Refurbish Kubota L245DT

I'm starting a new thread as my previous one was more panic and questions than progress. I have finally started to get some work done so I'm hoping to gain the interest of others who may be willing to lend an opinion on some issues I have. I titled it "refurbish" as its not an entire rebuild as others here have done.

The tractor is an L245DT with serial #51417 manufactured in 1979. Nice little tractor. The couple I got it from used it only to plow/grade their laneway. They got it from its original owner. It came only with the rear balde, and what looks like a kick off valve in the cab. Has never had a loader on it.


I got the tractor in the spring. Got it off the trailer and it got stuck in reverse so i had to have the 1st and reverse shift forks replaced. Sign of things to come I guess. After that I noted some issues surrounding the oil. Firstly, I noticed oil was getting blown all over the right side of the engine and cab. There was oil around the head cover, and also around the gear case, but I was unable to determine exactly where it was coming from as it was being blown every where by the fan. I also noted oil weeping around the oil pan. Lastly upon removing the coolant, oil was found there too. This of course is distressing. There was only a small amount as I didn't even notice it until it had time to settle in the pail. The first thing I did was pull off the head cover. The gasket was in poor condition, but the frost plugs are intact.



The next logical step is the head gasket. So last night I finally got the head off, which was a pain in the butt. I had to put a ratchet strap across the heat sheild in front of the fuel tank and through the cab just for the head to clear it. I didn't find any shims along with the gasket. Not sure if this is unusual or not. That being said I'm nervous about reassembly in regard to clearances. The shop manual says to insert soft lead wire through tone of the injectors and measure it flattened for tolerances. Deal with that when I get to it. Ive never really torn into an engine this much before so I'm really looking forward to the opinion of others from the community here. Let me know what you all think.





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Well I just spoke to a local machine shop and they quoted me about $80 to resurface the head. Less than what I thought it would be....based on no experience however. Might just go ahead and do it. Im also thinking, given the look of the valves, that I should replace them as well.

Got some quotes back from a couple of sources and some of the basic parts are quite expensive. Does anyone know if the tie rods can be cross referenced? I'm also considering modifying the drag link to accept tie rods as well. Replacing the drag link has also proven to be pretty pricey.

Any help is appreciated.

I did not know that a special tool was required to pull the valve stem keepers and retainer off. Does anyone have a particular tool or make that they prefer? Need to get at it asap so I can get the head into the shop and start putting it back together.

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Thanks brown10. Ill give them a call tomorrow to inquire. That woukd be a huge help for sure.

I have the head dissassembled save the valves anyway. Could not believe the guk that was inside the intake and exhaust manifolds. All the parts are soaking in diesel fuel for clean up. Gonna tackle the gear case cover Tuesday or Wednesday.

On further reading I'm considering replacing the cam plug while I'm in there. Is there anything else I should consider while I've got the thing this torn down? My budget is tight as always, however id hate to get it all back together only to have other issues that could have been more easily tackled from this point.

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Thanks for the advice. I do have the shop manual for my tractor. Ill start reading up on your suggestions now. Given the amount of disassembly I'm at now I'm half inclined to just pull the whole engine out and have the block machined along with the head. Make some calls tomorrow. Thanks again.

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Its been a while as usual for me. My other 1000 projects that also need to be done before the weather turns have been taking precedent over the tractor. Im about half way to pulling the whole engine now. Spoke again with my local machine shop and it sounds like it may be worth while having them disassemble the whole thing, wash and reassemble as needed. I simply do not have the time. They told me they can completely disassemble a V8 in about 45 min so Im hopeful this little 3 cylinder will take them considerably less time since its just straight labor.

Got the front drive shaft off last night which was a bigger pain in the butt than it should have been. I have a full cab and there is a crossmember mounted to the bottom of the tractor that needed to be removed first. All the bolts were rusted as heck and there was a step built onto the drivers side that was welded from the crossmember to the cab. Then one of the bolts snapped off in the tractor so I had to drill that out. Grrrrrrrr!

When I finally got the drive shaft off I was laying on my back underneath the tractor and the front coupling was a little stiff. Finally pulled it back and the shaft fell and smacked me right in the face! Following some further muttering and swearing I finally got the front end pulled off as well. Just need to hook up the hoist tonight and hopefully get it separated.

Ill try and post some pics tomorrow of what I find in there. Hopefully no more surprises but im not holding my breath.

Profnohair said:

Any pictures of the shaft making contact with your face. Just kidding. That had to hurt.

Profnohair

Click to expand...

If only! It was a definite AFV moment.

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Here's a couple of pics from yesterday.

Engine is ready to be pulled now. Just hanging there pretty much.



Was surprised that the front end came off so easily. Just 6 bolts if I remember correct.



You can see the gap in the cab where the drag link comes out. It was boxed in by some pretty crappy metal work, which had to be removed a la recip saw in order to get at one of the bolts on the bell housing. Pain in the a$$!



The pile of left over junk...



Going slow, but steady. Can't wait to get it all back together. The wiring is a pretty big mess. When I took the bonnet off the lines to the headlights basically crumbled apart, which would explain why they didn't work. And the rest of it is just a mess. There is a fan, heater core heater and some aux lights all wired in there and the existing wiring is falling apart. I have the wiring diagram, and it seems simple enough to follow, but I'm sure it will be just another time consumer for me. Oh well.....it'll be like new by the time I'm done

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Got the engine pulled off today. Just a couple of pics here...

Seems like the clutch lever bearing is in good condition. It spins freely and it feels smooth. I was surprised how well the housing cleaned up.





The clutch itself seems to be in rather good condition as well. I was surprised that there was no gasket between the clutch housing and the flywheel assembly. I didn't remove the flywheel from the engine but on inspection it also looks ok. Ill leave it to the machine shop as to whether or not it is machined down or not.





That's pretty much it for today. I didn't have any bolts on hand that would fit the flywheel housing in order to get the engine on the stand, so ill be making a trip into town for that over the weekend. Hopefully have it all at the shop for Monday. Cheers

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Thanks for the pic! Ha, ha! That's the last thing I expected to see. To be honest the first time I saw that fitting was prior to pulling the engine while studying the parts diagram. It appeared to be greased well though. I just cleaned it well prior to the pic. However, I wont forget that fitting now. Thanks again.

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Engine is going to the shop this morning. Did some general cleanup on the tractor last night. Mostly on the cab. The previous owner did a crappy job of attempting to insulate it. There was batt insulation shoved in every gap all through the cab, and the ceiling had some old sort of black foam stuck to it. Serious mess. Had to scrape it all off.



Here is another pic of the mish mash metal work that made up the floor in the cab. Me thinks I can do a better job than this. Might be somethin temporary for now, but none the less it will be better.





Looking forward to getting the engine back all nice and clean. Would love to repaint the whole thing, but that might have to wait until spring now.

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Ok. I just came from the shop and the guy quoted me between $2-4000 to rebuild! Is that sounding right to everyone else?

Do they make a rebuild kit for these engines? Or, do u just have to order the parts idividually? I really don't have the time, but if it will save me $1-3000 then ill bight the bullet and do it. Heck it would still be cheeper for me to buy all the parts, a bunch of new tools for the job.

I would sincerely appreciate the opinions of others here.


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Ya. Once I calmed myself down, and worked it out, I guess its about on par considering the time. When you have friends in the automotive industry with whom you take the majority of your work its easy to forget the bottom-line cost at times. I'm going to do it myself.

I just got the head back off and also dropped the oil pan. Looks pretty clean in there. Hardly any "sludge" in the pan. And, the oil pick up is nice and clean too.



I spoke with a different machinist here in town. He is the only guy who is able to do head work in house. Figure that?? Sounds like a good guy and he will do a cash deal. So ill have the head cleaned up, and machined flat, replace a bunch of gaskets and seals and slap it back together with my fingers crossed.

Question.....how easy should it be to turn the cranck with the head off? I'm able to turn it pretty freely with one hand. I figured it should be harder than that.

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