50 Hour Service L39

The L39 tractor has been kept busy the past week building a 1/4 mile of new fence in mountain terrain which is not complete yet. I have also had to build road to the new fence area for access and installed culverts in existing roads. It worked several nights until 10:30 PM excavating and digging footings for a new home/cabin addition.

I started my 50 hour service at 55 hours yesterday. The dealer gave me one filter for the hydraulic system and it requires two. I called the dealer and told them about the filter screw up and they said just continue running it until I can get the 2nd hydraulic filter next week and change out the fluid. I will have 60+ hours by that time.The hydraulic fluid change will have to wait until next week now. All other items checked out great. I fixed 3 small hydraulic hose/fitting leaks. Two were in the front loader and one was in the backhoe quick couplers. It appears all leaks were in the hardest place to get a wrench near to tighten up the fittings in that area. Someone just did not check them at the factory or dealership as the location was hard to access.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to any potential problems I should check for next week that the 50 hour service does not cover? Any help to prevent problems would be appreciated.

Check this site/page
http://www.messicks.com/tractorservice.aspx

Just follow your owners manual and it should go smoothly.

Leaky fitting on our L39 Hoe - not even at 50 hrs!

We have a brand spanking new L39 (12.5 hrs) and put the backhoe on for the first time yesterday and had a leak on the upper diperstick fitting within an hour! Is that one of the fittings you had an issue with? (it is hard to get to!) Just wondering if it is, how you delt with it? It seems to be leaking from the cylinder thread - the problem is the first fitting is a 90 degree - looks like I have to remove the hose to spin the fitting (worried about loss of fluid and settling of the hydraulics)
Should I just haul it back to the dealer?
Thanks in advance for your advice....

BTW - love the snow cats! I used to work a ski resort here in Ontario for years - always dreamed of living somewhere access was only by using one! Guess you're living the dream!

The leak on my L39 backhoe was at the inside tough to reach quick couplers. I do not think you will lose much fluid if you take off one fitting to tighten another. Set the hoe down on the ground and try to take all of the pressure off that you can before loosening any fittings. You may even want to disconnect the quick couplers to the tractor but leave the hoe on the tractor. If your dealer is close by it may be worth the trip. My dealer is about 140 miles round trip and I don't have the patience or the time, so I just do all the repairs that I am capable of doing to avoid the aggravation.

Hi guys,

I also have a new L39 and after only 10 hours or so I noticed one of my stabilizer pistons had a drip or two on it. It seemed to stop leaking but than started again. I called the dealer and he was quick to order a new one and had his mechanic drive the hour and replace it. I was thrilled with their service!

Cheers

Rico said:

Hi guys,

I also have a new L39 and after only 10 hours or so I noticed one of my stabilizer pistons had a drip or two on it. It seemed to stop leaking but than started again. I called the dealer and he was quick to order a new one and had his mechanic drive the hour and replace it. I was thrilled with their service!

Cheers

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That is impressive. You found a good one. This is another example of why it is so important to shop the dealers as well as the tractor brand. Course it would be hard to predict that they would give that kind of service. that is way over and beyond what any of us would expect. Congrats!!!!!

I just completed my 100 hour service a month ago. I did not have any other oil leaks or problems to take care at this time. All fittings were tight and I could not find any leaks or other type problems that needed attention. The L39 is holding up very well and it is working very well at my high elevation without a turbo. The GST transmission works very well for me and I would not trade it for a full hydro at this time for my type of work.

Rico, cdnphotog and other L series owners should check out my post on the L39 modified HD grille guard. The L39 appears to have a weak point under the RH side radiator support and a brace welded to your existing grille guard or an update and added guard similar to mine may save you some money and down time in the future. I either run over something or flipped up something into the lower radiator mount which caused my problems. I never knew about the problem until it was to late and my fan was hitting and had broke the radiator shroud.

http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4353#post4353

mtntopper said:

I just completed my 100 hour service a month ago. I did not have any other oil leaks or problems to take care at this time. All fittings were tight and I could not find any leaks or other type problems that needed attention. The L39 is holding up very well and it is working very well at my high elevation without a turbo. The GST transmission works very well for me and I would not trade it for a full hydro at this time for my type of work.

Rico, cdnphotog and other L series owners should check out my post on the L39 modified HD grille guard. The L39 appears to have a weak point under the RH side radiator support and a brace welded to your existing grille guard or an update and added guard similar to mine may save you some money and down time in the future. I either run over something or flipped up something into the lower radiator mount which caused my problems. I never knew about the problem until it was to late and my fan was hitting and had broke the radiator shroud.

http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4353#post4353

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Wow, great information! How much do they charge for the modification? I am at 40 hours now and going to buy my Super UDT oil today for the 50 hr service. I am in the middle of changing the grade on the side of my garage and think I may have tweaked my FEL. I just noticed, while parking the 39 in the garage and lowering the FEL, that the left side of the bucket touches the garage floor before the right side. There seems to be a quarter inch difference from left to right when positioning the bucket very close to the floor. Am I being too fussy? It could have always been like that but I am not sure.

Thanks for the grille information!
Cheers

mtntopper said:

I just completed my 100 hour service a month ago. I did not have any other oil leaks or problems to take care at this time. All fittings were tight and I could not find any leaks or other type problems that needed attention. The L39 is holding up very well and it is working very well at my high elevation without a turbo. The GST transmission works very well for me and I would not trade it for a full hydro at this time for my type of work.

Rico, cdnphotog and other L series owners should check out my post on the L39 modified HD grille guard. The L39 appears to have a weak point under the RH side radiator support and a brace welded to your existing grille guard or an update and added guard similar to mine may save you some money and down time in the future. I either run over something or flipped up something into the lower radiator mount which caused my problems. I never knew about the problem until it was to late and my fan was hitting and had broke the radiator shroud.

http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4353#post4353

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Topper,
Happy to hear that your L39 has been reliable. I was wondering how much UDT oil came out of the tractors six drain plugs during your 50 hr service? I am about to drop the UDT on my L39 and was curious to know what to expect as I imagine the various pistons hold lots of fluid that wont leak down. Also want to have an adequate sized buckets to catch the fluid.

Thanks!

I was surprised but I did use about what the L39 manual said for the refill quantity on the hydraulic system. The manual says 11.4 gallons and I used a touch over 11 gallons. They are basically spot on for volume of fluid required when changing the hydraulic fluid if you drain all locations. Watch for all of the small drain plug washers as it is easy to drop one and hard to find when you do. I dropped one and it must of landed on me as I found it a week later about twenty foot away from the tractor. It must of stuck to my coveralls and when I got up and walked away and then fell off. I looked for an hour around the tractor before I went and found a comparable one for a snow cat to use.

mtntopper said:

I was surprised but I did use about what the L39 manual said for the refill quantity on the hydraulic system. The manual says 11.4 gallons and I used a touch over 11 gallons. They are basically spot on for volume of fluid required when changing the hydraulic fluid if you drain all locations. Watch for all of the small drain plug washers as it is easy to drop one and hard to find when you do. I dropped one and it must of landed on me as I found it a week later about twenty foot away from the tractor. It must of stuck to my coveralls and when I got up and walked away and then fell off. I looked for an hour around the tractor before I went and found a comparable one for a snow cat to use.

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Great, thanks for the information!