Just bought my first tractor

[nwjones18]

I've been shopping for a Tractor for around a year and finally got lucky yesterday. 2015 L4701 HST with 125hrs, Grapple, Bucket, Brush hog and tiller. I'd been looking at new L2501's, but was concerned about lift capacity with the grapple, and the Kioti CK2610 but didn't love my local dealer. This popped up a couple hrs away on FB marketplace and I sent the guy a deposit immediatly. Decent tractors sell instantly around here. I ended up with a lot more tractor than I ever though I'd have, but I don't ever hear anyone complaining about having 'to much' tractor...

I don't believe it ever had its 50hr service. Which I believe involves changing the HST filter and the engine oil/filter, so that will be my first project. I read there is no substitute for the Kubota hydraulic fluid. How much should I expect to loose changing the filters?

Only known issue is the guy told me that if you have the fuel filter/water separator bolted on correctly the tractor will starve for fuel, but if you let it dangle on the hoses it runs correctly.. Sounded made up to me but sure enough when I attached it the tractor ran out of gas, let it hang and it fired right back up. It looks filthy and definitely has some water in it so cleaning that will be one of the first things as well. All I can imagine that could be is trash/slime in the tank/lines? There may be a kink when its in place too I haven't had time to investigate. Tractor was stored outdoors.

Overall seems like a really nice machine. I'll be using it for woods clean-up and food plot preparation. I paid 23k for everything. Guy gave me his invoice from 2015 and it was $36,500 with tax
when new.

 

[TxMN]

Did you get an owners manual? You can buy them if not, it would be the first thing I would do.

 

[nwjones18]

Did you get an owners manual? You can buy them if not, it would be the first thing I would do.

I did not, but I've already ordered a full shop manual. I've been reading a PDF owners manual which is were I got my 50hr service info. I thought it was interesting they wanted you to change the HST filter only at 50hrs then again at 200hrs, then the fluid, HST filter and other hydraulic filter at 400hrs.

 

[oosik]

If you treat that new tractor right and do the required maintenance, it will last your lifetime. No matter how old you are.

 

[buck12]

Congratulations. When I did 50 hour filter change I lost almost two gallons of fluid.

 

[CobyRupert]

I did not, but I've already ordered a full shop manual. I've been reading a PDF owners manual which is were I got my 50hr service info. I thought it was interesting they wanted you to change the HST filter only at 50hrs then again at 200hrs, then the fluid, HST filter and other hydraulic filter at 400hrs.

My understanding is the filter change intervals are to get any shavings or contaminants that were left over from manufacturing.
No need to change the oil at those initial intervals as it will perform without breaking down for longer hours.

 

[MoKelly]

I read if you use a shop vac over the refill hole, you can minimize the amount of fluid loss. I’ve not tried it yet, but it can’t hurt.

Congrats on the tractor.

MoKelly

 

[nbryan]

Sime guys apply vacuum suction at the breather to slow or stop fluid loss when swapping filters, I heard a shop vac with some kind of adapter works. With my B2650 I didn't do that, just got the lubed filter ready at hand and swapped as quickly as i could, losing less than one litre of fluid in the process. Fast spin off, fast spin on, all's good.

 

[MHarryE]

I failed to read the manual on my L6060 and went by what I read here. Ended up losing a lot of hydraulic oil. Then looked at my book which said to only change the hydro charge filter at 50 hours (lose a few drops of oil) and not change the hydraulic suction filter until changing the hydraulic oil at 400 hours. Not sure how your tractor is - I know much different than the Grand L - but I learned to follow the book.

 

[BX23S-1]

Damnnnn, that poor RAM truck! You need to throw a couple air bags inside the rear springs.
Actually i`m surprised you didnt blow a rear tire by the looks of that first picture. Thats some SERIOUS weight!

Nice tractor, you got a pretty good deal! Change ALL the fluids and filters. Install a new air filter too. You`ll be glad you did.
Dosen`t sound like to me that the previous owner took very good care of it, not to mention, sitting outdoors isnt good for it.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Congratulations on your new rig. :thumbsup:

Enjoy the site.

 

[The Deerslayer]

Welcome to the site and congrats on your new rig. :thumbsup: You found a nice used package there. Looks like a case of being being diligent with seeing what is out there used, and being in the right place at the right time. By chance, did the guy say why he was letting it go?

When I changed the hydr. filter on my L3901, I may have lost a cup of fluid if that. Not sure if the location is similar on your L4701 as that could make a difference.

 

[Smokeydog]

Nice tractor, equipment and welcome.

Owners manual has some good info too on maintenance.

Don’t have trouble with oil loss with hst filters, above oil level. The hydraulic filter is low but gets changed with fluid changes anyway. Several extra drain plugs on mine with some hard to get at. The hydraulic filter is a screen to get the big stuff while the hst is a polishing filter to get fine particles. Easier to load the media up and then the filter stays in bypass.

Fuel filter is not right. Clean and make sure it is assembled right with the correct kind of flex lines.

All part of the fun of ownership and work. Enjoy.

 

[Michael In Tennessee]

I was told to park sideways on a hill to minimize fluid loss

 

[nwjones18]

Damnnnn, that poor RAM truck! You need to throw a couple air bags inside the rear springs.
Actually i`m surprised you didnt blow a rear tire by the looks of that first picture. Thats some SERIOUS weight!

Nice tractor, you got a pretty good deal! Change ALL the fluids and filters. Install a new air filter too. You`ll be glad you did.
Dosen`t sound like to me that the previous owner took very good care of it, not to mention, sitting outdoors isnt good for it.

The perspective in the picture makes it look a little worse than it did in person.. That said it was definitely overloaded. It has bags and they had 35psi in them (Airlift 1000) and it was only squatted around 3in (I measured before and after because I was curious). We went over the scales on the way home and gross was 15,250. 9,000 total trailer weight with 1400ish lbs of tongue weight.. Having the grapple and bucket hanging on the tongue like that makes for way to much tongue weight. That said it pulled it fine the 2ish hours home and got over 11mpg. I don't intend to ever move the thing unless its going to the dealer for work and then I wouldn't have to take all the heavy implements.

No it was a rich guy's toy and he didn't do any maintenance, so I have a lot of catching up to do on that.. Next project is getting a metal carport to store it under.

 

[nwjones18]

Welcome to the site and congrats on your new rig. :thumbsup: You found a nice used package there. Looks like a case of being being diligent with seeing what is out there used, and being in the right place at the right time. By chance, did the guy say why he was letting it go?

When I changed the hydr. filter on my L3901, I may have lost a cup of fluid if that. Not sure if the location is similar on your L4701 as that could make a difference.

Thanks! It was just his toy at his home in GA and they were moving back to the FL keys so he didn't need it any more. He showed me the garden he used it to till and it was maybe 30x50... and he used the grapple for trees.. that was about it

 

[BeezFun]

Only known issue is the guy told me that if you have the fuel filter/water separator bolted on correctly the tractor will starve for fuel, but if you let it dangle on the hoses it runs correctly.. Sounded made up to me but sure enough when I attached it the tractor ran out of gas, let it hang and it fired right back up. It looks filthy and definitely has some water in it so cleaning that will be one of the first things as well. All I can imagine that could be is trash/slime in the tank/lines? There may be a kink when its in place too I haven't had time to investigate. Tractor was stored outdoors.

Moisture could have condensed in the fuel tank when it wasn't kept full, especially if it was outdoors and went through wide temp changes from sun shining on it during the day. Or if he was refueling from an outdoor tank he could have introduced the water that way. In the future I'd suggest using a Mr Funnel to make sure no water gets into the system. Water can result in some nasty looking slime, for sure change the filter element and watch for more water to collect in bowl after you drive it and slosh fuel around in the tank. Letting the fuel separator dangle doesn't sound right at all, it's possible a branch hit one of the lines and put a kink in it, definitely check that out.
You really got a good deal there, I've been looking for something similar on lots of sites but never though of facebook marketplace. I'll start checking that out.

 

[deezler]

Nice tractor!

Why not just change the hydraulic oil also. It's 6 years old already, after all. If it were me, I would do a complete maintenance right now, and start off knowing everything is fully taken care of. You got a lifetime quality machine there, congrats.

 

[crashz]

Congrats on the new rig! With all those implements, you really got a good deal.

Like deezler said, I'd change all fluids and filters, grease everything and get that fuel filter issue corrected. My guess is the flexible lines at the filter are plugged and the "dangling" allows it to move enough fuel to keep running. Not ideal.

Couple of things:
- When you change the HST and hydraulic filters, the magnet on the hydraulic filter will have a lot of metal on it. Its normal. I change mine at every PM (yearly) and the amount of metal has severely diminished by the third filter change.
- Due to the exhaust location, I found my air filter gets dirty quickly with carbon that does not come out with light tapping. So I replace the filter annually.
- I buy a filter kit from my dealer that has everything. All filters. I find it easy to just change them all when I do my annual maintenance, even if its way to early by the schedule.
- If your machine sat outside in humid conditions, I'd go ahead and change the trans oil too.

 

[BX23S-1]

Glad to hear you have Air1000 bags in your truck, i do as well in my 18 RAM1500, the bags do a very good job when hauling. Yeah, i dont doubt you, pictures can be deceiving when i saw how your truck was sitting. I would say 3 inches wasnt bad for the weight you were hauling, amazing actually. And to get 11mpg with THAT load/weight, wow, awesome! A rich guy`s toy, yeup, that explained it all, lol.

I hope to see a bunch of pics uploaded here when you get to workin this equipment. Nice rig like you have, deserves to be noticed!