This week I decided it was time to change my hyd/ fluid and filter on the DK40se. This would be the first fluid and filter change - 98 hrs are on it. Everything was going well- I warmed up the machine, turned it off and began draining the oil. It has 2 drain plugs for the transmission and they have heavy duty magnets on the ends. I was really surprised at how much crud was on the front most magnet- I mean it was a good teaspoon of crud on the magnet. Wow! I am glad I changed the fluid early after seeing all of that. - Then I go to take off the filter-it is tight - ok extremely tight- worse than that- try stuck like glue. I make double sure that I'm turning it ccw . won't budge... I am flexing the housing it still won't budge. I decided as a way to get a better grip to remove the rear tire so I could get at it since the loader bracing is in the way.. Still wouldn't budge. I had foolishly parked the Kioti right where I load the big feed wagon and knew I had to get this solved. A quick call to my dealer acknowledged that this had been seen in their shop before and they they had to remove the entire mount assembly in a few cases. I decide to try my filter wrench one more time and actually break it's pin and it sends me backward into the step. Now I have a broken filter wrench and a big bruise on the back of my arm. O.K. as a last resort I look at the filter and decide to cut around the factory paint on the filter. I improvise a wrench with a piece of chain and a screwdriver. It still won't move so I go deeper with the utility knife and slide it through the rubber seal on the filter top. I gently drive the blade around all of the filter reachable by tapping on the knife's back with my hammer. I feel the blade moving on the inner side of the filter seal and try the improvised wrench and the filter moves!! Thank You God!! I get it off , the new filter on and filled with hyd fluid . I am tired and done with that- now time to get some other work done.! bordercollie
