B 26 backhoe running slower and slower

[Gary Fowler]

My backhoe seems to be getting slower and slower and also lacking the power it had when I got it. The filters were changed at 50 hours and now it has about 220. Anyone have this problem and what did you do to fix it. I am going to go get some hydraulic filters tomorrow and change them to see if that helps. The hydrastatic drive works as it should and also the FEL seems to work OK, just the backhoe seems to be slow and it seems that when the oil gets hot, it works even slower. Relief valve may be in need of adjustment on the hoe but I dont know if there is a separate one for it from the FEL or not.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I guess no one has had this problem before. Going to the dealer today to talk with them, pick up some supplies and start working on it.

 

[Kyle241]

The only time I experienced this with my B20 was when I got low on hydraulic fluid. Hope it's nothing major.

 

[RayBo]

My backhoe seems to be getting slower and slower and also lacking the power it had when I got it. The filters were changed at 50 hours and now it has about 220. Anyone have this problem and what did you do to fix it. I am going to go get some hydraulic filters tomorrow and change them to see if that helps. The hydrastatic drive works as it should and also the FEL seems to work OK, just the backhoe seems to be slow and it seems that when the oil gets hot, it works even slower. Relief valve may be in need of adjustment on the hoe but I dont know if there is a separate one for it from the FEL or not.

You might want to get a pressure gauge that connects to one of the loader fittings and see what's going on with the hydraulics. I noticed this on my BX24 - not so much the speed but power regarding the loader and BH.. but did notice it was getting slower as well. I needed to bump up the pressure. There is a relief valve with a spring and shims.. There are threads on that in here somewhere and there is some one /place that sells the gauge and shims as a kit, along with instructions. It's simple to adjust, although you will need to remove a rear wheel for access. I bumped my pressure to just a tad over spec and have been pleased and amazed by the difference it made - turned it from ho-hum into a little beast!

 

[CHDinCT]

Have you had the backhoe off recently? Even if not, you might check the quick connects to make sure they're all seated correctly. Maybe one got caught on something?

Haven't had this issue with my BH but have had it with the FEL. A bit of a long shot, but an improperly seated QC could cause the BH to operate slowly. Hope it's nothing serious, and let us know how you make out.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I hauled it in to the dealer so they can check pressures. Shop manager seemed to think it was likely the relief valve set pressure too low. I guess they get weak with age. When I first got it, if I hung the bucket under a root it would raise the FEL bucket up off the ground, now it barely torques the backhoe enough to tell it is hung up. I dont have a service manual or gauges so I thought it best to spend the money and get it fixed at the shop this time. Oil was full up, FEL works and is h$ll for stout but the backhoe must have a separate relief valve in it somewhere not readily visible.
I guess I will get the sticker shock of the repair cost in a few days.
I got the filters and 2.5 gallons of UDT to do the 200/250 hour service on my Kubota RTV 900 and it was $144. Oil must have been over $60 as the filter kit was $78. Proud of their oil it seems. The RTV better enjoy the UDT this time cause next time its getting Universal Transmission Fluid (UTF) from Atwoods at $10 per gallon or less when its on sale. At least I only have to change the RTV now at 220 hours so I will do a combo 200/250 hours service on it.and not the B26 (400 hours on it)

 

[mike69440]

If the B26 is like its bigger brothers, ther are two levers under the BH floor plate that have to be pushed in all the way.

 

[CurtisC]

Never had any hydraulic problems with my 2009 B26 but would be interested in the final diagnosis (my condolances in advance on the bill...). Mine sat for a while before I picked it up and currently only has about 190 hrs. If you think they're proud of UDT wait till you price 7 gal. of Super UDT (recommended). I made the mistake of using 5 galons of standard grade oil the original owner gave me on first required filter change. After listening to it chatter particularly on cold mornings and getting a lot smarter on hydraulic oils, I decided to drain the system, flush with 5 gal. of UDT (dealer recomended), toss the UDT and put in Super UDT. Pretty expensive oil change but the tractor has been purring ever since. Given the oil I used at the filter change wasn't even HST rated I can't say a good grade of HST compatible oil wouldn't work as well but decided to go the conservative route given what I'd done. One thing I did note in my kubota vs everyone else oil research was there are a lot of opinions about super UDT alternatives but no definitive answer that I could find. My humble opinion is that saving $40-$50 in maintenance $ every couple of years on $30K machine is not worth the risk.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Never had any hydraulic problems with my 2009 B26 but would be interested in the final diagnosis (my condolances in advance on the bill...). Mine sat for a while before I picked it up and currently only has about 190 hrs. If you think they're proud of UDT wait till you price 7 gal. of Super UDT (recommended). I made the mistake of using 5 galons of standard grade oil the original owner gave me on first required filter change. After listening to it chatter particularly on cold mornings and getting a lot smarter on hydraulic oils, I decided to drain the system, flush with 5 gal. of UDT (dealer recomended), toss the UDT and put in Super UDT. Pretty expensive oil change but the tractor has been purring ever since. Given the oil I used at the filter change wasn't even HST rated I can't say a good grade of HST compatible oil wouldn't work as well but decided to go the conservative route given what I'd done. One thing I did note in my kubota vs everyone else oil research was there are a lot of opinions about super UDT alternatives but no definitive answer that I could find. My humble opinion is that saving $40-$50 in maintenance $ every couple of years on $30K machine is not worth the risk.

Funny that you should mention that. My dealer doesnt even stock SUDT and says that in our climate it is a waste of money. I did mention that my B26 does whine pretty loud all the time. I got the UDT for changing out the oil in my RTV 900. B26 is good till 400 hours now according to their maintenance schedule.
Still no word from them on the repair. Guess I will call them up this morning and see what is happening.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well I dont know what the problem was (is) with the slower operation. Dealer couldnt find anything wrong with it, but swapped the hydraulic lines back to original configuration. The original owner had swapped the boom and dipper stick hoses around supposedly so it operates like a Case. I had never operated one before so it didnt make any difference to me. Now I have to relearn how to operate it as everything is now backwards from the way I had learned it.
I got some filters/oil and will change the Hydro and hydraulic filters as per maintenance schedule so I will see if that helps.
For some reason, they didnt check the relief valve pressures so I guess I will look for someplace to buy a gauge and fittings to check it myself.
Anyone know where I might find such an animal. Sales person at Kubota dealer said they didnt sell them which didnt surprise me as they want you to come in for $75 per hour charge.
Only cost me $150 labor cost to tell me nothing was wrong. Labor, 1 gallon of UDT oil, 2 filters = $232
This was one time, I should have did the filter change first then seen if it didnt improve prior to taking it in.
As I set here, I just remembered that I also needed an engine oil filter. @#$% got to go back again later for that.

 

[beckmurph]

Well I dont know what the problem was (is) with the slower operation. Dealer couldnt find anything wrong with it, but swapped the hydraulic lines back to original configuration. The original owner had swapped the boom and dipper stick hoses around supposedly so it operates like a Case. I had never operated one before so it didnt make any difference to me. Now I have to relearn how to operate it as everything is now backwards from the way I had learned it.
I got some filters/oil and will change the Hydro and hydraulic filters as per maintenance schedule so I will see if that helps.
For some reason, they didnt check the relief valve pressures so I guess I will look for someplace to buy a gauge and fittings to check it myself.
Anyone know where I might find such an animal. Sales person at Kubota dealer said they didnt sell them which didnt surprise me as they want you to come in for $75 per hour charge.
Only cost me $150 labor cost to tell me nothing was wrong. Labor, 1 gallon of UDT oil, 2 filters = $232
This was one time, I should have did the filter change first then seen if it didnt improve prior to taking it in.
As I set here, I just remembered that I also needed an engine oil filter. @#$% got to go back again later for that.

Here is a link that has a link to the pressure gauge you are looking for, I believe it is in the 10th posthttp://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/hydraulics/264752-adjust-hydraulics-bx-25-a.html

 

[dfkrug]

My dealer doesnt even stock SUDT and says that in our climate
it is a waste of money.

Same with the dealer here, the biggest Kubota dealer in NorCal. They are actually pretty
reasonable on 5-gal bkts of UDT, about $50-60.

The B21 I had whined louder than most HST tractors I have owned, too.

You can get a 5000 psi guage many places: SurplusCenter, AgriSupply, NorthernTool,
DiscountHydHose, etc. Only $10-15. Pretty shocking your dealer did not run
a pressure test.

Since the B26 hoe is integrated with only that tractor, I suppose it is possible it
does not have its own RV. I suspect it does, however.

 

[woody]

Had the same problem with mine and carried it to the dealer several times, they would try it by raising the back of the tractor with the back hoe. If it cleared the ground that was good enough. I bought me a gauge and read on hear somewhere about putting in shims well it don't take much I found out. I adjusted mine as close to max pressure as I could without going over and it made a good difference. one thing to think of is once the fluid gets hot the pressure will drop some, I did not consider that when I adjusted mine and I can tell a difference when it gets hot. There is only one relief valve for both backhoe and frontend loader.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Had the same problem with mine and carried it to the dealer several times, they would try it by raising the back of the tractor with the back hoe. If it cleared the ground that was good enough. I bought me a gauge and read on hear somewhere about putting in shims well it don't take much I found out. I adjusted mine as close to max pressure as I could without going over and it made a good difference. one thing to think of is once the fluid gets hot the pressure will drop some, I did not consider that when I adjusted mine and I can tell a difference when it gets hot. There is only one relief valve for both backhoe and frontend loader.

Where is the RV located. Is it under the sheet metal on the joystick control panel. If possibleI dont want to start removing panels just to look for the relief .

 

[Gary Fowler]

I did get all the filters changed out but nothing to dig up right now and showers of rain and cold so I havent ventured out to dig any holes. I used the stabilizer to lift up the tractor to get more clearance under the tractor and they worked pretty easily before and after I changed the filters. Even as quick as I cold spin off the old suction filter and spin on the new one, I lost about 3 quarts of oil. Sure would be an improved design if they could relocate that filter to above the reservoir level which would also put it out of harms way from brush and rocks etc.

 

[bandit67]

I know you said the dealer said SUDT is a waste of money, but when I switched to SUDT on my B3030, I not only noticed a big performance improvement during cold weather use, but also during summer use when working the machine hard. The backhoe seemed to really heat up the UDT, made it stink pretty bad, and performance suffered. Not so with the SUDT.

I'm a big believer in using the best oils possible with the temp variations we experience here, but the SUDT (synthetic) is certainly going to hold up better in high temp use also. The SUDT doesn't smell like the UDT when it gets hot, and performance is better.

I haven't smelled that "burning" UDT smell in years, but I noticed it pretty quickly on the new machine, even in not-so-hot weather recently (Kubota puts UDT in for break-in). I'm definitely putting SUDT in for my 50 hr change, as I'm convinced it's worth the extra cost.

 

[dfkrug]

I know you said the dealer said SUDT is a waste of money....

The dealer said that due to the climate. Kubota dealers in colder climates would not likely say that.

I suspect Bismark, AR, and my part of CA don't get as cold as Connifer, CO.

 

[bandit67]

The dealer said that due to the climate. Kubota dealers in colder climates would not likely say that.

I suspect Bismark, AR, and my part of CA don't get as cold as Connifer, CO.

Yeah, I realize why they said what they said. But I also stated in my post that in my experience, the SUDT, which is synthetic, also handles the heat better than UDT. The benefits of synthetic are seen in BOTH extreme heat & extreme cold. I run synthetic in all of my equipment and vehicles, and have operated them from -30* to 108* F.

I also mentioned that the UDT seems to overheat, as evidenced by the smell and the decrease in performance, whereas the SUDT doesn't seem to overheat or lose performance.

 

[john_bud]

You can get the shims online pretty cheap. Gage is only 20 bucks or so and the adaptor is just a couple bucks at a hydraulic shop. It's probably going to be a female jic to nmpt sized according to where attached and the item. You can ask the shop what size a cylinder hose connection is.

 

[doghouse]

I bought my pressure gauge on line at BXpanded.com. They will send you the one for your tractor, and show you were to hook it up, and tell what shims to use which come with.