Questions from reading the owners manual

[Fallon]

I'm coming up on my 50 hour service & have been re-reading the manual and discovering some things that are confusing to me.

"Antifreeze is extremely flammable and explosive under certain conditions" Really? I thought ethylene glycol was non-flammable (although a nasty poison that kills your liver or kidnies)

Why does the manual transmission take 1 more gallon of hydraulic fluid than the HST? I'd have assumed that the one that runs on hydraulic fluid would need more.

How in the heck does the L3200 have 0.2gpm more pump flow than the L3800 & its extra 6hp. It's also over half a mile per hour faster for either the HST or manual. I'd have assumed my weaker L3200 would be slower with less pumpage.

Most importantly, is there a way to check the invisible hydraulic fluid other than through that dam porthole? I can never tell if it's overfilled, underfilled or what.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Your reading the Owners Manual? :shocked:
Not sure I've ever heard of anyone doing that vs reading TBN and listening to old tractor owners from the 1920s/1950s telling absolute tractor maintenance schedules and "stuff".
Especially don't worry about what you don't have, what other tractors of other sizes/brands/age have/do or don't do or have. Look only at and be concerned only at/with what your tractor has/will do. Otherwise you'll go crazy.:drink:

 

[Baby Grand]

That's the best advice I've seen in a long time.
I think the "explosive" coolant description may refer to uncorking a hot radiator.
Kubota still needs to hire someone who speaks English fluently and understands tractors well to edit their technical literature.

 

[AStanton]

I was reading the manual on B3030 the other day. It recommended that you change all 4 radiator hoses every other year.

 

[Fallon]

Ya my L3200 radiator hoses are only good for 2 years as well. :laughing:

I do tend to try & follow manufacturers guidelines for fluid changes & reasonable common sense items. Just not 2 year hoses. TBN has been a much better source of not just information but understanding of why you should do things than the owners manual has been.

I just found it odd/amusing that my L3200 is the same tractor & I believe engine as the L3800 just with 6 less HP & a slightly smaller displacement yet has marginally more GPM & MPH.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Remember the Operators Manual is not a maintenance/repair/service manual for those who do their own work. It is set up for you to take your tractor back to the dealer for routine maintenance at $125/HR. those of us mechanically inclined use the Workshop Manual and a lot of common sense. Some things like hoses are best left to breakdown maintenance. The O Manual does not explain how to adjust things, the W manual does. Recently I was at the dealer's talking to their Service Manager about the action of my BX parking brake not holding on a hill. His response was that is common as folks tend to not disengage and wear it out. I asked him how hard it was to replace. He stated they would have to pull the transaxel and rebuild at a cost of $1500 if only the brake disc is replaced. For a wet disc brake that did not make sense. Drag out the W Manual and peruse the subject. I determined that first I could replace the brake w/o removing the axel. You only need to remove a frame section to access removing the left axel assembly. Remembering a thread on TBN about this I look into adjustment. 10 minutes later I had it all back to normal. Just a minor adjustment of the pedal travel. The manual says to adjust the valves at 800 hrs. I have almost 1000 HRs and there is no valve noise or performance problem. We checked the clearance on the push rods and still in spec. So, I am letting that ride. At $125/HR shop time and being w/o for probably 2-3 weeks plus hauling back and forth it does not seem essential. It is a $300+ job at the dealer to do nothing.