Posted: 11/26/2025 8:51:32 PM EDT
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So I'm at 428 hours on my L3560. Time to do a full lube. The front axle support is a "Every 50 hours" item, so I'm way out of schedule on that. Oops. Manual says to pull the breather plug port (which is on the opposite end of the grease fitting, maybe 18 inches away), and pump until grease comes out of the breather plug port. So I pulled the plug and gave it 10 pumps and saw nothing. Another 20 pumps and I saw nothing. I've put the better part of a tube of grease in that thing and still nothing. I've felt and looked all around it and don't see anything coming out of any seals, seems, or anything. The grease clearly went SOMEWHERE but...??? I finally just gave up and put the breather plug back on and called it good enough. How much grease is that thing supposed to take??? Pretty happy with how the rest of it went. Servicing this tractor is mostly a breeze. All the filters are pretty easy to get at as are the drains. |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
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If you are talking about what i think you are, ive owned several Kubotas and greased the pivot until I gave up, using a Dewalt power gun, and Lincoln manual guns Ive never seen grease come out of anything. You gotta consider, the pivot action is minimal, but the load and torque on that is enormous. I figured I'd rather burn a tube of grease in hopes it worked than worry about it. |
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Originally Posted By hkx3: If you are talking about what i think you are, ive owned several Kubotas and greased the pivot until I gave up, using a Dewalt power gun, and Lincoln manual guns Ive never seen grease come out of anything. You gotta consider, the pivot action is minimal, but the load and torque on that is enormous. I figured I'd rather burn a tube of grease in hopes it worked than worry about it. lol, yeah. Milwaukee M12 gun. I'll take a picture tomorrow. Might just finish off that tube. |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
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I'm starting to think that tube is really meant for venting liquified grease/vapor and the "pop" I heard was not dried grease but rather the seal behind the tube getting blown out/past as I way overfilled the front axle support. The manual doesn't show a tube at all. It shows a plug where the tube is and a vent plug on the opposite side of the housing. Here's what mine looks like (not my pictures, but identical to mine) Attached File Attached File Here's what the manual shows Attached File |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
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Ok. I think I got it figured out. There's two front axle supports, one in front of the axle and one behind, and I was greasing the rear one. The manual mentions greasing the front one, and describes and illustrates the plug on it. But it does not describe greasing the rear one. Nor does it illustrate the tube going back from the rear one and the vent plug at the end of that tube. So if you see the rear one first and then read the directions in the manual, you'd think "Oh, ok, sure, just fill er up until it comes out that vent plug hole in the tube." But that would be wrong. Attached File I suspect grease escaped past that thrust collar (Item 270) and went into the vent tube (not illustrated in this diagram either!) Only other place it could have gone is past the O-ring in front (Item 80) but I would have seen grease all over the place around the seams. I looked on the front of my tractor and sure enough... it has that support with the grease fitting on one side and plug on the other. |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
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Originally Posted By hkx3: So you are supposed to pull the plug and insert a grease fitting there? On the one in front of the axle: Pull drain plug on opposite side of grease fitting and fill until grease comes out of the drain plug hole. Manual describes this. One the one behind the front axle: I dunno. All its got is a grease fitting. Manual doesn't say what to do about that one. I guess just put a few pumps from the grease gun on it? |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
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My L2350DT looks similar but mine doesn’t have any grease zerks on either side. Guessing it’s lubed by the axle oil. So, I’m guessing the grease went into the front axle gearbox in the OP’s case. I’d do 3-4 pumps of grease every time you grease it and call it good (manual grease gun). |
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Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt