buying a L185 from a friend. Tractor needs a new seat, possibly a battery, battery cables. What is a good source for buying parts for these ?
I want to go through all of the fluids etc, what else should I check before using it ?
History: tractor was used to mow yard for the last 15 yrs, it has a 72" finish mower with it (pull behind). The guy I am buying it from is getting a zero turn mower for his yard. Tractor is in good shape, but could use a fresh coat of paint and new stickers.
For the seat e-bay or your local Kubota dealer, Northern Tool is also good as you can fit just about any generic seat on the L185 and they are on the web, just google them.
The battery do you got a Wal-Mart near by. Before you go measure the battery cable length, Grab the battery and take it in and save the core charge (that way you can match it up) and get one with a minimum of 850 cold cranking amps. I have always liked Exide batteries and that is what Wal-Mart sells. These are good quality batteries and at a better price then just about anyplace else. While at Wal-Mart check and see if they have basic battery cables and if they do buy the proper length plus 3 inches (I have always found that through the years the original cables have been cut off at the ends and replacement ends installed) and pop in into the tractor when you get home.
For the fluid changes do all of the filters, change the oil and replace the antifreeze with a minimum 50-50 mix. Even though it is a little more expensive I prefer the premix anti freeze as the anti freeze companies use distilled water instead of tap water.
Now comes the last part and that is service the transmission, drain this sucker is going to yield a lot of hydraulic oil upwards to 6 gallons, when I did my L series that I used to own, I used a funnel and a old 10 gallon gas can and drained the hydraulic fluid into the gas can using the funnel under the drain hole for the transmission. Once you drain the transmission be sure to clean the filter screen and then replace the plugs and filter screen and refill.
Be sure to grab the grease gun and hit all the zerks and you now have a tractor ready for service.
