SSdoxie
Elite Member
Case drain line needs to have minimum back pressure possible. It is fine to run it through the oil cooler if cooler has no pressure drop acorss it, or less than 5 psi. Case drain should also have a filter in case of motor bearing failure or internal motor failure, to keep the debris from dumping into the reservoir and contaminating the entire hydraulic system. Northern Tool (among others) has 10 micron return fitlers for about $25 which will handle upto 20 GPM. Case drain line normally will only be running about 10% of the pump flow to the motor. So a 20 GPM pump to motor flow will only be around 2 GPM case drain flow. If you don't go through the cooler, dump it into the tank below the fuild level and make sure it is as far away from the suction outlet as possible. Dumping into the suction or close to it can cause a swirl action that could cause areation to oil going into the pump.