What a PIA to change the oil on mt125!

[LS Tractor Owner]

Started off this morning to do the first 50 hrs oil change. Started to loosen the oil drain plug, turning it out by hand, oil leaking around the bolt, only to find that it comes out about 3/4 of the way, then hits on the front axle center pivot! thought I could just jack up one side of the axle to rotate the mount. Started to take out the bolt and it still hit. Lowered the jack, took it out, and used the loader to lift the axle off the ground about 6" so that I could get full pivot on the axle. Started to get the bolt almost all the way out, and again hits the pivot. Now I'm pi***d off! Took the wrench and gave it a 1/2 turn to the point that it came out, crooked, but it was out. Now I'm covered in oil from my elbows down, sweating my a** off, and still pi***d off! Took the bolt over to the grinder and ground the flange off to just slightly larger than the washer. Put it back in and just barely went past the pivot ( had to use a wrench to get it past, but much easier. What should have been a 20 min job turned into 2 hours. You would think that LS could have engineered this a better way.

 

[ThirdMan]

Guess I will have this to look forward to in 32 hours. I wonder how they put it in.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Guess I will have this to look forward to in 32 hours. I wonder how they put it in.

Well, it's a Yanmar engine, I'm sure it was already in place when they put the motor in the tractor during assembly. When I have time, I think I'm going to grind a hair off of the casting fins on the axle pivot, maybe a 1/16". Gonna call the dealer tomorrow just to make sure it would'nt cause an issue later. I wonder if I just got one that had the drain hole just a little off from where it should be. The tractor is such a new model, even the dealer doesn't know that much about them. There is a "pre-wire" for a work light on the backhoe, it's nicely secured along with the hyd. hoses to the BH mount, then coiled up under the tractor 3 pt. The wire has a plug on the end to hook it up. Heck if I could find the female plug on the tractor. I have a spare 6 LED cube light left over from my Jeep that I was going to put on. I called the dealer and asked where the plug was located or if I would have to splice it in to an existing wire. The service techs had to go out onto the lot and look at another mt125 tractor. Their answer was " we can't find where it plugs in so we called LS to find out". "It's not shown on the wiring diagram in the service manual". They called me back 2 days later and said that LS never added the work light pigtail onto the tractor because they sell more of the tractors without the backhoe...... Again some forethought would be nice..... Can't cost that much......

 

[bruceatlam]

Guess I will have this to look forward to in 32 hours. I wonder how they put it in.

It was already "in" when they put the front end on --------------

 

[mrmikey]

I'm not familiar with the setup but is there any way you can put a 90 deg elbow in the drain hole and plug the elbow? Doen't it pi$$ you off when there is apparently no thought put into servicing.
Just bought a '15 Nissan frontier, the oil filter is behind a 'door' (a word I use loosely) about 3" x 6", you can barely get you hand or a wrench on it. When you do get it off, the oil runs over the front suspension not to mention the filter is the size of one than should be on a lawnmower........Mike

 

[marchanna]

You can always use a vacuum pump to suck the oil out through the dipstick tube. Depending on the shape of the oil pan, this method sometimes gets more oil out than using the plug.

 

[coldsteelva]

Find out the thread size and get a Fumoto valve installed. Fumoto(R) USA | Quick and Easy Engine Oil Drain Valves Then you never have to remove the 'plug' again; you simply open the valve. I have them on two of my vehicles and it makes for spill/drip-less oil changes

 

[jaydee325]

Very nice. Unfortunately this device would be a risky choice on my LS R3039H. There are 2 engine oil drain plugs that each point straight down. A device like this would be vulnerable to being knocked off/damaged by heavy brush etc.

But in a more protected location or less risky service, this is a great idea.

Find out the thread size and get a Fumoto valve installed. Fumoto(R) USA | Quick and Easy Engine Oil Drain Valves Then you never have to remove the 'plug' again; you simply open the valve. I have them on two of my vehicles and it makes for spill/drip-less oil changes

 

[CalG]

perhaps an internal wrenching plug with a few threads missing would clear the obstruction.

But then I suppose it would require a "special" allen key to get to it. ****! Don't ya hate stuff like that!

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Find out the thread size and get a Fumoto valve installed. Fumoto(R) USA | Quick and Easy Engine Oil Drain Valves Then you never have to remove the 'plug' again; you simply open the valve. I have them on two of my vehicles and it makes for spill/drip-less oil changes

Unfortunately, the fumoto valve would' be able to be turned in because of the "handle" on the side.