B21 with transmission issues

[Dolemite]

Hello, I'm new to OTT. I have a B21 that won't go into either medium or high gear. It will still go into low gear. It sounds like the hydrulics are straining when you try to go into medium and nothing at all in high.
I took it to local Kubota dealer in SE Pa and they told me it would take 8-10 days (60-80 hours) to just do a diagnostic for the problem because of how old the machine is. That would be about $8,000 and another $6,000-$8,000 to possibly fix it! They would not guarantee that for that price they could fix it. The manager said it will take at least 8 hours to take the backhoe off alone then another full day to get it back on! I told him I did it about 6 months ago and it took about 45 minutes. He asked about getting a replacement machine and I told him I wasn't interested. About an hour later, a salesman calls asking me what upgrade I want! The kicker is that when I was leaving, I had 3 seperate shop personel ask me if I would be intrested in selling it to them.
I understand that it does take a lot of work to split the machine to get to the transmission but $14-$16K without a guarantee that they can fix it....come on! If you are not interested, just tell me. I'm a big boy. I won't have a hissy fit.
Bottom Line: Does anyone know of anyone in the Philly region that can look at or willing to fix this B21??

 

[PaulL]

Hello, I'm new to OTT. I have a B21 that won't go into either medium or high gear. It will still go into low gear. It sounds like the hydrulics are straining when you try to go into medium and nothing at all in high.

Won't go into, or won't run once in it? Quite different things to me.

 

[Dolemite]

The machine runs normally. It will only operate (drive both forward and reverse) in low gear. Trying to get it into medium, it sounds like the hydraulics are straining but won't engage to drive and the high gear will not engage at all. Hope this clears it up a little bit more!

 

[100 td]

Check your private messages

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Hello, I'm new to OTT. I have a B21 that won't go into either medium or high gear. It will still go into low gear. It sounds like the hydrulics are straining when you try to go into medium and nothing at all in high.
I took it to local Kubota dealer in SE Pa and they told me it would take 8-10 days (60-80 hours) to just do a diagnostic for the problem because of how old the machine is. That would be about $8,000 and another $6,000-$8,000 to possibly fix it! They would not guarantee that for that price they could fix it. The manager said it will take at least 8 hours to take the backhoe off alone then another full day to get it back on! I told him I did it about 6 months ago and it took about 45 minutes. He asked about getting a replacement machine and I told him I wasn't interested. About an hour later, a salesman calls asking me what upgrade I want! The kicker is that when I was leaving, I had 3 seperate shop personel ask me if I would be intrested in selling it to them.
I understand that it does take a lot of work to split the machine to get to the transmission but $14-$16K without a guarantee that they can fix it....come on! If you are not interested, just tell me. I'm a big boy. I won't have a hissy fit.
Bottom Line: Does anyone know of anyone in the Philly region that can look at or willing to fix this B21??

Heck for 14K to 16K you could ship it to me and I'd 100% guarantee it would run.

It sounds like you could have something as simple as the clutch going out or possibly just a fluid issue.

Any more details, and when it was serviced last?

 

[Fordtech86]

Sounds like a crappy dealer and somebody there knows what’s wrong already and trying to get it from you cheap.

 

[PaulL]

The machine runs normally. It will only operate (drive both forward and reverse) in low gear. Trying to get it into medium, it sounds like the hydraulics are straining but won't engage to drive and the high gear will not engage at all. Hope this clears it up a little bit more!

OK, sounds to me like the gearbox is engaging. That makes sense, since it's a manual shift range selector, if that wouldn't go it really means you've very very low on hydraulic fluid (i.e. no oil in your gearbox), or the teeth on the gears are stripped/squashed.

But if you're putting it into medium or high range just fine, but when you push on the HST pedal it doesn't move, that more sounds to me like an HST or other hydraulic issue.

How do the other hydraulics on the machine work - is the 3ph going well, does the loader lift a full bucket? Have you checked the level of the hydraulic fluid?

I don't know enough about how the HST works, but I don't think there's a clutch involved there. I suspect an HST rebuild would be expensive, but if the rest of your hydraulics are working fine, and there's plenty of hydraulic fluid, then that would suggest to me an HST issue.

North Idaho Wolfman knows these machines inside out, but I suspect he needs a bit more detail about the exact process for putting it into medium or high ratio, and then exactly what happens afterwards - are you pushing the HST pedal, what noises do you get, what happens, does it try to move or just do nothing?

I've heard that a test on these machines in low ratio is to bury the bucket or push against something, and then push on the pedal. If the HST is in good condition then you should be able to stall the motor by pressing the HST, if the HST is "slipping" then it won't stall. Again NIW would have opinions, but that could be a test - if the HST is the problem then maybe even in low ratio it hasn't got the push it should have.

 

[Dolemite]

Thanks for the replies!!! The hydraulic fluid levels seem to be fine and the loader and backhoe still work fine. I plan on doing some more tinkering with it next Sunday on my day off. Is it best to check the hydraulic fluid when the machine is running or the engine is off?