Kubota GR2100 hyrdostatic drive fluid leak

[jnug]

I was going to tack this onto one of the existing threads. But I suspect others might be trying to make the same decision I made and now regret.

I had one of the gas engine Kubota tractors for a couple of years and while I thought I had purchased enough tractor to just mow my lawn. it was a little short on power. So I traded it back to the dealer for a GR2100. Mind you all this thing does is mow my 1.25 acres of lawn. That is it. I have had it since May 2007. Today, the thing is leaking UDTS fluid. The Kubota dealer tells me that 90% of the time, it is caused by a gear or spacer breaking inside the drive which runs the width of the rear of the tractor sending metal through the system and cutting a seal, Further the only way to fix it is to tear down the back of the tractor, find the broken part, repair it, repair what it has damaged and put everything back together again...roughly a $3,000.00 job!!! Occasionally a clamp goes and that causes the leak but that is very very rare. This was a $7,600 tractor which has been used about 35 minutes per spring/summer week since 5/07 on nothing more dramatic than a lawn and now needs a $3,000 repair. You have got to be kidding me.

I bought a Kubota figuring I would buy more tractor than I needed from a reliability standpoint and make out on the back end in reduced down time or repair needed. That equation does not work with this tractor. I live in NE so it is used about 30 times per year, about 35 minutes per usage to mow my lawn. I could have had my lawn mowed by a contractor for what this has cost me over the short period of time is has been in service. Needless to stay I am extremely disappointed in this tractor and in Kubota for designing something at a $7,600 price point that requires such extensive servicing after such limited usage.

In addition, I have a question for tractor pros. I can't afford to repair this thing...it is senseless to repair it. The repair is going to cost most of what it is worth if not all of what it is worth.

Once this happens is there any life left in the sealed system transaxle at all? Can I simply top off the fluid and get maybe another summer of cuts out of this thing or is the more likely scenario that a couple of cuts after topping the fluid, the hydrostatic drive or steering which I think shares the same fluid will grind to a halt? Given the cost of repair, I am inclined to just run it with the fluid topped off trying to keep it alive through one more summer. It is about the only way to even have the $ numbers come out at all reasonable.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think you need to find a better/cheaper mechanic or dealer!
Or better yet do the work yourself, get a service manual.
A seal that is leaking fluid to the outside should not cost that much to repair.

If everything besides the leak seems right I wouldn't worry about what might have or might not have broken, replace the seal and see how long you get out of it.

Here is a listing on EBay for a parts tractor http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kubota-GR21...ultDomain_0&hash=item35cd5bb9fe#ht_204wt_1170

There are other options.

 

[jnug]

They get $85.00 an hour over their for service time. I am sure from looking at the cutaway of the system, it is the tear down and and build back that takes all the time. Clearly the system would have to be flushed to get whatever other metal shavings that cut the seal out of there. However I doubt that is much of the time.

If you look at the cutaway for that transaxle it runs the entire width of the back of the tractor. If the thing is spitting metal parts, why would a new seal last any amount of time at all? If it is still spitting metal, it will just gash the new seal just like it gashed the old seal. As for the $3,000 estimate (likely worst case), OK, lets say it is $2,000....still does not work financially to repair it. You would have to get the repair cost well below $2,000 to make this work. If you add up all of the usage, this is 90 hours of mild usage....mowing a lawn!!!! Frankly, that is a joke.

By the way, thanks for trying to help. But if you look at the numbers and the job, virtually nothing works which is why I am more inclined to blame Kubota for its design far more than the dealer for his hourly rate and estimate.

 

[jnug]

Well the tractor is down at the dealer now. First step a formal estimate vs the off the cuff estimate....Kubota has decided to kick in something to help with the repair. Frankly they should have an hours of use warranty on the machine which would have certainly covered the ridiculously low number of hours I have on this machine. Thankful for the assistance none the less as this could be a crazy expensive repair depending on what all else has been taken down by the metal pieces from the tranny going who knows where.

Obviously at a minimum they will change out the tranny to the type of tranny that should have been in a diesel tractor to begin with. I would guess that many buy a diesel machine in part for the long life and power of the motor...mating such a weak, prone to breakage tranny with fluid feeding every major component of the machine other than the motor is just poor design. Start from there. Sure there are niggling other issues with the GR like the ever balky switches. But they pale by comparison to the tranny mess the company has gotten into with this series.

I will be lucky if the PTO is not ruined given its position. The PTO seems to work fine at this point but that may not mean very much. It still could be on its way to an early grave again because that fluid goes everywhere.