M6-141 50 Hr Service....15 GALLONS of Hydraulic oil? Don't Think So!

[capngeo]

Did my 50 hr (at 84 hours) The WSM says to dump the ENTIRE hydraulic oil supply and put in fresh. $420 worth of the stuff! Well I figured that was a pile of Bull Manure. Oil doesn't really go bad; it just gets dirty. ESPECIALLY in only 50 hours.

Way back in my old feeble mind, I remembered having the same thoughts on my last new Kubota tractor (L6060). Back then I took a vacuum, connected it to the fill hole and didn't lose any beyond what was in the filter. It was crude; only a rag for a seal. So, fast forward a few years to today... I decided to do the same trick, but I wanted it to be more.... uh....elegant (as if there's any elegance in changing oil and filters).

Fired up the old lathe and built this:

One short piece of sch 40 1" PVC and a 2" cap. Cut the threads, and put a shoulder on the other end of the pipe. Cut a hole in the cap and pic glued it together.

 

[OntheRidge]

Hmmm, 125k tractor, not worth $420 worth of hydraulic fluid?

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

The mating surfaces of new gears wear in, shedding microscopic metal bits in the process, which cause significantly more wear than gears riding on oil film without metal bits, which is likely why Kubota says to change the oil as doing so would add significant life to the tractor.

 

[TheOldHokie]

What the Hedgehog said. The flush is to remove break in wear metals and any manufacturing debris that may have been missed at the factory. Spend the money

Dan

 

[ItBmine]

To each his own. I don't mind buying a couple hundred bucks of oil and filters for my large investments. Especially since I'm one of those people that keeps my stuff forever, I don't sell or trade up constantly.

 

[capngeo]

Well... the filter has a magnet to catch the bits of metal. Did the same with my L6060 when it was new (about 2900 hrs now), and it was a HST! If the metal shavings were a problem it would have reared its head by now.

 

[capngeo]

Hmmm, 125k tractor, not worth $420 worth of hydraulic fluid?

You know Kubota inflates the crap out of their parts and supply prices. When I can buy a WIX, Donaldson, Baldwin, or other name brand filter I do,,, same with seals, bearings, Motor and Hydro oil, and whatever other generic parts that are IDENTICAL or interchange.

When it comes right down to it; I am a rancher, my margins are just too thin to fall for some marketing campaign because the big orange god in the Pacific, says I need to buy their stuff.

Whilst I am putting on my flame suit for the "You'll void your warranty" crowd.... Read Magnusem-Moss

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

Lake Speed Jr. (well-known tribologist) has pretty much said changing engine oil more frequently is more important than the oil brand because of wear, contaminates, and oil breakdown.

Hydraulic oil is not engine oil, but many of of the same principles apply, such as wear, contaminates, and oil breakdown. Another one exists with Kubota from what I read here regarding longevity: cooling ability. Apparently Kubota is trying to squeeze every ounce of power out of their tractors and the type of oil is important in this case.

After reading hundreds of member experiences here I went to the Kubota dealer and picked up all the 400-hour service stuff, and it was indeed reasonably priced as members had said. I'm not a Kubota zealot, but do work it hard and want it to last; grease and oils are affordable compared to buying a new tractor in my opinion.

 

[NCL4701]

Like your custom shop vac to hydraulic oil fill adapter. The shop vac trick is effective but if you don’t have a second person to hold the vac hose tight to the tractor, it isn’t easy to get a reliable competent seal.

 

[OntheRidge]

You know Kubota inflates the crap out of their parts and supply prices. When I can buy a WIX, Donaldson, Baldwin, or other name brand filter I do,,, same with seals, bearings, Motor and Hydro oil, and whatever other generic parts that are IDENTICAL or interchange.

When it comes right down to it; I am a rancher, my margins are just too thin to fall for some marketing campaign because the big orange god in the Pacific, says I need to buy their stuff.

Whilst I am putting on my flame suit for the "You'll void your warranty" crowd.... Read Magnusem-Moss

Hey, it's your tractor. Best of luck.

 

[BAP]

Another, “I am smarter than the engineers that designed my Tractor” thread. Eventually it will turn into a “I am extremely pissed off at Kubota thread” when my tractor dies due to lack of proper maintenance and use of snake oil parts.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

My dad was that way; the passenger vehicle manufacturer said to change the oil every 4K miles and suggested changing the oil every 3K miles--Dad thought they were in collusion with "Big Oil." He also said, "I have the worst luck, I can never get a vehicle to last more than 80K miles--how do you get ever 120K with no problems???" I said I change my fluids and do brake service regularly. He didn't believe me and thought I was wasting money.

One top engine builder I knew said if you change the oil every 2K miles he'll warranty the engine for 300K miles (any brand, just had to meet the specs). Customers would complain OEM says 4K changes....but his high-output engines lasted longer than OEM while putting out more power IF keeping fresh oil in them, and he warrantied only one that I remember, go figure.

 

[Bee-Positive]

While I don't own an L, just a tiny BX, here's my statement and question.

I thought the idea of the initial 50 hour oil/hydraulic fluid change was to remove any possible particles, metal or otherwise, that may be present after assembly and 50 hours of operation. Heavy particles not caught by the strainer and/or filter would hopefully settle to the bottom of the pan. The drain plug (on the bottom of the pan on my BX) would allow them to be "flushed out" as it were.

It seems that vacuuming the oil out the fill hole may not remove those bits on the bottom of the pan. Not being familiar with the L series geometry what am I missing?

 

[capngeo]

Another, “I am smarter than the engineers that designed my Tractor” thread. Eventually it will turn into a “I am extremely pissed off at Kubota thread” when my tractor dies due to lack of proper maintenance and use of snake oil parts.

All I was trying to do is share the build with other tractor owners. IF IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU, DON'T USE IT! I wasn't interested in being on the bottom of a pile-on from a bunch of people who spend more time behind their computer screen than they do in their tractor seat. I spend 40-60 hours a week in mine.

I guess because the predominate demographic here only has "garden tractors", and are small property owners who really don't depend on them for work, they can afford to spend willy-nilly on stuff you really don't need. Anyone here wants to compare hour meters on their machines, I'm ready. The tractor that the M6-141 replaced had 9700 hours on it, my lowest houred tractor is the L6060 with nearly 3000. Imagine someone as stupid (or cheap) as me getting that kind of time out of a machine!

Oh....Actually... It was an engineer from Shell oil that told me the oil was fine, and a Kubota shop foremen who gave me the idea (because he said they had too much trouble getting a good seal with the vacuum), which lead me to make the adapter.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Well I figured that was a pile of Bull Manure. Oil doesn't really go bad; it just gets dirty. ESPECIALLY in only 50 hours.

Oil does go bad. For example in hypoid drives the toothed wheels crack the oil mechanically, so it changes its lubricating properties over time. And the dirt accumulation is highest in the first hours of a tractor.

I recently changed the oil on my 35ish year old tractor with over 6000 hours on the clock and after spending over 3 hours on the internet bought original Kubota oil which turned out to be cheaper than any alternatives.

But hey, your tractor, your choice, you can do with it what you want.


p.s.: I myself would certainly not reuse hydraulic system oil that went through such a dirty adapter.

 

[85Hokie]

All I was trying to do is share the build with other tractor owners. IF IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU, DON'T USE IT! I wasn't interested in being on the bottom of a pile-on from a bunch of people who spend more time behind their computer screen than they do in their tractor seat. I spend 40-60 hours a week in mine.

I guess because the predominate demographic here only has "garden tractors", and are small property owners who really don't depend on them for work, they can afford to spend willy-nilly on stuff you really don't need. Anyone here wants to compare hour meters on their machines, I'm ready. The tractor that the M6-141 replaced had 9700 hours on it, my lowest houred tractor is the L6060 with nearly 3000. Imagine someone as stupid (or cheap) as me getting that kind of time out of a machine!

Oh....Actually... It was an engineer from Shell oil that told me the oil was fine, and a Kubota shop foremen who gave me the idea (because he said they had too much trouble getting a good seal with the vacuum), which lead me to make the adapter.

First - lets not assume that "here only has "garden tractors"," - case is not true all all.

AS mentioned in another post - you do what you think is best in your situation - if it works for you that is the only thing that really matters.

AS for your wish to close this post - naw, all is good, we can differ in opinions and yet still work as a collective group to help one another.

 

[jyoutz]

The owners manual for my MX6000 said to just change the hydro filter at 50 hours. The fluid/filter change is at 200 hours.

 

[MOOTS]

While I don't own an L, just a tiny BX, here's my statement and question.

I thought the idea of the initial 50 hour oil/hydraulic fluid change was to remove any possible particles, metal or otherwise, that may be present after assembly and 50 hours of operation. Heavy particles not caught by the strainer and/or filter would hopefully settle to the bottom of the pan. The drain plug (on the bottom of the pan on my BX) would allow them to be "flushed out" as it were.

It seems that vacuuming the oil out the fill hole may not remove those bits on the bottom of the pan. Not being familiar with the L series geometry what am I missing?

I think this is in reply to the PVC adapter thingy up there.
They are not actually sucking the oil out of the fill hole in this case. Simply putting a suction on the transmission so when a filter is removed, all of the oil doesn’t come with it.