49.8 hours on the little beast. I have a very good dealer as both the FEL and BH have the power to toss the entire machine about effortlessly. Meaning I feel there is nothing that I can do to make it more powerful, the dealer did it on initial setup. I have to work carefully. I have a very steel hill to go up to my disposal spot of tree stumps. A 400 pound stump chained to the bucket, lifted with nary a wimper and drive right up the hill. I do use 4WD going up and down for safety but the machine speed is constant. When doing 'the hard stuff' I tach it at about 3,100 rpm.
Anyhow, today I took advantage of a lack of other obligations and did the first filter changes and engine oil. Drove the tractor about for ten minutes to heat it up and bring into suspension any materials I have a BX Expanded skid plate and that was removed in about 10 seconds.
Draining of the oil is super easy, one of the few engines I own that I can get at the drain plug with no effort. My drain bolt has a rubber oring integrated into it so it is reusable many times. Started the draining, removed the filler cap. Drained in five minutes. Reinstalled drain plug. Just snug, no need to crank it down. You should use less effort to reinstall it than it took to remove it. I've seen a lot of cracked alloy cases and stripped steel drain pains because the last person was being brutal. Finesse.
Locating the oil filter the first time is often a issue and Kubota does not make it easy having painted everything at time of assembly. I used a cap type filter removal tool (65mm) and a wrench. No oil back flowed to the end, what oil dripped, ran into my drain pan. Nice. New filter on, 3 qts. Rotella T5 15W30, wiped off the steering shaft boot and done. Maybe thirty minutes because I move slow (bad knees). Really no need to remove the body work and all those steps in the manual.
Next was the HST filter. My dealer told me to drive it up a steep hill, that would minimize the loss of UDT. Drove to a hill (so steep the BH bottom out!), crawled under neath, spun off the filter. Lost about 2 ounces, tops. New filter on. Done. Back to the garage, put the skid plate on, double checked for leaks. Checked fluid levels. Engine oil was spot on, HST looked ok but it was a bit foamy and could be deceitful so I'll let it sit a day and recheck.
I have to say, this was the easiest oil and filter change I have ever done. I did not bother to open the filters to look for debris. Engine oil looked typically dark, HST fluid that I lost looked crystal clear. No reason to bother to be suspicious.
Anyhow, today I took advantage of a lack of other obligations and did the first filter changes and engine oil. Drove the tractor about for ten minutes to heat it up and bring into suspension any materials I have a BX Expanded skid plate and that was removed in about 10 seconds.
Draining of the oil is super easy, one of the few engines I own that I can get at the drain plug with no effort. My drain bolt has a rubber oring integrated into it so it is reusable many times. Started the draining, removed the filler cap. Drained in five minutes. Reinstalled drain plug. Just snug, no need to crank it down. You should use less effort to reinstall it than it took to remove it. I've seen a lot of cracked alloy cases and stripped steel drain pains because the last person was being brutal. Finesse.
Locating the oil filter the first time is often a issue and Kubota does not make it easy having painted everything at time of assembly. I used a cap type filter removal tool (65mm) and a wrench. No oil back flowed to the end, what oil dripped, ran into my drain pan. Nice. New filter on, 3 qts. Rotella T5 15W30, wiped off the steering shaft boot and done. Maybe thirty minutes because I move slow (bad knees). Really no need to remove the body work and all those steps in the manual.
Next was the HST filter. My dealer told me to drive it up a steep hill, that would minimize the loss of UDT. Drove to a hill (so steep the BH bottom out!), crawled under neath, spun off the filter. Lost about 2 ounces, tops. New filter on. Done. Back to the garage, put the skid plate on, double checked for leaks. Checked fluid levels. Engine oil was spot on, HST looked ok but it was a bit foamy and could be deceitful so I'll let it sit a day and recheck.
I have to say, this was the easiest oil and filter change I have ever done. I did not bother to open the filters to look for debris. Engine oil looked typically dark, HST fluid that I lost looked crystal clear. No reason to bother to be suspicious.
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