50hr. service

k0ua · Apr 7, 2015

Another trick I have done on Kubota's and my Kioti is to plug up the transmission air vent. If air cannot get in, then fluid has a hard time getting out of the filter hole. On Kubota's the vent is a little crooked rubber piece under the seat, and Kioti's is the fill plug on the back.

I have used an #8 machine screw to plug the hole. Don't forget to remove it before starting the tractor and using the hydraulics though.

The last one I did on an L3200hst took me about 30 seconds to get The new hydraulic filter on and it lost less than an ounce of fluid in the catch pan.

shorthair · Apr 29, 2016

Newbie alert. At the risk of sounding stupid. Doing the 50 hour service now it says replace the hydraulic oil filter Main. Easy enough big filter easy to find, but is the fill plug for the hydraulic fluid the one that is on the right side of the back axle and is green in color? I lost a good gallon of fluid while changing the filter and when I check the level on that dipstick it still reads full? And what about the HST filter. Is that separate oil from the main hydraulic fluid? Where is the fill plug for that ?

k0ua · Apr 29, 2016

shorthair said:
Newbie alert. At the risk of sounding stupid. Doing the 50 hour service now it says replace the hydraulic oil filter Main. Easy enough big filter easy to find, but is the fill plug for the hydraulic fluid the one that is on the right side of the back axle and is green in color? I lost a good gallon of fluid while changing the filter and when I check the level on that dipstick it still reads full? And what about the HST filter. Is that separate oil from the main hydraulic fluid? Where is the fill plug for that ?

Hydrostat fluid and hydraulic fluid for the rest of the tractor are all the same fluid out of the same sump. The hydrostat has its own finer and more expensive filter, but uses from the same reservoir. I cant tell you where the fill port is, but it is just the one. If you can find the reservoir vent and plug it the next time you change out the filters you can reduce the fluid loss to a few tablespoons full. On my Kioti the vent is in the rubber fill plug. I use a no. 8 machine screw for a plug, A golf tee would work well too. Don't forget to take it out before you start the tractor and use the hydraulics. See post 21 in this thread.

shorthair · Apr 30, 2016

Thank you for that explanation, I understand now. Yeah I read about blocking the vent or using a shop vac or parking it on an incline a little too late. Story of my life. I find it odd that they would have you change the main hydraulic filter at 50 hours and not the HST filter considering that that finer filter would have more importance by protecting The transmission.
I see in the book that that reservoir holds 11.4 gallons so I guess I should just put all of the Rams in there fully retracted positions and checked very carefully as maybe 1 gallon will not show much on the dipstick.

Bluesteel · Apr 30, 2016

The fill is right of center on the rear axle. The pull plug has a dip stick on it. The plug has o rings on it. Make sure you keep some type of lubricant on the o rings. I had a heck of a time getting mine out. I replaced it with a brass and rubber boat plug that expands and seals when you twist the T handle. I still use the dip stick plug to check the level. I used the shop vac method when I changed mine and it worked great.

shorthair · Apr 30, 2016

Thank You. That is a good tip for using the boat plug. Mine was really hard to remove also and had some rust around the O-rings already. And my tractor is kept indoors so it must just be from condensation?
It all makes sense now after you know how it works I was really thrown by the common system using the one fluid to run everything

k0ua · Apr 30, 2016

shorthair said:
Thank You. That is a good tip for using the boat plug. Mine was really hard to remove also and had some rust around the O-rings already. And my tractor is kept indoors so it must just be from condensation?
It all makes sense now after you know how it works I was really thrown by the common system using the one fluid to run everything

Only the front axle fluid is not in the common sump.

Underdog57 · Apr 30, 2016

The shop-vac method works great for the hydraulic filter, I tried it today!!! The only oil I lost was what was in the filter. Much better than the last time (I lost about a gallon of oil and had a big mess).
I was skeptical but now I'm a believer!

I ordered a cone shaped adapter for the shop-vac, worked perfectly.

murphy1244 · Apr 30, 2016

Underdog57 said:
The shop-vac method works great for the hydraulic filter, I tried it today!!! The only oil I lost was what was in the filter. Much better than the last time (I lost about a gallon of oil and had a big mess).
I was skeptical but now I'm a believer!

I ordered a cone shaped adapter for the shop-vac, worked perfectly.

View attachment 466851

Where did you get that?