Question about BX1880 hydraulics

A

AL A

Member

Equipment
BX1880
Aug 25, 2019
33
14
8
Dracut Massachusetts, USA
Hi all,
So I'm pretty new to many things tractors, purchased a new BX1880 a few months back and am still learing how to best make use of it. I have a question.

Shortly after getting the machine, after only an hour or two of run time, I noticed a hydraulic oil leak in the rear. I alerted the dealer they took the tractor back. They tried twice to fix it, but had not, sort of a long story and I'm not interested in being too critical of them for that. It was not a huge leak and turned out to be a bit hard to find the source. Anyhow after the second attempt I found it still leaking so spent a fair amount of time trying to locate the source.

I narrowed it to coming from this part, located at the rear of the tractor behind the left rear wheel:




further investigation found it was coming from this plug in the forward top area of that part, just in front of the hydraulic line you can see coming into the top in the above picture,. This is the view looking in over the top of the rear left wheel, plug is indicated by the arrow:



My question is this:
is this plug in the high pressure side of the hydraulic system or part of the return? I have a pretty good understanding of hydraulic systems, having worked with them in other contexts but I know very little about tractors specifically.
Any insight on this, please?
 
North Idaho Wolfman

North Idaho Wolfman

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There is a threaded plug in there, you need to remove it, put liquid thread sealer on it and reinstall.
 
eserv

eserv

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May 27, 2009
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AL A said:
Hi all,
So I'm pretty new to many things tractors, purchased a new BX1880 a few months back and am still learing how to best make use of it. I have a question.

Shortly after getting the machine, after only an hour or two of run time, I noticed a hydraulic oil leak in the rear. I alerted the dealer they took the tractor back. They tried twice to fix it, but had not, sort of a long story and I'm not interested in being too critical of them for that. It was not a huge leak and turned out to be a bit hard to find the source. Anyhow after the second attempt I found it still leaking so spent a fair amount of time trying to locate the source.

I narrowed it to coming from this part, located at the rear of the tractor behind the left rear wheel:




further investigation found it was coming from this plug in the forward top area of that part, just in front of the hydraulic line you can see coming into the top in the above picture,. This is the view looking in over the top of the rear left wheel, plug is indicated by the arrow:



My question is this:
is this plug in the high pressure side of the hydraulic system or part of the return? I have a pretty good understanding of hydraulic systems, having worked with them in other contexts but I know very little about tractors specifically.
Any insight on this, please?
Click to expand...
That is high pressure. It is the port between the hydraulic pump and the pressure control valve. you can remove it and reseal or you might get away with tightening it.
 
A

AL A

Member

Equipment
BX1880
Aug 25, 2019
33
14
8
Dracut Massachusetts, USA
First off, thank you all for taking the time to reply, this is most helpful.

NI Wolfman, thank you for posting photo the link, not quite sure how I messed the in-line links up.

So the reason for my question is this. Once I managed to identify that this plug was likely the leak, I passed that info along to the dealer. Typically this is something I would have just dealt with on my own, but it was a brand new machine, less than 4 hours on it total, and I felt I should not be starting with DIY repairs at this point. Beyond that, I did not know for sure what that was, if it was just a plug, some relief setting or what. To their credit, they did come rigth down and pick the machine up and take it in to look at again. When I got it back, it was no longer leaking but I was just abit put off by the fact the the plug that was there had been replaced with a brass plug with some teflon tape on it.

Now it doesn't leak, so that's good. I'm sketchy on using teflon in hydraulic systems but know it's OK if properly applied, so am not overly bothered by that. The brass plug bugs me. I'm not any expert but as mentioned have worked with hydraulic systems in other contexts, and am not aware of brass fittings being rated for pressures much over 1000psi.

I spoke with the dealer about this and he said he stands by the repair as is, though he did offer to replace the plug with a factory steel one if that's what I wanted, but he felt that what they put in was a better part. I don't want to torture the guy, honestly. And while I suspect it will likely be fine for the life of the tractor, I have the nagging thing of imagining it blowing out along with all of my hydraulic oil, etc.

So tell me, am I being overly cautious, unreasonable, worrying too much, etc? Should a brass plug in that spot be a reasonable substitute for what was there? thoughts?

Thanks again.
 
D

dlsmith

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The brass plug will work just fine.

If it were a brass fitting like a tee or pipe, it would be different, but the brass plug will withstand the ~1800psi just fine. Something else in the system will fail before it will.
 
B

beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
I have a 4000 psi pressure washer that has brass fittings, and valves, plugs, no problems, so your probably ok. But it is weird they didn’t put a factory part back in.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
A

AL A

Member

Equipment
BX1880
Aug 25, 2019
33
14
8
Dracut Massachusetts, USA
Well, thanks guys. That does make me feel a bit better about the whole thing.

Anyone know what sort of thread would be on that port? Would that be a typical NPT pipe thread?

Additional question: Is the diagram above from the shop manual for this machine? I was waffling about buying one as some of the discussion I’ve seen seems to give kubota mixed reviews on how detailed the shop manuals are. If it has details like above, it looks like it’s probably worth having.

Thanks again
 
Last edited:
A

AL A

Member

Equipment
BX1880
Aug 25, 2019
33
14
8
Dracut Massachusetts, USA
B

beex

Member
May 21, 2019
312
5
18
on my bx
There’s a companion parts manual that goes with the shop manual that is useful too, has all the diagrams. I bought a hard copy of both. It has all the diagrams that you get online parts dealers like Messick’s


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armylifer

armylifer

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Mar 26, 2013
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Thurston County, WA
Okay, I am going to chime in here about that brass plug. Using dissimilar metals is asking for a corrosion problem down the line. It can take several years for a problem to happen but it for sure will cause a problem in the future. Ask the dealer to install the original steel plug provided by Kubota. As for the teflon tape, you already know that it is okay if installed correctly.
 
A

AL A

Member

Equipment
BX1880
Aug 25, 2019
33
14
8
Dracut Massachusetts, USA
Have been busy and away from my computer for a bit, but wanted to wrap up and once again say thanks to all for chiming in here and offering all the input.

Good point on the galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals. I'd not given that a thought though I know it's a real thing. I'll probably put my hands on a factory plug and have it on hand for next time the tractor is serviced and swap it out then.

Thanks again for all of the insightful discussion.
 
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