KL5510 transmission oil leak from boot on gearshift shaft

[ChrisCrawford]

My KL5510 recently sprung a transmission oil leak. After a great deal of effort, we have zeroed in on the source of the problem. I attach a photo I got of the problem. It shows the rubber seal boot where the gearshift shaft enters the transmission. There's a hose clamp holding the base of the seal to the transmission. This strikes me as peculiar; hose clamps on seals like this can bite into the boot at the edge and open up a leak. Moreover, I wouldn't expect Kioti to use a hose clamp there. I suspect that this was a repair done by the previous owner that is now causing the leak. Or it may be due to some other cause; there appears to be a crack in the boot at the fold immediately above the hose clamp.

That area is extremely difficult to access; it is immediately underneath the foot deck plate. We tried to remove the foot deck plate immediately above this location, but are prevented from sliding it by the bolts holding two thick rubber shock absorbers that support the foot deck plate. I could just barely wipe parts of the area clean with my fingertips. The shop manual provides no guidance on how to remove the foot deck plate. I did find one reference that suggested that, after removing all impediments, I slide the foot deck plate rearwards and tilt it up. It appears that Kioti has carefully placed a variety of bolts to insure that this is impossible. After trying everything I could, I had to give up.

So, what can I do? My previous experience with tractors was with a 1953 Ferguson TO-30, which was, shall we say, considerably simpler than this machine. I'm in much deeper water now, and I am struggling to keep from sinking. Any ideas?

 

[Fedup]

Any ideas? Replace said boot for sure. If you can't remove the foot plate to so, I would consider cutting out a section of that plate to allow access. Then fabricate a couple pieces of "support material" you can bolt in under the plate to support that section when you put it back into place. It's your tractor now and shift boots are indeed "wear items" so if you keep the tractor long enough you may well be faced with this again.

 

[ChrisCrawford]

Any ideas? Replace said boot for sure. If you can't remove the foot plate to so, I would consider cutting out a section of that plate to allow access. Then fabricate a couple pieces of "support material" you can bolt in under the plate to support that section when you put it back into place. It's your tractor now and shift boots are indeed "wear items" so if you keep the tractor long enough you may well be faced with this again.

Hmm...at first I thought your idea pretty radical, but the more I thought about it, the more I like it. I have spent a lot of time disassembling all sorts of stuff to get at this thing. There must be at least 50 bolts carefully lined up to help remind me where they belong, but it's getting hard to work on the tractor with all the stuff carefully laid out around it. I took numerous photos during the disassembly to make sure I could get everything back in the right place.

I really like your idea. Thanks! If I proceed with it, I'll tell you how it went.

 

[Fedup]

Tractors built over the last twenty to twenty five years seem to be designed by "engineers" who NEVER have to work on what they create. If they did, the designs would be different. There's no reason for the multitudes of overlapping panels covering up levers, linkages, wiring, ETC just for "aesthetics" when a simple panel with three or four visible screws would do the job and still provide access to things they knew would require service sooner or later.

I tend to try and work within what they give us, but there are times when that just doesn't make sense. I'm not above a little "modification" if it saves hours of work and the end result is still something we can still live with.