Oil Pan

[Philip Imhof]

I need to change the oil pan and gasket on my 25-xp. The replacement I've found is nearly $200. Are their any other options?

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

Didja try tightening all the bolts first to see if that stopped the leak?  If you have the oil pan off, peen the bolt holes from the gasket side to take the dimples out before reassembly.  Check the gasket surfaces with a straight edge to see if there are any dips or humps that would interfer with the seal.  I like to take a sanding block with some medium grit sand paper to gasket surfaces after scraping.  It preps the surfaces for reassembly and gives you a pretty good idea of the surface condition.

At $200 for a new gasket, I think I would invest a few bucks in a tube of silicone and try putting some new life into the old gasket first.  I've talked to a race car mechanic who used silicone in the place of regular gaskets on motors that get torn down regularly.  I've used silicone on used valve cover gaskets with good results and an oil pan gasket isn't much different.

Also I wonder if the same gasket is sold at the Kubota Tractor Dealership at "farmer" prices.  That's highway robbery that they're charging that much for a gasket and the mark up is probably so high because it goes on a boat.

[Gene Regan]

Phil,
   It's perfectly ok to use a sealer instead of gasket when installing oil pan. The product I recommend for the application we use here in the shop is Permatex 81878 its a copper sealant with a temp rating of 750 degrees Fahrenheit Good luck and keep smiling

[SteveLyle]

I'm guessing that most of the $200 is for the repalcement oil pan, not the gasket.

Sounds like the Kubota route is the most likely solution.  An alternative is to take your old one to a fab shop and have it repaired.  Which begs the questions - what's wrong with it?  

Steve

[dave davis]

That's true, we have not heard from Phil as to what is wrong with his oil pan. It may not have a pan or gasket leak.
My dock friend had a severe corrosion leak in the middle of his pan and mad a big mess as you can imagine.
So-o I examined mine with a mirror and I was amazed to see a large 4-6 inch circular corrosion area that went through the paint and was working on the pan. My immediate fix was to lightly sand and than spray the area with a corrosion preventer. So far it is holding, but when I get a chance, I will need a new pan for sure.
Good Luck, Dave

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

I completely missed that the oil pan needed replacement and not just the oil pan gasket.  I have some corrosion on my pan too.  If it's eaten through, a competent welder can either braze the pin holes or weld a thin metal patch over the holes.  The pan isn't under any pressure, the oil just splashes around in there from the spinning crankshaft.

[Philip Imhof]

Finally got the oil pan out. Strange thing though, the last two bolts I removed (rear middle 2 bolts) were 10mm. All the rest were 9mm. Anyway I ordered a new pan and gasket. Everything will hopefully go back together a little easier than the removal. I expected to possibly break a head on a couple of the bolts, but that didn't happen.

[Ron Hill]

Phil : Did you order a Kubota oil pan for a D950 engine used in a B7200 tractor - as I recommended (in a separate post)?  

[Earl Miller]

Several large metallic scales have dropped off the bottom of my oil pan.  I notice that Ray (the PO) mentioned a corrosion problem two years ago in the attached topic so I think it is time to replace the oil pan.  I was not able to find any articles or projects that dealt with the mechanics of replacing the pan so I have a few unanswered questions:

- several references have been made to using a Kubota D950 oil pan and gasket ... has anyone done this and did it work?
- does the engine have to be raised?
- are there any other parts I should be getting in addition to the pan and gasket.

Any advice and suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated.

[Stu Jackson]

I recommend that you read the post by Dave Sanner, Engine Rebuild, on the C34 projects page, here: http://www.c34.org/projects/projects.html  The quick way is to click on the link right at the top of this page.

Local Kubota dealers can be found by going to the Kubota website.  I found the ones in northern California relatively easily.  See: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=3133.0, reply #6

Earl, do you know John Coulthard?  He lives right on Active Pass.

[johan]

Earl,
I had the same problem on my C36.
The Kubota oil pan (from Tracktorsmart.com) was:
part # 15381-01610 for $36.

There are two problems with this pan, namely, the dip stick hole is on the wrong (port) side, and the drain fitting at the bottom does not accomodate the quick-change hose fitting.

The latter did not concern me much as most of the oil can be drained through the dip stick hole, the remainder through the drain into a container.
The former was resolved by cutting the dipstick flange off the old pan and having a radiator repair shop weld it to the new pan (about $20). This will require you to measure and drill a small hole beforehand, an easy enough task.

I took the engine out for this, but it appears to be possible to do the job with engine in place. Note the diferent bolt sizes mentioned in a previous post.

Tony Dolk

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Back in 1997 I wrote(Mainsheet):
"Wouldn't it be ashame to have the oil pan rust out - just because the water seal in the raw water pump was leaking"!!  Still valid today.
A thought.   

[Stu Jackson]

The "Knowledgebase" is very helpful:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=3362.0

[Earl Miller]

Thanks Stu, I did search the tech spreadsheet but only found the one article on changing the oil pan.  There were still a few unanswered questions which I think have been answered in the replys .... it sounds like the Kubota Pan is a problem that may be best solved by getting the proper (and more expensive) pan from Universal.
And Ron, you are dead right about the raw water pump ... it had been leaking for several months before I had a mechanic replace the seal.