Removing Cab from a Grand L 40

[Workerbee]

Can anybody point out a thread that deals with this? I tried the search function, but it says ‘cab’ is too short a word and not included in results.

The 3240HSTC-1 is starting to seep pretty good from that weep hole in the clutch housing, so one of these days we will have to split it to replace seals.

What would be the general procedure to remove the cab?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Do you have a gantry or overhead crane?
That's the best options for removal.

 

[Workerbee]

No, but do have acess to a smaller truck mounted crane. Where would lifting points be?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If you look at pages 2-S11 to 2-S20 in the WSM, it tell you every detail you need to know to split it, and has pictures of the cab being lifted with straps.

 

[Workerbee]

I had a look at the wsm regarding the cab removal.
It looks like a frame is used to support 4 lifting straps? Has anyone here done this , and could comment if its a neccesity to weld up a frame, or can 4 longer equal length straps be used from one ring?

To borrow and use the crane, itd be neccesary to complete the job in 2-3 days. We would do whatever dissasembly we could before bringing the crane in.

So does anyone have a list of which parts should be replaced? The tractor has approx 400 hours and no other issues noted except the hydraulic leak out the bottom. Clutch seems real good, etc. Id like to get all likely parts on hand before starting.

 

[mikester]

I use a 5000# forklift with side shift. My aftermarket cab has two lift points I can bolt lift brackets to, I imagine there will be lift points for yours.

 

[Workerbee]

Im sure a high lift forklift would work great if I had one.
The Kubota wsm doesnt go into any detail about lifting points. Maybe after the cab roof is off I’ll see something that can work.
There picture showing the lifting frame is so blurry its difficult to tell if there are pipes going through brackets or just what they do.
I guess nobody here ever had to remove a cab from a kubota.

 

[rbargeron]

Not sure which models allow it but the cab may be able to stay in place and access the clutch, etc. - I've seen pictures of cab tractors split for trans/clutch work - the cab bolts were taken out and the cab was lifted slightly with a small jack and blocked in place.

The WSM's all show how to "separate" the major chunks of a tractor but they're less good about saying exactly which jobs absolutely require it.

And oil leaks can be addressed in lots of ways short of major disassembly. Any home heating oil delivery person can supply amazing oil-spill "diapers" to strap under there. I'd wait until there is a more compelling problem before going full caveman. Hope I haven't offended you. Take care, Dick B

p.s. I'm actually not so good a taking my own advice- I'm just finishing a valve-job and transmission replacement on a Honda requiring the whole power train sub- frame be taken down and out from under the car.

 

[Fedup]

Can anybody point out a thread that deals with this? I tried the search function, but it says ‘cab’ is too short a word and not included in results.

The 3240HSTC-1 is starting to seep pretty good from that weep hole in the clutch housing, so one of these days we will have to split it to replace seals.

What would be the general procedure to remove the cab?

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I have to wonder WHY you need to do that? Having split literally hundreds of cab tractors (both large and small) I can't recall ever removing a cab to do it.

You have oil leaking from a clutch housing weep hole? What can that be other than a transmission input shaft seal, propeller shaft seal, or maybe even a rear engine seal? Any of which can be dealt with after a front split. Explain your logic as to cab removal being a basic requirement.

 

[Workerbee]

Well Dick,
To replace the seals in the clutch housing requires the tractor to be split. Theres no way to get at the bolts without removing the cab. At least this is how I understand the issue. Its usually the front propeller shaft seal from what I read, and quite common, but apparantly none of the affected tractors have cabs….

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Have you verified that the fluid is not coming from the front axle?
If the front seal goes out fluid can go down the tube and look like a transmission side leak.

 

[Workerbee]

I’ll sure check the front axle fluid level. But Ive hardly ever been that lucky.
It barely leaked for the last couple years, but now when working the tractor fairly hard it seems to gush out pretty good. Then when it cools off a bit it slows up again.

 

[lugbolt]

For anyone who might be reading...when I did kubota, lifting a cab was actually pretty easy with a forklift. It has to lift high enough, and the roof of the building needs to be tall enough to allow it. First job, the roof was in the way of splitting any of the M series, so we couldn't do those inside. During spring/summer/fall if I had to split one, had to take it outside, remove cab, set it on a pallet and roll the tractor back inside. Weather permitting of course. I've been caught out in a pop up storm at least once doing a cab removal or reinstallation. That sucked! I didn't do cab R&R's in the winter time. Just too cold and weather was unpredictable. Couple times they needed to be done in the dead of winter but we had to send them to another dealer since our shop was just too small, and in the winters. Right around January Kubota would dump their warehouses and send out the first allocation in it's entirety to our lil dealer, so our "warehouse" was completely plum full of stuff, and the "shop" was so tiny that splitting a cab tractor was out of the question. It was about 24' wide and maybe 30 foot long, 2 10x12 overhead doors. Getting an M into the shop was a challenge. Splitting an M was impossible, cab or not. I actually made a long pole that one of the other techs would have to use to push the door open a little bit further to the top of the cab would clear in some cases. Running joke was "I won't touch that door with a 10' pole". Hey Joe, get that 10' pole and push the door up so I can drive in. You get the idea.

but anyway as far as lifting it off, I used one of those reusable kawasaki crates that the ATV's came on, they have two fork holes in the ends, they are heavy duty, and theyre wide enough to go over the entire top of the cab on the L's and most of the cab on the smaller M's (up to the M9540, M96S, etc). Put the forks into the holes and use 4 motorcycle tie down straps, one on each corner of the cab frame where the roof bolts on. Linkages and a/c lines, hoses, etc all need to be addressed, then 4-6 bolts depending on which tractor, and lift it off. I had the M series down to about 2 hours. I didn't do many L series, but they aren't that much different.

 

[chim]

My BIL had a seal replaced that sounds similar. Pretty sure he said that before the new seal was installed they did something to the shaft to prevent future problems. Anyone else hear of that? Sort of thought they knurled it?

 

[Workerbee]

Thanks Lugbolt! I appreciate the detail. We can check at a kawi dealer for a crate, but without a forklift Im thinking we will just weld up a frame to lift with a crane. How much does a cab weigh?
Or possibly no frame would be needed if we used 4 longer equal length straps from a ring? Or is the cab structure to weak for that?

 

[Workerbee]

Thanks Chim, perhaps they knurled the shaft to accept a wear sleeve? I havnt checked out what parts Kubota sells but perhaps there is a repair kit with a better seal and a wear sleeve.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Wonder if anyone's used a pole boom reverse mounted on the loader to lift a cab off ?

 

[chim]

Thanks Chim, perhaps they knurled the shaft to accept a wear sleeve? I havnt checked out what parts Kubota sells but perhaps there is a repair kit with a better seal and a wear sleeve.

Rumor was that some shafts that were slightly undersized got through and it wasn't discovered until problems arose.

 

[rbargeron]

Wonder if anyone's used a pole boom reverse mounted on the loader to lift a cab off ?

What a great idea ! It might be possible to raise it that way and then hang it from the ceiling (if the loader has to come off too)
Always nice to see the abundance of "clever" here

I put a boom on my loader to set barn roof trusses (41 years ago now - geesh ! )

 

[rbargeron]

To get back to the leaking shaft, the issue stems from when Kubota moved the front wheel driveshaft so it runs inside the housings instead of outside in a tube routed through recesses. They discovered pretty soon that the seals they used on the shaft were not tight enough fitting around the shaft. The solution was to redesign the seal so its about 0.010" tighter - and put in two of them. Same shaft, cheap new seals, but BIG job to put them in, espeially on a cab tractor. The shaft itself is quite long - when its in place it sticks out front and back. The seals are about half-way back, at the front of the first gear case, just behind the clutch housing. (leakage goes into the clutch housing and can drain out the bottom hole.)

Back when I had my L48 apart for its failed HST cradle bearings (long story here - see bottom of 5th page and Post #50 for his subject) I installed the revised front driveshaft seals (same as on many other models). There are some pics and WSM pages showing a drawing of the shaft sticking out, and some words about putting in the seals. They fit much tighter on the shaft, requiring 75 lb or so to push along into place on the shaft before putting the shaft back in. My rig was split in 2 places to get the HST down, but you may be able to do it all from the front. You'll need to feel around a bit to get the far inside end of the shaft into its coupling. (zoom up the pic to see the hole the shaft fits into.)

If you look close at the pics earlier in the above thread, it points out (and nearly shows) that by lifting the instrument panel board and "shutter plate" the engine trans bolt interface can be accessed (see pic). Its possible the shutter plate below the dash on your rig can be unbolted for access to bolts?


Your shutter plate behind the dash looks more like this:

Another factor here is the newer Grand-L40 models may have still other version(s) of that seal? When (if) you order parts, be sure your dealer finds the right revised seal for your tractor's S/N.

Whether the cab is in place or lifted away, this is not a quick job - avoiding it is worth buying several packages of "oil diapers". Just sayin'....

Hope this is useful - Take care, Dick