L2201DT oil change: front axle (L245 owners may also be interested)

MrChuck

New member

Equipment
L2201DT
Nov 25, 2010
28
1
0
Heathcote, VIC, Australia
All,

After plenty of excitement with overheating (there's another thread on this), I got the bit between the teeth and started on the 300 hour service which includes changing the transmission and front axle oil.

This latter is an operation which defies belief, if you haven't done it before. Found the filler plugs for the diff, R and L, on top of the axle, great. Found the drain plug for the diff, great. Found the drains for the R and L axle boxes, also great. Proceeded without finding the filler plugs for same--not so great--read on.

I drained a bit under a litre of oil from each of the axle boxes, and around two from the central diff, as expected. Then started refilling it all. Around two litres went in to the filler holes on top of the axle, then it started to overflow.

What?

I was under the impression that the filler plugs on top of the axle filled the whole thing. Not so. After a lot of frustrating messing around, I finally found the filler holes for each side box right behind the front wheels and almost invisible under the dust and muck. Furthermore, you have to bend your funnel around the wheel to get the oil in.

At any rate, I hope this helps someone like me who hasn't attempted this before. If you lean right behind the front wheels you can see the filler plugs about 1/4 of the way around the box. They aren't 17mm like the drain plugs, I had to use a shifting spanner to get them off. But, it can be done.

Next step is to change the transmission oil, and I see that this has five or six drain plugs and takes 23 litres. Well, I don't have quite enough oil left now so that's for another day.

May I say OTT is one of the most worthwhile resources on the web, which perhaps isn't entirely evil after all :)
 

Bulldog

Well-known member

Equipment
M 9000 DTC, L 3000 DT
Mar 30, 2010
5,440
73
48
Rocky Face, Georgia
MrChuck, I'm glad you got your overheating problem worked out. Sounds like you have been spending some quality time with your Kubota. That's normally time well spent in the long run. I'll offer a tip that I find helpful when it comes to service time. I always take the pressure washer to mine the day before so everything is clean and there will be less chance of getting dirt in ant of the fill holes.

On the front hubs I find it easier to take the tires off to service them.
 

ipz2222

Active member

Equipment
L235, bx2670
May 30, 2009
1,927
31
38
chickamauga ga usa
And if you had searched the archives, you would have found I have allready been thru the same thing. Even the manual does not show those fill plugs behind the wheel...