hour of fishing I gave up. Filled the box back up and never looked back.
Didn't really worry about it getting ground up which it may or may not have done.
I may try to get the oil out again using a different method and see if I can find either it or it's remains.
Don't think plastic would stand much of a chance in a similar situation.