Possible clutch adjustment needed?

[L5450 Fan]

Hello again ,
I read this back before posting and it’s kind of long but it seems like it needs to be. I have read your forum for quite some time and one thing stands out, garbage questions with little or no facts just waste time for everyone trying to help and result in accomplishing little. So, it seems long winded but you all are knowledgeable and will make better suggestions with good info… and, as sometimes I see, with good data you guys see stuff that identifies issues the person didn’t even know he had unrelated to his question. Thanks in advance for your time.

I’m looking for advice on a clutch adjustment on my L5450, it’s a 93 with the wet clutch, shuttle shift I call it, F&R lever on steering wheel area like a turn signal stalk…anyway, I’ve not done any work but a motor oil and filter change and greasing all the grease points.
This morning I was mowing and the clutch seemed like it needed to be “pushed in a little more” when selecting a gear, or range etc.. it wanted to grind just a hint where it did not before. This is new as it never acted that way before.

I do have a post from a day or so ago about changing the hydraulic oil filter but I haven’t even got to that yet, so no, it’s not like I worked on it before these issues.

Now, some brief history, It has always wanted to “creep” a little if tractor was running, range selected, in a gear and if in forward or reverse… but with foot on clutch fully depressed. So ready to go from a stand still, all levers as they should be just foot on the clutch waiting for me to let it out… it would creep a little with clutch depressed. And sometimes if you had forward and reverse in “neutral” position with clutch out, all ready to go it would creep. It seemed as if the clutch wasn’t quite fully out?? Now, I’ve owned this tractor for 12 plus years and it has been an amazing, basically trouble free unit. I’m very mechanical and didn’t feel a hint of issue with the clutch except the creep thing. My routine was to keep it in neutral till I wanted to do something.. that’s it.


More history but with an additional question, The PTO has just recently been weird in that it wants to grind badly if you try to engage it with tractor running. Yes, with clutch depressed etc. The PTO worked as expected for many years then started grinding when trying to engage it. My lazy solution was to engage the PTO lever prior to starting, use the PTO then turn it off and disengage PTO.

I do not have a manual for this tractor, fyi.

My questions are:
1). How do I adjust this clutch? (L5450).
2). can I adjust something to help the PTO not grind or might it be the early indicator of the clutch?

The creep has always been that way, the PTO started acting weird about 2 years ago and the clutch was today. I don’t use this tractor all the time, about 4-6 times per year, mostly to mow with a 60” mower, pull a ridger or other tasks needed 4wd. I have a 80 hp John Deere 2wd for non 4wd heavy stuff and a cute little John Deere 4310 with a loader for a lot of “around the house” stuff. All good tractors in their own way, but my L5450 is my favorite… hence L5450 Fan

 

[fried1765]

Hello again ,
I read this back before posting and it’s kind of long but it seems like it needs to be. I have read your forum for quite some time and one thing stands out, garbage questions with little or no facts just waste time for everyone trying to help and result in accomplishing little. So, it seems long winded but you all are knowledgeable and will make better suggestions with good info… and, as sometimes I see, with good data you guys see stuff that identifies issues the person didn’t even know he had unrelated to his question. Thanks in advance for your time.

I’m looking for advice on a clutch adjustment on my L5450, it’s a 93 with the wet clutch, shuttle shift I call it, F&R lever on steering wheel area like a turn signal stalk…anyway, I’ve not done any work but a motor oil and filter change and greasing all the grease points.
This morning I was mowing and the clutch seemed like it needed to be “pushed in a little more” when selecting a gear, or range etc.. it wanted to grind just a hint where it did not before. This is new as it never acted that way before.

I do have a post from a day or so ago about changing the hydraulic oil filter but I haven’t even got to that yet, so no, it’s not like I worked on it before these issues.

Now, some brief history, It has always wanted to “creep” a little if tractor was running, range selected, in a gear and if in forward or reverse… but with foot on clutch fully depressed. So ready to go from a stand still, all levers as they should be just foot on the clutch waiting for me to let it out… it would creep a little with clutch depressed. And sometimes if you had forward and reverse in “neutral” position with clutch out, all ready to go it would creep. It seemed as if the clutch wasn’t quite fully out?? Now, I’ve owned this tractor for 12 plus years and it has been an amazing, basically trouble free unit. I’m very mechanical and didn’t feel a hint of issue with the clutch except the creep thing. My routine was to keep it in neutral till I wanted to do something.. that’s it.


More history but with an additional question, The PTO has just recently been weird in that it wants to grind badly if you try to engage it with tractor running. Yes, with clutch depressed etc. The PTO worked as expected for many years then started grinding when trying to engage it. My lazy solution was to engage the PTO lever prior to starting, use the PTO then turn it off and disengage PTO.

I do not have a manual for this tractor, fyi.

My questions are:
1). How do I adjust this clutch? (L5450).
2). can I adjust something to help the PTO not grind or might it be the early indicator of the clutch?

The creep has always been that way, the PTO started acting weird about 2 years ago and the clutch was today. I don’t use this tractor all the time, about 4-6 times per year, mostly to mow with a 60” mower, pull a ridger or other tasks needed 4wd. I have a 80 hp John Deere 2wd for non 4wd heavy stuff and a cute little John Deere 4310 with a loader for a lot of “around the house” stuff. All good tractors in their own way, but my L5450 is my favorite… hence L5450 Fan

"I do not have a manual for this tractor"

I do not wish to "waste (your) time", but....
First suggestion: Buy a manual !

 

[L5450 Fan]

"I do not have a manual for this tractor"

I do not wish to "waste (your) time", but....
First suggestion: Buy a manual !

Ok, not the help I was hoping for, even with an exclamation mark.
My friend, having read these forums plenty of times I don’t think my request was out of the realm of the norm. I was looking at the linkage etc on this tractor and thought wow, this can probably be done with relative ease, maybe just get a little direction on it first and give it a go, .. heck I just rebuilt the fuel injection pump on my JD5500 with relative ease, how hard could it be to adjust the clutch? Shit, my JD5500 runs great now… I was thinking how cool it was to chat with knowledgeable like minded people when necessary on a given topic tractor related to simply get her moving again, cool no?
Then with all your knowledge and wisdom I’m sure you’ve acquired over your lifetime you say “buy a manual” .. with an exclamation mark, you’re serious about me buying that manual. Damn, that’s about like saying “is it plugged in? Now I could explain how I’ve been doing everything myself these days trying to save money because I’m paying for my moms chemo, she’s 81 now, Dad’s been gone 4 years now and she’s never been the same after losing her partner of 60 years, my siblings are all worthless and a drain to her, so I’m paying for all her stuff too, oh, 7 weeks ago my house burned to the ground, no lie. But don’t worry about my insurance payout.. the policy lapsed 9 days prior to the fire. The local insurance agent feels really bad about screwing up my payment and was pretty sure it was being payed, our bad. And when I went to see an attorney they quoted me $350,000 to sue all interested parties to litigation… shit, if I had that money I’d just rebuild my house… but of course I don’t, . But hey, I can’t tell my mom cause she’d make me stop paying and quit chemo to go be with dad , can’t do that. So I’m fixing up around my land to sell it and move someplace cheaper until this is all over… if I could just mow it, it would help.. dang my clutch is acting funny. I know, I’ll ask a forum.. and now we’re back to you smugly say “ buy a manual” with an exclamation mark and correcting my autocorrect spelling of “your”.., your knowledge and empathy are probably about the same.. I figure you’ll all just say I made all that up.. I wish .. but I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.. even fried1769

I guess I’ll just go back to fixing shit like I have for 50 years.. just figure it out.
And if anyone wants to help me… I can give you my GiveSendGo info… it’s like go fund me but faith based and without the politics. It’s all true, I told you I’m not lying.. there’s actually even more stuff you couldn’t believe. To the rest of you, thanks. To fried1769 thanks for affirming my faith in humanity, may your life be trouble free

 

[Russell King]

Yes adjustment of the clutch linkage may help. It sounds like you need to shorten up so the pedal has about an inch of free play before you start to feel like you’re pushing against the clutch pressure plate springs.

I know nothing about your particular tractor or what type of linkage it has so can only provide general guidance that you probably already know.

Good luck and it should (could) help with the PTO also.

 

[fried1765]

Ok, not the help I was hoping for, even with an exclamation mark.
My friend, having read these forums plenty of times I don’t think my request was out of the realm of the norm. I was looking at the linkage etc on this tractor and thought wow, this can probably be done with relative ease, maybe just get a little direction on it first and give it a go, .. heck I just rebuilt the fuel injection pump on my JD5500 with relative ease, how hard could it be to adjust the clutch? Shit, my JD5500 runs great now… I was thinking how cool it was to chat with knowledgeable like minded people when necessary on a given topic tractor related to simply get her moving again, cool no?
Then with all your knowledge and wisdom I’m sure you’ve acquired over your lifetime you say “buy a manual” .. with an exclamation mark, you’re serious about me buying that manual. Damn, that’s about like saying “is it plugged in? Now I could explain how I’ve been doing everything myself these days trying to save money because I’m paying for my moms chemo, she’s 81 now, Dad’s been gone 4 years now and she’s never been the same after losing her partner of 60 years, my siblings are all worthless and a drain to her, so I’m paying for all her stuff too, oh, 7 weeks ago my house burned to the ground, no lie. But don’t worry about my insurance payout.. the policy lapsed 9 days prior to the fire. The local insurance agent feels really bad about screwing up my payment and was pretty sure it was being payed, our bad. And when I went to see an attorney they quoted me $350,000 to sue all interested parties to litigation… shit, if I had that money I’d just rebuild my house… but of course I don’t, . But hey, I can’t tell my mom cause she’d make me stop paying and quit chemo to go be with dad , can’t do that. So I’m fixing up around my land to sell it and move someplace cheaper until this is all over… if I could just mow it, it would help.. dang my clutch is acting funny. I know, I’ll ask a forum.. and now we’re back to you smugly say “ buy a manual” with an exclamation mark and correcting my autocorrect spelling of “your”.., your knowledge and empathy are probably about the same.. I figure you’ll all just say I made all that up.. I wish .. but I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.. even fried1769

I guess I’ll just go back to fixing shit like I have for 50 years.. just figure it out.
And if anyone wants to help me… I can give you my GiveSendGo info… it’s like go fund me but faith based and without the politics. It’s all true, I told you I’m not lying.. there’s actually even more stuff you couldn’t believe. To the rest of you, thanks. To fried1769 thanks for affirming my faith in humanity, may your life be trouble free

Scarcastic/angry/nasty response received.
I apologize for the "waste" of your time.
I should have known.

Your attitude/demeanor will likely have a rather negative effect with most potential respondents.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think we need to clarify a few details, It's not very likely that it has a wet clutch or what Kubota called an EC, as I don't see it as an option on that model.
But it wouldn't be the first time that Kubota has slipped in an odd one.
If you can give me the serial number I can give you exact details on how to adjust what I suspect is a dual clutch disk.

 

[L5450 Fan]

I think we need to clarify a few details, It's not very likely that it has a wet clutch or what Kubota called an EC, as I don't see it as an option on that model.
But it wouldn't be the first time that Kubota has slipped in an odd one.
If you can give me the serial number I can give you exact details on how to adjust what I suspect is a dual clutch disk.

I think we need to clarify a few details, It's not very likely that it has a wet clutch or what Kubota called an EC, as I don't see it as an option on that model.
But it wouldn't be the first time that Kubota has slipped in an odd one.
If you can give me the serial number I can give you exact details on how to adjust what I suspect is a dual clutch disk.

Great, here you go. L-545 61064
The last digit has been worn by some plate or deck mount tab thing someone added in the past making it hard to read. It sure looks like a 4, if it’s not a 4 will it make a big difference being it’s a serial number not a model number? Is it still possible to get the data? Thank you

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ok serial number didn't help nail it down.
There are three variants of the L5450DT
MDT
HDT
HDT-W

Does you shuttle lever look like this?

Or does it look like this?

If it looks like the second, next you'll need to look at the shuttle linkage.
Is it like this?

Or like this?

 

[L5450 Fan]

Ok serial number didn't help nail it down.
There are three variants of the L5450DT
MDT
HDT
HDT-W

Does you shuttle lever look like this?
View attachment 103352

Or does it look like this?
View attachment 103353

If it looks like the second, next you'll need to look at the shuttle linkage.
Is it like this?
View attachment 103354

Or like this?
View attachment 103355

Ok, the shuttle shift lever is the second diagram, the lever has a bend at both ends. And the shuttle rod / linkage definitely looks like the last diagram with it being on left side of the steering wheel going down and is two pieces with the connection point visible just below the sheet metal that the fuse box mounts to. Thank you again

 

[L5450 Fan]

Ok, the shuttle shift lever is the second diagram, the lever has a bend at both ends. And the shuttle rod / linkage definitely looks like the last diagram with it being on left side of the steering wheel going down and is two pieces with the connection point visible just below the sheet metal that the fuse box mounts to. Thank you again

Maybe these pics will help

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ok see you were right!
It's a L5450HDT-W
L5450 Hydraulic shuttle, Dual Traction (4wd) Wet (dual hydraulic clutch)
What looked to be a Mechanical clutch was actually damper disk installed where the travel clutch should be, Dang Kubota slipped one past me again!

Ok now on to how to check / fix/ adjust it!
Check for excessive wear on these parts in yellow, if there is then you'll need to do some replacement parts or repair those parts.
Also check for dirt / debris that would imped its movements.
If all of that looks good, lengthen the rod in red just a little bit and see how is does.

 

[L5450 Fan]

Ok see you were right!
It's a L5450HDT-W
L5450 Hydraulic shuttle, Dual Traction (4wd) Wet (dual hydraulic clutch)
What looked to be a Mechanical clutch was actually damper disk installed where the travel clutch should be, Dang Kubota slipped one past me again!

Ok now on to how to check / fix/ adjust it!
Check for excessive wear on these parts in yellow, if there is then you'll need to do some replacement parts or repair those parts.
Also check for dirt / debris that would imped its movements.
If all of that looks good, lengthen the rod in red just a little bit and see how is does.

View attachment 103359

Will do tomorrow after work. Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated. I’ll let you know how it goes

 

[L5450 Fan]

Will do tomorrow after work. Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated. I’ll let you know how it goes

Ok see you were right!
It's a L5450HDT-W
L5450 Hydraulic shuttle, Dual Traction (4wd) Wet (dual hydraulic clutch)
What looked to be a Mechanical clutch was actually damper disk installed where the travel clutch should be, Dang Kubota slipped one past me again!

Ok now on to how to check / fix/ adjust it!
Check for excessive wear on these parts in yellow, if there is then you'll need to do some replacement parts or repair those parts.
Also check for dirt / debris that would imped its movements.
If all of that looks good, lengthen the rod in red just a little bit and see how is does.

View attachment 103359

Hello, in an attempt to be thorough, last night and some early this morning I crawled around under the tractor to wipe off dirt/ grease, remove twigs if any, push and pull on levers, observe in general and move clutch/brake and just about every other lever I could reach and still be under it to observe what levers moved what mechanisms and check for bent or damaged stuff. All it did was make me have more questions, so, thanks in advance for whatever knowledge you all have on this.

1.) It appears after using this tractor for a decade I’ve been using the PTO wrong. The tractor was very used when I got it (over 3800 hours on clock but clock don’t work so who know actual hours, but a lot ) it has no stickers or anything to identify what lever does what, most are basic and intuitive for anyone mildly mechanical who’s been driving stuff for any period of time, so, easy enough to figure out 75 to 80% of things. It was also poorly repainted at some point further hiding any lever identification. So my way of using the PTO was based on other tractors I’ve used and own. I push in the clutch, I move the lever down by my left ankle up or down to make it go or stop. When that lever is engaged it’s independent of tractor movement so I can either be moving or stopped with trans in neutral and PTO still works. Unlike my Ford 8N which is not independent, tractor and PTO are on one clutch, that’s a pain. Further confusing the understanding of things is most of the safety switches don’t work. I presuming whoever had the tractor before me either unhooked, or with normal wear and failure, didn’t fix any interlock switches. So the tractor will start, run and function with just about every lever in any position with the exception of a few major ones that still won’t allow it to start unless key ones are in safe positions. Sorry about the length of this, it just seems relevant. Crawling around under it last night, and reading quite a few posts on here, I figure out it has the PTO clutch lever (looks like an ebrake handle on my left side) that I’m supposed to use as a clutch in concert with the PTO lever down by left ankle. Reading a bunch of posts informed me of how it’s supposed to operate even before I knew this tractor had it. And the reason is I never needed to use it as it worked fine the other way it seemed. Now with the PTO grinding when trying to engage it, me exploring a fix and finding it has this clutch my hopes were to adjust or fiddle with that to fix everything. It did not work that way. So..
With tractor running, in neutral, PTO disengaged, clutch lever down and a mower connected to PTO via the 3point… I try to lift the clutch lever and can hear what sounds like a throw out bearing whining a little, not bad, just audible. Regardless of the lever being up or down or anywhere within it swing it still grinds badly when I try to move the PTO engage lever by left ankle. So I don’t force it I just slowly press it until I hear the grinding start then slightly more but it will not go in and I won’t force it. I adjusted the rod from the PTO clutch lever to the mechanism on the tractor but it makes no difference. To this point I’m not sure if I’ve done harm or did nothing as the PTO clutch was technically

Ok see you were right!
It's a L5450HDT-W
L5450 Hydraulic shuttle, Dual Traction (4wd) Wet (dual hydraulic clutch)
What looked to be a Mechanical clutch was actually damper disk installed where the travel clutch should be, Dang Kubota slipped one past me again!

Ok now on to how to check / fix/ adjust it!
Check for excessive wear on these parts in yellow, if there is then you'll need to do some replacement parts or repair those parts.
Also check for dirt / debris that would imped its movements.
If all of that looks good, lengthen the rod in red just a little bit and see how is does.

View attachment 103359

Hello, I’m new at this post/forum/ thread stuff and I hope I’m doing it right by replying to your answers. Meaning am I just forcing you to answer or does everyone get to follow along? Reason being if people can’t search and find this valuable advice when they have a similar issue I’ll do something different when I post or reply to you so it can be helpful for all going forward. It would be a shame to just help me and not everyone as well as me expecting you to handle all my questions without help from all your members. Thanks again

 

[L5450 Fan]

Hello, in an attempt to be thorough, last night and some early this morning I crawled around under the tractor to wipe off dirt/ grease, remove twigs if any, push and pull on levers, observe in general and move clutch/brake and just about every other lever I could reach and still be under it to observe what levers moved what mechanisms and check for bent or damaged stuff. All it did was make me have more questions, so, thanks in advance for whatever knowledge you all have on this.

1.) It appears after using this tractor for a decade I’ve been using the PTO wrong. The tractor was very used when I got it (over 3800 hours on clock but clock don’t work so who know actual hours, but a lot ) it has no stickers or anything to identify what lever does what, most are basic and intuitive for anyone mildly mechanical who’s been driving stuff for any period of time, so, easy enough to figure out 75 to 80% of things. It was also poorly repainted at some point further hiding any lever identification. So my way of using the PTO was based on other tractors I’ve used and own. I push in the clutch, I move the lever down by my left ankle up or down to make it go or stop. When that lever is engaged it’s independent of tractor movement so I can either be moving or stopped with trans in neutral and PTO still works. Unlike my Ford 8N which is not independent, tractor and PTO are on one clutch, that’s a pain. Further confusing the understanding of things is most of the safety switches don’t work. I presuming whoever had the tractor before me either unhooked, or with normal wear and failure, didn’t fix any interlock switches. So the tractor will start, run and function with just about every lever in any position with the exception of a few major ones that still won’t allow it to start unless key ones are in safe positions. Sorry about the length of this, it just seems relevant. Crawling around under it last night, and reading quite a few posts on here, I figure out it has the PTO clutch lever (looks like an ebrake handle on my left side) that I’m supposed to use as a clutch in concert with the PTO lever down by left ankle. Reading a bunch of posts informed me of how it’s supposed to operate even before I knew this tractor had it. And the reason is I never needed to use it as it worked fine the other way it seemed. Now with the PTO grinding when trying to engage it, me exploring a fix and finding it has this clutch my hopes were to adjust or fiddle with that to fix everything. It did not work that way. So..
With tractor running, in neutral, PTO disengaged, clutch lever down and a mower connected to PTO via the 3point… I try to lift the clutch lever and can hear what sounds like a throw out bearing whining a little, not bad, just audible. Regardless of the lever being up or down or anywhere within it swing it still grinds badly when I try to move the PTO engage lever by left ankle. So I don’t force it I just slowly press it until I hear the grinding start then slightly more but it will not go in and I won’t force it. I adjusted the rod from the PTO clutch lever to the mechanism on the tractor but it makes no difference. To this point I’m not sure if I’ve done harm or did nothing as the PTO clutch was technically

Hello, I’m new at this post/forum/ thread stuff and I hope I’m doing it right by replying to your answers. Meaning am I just forcing you to answer or does everyone get to follow along? Reason being if people can’t search and find this valuable advice when they have a similar issue I’ll do something different when I post or reply to you so it can be helpful for all going forward. It would be a shame to just help me and not everyone as well as me expecting you to handle all my questions without help from all your members. Thanks again

Sorry about sending the long post, wasn’t going to do that until I figured out if I was doing this stuff right.. clearly I need practice as I sent it before I was going to try and condense it down.. I didn’t even finish the sentence at the end. Be patient, I’ll get better.

 

[Jim L.]

L5450

No worries, you are doing fine. Everyone on this forum can see the posts, it's not one-on-one. Posts are searchable and they do help more than the original poster.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ok I'll ask the question and please just give simple answers, as I'm a little confused, and read far too much! I realize too little information can be bad but you've went the other way with this.

All the information that I've given you so far pertains to the travel clutch of the tractor, and not the PTO clutch, because in your first post that seamed to be the issue.

Then the last post your talking about the PTO grinding.

So questions:
#1 Is the travel clutch portion having a problem?
#2 If it is, is it grinding gears or just not disengaging or none of the above?
#3 Is the PTO clutch grinding?
#4 Is it not engaging, or not disengaging, or Both?
#5 Is there any power related issues with it? like does it slow down when loaded heavy?

 

[L5450 Fan]

Ok I'll ask the question and please just give simple answers, as I'm a little confused, and read far too much! I realize too little information can be bad but you've went the other way with this.

All the information that I've given you so far pertains to the travel clutch of the tractor, and not the PTO clutch, because in your first post that seamed to be the issue.

Then the last post your talking about the PTO grinding.

So questions:
#1 Is the travel clutch portion having a problem?
#2 If it is, is it grinding gears or just not disengaging or none of the above?
#3 Is the PTO clutch grinding?
#4 Is it not engaging, or not disengaging, or Both?
#5 Is there any power related issues with it? like does it slow down when loaded heavy?

Answers:
1.) yes, the travel clutch is having an issue but it’s been just recent, maybe the past week.
2.) it wants to grind just a bit when putting it in gear or a range change. But no concern with the shuttle forward or reverse and no issues when taking it out of gear or range.
3.) yes, the PTO clutch is a bigger problem that has been ongoing for much longer, maybe looking back the whole time I’ve had the tractor as I never knew to use the hand lever for the PTO clutch along with the PTO engage/disengage lever down by the 2wd/4wd lever. I’ve always just used the travel clutch and PTO lever.
4.)The PTO grinds badly when trying to engage only, it seems to disengage ok if travel clutch pressed down and tool not working .. ie, just sitting still, 3point up, ready to stop the tractor when finished.
5.) no power related issues, once PTO is engaged all works as normal, no noises or straining. The tractor works very well too with ample power as per normal.

For the first 5-6 years the PTO could be engaged or disengaged with pressing the travel clutch. At some point it wanted to grind so I started just engaging PTO prior to starting the engine. Once going it worked fine to mow etc.. I only use the PTO on this tractor maybe 2-4 times per year.
Thank you

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ok, I'm getting the scenario better now.

Travel clutch is the clutch pack the controls movement
PTO clutch is the clutch pack that controls PTO actions.
On this model they are not the same foot pedal, but they are different linkage and different actions.
The travel clutch portion would be adjusted as I said and shown earlier.
The PTO clutch adjustments are done to this linkage.

 

[L5450 Fan]

Ok, I'm getting the scenario better now.

Travel clutch is the clutch pack the controls movement
PTO clutch is the clutch pack that controls PTO actions.
On this model they are not the same foot pedal, but they are different linkage and different actions.
The travel clutch portion would be adjusted as I said and shown earlier.
The PTO clutch adjustments are done to this linkage.

View attachment 103445

After having crawled around and cleaned etc under the tractor I have a better understanding of things. Since your previous reply/recommendations I have adjusted the travel clutch linkage and inspected the suggested areas.. the parts looked to be in good condition and moving freely as intended. However adjusting the travel clutch linkage made no difference.. after getting this reply a little bit ago I just checked and adjusted the PTO clutch rod/linkage with no change. So, new question: if these are different parts and pieces for travel and PTO function should I consider the hydraulic fluid as a direction to investigate? All my research says use UDT fluid on kubotas but most agree it’s on newer models. I’m not sure UDT existed in the early 90’s(?). And being quite pricey I’d like to be sure before I go buy almost 12 plus gallons… I’ve never changed the hydraulic fluid only topped it off. The tractor doesn’t really leak much out and it always looked pretty nice, so I’d just add some. I’ve only had to do that maybe 2/3 times since I’ve owned it. And it wasn’t much then… Reading up on this that might be too long and needs a complete change? Obviously a safe bet is to drain and fill with new UDT.. but at $130 /5 gal local cost I’m looking at buying 3 buckets at nearly $400… I’d like to be sure I’ve looked at other possible culprits first. I thank you for your input.
p.s. is there a inline filter or screen on these tractors for hydraulic fluid other than main spin on filter? If yes, where’s it located? Thanks again

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

On that model it's just the spin on filter no screens.
One alternative to Kubota UDT that I've used for many years is Mystik JT-5.
(CAUTION OPINION) I FEEL it's better than UDT and almost as good as SUDT.
I have a GST (glide shift with a hydraulic clutch pack) and they are very picky on fluid and I have had great success with it!