L3400 sight glass leaking

[ccsial]

I guess this is a common problem. It happened at 180 hours. After three hours of mowing I drove back to the barn. I noticed drips of hydraulic fluid on the blacktop. It appears the sight glass is leaking. I wonder how long a new one would last. I'm thinking about plugging it and using a stick in the oil fill hole.

 

[Harvest Moon]

Yeah, mine just started leaking at 150 hours last week. I'm kind of hoping it just worked loose a bit and needs to be tightened. Probably not though, from what I've read about them in other posts.

 

[ccsial]

I just called my dealer and he said I just need to replace the O-ring. Told me to put a cement block under the left side wheels and then you don't need to drain any fluid. I think I'll start on it now. I may plug it if I can find a plug. I don't want to do this every 180 hours.
IMHO Plastic plug=Dumb idea.

 

[ccsial]

I found the plastic plug was cracked. Maybe it was over tightened at the plant. Any way, there is now a 3/4" pipe plug in there with a touch of thread seal. I'm shocked it wasn't some metric plug.

I made a dip stick form a welding rod to check the oil from the fill hole in the rear. I'd rather spend a minute to check the oil that way than risk another hydraulic spill.

PTO cable, your next!

 

[RobJ]

All you had to do is put a little sealer on it. I replaced mine because it was scratched up. No threads, I added a little black RTV sealer.

So spend a minute on some sealer and you will save more minutes by just looking at the site glass!!

 

[ccsial]

All you had to do is put a little sealer on it. I replaced mine because it was scratched up. No threads, I added a little black RTV sealer.

So spend a minute on some sealer and you will save more minutes by just looking at the site glass!!

In my case the plastic cap was actually cracked into two pieces. The outside plug had only one thread left and was barely hanging there. the rest of it came out easy.

 

[N80]

I hate that Kubota uses a sight glass at all. I hate them. They are prone to failure (by many accounts here) and they don't do the job they're designed to do either. Many of us don't have nice level concrete garage floors to park on and almost any terrain variation affects the level you see in the sight glass. And when my fluid was new, it was pretty clear and hard to see. I wish Kubota would get rid of the whole idea and put a simple dipstick somewhere. Can't imagine why they felt like they needed to re-invent the wheel.

Sigh. Rant over.

 

[RobJ]

Many of us don't have nice level concrete garage floors to park on and almost any terrain variation affects the level you see in the sight glass. And when my fluid was new, it was pretty clear and hard to see. Sigh. Rant over.

Well I can't help with the floor...hehe or the rant... But if you notice on mine I left the fluid at a level where you can see the bubble. The proper way to use the site glass. If there is no bubble then it could be over filled.

I will say I only glance at mine every now and then. If I don't see a leak, the fluid level should never change. If I put a hole in the system while in the woods, the 3pt should stop working before there is any damage to the tranny. The joy of a gear tractor!!

 

[N80]

If there is no bubble then it could be over filled.

Or just slightly up hill. Watch it sometimes. It takes very little incline to put the fluid level above or below the sight glass.

 

[RobJ]

Or just slightly up hill. Watch it sometimes. It takes very little incline to put the fluid level above or below the sight glass.

Agree, my driveway was enough this weekend. It has a little pitch being a corner lot with the short driveway. I did pull the cap for a looksee, all is well. I haven't put oil in since I changed it out over a year ago.

 

[wushaw]

I bought two spares when I changed mine, I do like the idea of the plug though....My little Mitsubishi has no stinkin sight glass or dip stick, it has a plug.

 

[mjfox6]

Does anyone know the part number? I think it might be TC220-14610.

 

[ccsial]

Does anyone know the part number? I think it might be TC220-14610.

The number I have is TC220-14614

I decided to order a glass in case I wanted to return it to stock. The new glass is different than the old one. The old one was plastic. The new one looks like PVC and is heavier duty. I guess Kubota addressed the problem.

So I put the glass back in and saved my plug. I used a bit of black sealer as suggested above. I did not make it real tight since that would stress the PVC. We'll see.

 

[mjfox6]

The number I have is TC220-14614

Tractorsmart.com doesn't recognize that part number.

 

[tcarter1]

Funny this comes up now. Last week, I noticed oil on the shop floor. Determined it was coming from the sight glass. I tried to hand tighten, and it came off in my hand. It was broken. A new one was $8 plus change. Make sure you get the right one. One has threads, the other doesn't. The 2800/3400 have threads. According to the dealer, this is a common issue.

 

[ccsial]

Tractorsmart.com doesn't recognize that part number.

Here is a picture of what it looks like. Could be Tractorsmart's database is not updated.

The old one was clear plastic. This one is dark gray like the Kubota grey. I'm pretty sure it is made of a more rugged material.

 

[mjfox6]

Here is a picture of what it looks like. Could be Tractorsmart's database is not updated.

The old one was clear plastic. This one is dark gray like the Kubota grey. I'm pretty sure it is made of a more rugged material.

Thanks for the pic. I'm coming up on 200 hours, I just plan on replacing it when I do everything else. That way I won't have to worry about it cracking.

 

[wushaw]

Thanks for the pic. I'm coming up on 200 hours, I just plan on replacing it when I do everything else. That way I won't have to worry about it cracking.

That sounds like a good plan.

 

[emmy71]

In my case the plastic cap was actually cracked into two pieces. The outside plug had only one thread left and was barely hanging there. the rest of it came out easy.

This happened to me today. Had a leak and went to tighten up the sight glass and noticed it just didn't feel right. Was able to back it out by hand and the threads were barely hanging on. I plugged it with a brass pipe plug. Thanks for mentioning the size on here, it saved me a lot of time as I would have been looking for something metric. Is the new sight glass still holding up okay?

Terry

 

[ccsial]

Terry,

The sight glass is holding up just fine. I keep checking it for leaks and have found none.