50 Hr service...

03marauderman

Member

Equipment
Kubota BX 23S
Sep 27, 2018
69
1
8
Plattekill
The more I'm reading the more concern I have...The argument can be made for diesel over conventional gas, but not seeing the 'direct relationship' of the Kubota diesel engine to the HST transmission....with regards to fluid. Some questions were raised regarding the change of fluid to the front axle, as I see it the front axle is an independent component, not in conjunction with the HST transmission...There again those who have changed the axle fluid found metal debris. I'm reading some justification in defense of Kubota...doesn't hold water...In today's day & age with technology metal filings/debris should be a rare occurrence....not a standard accepted condition. My owners manual states change filter @ 50 hrs & fluid @ 400. Convenient,.. by 400 hrs the machine is out of warranty and the damage is already done.... The result of this contamination is Kubota's sloppy quality control in manufacturing, with the debris introduced into the tractor, not as a result of a break in period. I can see this happening in Henry Fords assembly line in 1928 but not today....This uncertainty of fluid change is quite clear now.
 

Benhameen

Active member

Equipment
2012 Kubota L3800 HST W/FEL and 1963 JD 2010 row crop utility
Jan 27, 2013
688
115
43
Southern IL.
The more I'm reading the more concern I have...The argument can be made for diesel over conventional gas, but not seeing the 'direct relationship' of the Kubota diesel engine to the HST transmission....with regards to fluid. Some questions were raised regarding the change of fluid to the front axle, as I see it the front axle is an independent component, not in conjunction with the HST transmission...There again those who have changed the axle fluid found metal debris. I'm reading some justification in defense of Kubota...doesn't hold water...In today's day & age with technology metal filings/debris should be a rare occurrence....not a standard accepted condition. My owners manual states change filter @ 50 hrs & fluid @ 400. Convenient,.. by 400 hrs the machine is out of warranty and the damage is already done.... The result of this contamination is Kubota's sloppy quality control in manufacturing, with the debris introduced into the tractor, not as a result of a break in period. I can see this happening in Henry Fords assembly line in 1928 but not today....This uncertainty of fluid change is quite clear now.
I can’t decide If you’re trolling or not.

You started a thread about this very topic but didn’t seem to except the responses from the folks that decided to follow the current recommendation in the manual from Kubota.

In your thread you stated that you once worked on a kubota that had been badly neglected, filler cap missing on the transmission with water and all kinds of other debris in the fluid. Once serviced it was good to go.

Now it’s a kubota conspiracy to not change the fluid at 50hrs in order to get past the warranty? That seems like a stretch to me.

Also, you don’t except that metal in the filters at 50hrs is normal, even though members that have been on here and have owned these tractors for years say it is.

I think if this were such a massive issue with kubota transmissions there would be numerous threads on failures, wouldn't you?
 

03marauderman

Member

Equipment
Kubota BX 23S
Sep 27, 2018
69
1
8
Plattekill
Trolling ?? What ever that means......No I have an expectation & quite honestly I'm a bit shocked and disappointed. I just don't find contamination of any sort, to be a norm & acceptable.... For those who work long & hard to buy a "toy" of this nature, should not have to assume the 'cleanup' of Kubota's failures.. and I regard this as a failure. I also mentioned the flip flop of Kubota's fluid change recommendations, Some you do, some you don't. Does the model of the tractor react differently to the results of metal contamination?... didn't think so.... Obviously Kubota can't figure it out, and users with folks on forums would have a better handle on the consequences....that is why I'm here brainstorming.... No question is a stupid question.... Seems like a simple decision to me....After reading all of the posts & comments I see this as a no brainer, If you want to save your tractor, then dump all the fluids from stem to stern....this way there's no worry about down the road. Some must have a lot of faith when after 400 hrs. they develop a transmission issue that the Kubota dealer will say that you followed the recommendations so the cooked tranny is on us..... And that side bar about the the 'B' series tractor that the filler cap was missing for years?.... something to think about the next time you buy a used tractor.....
 

NHSleddog

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
B2650
Dec 19, 2019
2,149
1,822
113
Southern, NH
That doesn't sound good. Did you photograph the old fluid? Keep some? For proof that there was an issue with the fluid and/or hydraulic system in your new tractor at 50 hours. May help greatly if there's a warranty issue come up later.

My B2650 fluid at 50 hours, and at 200 hours when I changed the tranny filter, looked almost new, no metallic color, cloudiness. Just a very slight tan color, completely transparent. I'm 40 hours from my 400-hour full change, and will keep this thread in mind when I finally drop the original oil.

But at 50 hours having fluid that looks like silver paint sounds to me like something terrible is going on!
Not at all. It looked completely normal to me. (milky metallic paint). There was no sizeable debris that I could see or attract with a magnet. Wipe some of yours on a white paper and tell me it looks new. If so, I would say your fluid was already changed.

I changed it all.

Right now at 200 hours it looks clean. You could not tell it has been used at all.
 

UpNorthMI

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3200, L3901, MX5800, SVL75-2, KX040
May 12, 2020
850
564
93
Up North, MI
I agree with SDT that :

"Manufacturing debris and normal for all manufacturers. This is why manufacturer's recommend filters and sometimes lubricants be changed after a short period of field operation. "

If you have ever seen high volume automated engine / gearbox machining and assembly lines there are a lot of wash stations and a significant effort is made to remove all debris but inevitably some very minor debris may remain during the assembly process.

I don't see a big issue as as soon as the engine / gearbox is run any small debris is immediately collected in the filter, once in the filter that is where the debris will remain.

As an owner who is performing your own service you have the ability to decide what level of service you are going to carry out, you can either follow the recommendations of Kubota or you can follow your own rules to maintain your own comfort level. Personally I over service my tractors as I do not put a ton of hours on them, I make the decision to invest the small amount of money that it takes to do an annual oil change (even with only 25 hours per year) and to follow 50 hour service after 12 months (again even if I have only done 25 hours), I just changed all fluids hydraulic and front axle on my L3200 at just under 200 hours as it is 9 years old! My local dealer will do a 50 hour service on my track loader this week with only 20 hours on it but it is 14 months old.

Other users mention above that they found some debris at the first service but after that initial service fluids and filters were clean of debris on later services. If you have concerns and don't put many hours on your tractor I recommend that you do your first service early, there is no filter on your front axle perhaps you should change that axle fluid at the first service and then follow the recommended service period, after all it costs $30 - $40 for quality fluids to do this work.

The great thing is that you have a choice how often to maintain your tractor, I suggest for the hydraulic fluid that you take a sample and decide if you should change both the filter and the fluid at 50 hours. All owners will differ on this.

I look at it that my labor is free and generally I enjoy doing the work, the cost of the filters and fluids is a low price to pay for peace of mind and the long term care of your machine.

I just purchased another piece of equipment a couple of weeks ago that has a Honda GX series commercial engine, the Honda maintenance schedule calls for an oil change at "First Month or 20 Hours" followed by "Every 3 months or 50 Hours". Thats a regular service!
 
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Thunder chicken

Active member

Equipment
M7060
Dec 29, 2019
294
117
43
Northern ontario
Funny i posted this over on another forum then see this thread....
So i bought my machine used with 260h, unseen. asked the selling dealership to make it current on all maintenance which they did or said they did. I had a copy of the manuals before so knew what was due. I didn't ask for anything nor did they suggest anything above the manual.
The M7060 (geared tranny) calls for hyd oils changed at 1000h. filters at 500. So at 500 now, i changed the filters. Here's the pic of the magnets. I cut the filters open and didn't see anything alarming.
A bit of dirt but i suspect i'm harder on the brakes of this machine than normal as i road travel a lot with a heavy trailer.
Should i change the hyd oil? front end oils? It's only premium udt (sudt) here in Canada. I probably should, it's peace of mind and only $500-$600.
nearest servicing dealership is 5 hours away for me if needed. They recommended to change the oil and filters again in 20-50hours to see what it looks like.
 

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N7HEVN

Member

Equipment
MX5200, RCR2672, BB1572
Sep 12, 2019
40
1
8
Carrollton TX USA
Am late to the email, but yeah this above is no-joke!
Here's a video that shows it, it's the first filter he changes in this guide -

I just did my 50 Hour maintenance last week, and I did save the filters. It noticed the metal shavings as well.
My tractor is 3 hours away from home, so please bear with me, as I need a couple/few weeks to get back there. Will post up some pictures for you, for comparison to your filter change.
Here's a picture of my filter and the shavings on it, for the 50 Hour filters change, etc.
Hope this is helpful!
 

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sphill

New member

Equipment
L2501 HST
Jul 21, 2020
2
1
3
Louisiana
As a side note on the subject of the 50 hr service... I had read or saw on YouTube that guys were losing up to 2 gallons of oil when changing the hst filter. Also read that parking tractor sideways on an incline would reduce oil loss. Might have read that here... can’t remember.... but that method works very well. I only lost about 1-2quarts. I highly recommend this method.

Mac
Did you park where the front tires were higher on the incline or the rear ones?