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Kabota Owners
buddyb
Member Posts: 5,386 ✭✭✭✭
Time to change the hydraulic fluid in the BX 2200. It takes 3 gallons at about 55 bucks per gallon for Kabota UDT2 oil. I will probably bite the bullet and buy the overpriced oil, but anyone know of a safe alternative than the Kabota oil?
Comments
Nope….Larry has talked about buying a tractor…..but we don't need one!
The only safe alternative is Chevron Synthetic All Weather Tractor Hydraulic Fluid. There is no cheaper way to do it. UDT-2 is made by Ashland Oil and Valvoline.
I, l8ke jtrent, have a Kubota 6800. I use only Kubota oil.
Any oil except the KUBOTA factory stuff will VOID the warranty(if you have one).
A bunch of new Kubota owners in my area found out the hard way. They used farm store oil and transmission/hydraulic problems arose. First thing the Kubota dealer did was an oil test. 😪
'BOTERS' got a bad rep right then. Mostly see them in use on hobby farms or small cattle operations where they don't get hard use/heavy pulling. Son's FIL has one and is happy with it's performance but it's lightly used for mowing and handling hay bales.
Bite the bullet, buy the recommended oil, and do it right. I spend $1500-1800 every spring at the JD dealership just for oil and filters(4 JD tractors-50, 125, 160, & 200+ horsepower).
Valvoline Unitrac Hydraulic Oil-3098 is a direct replacement to Kubota UDT. I use Rotella 10/30 synthetic and a mobil 1 oil filter . Got my kubota parts delivered this afternoon.. upper and lower radiator hose, kubota antifreeze and a fan belt.
My Kubota BX2670 is now on its 10th Michigan winter. Used only for blowing and salting our long steep winding asphalt paved driveway. I have yet to change the hydro fluid, as so far only have 185 hours on the tractor. I have had to add a few quarts of UDT2 due to slight losses from a seal leak (probable o ring) in the front hydraulic lifter. The leak is off and on and seals up on its own when I start the season.
There are 2 Kubota dealers within 50 miles of my home and I have shopped at both. One told me I could use the cheaper Kubota UBT fluid which I did one season, but the other dealer said it was a strict no-no for my unit. 😯 I now just pay the price for the UDT2 stuff. There was no harm done with the other, but it was just a small amount added to bring the dipstick up to parr.
A neighbor just had a $3000 brake job done on his tractor that has wet brakes because he used cheap TSC hydraulic oil, and the brakes came a part. As much as vehicles, tractors etc. cost and also as much as repairs cost the worst thing you can do is go cheap on maintenance. Use what is recommended and do it at the recommended times.
No 'Boters' on this farm and hope never will be.
Five JD from 50-200 hp, 2 Ford 45 hp utility , and 1 IH/Farmall 75 hp—all running JD HyGard so no chance of diluting/polluting the big Deere hyd systems. I buy a 55 gallon drum of JD HyGard hydraulic oil every spring—that makes a big dent in the budget.
I’ve got a Kubota L4701H I bought 8 years ago new. Only tractor I ever owned that everything works on it. lol. It only has 250 hours on it. At the price of labor to work on it and parts cost I’ll just go ahead and use what Kubota recommends. Does make one wonder how the cost could be so high on hydraulic fluid. When I changed the oil and hydraulic filter last time I think it was over a hundred dollars just in filters.
I have 2 JD and had old fords in the past, I guess Kubota's are Okay for yard work, but any of my neighbors that have them seem to complain a lot about the maintenance costs and seem to ask me for help a lot so I don't see then used much for any hay making, just driveway and mower work, They used to be a cheaper option I guess but I stick with what works and the JD dealer is much closer to home and it seems more independent field mechanics charge less to fix anything I can't on the JD's and don't have any warranty issues. But each to their own.