Kubota B7800...

[sixdogs]

That is one of the few things, besides the loader, that has a zerk............take a good look......easy to miss........God bless......Dennis

And in the off chance it doesn't have a zerk, then use a suitable spray lube like Synco SuperLube or Tri-Flow. This sort of lube has a thin carrier that allows the spray to penetrate, then the carrier evaporates leaving a thicker lubricant in place - - useful for all sorts of hinges, pivot points, Heim bearings, ball ends, etc.

Note that I did not recommend WD40 :c)

bumper

Thank you both very much. I had no idea despite what common sense should have taught me. I'll take care of it the next few days during my fall maintenance on the tractor. Really, I should have known better.

 

[herringchoker]

Safety be d&*^ned, I'm not gonna put up with that!

bumper

It may come to that for me too!

 

[Nedfan]

Appreciate all the responses. You guys sure know more than me about my tractor. Just for clarity sake, I want to tell exactly what this tractor is doing.

Cranks right up and will idle all day. No spit, no sputter.
Throttle up and it will run all day. No spit, no sputter.
Leave tractor throttled up and stand on ground beside tractor, push the forward pedal and it will begin to die. Let off of pedal and it will catch and run. Push the reverse pedal and it will begin to die. Let off of pedal and it will catch and run.
I can get past some of the sputter and actually bush hog some of the field, all the while battling it periodically trying to die. Every time I let off, it will catch and run. While cutting, it does it worse when I slow down to turn or if I stop and back up. I'm going to have a mechanic friend look at it. I'm at wit's end.

 

[teg]

...Leave tractor throttled up and stand on ground beside tractor, push the forward pedal and it will begin to die...

That's what it should do when you're are not in the seat... I'll push down on the seat so I can move the tractor while I'm on the ground (I do that way too much)

 

[Jim Nelson]

If you tip your seat forward and stand beside the tractor on the right hand side looking down at the seat frame there is a small round button sticking up through the seat frame. This button is spring loaded and if you push it down and hold it and reach over with your other hand and push the travel pedal it should work fine. I do this all the time when hooking up to attachments. If it doesn't work while pushing down on that little button the switch is probably bad.Some guys by pass this switch but I kind of like having it there to keep me from running over my self and this little work around is easy enough.

 

[bumperm]

.Some guys by pass this switch but I kind of like having it there to keep me from running over my self and this little work around is easy enough.

Oh you're a Bengal Tiger! (world's biggest ***** . . . cat)!! If you're not in the tractor, with all that extra weight removed, how much could it possibly hurt when it runs over your foot?? :c)

Sounds like Nedfan has a dirty or bad seat switch on his tractor i.e. poor contact makes tractor "think" he's not in the seat. Before springing for a new switch, might try spraying is with contact cleaner and see if you can't get some through the cracks and into the innards - - that often works, BTW. As a test, to see if the switch is bad, unplug the switch and temporarily short the connections in the wiring harness portion of the plug. (you can use a short length of copper wire for this)

I don't fuss with mine, just jumpered the darn thing out - doc says I have flat feet anyway.

bumper

 

[Nedfan]

Well I took a chance and bought the seat safety switch. There are two, one turned up and one turned down. I changed the upper one and my tractor has not bogged once. Cost me $20 for two switches but it's a small price to pay for having a tractor that runs smooth. Keeping the other one for a spare.

Thanks to all who gave me info on what the problem could possibly be. If you read my post again and know someone whose tractor is doing the same thing, a switch is all it takes.

Thanks again for being here. I owe you all a brewsky!

 

[Dan W]

This is a very interesting discussion, I had the exact same issue over the last few months while making top soil with my screening plant... Very dusty job. My engine started acting up just as you folks described, would shut-down right after a bump, and so I determined the cause to be somehow seat switch related. I took switch off the seat rail, tested it with an ohm tester. I was getting erratic readings as i slowly depressed the switch, so I sprayed some WD40 into the switch, problem solved. I also bought 2 switchs (7.77 each, surprised how inexpensive they were from my dealer), but haven't put them in yet, wd40 is still holding up.
Anyhow, thanks for the great dialogue and confirmation that I was on the right track with my diagnostic... And I also had no idea about the seat tilt up routine for pto operation and I have owned mine since 2004...

Dan

 

[bumperm]

Dan,

It's difficult to argue with success, however I don't think WD-40 is a suitable substitute for a good spray-on contact cleaner, even though it may work in the short term. The problem is WD-40, over time, dries to a sticky film that can hold dirt.

Consider that many switches use a slight wiping or sliding action between the electrical contacts to "self clean" helping overcome any oxidation or other contamination that would increase electrical resistance. In your situation, dust and dirt entered the unsealed seat switch fouling the contacts and causing intermittent operation. Spraying WD-40 into the cracks and openings of the switch housing got enough of the WD-40 onto the contacts and, acting as a solvent, this displaced the contamination.

A contact cleaner, or a quick spray of denatured alcohol (fist tested on the plastic switch housing to make sure it is compatible) or even a silicone spray (that has likewise been previously tested and also found to dry completely), would give you clean contacts and long term reliability that you may not get with WD-40 in this app.

bumper

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Some years ago I owned some vintage autos. A key product among some vintage auto owners is Dielectric grease for plugging in all electrical contact points.
I owned a B7800 during that period of time and was using dielectric grease on my seat switch contacts. Thought it was doing the job till tractor wouldn't start again. Eventually discovered, I think thru this forum, that my problem was the foot switch not being centered but the Dielectric grease is still a recommend for electrical connection points.
I also used to use WD40 for everything till I got my first tractor. Still use it and silicon sprays and spray white grease and motor oil and lubricating oil and tubes of grease and also spray contact cleaner. Each have their purpose.