oil leak

[Soundguy]

I just got done bushhogging for about 5 hourse in heavy heavy brush ( 7' tall dog fennel and ragweed.. with about 2.5' of briars underneath! )

Anyway, while parking the tractor I noticed a residue of oil under the left front of the operators platform.. about where the clutch pedal is.. or to be more exact.. right inthe area of the ser# tag. Oil was the 134d rerend/hyd oil.. not engine oil.
Level showed ok, and I checked both before hogging. No steady drips.. just a residue that had built up. Not sure where to look.. don't see anything other than the joint of the tractor casting that could be leaking.
After looking under the tractor later, there were no drips ( good sign I guess ).

Could the hyd oil have seeped through a seal or overflow somewhere?

Ideas?

Also.. an annoyance item, but looking for ideas.

While hogging in this jungle brush, I have to stop every 20 minutes to clean the prescreen on the radiator. I just watch the temp needle, and when it hits red, I stop, remov ehte filter, clean and blow out the compartment, reinstall, restart, and let the engin cool while running at 1500 rpm for about a minute, then resume being the plant grim reaper for another 20 minutes.

Anyone have any luck cobbling up a prefilter outside the hood using like an air conditioning filter, or bug screen?

I've got at least another 6 hours of hogging to do, and stopping every 20 minutes is getting old.

Soundguy

 

[Steelfan]

Hi Soundguy,

I had a similar leak on my TC21D. It leaked Hyd Oil on top of my MMM. It was right below the clutch pedal also. On my tractor there was a connection there, that was leaking. The dealer sent someone to fix it. It just needed tightening. I don't know if that will help you or not. Good Luck.

Kent

 

[Soundguy]

It at least gives me an idea of where to look. I was thinking all of the heavy brush ( some of it 1 - 1.25" ) might have hung on a line or fitting, etc.. as my tractor has never leaked before.

Soundguy

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>...stopping every 20 minutes is getting old...</font color=blue>

Ahhh... depending on what you're brush cutting, the cleaning times will vary... but that's the nature of the beast... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I will stop about every 45 minutes and clean things up... I have a brush I carry mounted inside the engine compartment... so it's there all the time...

Don't wait until the "temp gauge" is going toward's red... get into a system of checking the grille area and clean it up... and soon it becomes second nature for ya...

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/13-205594-GrilleCleaningTime-800.jpg>Here's after about 15 minutes of junk and "cattails"... so depending on what you are cutting at the time... times will vary...</A> /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Soundguy]

Your grill loads up like mine does.. I get about 20 minutes between cleanings.

I'm going to try riggin up an air conditioning filter and bug screen to the front, to make it easier to clean on the fly, without having to shut everything down, etc..

Soundguy

 

[rockyridgefarm]

<font color=blue>I'm going to try riggin up an air conditioning filter and bug screen to the front, to make it easier to clean on the fly, without having to shut everything down, etc..</font color=blue>

I know you know how badly that can bog down the airflow, even before it gets clogged up. I am saying this so someone else who doesn't know what i know you know will now know.

 

[Soundguy]

Yeah, I know it is going to cut down air flow as it loads, but my aim is to get the external filter to load up, instead of the filter in front of the radiator. Much easier to brush off rather than shutting down tractor, removing filter, cleaning, reinstall, and restart. I realize I will still be down this every 20 minutes.. but maybee I can cut down the turn around time to less than 5 minutes.
A close eye on the temp gauge will be a key to this experement.

Soundguy

 

[hazmat]

For the ultimate in radiator screen cleaning try this:

Replace fan with electric fan. Skip the thermostat, let it run all the time. Rig it with a switch so that you can change directions. Blow out the debris every 20 minutes.

Or put a screen in front of the tractor (not filter too much resistance), devise a windshield wiper for the screen to clear the debris.

 

[Soundguy]

You know..., I've been leaning towards a modification of your second suggestion. Foregoe the filter idea, but add bugscreen to the front grill, and wipe it with a long brush occasionally.

Even if it only adds another 10 minutes to my up time, it will be better than nothing.

Soundguy