Alfred_2345
Active member
Equipment
L3901, LA525, BH77, SGC1060, RZ60, Box Blade, Z726XKW ZTM, RTV-X900
I recently did the initial 50 hr service which includes changing the engine oil & filter and the two hydraulic filters. I thought I would post my experience for other folks that are considering doing this themselves.
TLDR: Let the dealer do it unless your willing and capable of battling with filter removal. If you take it on, have the new suction filter ready to put on right away as the hydraulic oil will drain from the tank when its off.
I started with the hydraulic filters, removed the rear guard and spun off the HST filter with no problems. I’m thinking this will be easy. Nope! Couldn’t budge the suction filter. I broke the metal band type (cheap) wrench I had. I ended up driving a (big) screw driver thru the base and still had to put a pipe over that to get it to budge. Probably had 18”+ leverage on it and it still took a lot to move it. And I have to do this several times to get it backed off enough (1 full turn?) to be able to remove it by hand. All the while the hydraulic fluid is bleeding out and the oil catch pan is filling up…. The Ops Manual states “Quickly tighten the filter by hand until it contacts the mounting surface” but don’t tell you why they say that! Of course I didn’t have enough UDT2 on hand as I was only expecting to loose what was in the filters, so drive back into town to get more.
Next day it was time to take on the oil change. As you can guess, the filter refused to come off. Removed the battery and cables to get better access and, in the end, used a 14” pipe wrench to get it to move. Like the suction filter, it took a full turn get it to free up.
Is it normal for filters to be this hard to remove? In my (limited) experience, something was not right.
The rest of the 50 hr service consisted of lubricating various points and went off without any problems.
TLDR: Let the dealer do it unless your willing and capable of battling with filter removal. If you take it on, have the new suction filter ready to put on right away as the hydraulic oil will drain from the tank when its off.
I started with the hydraulic filters, removed the rear guard and spun off the HST filter with no problems. I’m thinking this will be easy. Nope! Couldn’t budge the suction filter. I broke the metal band type (cheap) wrench I had. I ended up driving a (big) screw driver thru the base and still had to put a pipe over that to get it to budge. Probably had 18”+ leverage on it and it still took a lot to move it. And I have to do this several times to get it backed off enough (1 full turn?) to be able to remove it by hand. All the while the hydraulic fluid is bleeding out and the oil catch pan is filling up…. The Ops Manual states “Quickly tighten the filter by hand until it contacts the mounting surface” but don’t tell you why they say that! Of course I didn’t have enough UDT2 on hand as I was only expecting to loose what was in the filters, so drive back into town to get more.
Next day it was time to take on the oil change. As you can guess, the filter refused to come off. Removed the battery and cables to get better access and, in the end, used a 14” pipe wrench to get it to move. Like the suction filter, it took a full turn get it to free up.
Is it normal for filters to be this hard to remove? In my (limited) experience, something was not right.
The rest of the 50 hr service consisted of lubricating various points and went off without any problems.