Kubota oil leak from slew pump

[stilltrying]

Trying to help a friend out with hydraulic leak, cleaned everything up and without any power the hydraulic oil is seeping out from where the slew pump is bolted to the main body of the machine, I have disconnected the two pressure pipes along with the oil supply pipe and the four large bolts that hold it down but I am not able to lift it out, basically I don't want to force it if there could be something else holding it in place. There is a bit of movement now the bolts are out, should this just pull upwards to remove or is there something else required to be undone first?

I'm am hopping that there is a seal that needs replacing as I think a new pump will be rather expensive.

The pump is an eaton unit if it makes any difference and the machine think is a KX series but might be wrong on that as the paint is long gone.

[Muz]

Think you need to back up a bit .. are you sure the oil is coming from the slew motor ? oil runs down pipes .. changes direction when they lie over cross members and all sorts ... havent seen a slew motor (its not a pump) leak ever in 30 years although clearly its not impossible .. can you take some pics ?

[stilltrying]

Think you need to back up a bit .. are you sure the oil is coming from the slew motor ? oil runs down pipes .. changes direction when they lie over cross members and all sorts ... havent seen a slew motor (its not a pump) leak ever in 30 years although clearly its not impossible .. can you take some pics ?

Hi, I may have the name of the item wrong but I have cleaned everything up including all the pipes and fittings above and the fluid certainly looks like it is coming from the join between the pump and the main excavators body. I have taken a few days of wiping the fluid away and waiting for it to reappear and each time it is from the same position. The pump has a large flange about half inch thick and the fluid is below this and the flange is dry above as are all the hoses.

This is the pump
DSC_0573.jpg

This is the base area
DSC_0574.jpg
I have no idea why the photo is upside down and am not computer literate enough to rotate it the correct way, sorry.

[stilltrying]

Bit of an update on this, I blocked off the inlet pipe to the unit and after two days the oil stopped leaking, bear in mind that I have not had the engine running so this is just leaking by gravity. The four bolts that hold the unit down have been removed and the pump will move ever so slightly but I still don't want to put excessive pressure on it to try to remove in case I have to undo something else.

Anyway to day I reconnected the feed pipe to the unit and instantly we had oil leaking out from the same place as before, so if no one knows about this machine I will just have to take a few pry bars to it and hope for the best.

[Muz]

Yeah Ok there is a seal on the output shaft of the motor that might have failed .. hard to tell from the pics .. but you only normally see oil lower down on the drive pinion in that case. The motor is sectional and bolted together from the four bolts you see on top, ... it maybe has 4 sections I cant remember, maybe a section is leaking , does it look like oil is seeping from the body of the motor 1/4 or half way up ? .. if it is and you haul it out , i'd be cautious of stripping it , because that motor is timed if I remember, you'll need to take it to a hyraulics shop. It has a bunch of plates in the oil entry section timed with the drive section.

[Wazza]

If its not Geo Locked to you(try A VPN) ,look up Messics website they have exploded parts diagrams and parts price lists(in USD though) for many Kubota models.
Its often helpfull to see whats involved and how it all fits together
, also aids in disassembly ..Choose a model and a subsection ,click on the print PDF on the top of the page and it should open into a PDF .
https://www.messicks.com/vendor/Kubota

[stilltrying]

Yeah Ok there is a seal on the output shaft of the motor that might have failed .. hard to tell from the pics .. but you only normally see oil lower down on the drive pinion in that case. The motor is sectional and bolted together from the four bolts you see on top, ... it maybe has 4 sections I cant remember, maybe a section is leaking , does it look like oil is seeping from the body of the motor 1/4 or half way up ? .. if it is and you haul it out , i'd be cautious of stripping it , because that motor is timed if I remember, you'll need to take it to a hyraulics shop. It has a bunch of plates in the oil entry section timed with the drive section.

The oil is leaking from below the flange that bolts the pump to the flat plate of the machine, NOT from above the flange so the oil is leaking from the pump into, I assume, a recess or similar and leaking between the bolted flange and the flat steel plate it is bolted down to by the four bolts.

I think I will just have to take the plunge and use some pry bars on it to see if I can lift the pump out.

[stilltrying]

If its not Geo Locked to you(try A VPN) ,look up Messics website they have exploded parts diagrams and parts price lists(in USD though) for many Kubota models.
Its often helpfull to see whats involved and how it all fits together
, also aids in disassembly ..Choose a model and a subsection ,click on the print PDF on the top of the page and it should open into a PDF .
https://www.messicks.com/vendor/Kubota

Thanks for the link, I did try it out but only gave me the option of buying it without a pdf of what it looked like, having said that I am not particularly computer literate so will get a friend of mine to give it a go before setting to with big bars.

[Wazza]

Thanks for the link, I did try it out but only gave me the option of buying it without a pdf of what it looked like, having said that I am not particularly computer literate so will get a friend of mine to give it a go before setting to with big bars.

Enter your model in the top left "model search" box ,that should take you to a page with sub catagories down the left side of the page ,select pump and motor system ,and then click on swivel motor and component parts ,a parts page will open and there should be a print PDF on the top of the page ,click on that and you should get a exploded view and a full parts list with USD pricing.

[stilltrying]

Wazza, thanks for the step by step, even a numpty like me managed that, couldn't find the exact model, maybe too old, but found one that is very close. So armed with this info I set to with the pry bars and out came the pump, undamaged.

Here is the pump.
DSC_4564.jpg

This is the hole that it left.
DSC_4563.jpg

This is the gear end of the unit.
DSC_4565.jpg

And this is where the hydraulic fluid is leaking from, I even put more fluid in the pump after I had removed it to confirm that it is in fact coming out of this hole.
DSC_4566.jpg

So the upshot is, I was wrong in thinking that there was a recess that the pump fitted into and was filling up with oil before showing on the machines body, the hole is very small and close to the base of the mounting flange of the pump and not having the best light conditions I couldn't actually tell there was a machined hole there. This is the reason that oil was not running out of the main turning plates as the hole is on top of the workings and hence ran out on to the top of the machines lower body if that makes sense.

Now, after what Muz said about timed gears etc. I think it best to send off to be reconditioned or replaced with a new unit, neither are going to be cheap I expect but my friend would at least still have a working machine.

Thanks everyone for your input. I will keep you posted as to the outcome.

[Wazza]

I would never argue with Muz ,Hopefully it needs to only be partially dismantled and just the inner oil seal replacing.
But you would probably need to know why it failed in the first place I guess.

[stilltrying]

Just to update this post, I had the slew pump sent off for new seals to be fitted, apparently only one seal was affected badly the others were on their way, so nothing other than seals needed.

I put everything back in along with fresh hydraulic fluid, there were some bits in the drained fluid, and it works as it should and is nice and dry.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and advice.

[Muz]

Wazza, thanks for the step by step, even a numpty like me managed that, couldn't find the exact model, maybe too old, but found one that is very close. So armed with this info I set to with the pry bars and out came the pump, undamaged.

Here is the pump.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4485[/ATTACH]

This is the hole that it left.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4486[/ATTACH]

This is the gear end of the unit.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4487[/ATTACH]

And this is where the hydraulic fluid is leaking from, I even put more fluid in the pump after I had removed it to confirm that it is in fact coming out of this hole.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4488[/ATTACH]

So the upshot is, I was wrong in thinking that there was a recess that the pump fitted into and was filling up with oil before showing on the machines body, the hole is very small and close to the base of the mounting flange of the pump and not having the best light conditions I couldn't actually tell there was a machined hole there. This is the reason that oil was not running out of the main turning plates as the hole is on top of the workings and hence ran out on to the top of the machines lower body if that makes sense.

Now, after what Muz said about timed gears etc. I think it best to send off to be reconditioned or replaced with a new unit, neither are going to be cheap I expect but my friend would at least still have a working machine.

Thanks everyone for your input. I will keep you posted as to the outcome.

Interesting .. didnt know that hole ever existed.... must be a vent for some reason ? Good you got it fixed