Bought a piece of land about a year ago and bought a used tractor to keep things beat down a little. Lately the tractor had been making a fairly loud whining noise when the rpms get above about 1200-1400. Motor oil, coolant, hydr/trans fluid have always been kept full. All fluids changed about a month ago in hopes it would fix it.

The noise has gotten progressively worse over the last 6 months. The hydraulics seem slow to lift these days. And the noise quits when the wheel is cut all the way to the left or right.

This is the first tractor i have ever owned and have been learning as i go the whole time. Tractor is a kioto lk2552 2wd. That's any all i can tell you.

Any ideas?

I'm not sure how your power steering gets it's fluid but it sounds like a PS pump starving for fluid. Could be a bad PS pump or a screen clogged if there is one in that setup.

Check the hydraulics filter. Had a Kubota doing this a few months ago. Cleaned the filter, haven't had a problem since. My 2 cents.

First thought as well is the power steering pump.

As mentioned check the hydraulic filters and see if the pump has a filter/screen on it.

Post back what you find. Don't leave us hanging.


God Bless,
David B.

X 2

We replaced the screen for the transmission/hydraulic fluid. It was supposed to be done at 300 hours, buy I did it early. Old one was not very dirty.

Before i knew much about it, dad had a friend come by and give it a once over. They added about 3 gallons of trans fluid. Come to find out during the tune up I did, they had over filled it by 2.5 gallons. Not sure if that could cause anything. I will have to try to look into the power steering pump. I do know that i don't see I place to check PS fluid like a car.

<- 1951 Ford 8n here...


Tractors have power steering?

Have you tried draining all of the hydraulic fluid and replacing with fresh fluid? Not topping off but replacing all the fluid with fresh.

Yes. We changed the motor oil, trans/hyd fluid and coolant. I couldn't find anything else to change. All fluids that I know to change are fresh.

How soon after the overfill did the noise/weak hydrualics start? That overfill could be the problem.

Hydraulics worked like a champ until very recently. Now they are just slower. The overfill happened about a year or more ago. We have put 100 hours on the tractor since.

I don't doubt the overfill could cause an issue. I just don't know where to look for something to fix.

Overfill can cause foaming and the foaming can cause the pump to be erratic, and sometimes even lose it's prime. You can probably google your tractor and find out how to prime the pump. Some have a fill hole on the pump, others just need to be parked on a steep angle for a while.

Whining with a hydraulic pump usually means it has air in it. Either that or the hydraulic pump is going bad. I'm not certain of how that tractors hydraulic system works but overfilling the hydraulic oil shouldn't be a problem unless the system builds more pressure with the fluid over filled. I don't think it would but I don't know anything about a Kioti tractor.

By the way, there is no "grace" period with a hydraulic pump. If something isn't right, the pump blows almost instantly.

also check that all your hydrualic solenoid coils are plugged in and not damaged. it only takes one coil to give symptoms like you have.

Well I decided to drop it off at the dealer in Centre. I will try to remember to post back up what the problem was.

Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the bill isn't too bad.

Got the call from the gentleman working on the tractor today. While going through the diagnostic process they determined I had a clogged ?release/relief? valve. They cleaned it up and stopped there. Said things are working like normal now.

The bill is the base diagnostic fee of $130. Happy about that.

Now I am going to get them educate me on what they did so maybe I can do it next time.