New RTV1100 Owner

[Terrawombat]

Not much to update on the Kubota, unfortunately. Had a very busy week at work and didn't get a whole lot of time to wrench on my projects. I did get some new parts in the mail, specifically a brand new OEM tailgate. It's a little bit of an upgrade from what I have before...

 

[Terrawombat]

Drained the hydraulic oil from the tank last night and started taking the gear case off. Managed to jam a flathead screwdriver into my hand doing something else so I had to call it quits. Just another reason to hate slotted screws...

 

[bordercollie]

Ughh.. You best go and get a tetanus shot and a bottle of .. hydrogen peroxide .. even if it was a clean screwdriver... Then you'll be set for a while and murphy's law mishaps. I had to get one last year.

 

[Terrawombat]

All is well with my puncture wound. No infections and no tetanus booster needed. I am scheduled to get LASIK laser eye surgery tomorrow, which is about 10 years overdue for me. Very excited to not need to use glasses anymore, however, it will mean I have to put the Kubota project on hold while I recover and follow doctors orders to stay away from strenuous work.

I did remove the engine gear case last night and I received the gasket kit today so I hope to jump back into the project by March 1 and finish it off.

 

[bordercollie]

You will love not needing glasses . I had Lasik about 8-10 years ago and my far vision is now perfect but I gave up the near vision for that. I must wear reading glasses since the surgery. But I was told that. I made the choice. Hopefully the procedure has improved to cover both conditions, and gotten more reasonable at good reputable doctors. Until then, I'd been wearing glasses since 9th grade. Had never seen individual leaves on a tree till then.. Anyways , wear those goggles as specified. and congratulations !!! collie

 

[Terrawombat]

You will love not needing glasses . I had Lasik about 8-10 years ago and my far vision is now perfect but I gave up the near vision for that. I must wear reading glasses since the surgery. But I was told that. I made the choice. Hopefully the procedure has improved to cover both conditions, and gotten more reasonable at good reputable doctors. Until then, I'd been wearing glasses since 9th grade. Had never seen individual leaves on a tree till then.. Anyways , wear those goggles as specified. and congratulations !!! collie

The procedure was successful, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't experience any pain. The anesthesia they put in my right eye was not nearly as effective as my left and I could feel the laser pierce my eye and also felt the doctor pull back the flap. They gave me stress balls to squeeze and I'm glad they did. I'm also glad they gave me a dose of Valium before the surgery to calm my nerves. After the procedure I was able to see clearly with a thick haze due to the swelling in my eyes and I thought all was fine, but on the car ride home I started feeling tremendous amounts of stinging and pressure. Once I got home I went right to sleep and took a 4 hour nap. After I woke the pain was gone and I can see clearly. There is still a bit of a haze but that's supposed to wear off after a few days. I go back tomorrow for a follow-up visit to see how the eyes are doing.

I will eventually lose my near vision, but even if I didn't get LASIK there was a very high probability that was going to happen anyway as my entire family has reading glasses (I'm the youngest of my family). So if I got the surgery or not, reading glasses were likely in my future.

I'm still in a state of disbelief as I type this. I can see clearly as though I have my contacts in, but I don't. Looking forward to the next week as my eyes heal and I can get back into normal day to day activities.

 

[quid_non]

Get well Soon!
I can't wait to follow more of your engine rebuild progress and devour your pics!
Great job!

 

[Terrawombat]

Get well Soon!
I can't wait to follow more of your engine rebuild progress and devour your pics!
Great job!

Thank you, I appreciate the well wishes. I woke up today seeing even clearer, which I didn't think was possible. I was the pallbearer at my wife's grandmothers funeral and was out in the sun most of the day, which I was advised not to do, but I wanted to fulfill her last wishes. Despite having polarized sunglasses on the entire time, my eyes are still very hypersensitive to light and the day just wore me out. Still, can't complain about what my eyes are now able to see.

 

[Terrawombat]

I bought myself a pair of safety goggles to protect my eyes and my wife cleared me to work on the RTV. I got the engine completely reassembled tonight and started filling it with oil and coolant only to find I managed to puncture upper radiator hose. Not sure when that happened but I placed an order for a new hose and also bought a 5 gallons bucket of the Kubota hydraulic oil. Everything should be here by Tuesday which is when I hope to fire the machine up.

I'll post photos tomorrow.

 

[Terrawombat]

Engine is put back together and topped off. The original alternator was in rough shape with rust and corrosion all over the place. I opted to buy a new one, but couldn't fork over the big bucks that Kubota wants for their OEM unit so I broke code and purchased an aftermarket unit. We'll see if my gamble pays off, but if it does go out at least it's in an easily accessible location. Also got a new OEM belt. You'll notice that the A/C compressor is missing and that's because it was completely seized. I'll be replacing that at some point, but I want to make sure the rest of the unit is solid before I drop a couple hundred on that.

Also installed the new tailgate and it looks and works great.

Next couple of days will be spent trying to drain all of the old hydraulic oil out of this thing. I bought the complete filter kit so I'll be removing the 463 filters that on are the transmission.

 

[shinnery]

You missed a couple, there are 465 filters I believe looking at my 900. LOL

 

[avantiguy]

Good work, I purchased an aftermarket alternator from Ebay about three years ago for my 04 - 900. It's still working great. No worries on that front.

 

[bordercollie]

Great job !! It's too bad that we can't hear it purr when you start her . What a super gift for your family and I'm sure he'll be floored.. does he have any idea? Now that would be something to see !!!!!!!! collie

 

[Terrawombat]

She lives. And she sounds great. I was taking a video of it running and in the process of moving the dump bed up and down one of the rusty lines sprung a leak and sprayed hydraulic oil all over the hot exhaust, which led to a smoke show in my back yard. Couldn't even be mad about it because of how great the engine was purring right before this occurred. Going to order new lines for the dump bed tonight and start tearing apart the interior in preparation to tackle the floor pans.

 

[Terrawombat]

Great job !! It's too bad that we can't hear it purr when you start her . What a super gift for your family and I'm sure he'll be floored.. does he have any idea? Now that would be something to see !!!!!!!! collie

My father is aware of the gift. I had sent a photo of it when I bought it to my brothers. My oldest brother still works on the farm with my father and he showed the picture to him. It's going to be a father's day gift from myself and my son so that will mean more to him than anything. Whenever we come up to visit he'll be sure to have a grandpa/grandson Kubota ride.

 

[bordercollie]

That's awesome You better be careful once word gets around about your skills . Congratulations on an engine job well done !
What do you think about the rear ujoints ? I have forgotten what model you have but the older 900's are basically pretty "easy" to fix. I've done it 2 times or was it 3? haha.. if greased with high quality grease though, they will last and last. .
Best wishes on the floor overhaul. bordercollie

 

[Terrawombat]

Sorry for the updates, but I have been very busy with work and traveling often so there has not been a lot of time to work on the Kubota. Since I got the engine running a few weeks ago I have put about 10 hours on the rebuild. Unfortunately, it has developed a tapping sound that is loud enough for me to be concerned. What is odd is that the tapping is not always present and will randomly go away for no apparent reason. I have tried to pinpoint when exactly it will occur, but have been unable to create a scenario where I can replicate it 100% of the time. It seems to be more noticeable when the engine is cold, but there are also times when I don't hear it at all after a cold start. The tapping will subside as the engine is revved, but it is definitely still there and may just be drowned out by the increased sound level of the engine at higher revs.

I was so concerned with it that I drained the oil (again) and dropped the oil pan and inspected the brand new rod bearings, but they all looked as good as the day I installed them. I also suspected that the valve clearances were out of spec (and they were) so I adjusted those to the factory manual, but the issue did not improve.

At this point I'm thinking the tapping may be piston slap on the #3 cylinder, which is the one I had to bore out to remove the marks left by the previous piston and its seized wrist pin bearing. My belief is that I removed too much material and the new piston/rings fit a lot looser in the cylinder bore and the piston skirt is tapping against the walls and creating the noise. I did measure the cylinder bore after my honing process and it was within factory spec, but it was on the higher side.

My plan is to just keep running the machine until it dies. It may last only 25 more hours or it may keep going for another 2500. Who knows. If the engine grenades itself, I'll find another one to throw in. Once I get this to my parents farm I'll have a lot more flexibility when it comes to major repairs like an engine swap.

 

[aurthuritis]

congrats!!! i would bet it runs that way for years. tough little engines.

 

[bordercollie]

I agree ! Those are tough engines. Neither of mine have/had any blow by with over 4200 hrs on each of them . I did give 'em clean oil and "respect." and thats about it.
Thanks for letting us know . collie

 

[Terrawombat]

I must say that the RTV is very useful even on my small 3/4 acre property. Much easier to maneuver trailers in my backyard with the RTV versus a full size 3/4 ton truck. The hydraulic dump bed came in very handy when filling some raised beds for our future veggie garden.