Front Wheel Removal

[RobA]

I have a newbie question about possibly removing the front wheel of a Kubota L5030. I was pushing some downed trees around today and when I stopped the tractor I noticed a hissing noise. I must have whacked the valve stem and now it's leaking. I parked the tractor and supported the front axle with some lumber since I had to get home (tractor is at my property 25 miles away). I'm assuming I'll need to replace the valve stem and will need to remove the wheel to get it fixed. I can't remember what the wheel assembly looks like. Is it the same type of lug nuts used with a car's wheel assembly? Any special tools?

 

[ronjhall]

The wheel bolts are metric. A metric 1/2" socket set up to 28 mm should remove front bolts. May need a good breaker bar to loosen them.

 

[Soundguy]

Keep in mind that to break them loose, you need to keep the tire from spinning.. or use an impact wrench.

If your tire is tubeless.. it will be easy to repalce the valve stem.. if it is a tube.. it will be a little more involved. ( not bad for a pro though ).

Soundguy

 

[SPYDERLK]

While getting your valve repaired consider getting a protective guard for it welded to the rim. This will prevent similar future inconvenience.
Larry

 

[RobA]

Thanks for the help. Turns out the Amish guy building a barn for me is going to take care of it. It's a pain having the property and tractor 25 miles away.

While getting your valve repaired consider getting a protective guard for it welded to the rim. This will prevent similar future inconvenience.
Larry

Larry: There are protective guards already welded on the rims. Somehow I found a way to mess it up anyway.

 

[RalphVa]

I spun mine off with my impact wrench and put them back with it set real low and then torqued them up. They're just bolts, not self-centering like a car's lug bolts.

Lifted the wheel with my FEL, really easy with it.

Ralph

 

[roxynoodle]

I have a Yanmar, not a Kubota, but I just removed the front wheels. To break the nuts loose though it had to be sitting on the ground. Chocking the wheels wasn't good enough. Actually I had to sit on it and hold the brake down to keep it from rocking at all. I also had to involve a 300+ lb neighbor and a breaker bar. Once we had them loose, I used the loader to lift the front end and slip some jack stands under it. We used an impact wrench to put them back on. If you are luckier than me, a lug nut wrench might work fine. My lug nuts matched up to one (some were 19mm or 3/4" and the others were 22mm, which I think was 7/8". I didn't do the math, just realized it fit). Since you already have a flat I hope you can get the wheel chocked good and get the nuts loose without too much of a problem. Good luck.

 

[Egon]

If it's the valve stem can you pull the old one out and pushe a new one in. Then use a portable 12 volt air pump to fill it up.

 

[Casey1]

Just get a good size four way lug wrench at the tractor or auto supply. You will need it more than once and you can really get a lot of power to it. If you don't have the guard welded on around your new valve stem then get the truckers type metal valve stem. I went through four of the regular kind but have had no problems since with the heavy duty metal type.