Although it was hot early today it was time to pay some attention to a few things. Cleaned underside and sharpened the blades on the RFM and lubed it Blew out radiator, A/C coils and hydraulic oil cooler. Blew out the air filter elements. Replaced fuel filter. Couple of notes:
For supporting the RFM while working under it, a pair of HF jack stands works well. Raise the deck, set the stands under the front edge of the deck and lower the deck so it rests on the jack stands. This keeps the deck more or less level and it can't fold or settle. The jack stands support the front and the top link supports the back. I once set the jack stands on the sides of the deck and removed the blades. While off getting the blades cleaned and sharpened, the 3PH had enough leakdown to let the deck pivot and almost slip off the jack stands.
Drilled 4 holes in the fan shroud to make life easier. Oops, didn't have my phone for pics. Maybe I'll remember to take a couple tomorrow when it's mowing time. One high and one low on each side in the space between the fan and the radiator. The blow gun can then reach pretty much the entire back side of the radiator without fighting to get between the fan blades. Squeezing the wand between the blades made it tough to get 100% coverage, plus it concerns me to be poking around hitting the radiator fins. With the access holes, the wand runs smoothly parallel with the back of the radiator. The wand of choice for this is the bottom one in the picture. The end is blocked and I cut a kerf in the side for a 90° blow.
Per the WSM, turned the fuel valve off, dropped and replaced the filter, opened the fuel valve and the bleeder valve, started and ran engine for about 30 seconds, shut it off, closed the bleeder. There was no hesitation when starting it and no sputtering or anything. It started and ran just like normal for both bleeding and when complete. One of the previous Kubotas (perhaps the L3200) was a PITA to bleed after disrupting the fuel.
For supporting the RFM while working under it, a pair of HF jack stands works well. Raise the deck, set the stands under the front edge of the deck and lower the deck so it rests on the jack stands. This keeps the deck more or less level and it can't fold or settle. The jack stands support the front and the top link supports the back. I once set the jack stands on the sides of the deck and removed the blades. While off getting the blades cleaned and sharpened, the 3PH had enough leakdown to let the deck pivot and almost slip off the jack stands.
Drilled 4 holes in the fan shroud to make life easier. Oops, didn't have my phone for pics. Maybe I'll remember to take a couple tomorrow when it's mowing time. One high and one low on each side in the space between the fan and the radiator. The blow gun can then reach pretty much the entire back side of the radiator without fighting to get between the fan blades. Squeezing the wand between the blades made it tough to get 100% coverage, plus it concerns me to be poking around hitting the radiator fins. With the access holes, the wand runs smoothly parallel with the back of the radiator. The wand of choice for this is the bottom one in the picture. The end is blocked and I cut a kerf in the side for a 90° blow.
Per the WSM, turned the fuel valve off, dropped and replaced the filter, opened the fuel valve and the bleeder valve, started and ran engine for about 30 seconds, shut it off, closed the bleeder. There was no hesitation when starting it and no sputtering or anything. It started and ran just like normal for both bleeding and when complete. One of the previous Kubotas (perhaps the L3200) was a PITA to bleed after disrupting the fuel.
