When I went in for parts to do my 50 hour service the dealer told me that all I needed to do is change oil & filter, fuel filter, air filter and tranny filter. This conflicts with the manual, but other than the typical fine metallics, the UDT oil looks clean. Additionally, when you attempt to grease all of the fittings you run into problems. I have yet to locate a grease fitting for my gun that is small enough to get into the U-joints on the belly and PTO shafts. So, I have two questions; 1. Should I stick with the maintenance intervals in the manual or follow dealer advice ? 2. Has anyone else been able to access the U-joint grease fittings and if so how, short of disconnecting the shafts ?
BX2200 Lubrication
- Thread starter wdm
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DaleW
Silver Member
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- Lower Hudson Valley New York
- Tractor
- B2710 FEL with a 72 inch mid mount mower and teltrax canopy
Had the same problem on my 2710 on the belly shaft. I wound up disconnecting the shaft and greasing. Don't know about the BX but it is easy to get at the belly shaft on the 2710 for a disconnect.
I tried every way to get a grease gun to fit into the universal but any way I turned the shaft I couldn't get it to fit.
Good Luck
Dale
I tried every way to get a grease gun to fit into the universal but any way I turned the shaft I couldn't get it to fit.
Good Luck
Dale
RBrown
Bronze Member
wdm,
After reading your post under the BX2200 catcher, I had to reply to your questions about the lubrication frequency on your BX. I had a dealer tell me the same thing about the manuals recommended service intervals. This particular dealer even went as far to say if it isn't broke don't fix it. Once I take delivery of my B2710 in a couple of weeks I fully plan on following the manual to the letter. If a local dealer doesn't want to sell me the filters or oil, then I go to the next one. Changing the oil is cheap insurance. It seems like you have some other issues with this dealer. If possible I think I would find another dealer.
After reading your post under the BX2200 catcher, I had to reply to your questions about the lubrication frequency on your BX. I had a dealer tell me the same thing about the manuals recommended service intervals. This particular dealer even went as far to say if it isn't broke don't fix it. Once I take delivery of my B2710 in a couple of weeks I fully plan on following the manual to the letter. If a local dealer doesn't want to sell me the filters or oil, then I go to the next one. Changing the oil is cheap insurance. It seems like you have some other issues with this dealer. If possible I think I would find another dealer.
scruffy
Veteran Member
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To grease the u-joints on any type of drive shaft, you need to purchase an needle addaptor, it fits over the female zerk fitting on your grease gun, and has a 'needle' shaft on it that centers on your grease zerk 'ball' allowing you to reach into the narrow space available for your grease gun. Any automotive parts house will have the adaptor.
PaulB
Gold Member
Hey you guys, now you have me worried. The manual for my B1700 says nothing about lubing the drive shafts - I figured they were sealed and didn't need any maintanance. Am I wrong? Does the manual for the BX and 2710 discuss this issue, or is it something you picked up from experience?
scruffy
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PaulB, most (not all) U-Joints will have either a zerk fitting, or indented hole that is a guide for the needle adaptor. I am sure that some U-Joints will also come without any means of lubing the joint...makes for replacement profits down the road for the manufacturer. For the most part, they will be serviceable, and should be periodically lubed to prevent premature wearout. (T'iz the old mechanic experience in my ancient history)
Anonymous Poster
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Scruffy...
You're just old fashioned. You don't need zerks anymore. Many ball joints for instance are "sealed for life" or "lubricated for life". Unfortunately people think "life" means their life, or the vehicle's life. It's for the "life" of the joint, which will be danged short if the grease gets out! (which they seem to do).
I love the idea of "lubed for life" joints, maybe a great new sealing system that prevents water etc from getting in etc. but would it hurt to maybe have a zerk anyway? Maybe with a cute rubber cap over it, or even just the threaded hole with a little bolt in it (seen that) for when "life" starts to end?
I think the lack of zerks helps the manufacturer, especially cars, make a slimmed down maintenance chart to sell to people as a reason to buy the car. NO TUNEUPS FOR 100,000 MILES!!! Sometimes looking under the hood now and then can prevent other problems. Of course the dealers then make up their own service charts, sometimes as a true sincere help, sometimes just to make money. I had a vehicle under warranty, was busy and took it in, was presented with a HUGE estimate, went through it and crossed off 2/3 of the items as they were either truly unneeded (and I'm a maintenance nut) or just impossible to perform on my model vehicle!
Old fashioned too,
del
You're just old fashioned. You don't need zerks anymore. Many ball joints for instance are "sealed for life" or "lubricated for life". Unfortunately people think "life" means their life, or the vehicle's life. It's for the "life" of the joint, which will be danged short if the grease gets out! (which they seem to do).
I love the idea of "lubed for life" joints, maybe a great new sealing system that prevents water etc from getting in etc. but would it hurt to maybe have a zerk anyway? Maybe with a cute rubber cap over it, or even just the threaded hole with a little bolt in it (seen that) for when "life" starts to end?
I think the lack of zerks helps the manufacturer, especially cars, make a slimmed down maintenance chart to sell to people as a reason to buy the car. NO TUNEUPS FOR 100,000 MILES!!! Sometimes looking under the hood now and then can prevent other problems. Of course the dealers then make up their own service charts, sometimes as a true sincere help, sometimes just to make money. I had a vehicle under warranty, was busy and took it in, was presented with a HUGE estimate, went through it and crossed off 2/3 of the items as they were either truly unneeded (and I'm a maintenance nut) or just impossible to perform on my model vehicle!
Old fashioned too,
del
scruffy
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Del, I agree Sir! Remember Ford coming out in the early sixties with their lube free systems. Only problem was, a year or two down the road, they got hard to steer, u-joints going bad, etc. Thankfully the replacements had zerk fittings! It definately makes for an increase in business' maintenance profits! Proud to be old-fashioned!
I have completed the 50 hrs service and found my screen filter full of metal shavings. I know the Super UDT is expensive but it is going to be in the tractor much longer the second time around.
My Super UDT fluid also looked clean on a dip stick, but after I drained it into a clear plastic container I purchased at the store it looked suprisingly dirty with many metal shaving settling to the bottom. I was hoping to reuse the fluid in my roto-tiller gearbox. Not after what I saw.
I too took the mower deck off to clean and grease the PTO shaft(easy to grease when you bend at the U joint).
I have no grease fittings on my U joints on the front drive shaft(guess I need to look closer for a hole and buy that special tool, I like tools. ha ha).
RGD - BX2200 owner
My Super UDT fluid also looked clean on a dip stick, but after I drained it into a clear plastic container I purchased at the store it looked suprisingly dirty with many metal shaving settling to the bottom. I was hoping to reuse the fluid in my roto-tiller gearbox. Not after what I saw.
I too took the mower deck off to clean and grease the PTO shaft(easy to grease when you bend at the U joint).
I have no grease fittings on my U joints on the front drive shaft(guess I need to look closer for a hole and buy that special tool, I like tools. ha ha).
RGD - BX2200 owner
Anonymous Poster
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I almost forgot something, there really ISN'T a need for zerks!
The county in an effort to use my tax dollars wisely, brought out an almost brand new 28000 lb excavator (CAT 312) on my dead end street with a couple of dump trucks, flagger (for a rural road with no traffic) and assocated truck seat sitters. They proceeded to take all day to clean a ditch I would have been tickled to death to do for $100!
Where is this leading? Well I was commenting to the operator about how much fun it must be to climb up and grease the pivot points, he said it has an PUMP THAT PUMPS THE GREASE EVERYWHERE! I WANT THAT!
Of course, greasing all those weird places on your tractor allows you to check for anything else amiss, have fun dealing with the grease gun cartridges, trying to figure out which way to put the hoe to get grease to go everywhere etc.
If you haven't looked at the grease fittings on a new Kubota loader and hoe compared to an older tractor you've missed a fantastic improvement! Protected fittings, easy to get to, all pointing the same way, I LOVE IT!
My Ford requires me to do some weird contortions!
del
The county in an effort to use my tax dollars wisely, brought out an almost brand new 28000 lb excavator (CAT 312) on my dead end street with a couple of dump trucks, flagger (for a rural road with no traffic) and assocated truck seat sitters. They proceeded to take all day to clean a ditch I would have been tickled to death to do for $100!
Where is this leading? Well I was commenting to the operator about how much fun it must be to climb up and grease the pivot points, he said it has an PUMP THAT PUMPS THE GREASE EVERYWHERE! I WANT THAT!
Of course, greasing all those weird places on your tractor allows you to check for anything else amiss, have fun dealing with the grease gun cartridges, trying to figure out which way to put the hoe to get grease to go everywhere etc.
If you haven't looked at the grease fittings on a new Kubota loader and hoe compared to an older tractor you've missed a fantastic improvement! Protected fittings, easy to get to, all pointing the same way, I LOVE IT!
My Ford requires me to do some weird contortions!
del
Anonymous Poster
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If your dealer is telling you that you don't need to follow the recommended service, then he isn't the one you want working on your tractor if you ever need warranty work. My dealer being the nice person he is will be performing my 50 hour service at my house free of charge, it will be performed as per the Kubota recomendations. For getting at the grease fittings on the 60" mower on my BX1800 I have a air powered grease gun that has a hose, the metal tube it came with wouldn't let me get at the pto shaft fittings and a couple of the other ones while the mower was installed, once I switched to the hose I had no problems.
PaulB
Gold Member
OK, now I am mad. How come everything I know about my tractor I learned here at tractorbynet and not from my manual? I thought you guys were wacked in the head with all this tallk about U-joints, figuring that surely if my tractor had one the manual would describe how to maintain it. I crawled under her today, and found a plastic cover where the front drive shaft joins another shaft at about a 30 degree angle, and this second shaft goes directly into the front gearcase. What clued me in was that this plastic cover had a pinhole in it, like the one you guys were describing to allow greasing with a needle adaptor. I loosened up the cover (can not remove it fully because of loader frame), and sure enough there was a dry, slightly rusty U-joint, never having seen grease in 2 years of use. I felt like a jerk, but how was I to know it was there?? As I said I couldn't really get to it, so I emptied half a tube of grease into the space between the U-joint and the plastic cover, figuring that some will work its way into the guts. Any chance this really is a "no maintanance" fitting, and what I did was stupid, or should this be part of my routine maintanance schedule? also,are there any other places I need to look? I don't know what is meant by a "belly" shaft, or a "pto" shaft in the original post on this thread (I only use my rear pto, and I see nowhere to lube it) - what I worked on today was clearly my front driveshaft.
If your manual looks like my manual looks like Harv's manual looks like Kubota's manual then I know why you find out everything you need to know here -- it's not in the manual.
I found it very odd for a manual that was so lacking in specifics that there was a 4 frame graphic of taking a hacksaw to the PTO drive shaft. Hacking your drive shaft in 4 easy steps.
I also found it odd that when they did give specifics (under a bold heading of IMPORTANT) about setting the throttle to recommended speeds they gave the throttle settings in RPM -- but the BX2200 has no tach.
I figure the guy who wrote this manual has a sense of humor -- a warped sense of humor mind you -- but it is humorous.
Huck
I found it very odd for a manual that was so lacking in specifics that there was a 4 frame graphic of taking a hacksaw to the PTO drive shaft. Hacking your drive shaft in 4 easy steps.
I also found it odd that when they did give specifics (under a bold heading of IMPORTANT) about setting the throttle to recommended speeds they gave the throttle settings in RPM -- but the BX2200 has no tach.
I figure the guy who wrote this manual has a sense of humor -- a warped sense of humor mind you -- but it is humorous.
Huck
eng50
New member
I don't know if any of you have considered the shop manuals for your tractors. I had a L3710 with all the toys and bought the shop manual, it covered ALL the little points you are discussing. I was forced to sell the tractor, but still have the manual (if anyone is interested). I just bought a BX2200, and will be purchasing the shop manual for it as well. Expensive but worth it!!! Maybe someday, they can be like Helm Inc and put them on CD so we can all scan the disc while on this board!!
charliesmythe
New member
I have also had great difficulty in greasing the U-Joint grease fittings. Finally had to remove the shaft, and even then it was almost impossible to get the grease gun onto the grease fittings. Not enough room in the U-Joints to allow for inserting the grease gun tip onto the grease fittings.
Is this a common problem among Kubota owners, or have I overlooked something very simple? Are there instructions anywhere on how to do this?
Hoping for some more help.
Thanks in advance. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Is this a common problem among Kubota owners, or have I overlooked something very simple? Are there instructions anywhere on how to do this?
Hoping for some more help.
Thanks in advance. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
If you are discussing the mid PTO shaft for the MMM, yes, I do remove it to grease it. My dealer scared me with some stories about PTO shafts on MMM that are stuck together because the owners didn't separate them to grease them. Since then, I separate the shaft grease them and then grease the U-joints while they are off.
