Bobcat vs. Kioti Maintenance

CJONE · Jun 21, 2021

IMHO, the 50 hour service is the most important. It get all the initial crud out of the systems. I do oil changes at 100 hours with whatever oil meets spec in these small tractors. Clean oil with the correct additive package is better than a boutique oil that is over hours. I have a loader with over 20,000 hours on it and services at 400 hours engine oil. 2000 hours hydraulic oil and trans. it has the same engine, trans and hydraulic pumps and no rebuilds so the proof is in what happens and not what people believe or best guess! CJ

Quickster2 · Jun 21, 2021

lacritz said:
removing the hydrylic filter on my Kioti CK25CK had to drive a screw driver nto the filter to get it off, all the fluid leaks out! The fromt grille on mine does NOT come forward to raise the hood. The 5 AMP fuse to the starter relay comes loose while running and the engine shuts down, Many of the screws in the hood fall out or or are loose, this is only at 200 hours! No stay away from KIOTI.

"Streamlined Hood Design Visibility and serviceability are improved for the operator with the streamlined hood design. The vertical opening hood allows for easy access to the air filter, fluid service, fuse box and other major electrical components".

Above from Kioti. Not sure of your issues but they seem relatively minor to fix if needed. The hydraulic filter as others have said is a bit of a pain the 1st time. My friend's Kubota was the same way. Good luck in the future.

merelyk · May 24, 2022

beeser said:
I don't have a Kioti Operation and Maintenance Manual but apparently there are substantial differences in the maintenance intervals between Kioti and Bobcat compact tractors. According to someone on YouTube the following items are addressed at 50 hrs of operation.

Replace Engine Oil and Filter
Replace Fuel Filter
Replace Hydrostatic Filter
Replace Hydraulic Fluid Filter
Note: He is not changing the hydraulic fluid.

In contrast to that my Bobcat manual calls for only the hydrostatic/hydraulic filters and fluid to be replaced. The fuel filter doesn't get replaced until 200 hrs and the engine oil and filter doesn't get replaced until 400 hrs. I thought the engines for these two brand tractors were the same. Why the substantial differences in maintenance intervals?

I’ve found several mistakes in the Op & Maint Manual for my 2008 Bobcat CT440. Mostly labels and arrows in pictures being misplaced or just wrong (see fuel filter Off/On/Air selector position, discrepancies in pictures of front differentials). I suspect these result from translation errors Korean -> English.

The service intervals are formatted in a confusing manner. Requires a close read. I found that rephrasing each line item as a sentence out loud made it a little more clear to me. For example (see pic):

Is it engine oil change “at 50hrs and at 100hrs and never again”

or is it “at 50hrs then 100hrs then 200 - 300 - 400 etc”

or is it “at 50hrs then every 100hrs after that (150hrs, 250hrs, etc).

The lack of any indication at “the columns for 200 hrs, 400hrs, etc” thus fails to clarify if manual is specifying actual engine hours as shown on meter (which then implies engine oil and filter change at 50hrs then again after another 50hrs for an actual reading on meter of 100hrs) OR interval hours since last change. And then there are no more marked squares for any other future change. But I’m probably just waaaay overthinking it - bc I have zero farm/industrial training other than YouTube.

For cross-reference I’m going to finally suck it up and get a Kioti DK40SE HST manual - I think it’s the closest Daedong/Doosan twin to the CT440.

my current Q is this: the utter confusion in terms describing the fluid used in the shared Hydraulics/Transmission/Rear Diff reservoir.
Bobcat
PN: 6903117 “All Season Hydraulic/Hydrostatic Fluid” (what is was given when I did my first big change) or
PN 6988099 “Transmission Differential Fluid” (what I was given last week and walked out of Parts Counter wo checking at that time). I have little confidence in the answers from my local Bobcat dealer - probably bc I’m just an individual property owner, not a “Business” client.