Ice in hydraulic fluid.

[raeuber]

It's pretty cold up here in the Northeast now and every time I start my TC55DA I can hear little chunks of ice coming through the loader valve. First off, if ice is going through the pump could the pump get damaged? And how can I get the water (or ice) out of the hydraulic oil without completely replacing the oil at this time?
Thanks in advance for any help.

[moriboy]

Since water expands when freezing, you are going to have some problems. If ice is forming in your system, I would change the fluid and filters ASAP.

[raeuber]

I was afraid of that answer. How do I know every little piece of ice is coming out when I drain the oil? Not every hose or line is drained.

[Gary Fowler]

Other than flushing the system repeatedly you cant get all the contaminated oil out. Best you can do is run it to get it all hot, then retract all cylinders so the high end has the cylinder retracted to the max, lower the 3 PH and drain the oil, change the filter and refill. This should get most of the oil out. If you wanted get the remaining oil out disconnect all the hoses and drain them and the lower end of the cylinders so you have a practically empty cylinder and the hoses are empty and that would get almost all of it out. Raise the 3 PH lift by hand to cycle that cylinder also while draining.
Personally, I wouldnt go to that much trouble, just lower everthing down, dump the oil and put a couple gallons in cycle it several times then drain again, replace the filter and recharge it to the full mark with oil. Anything left at that point would be minor.

Just make sure you put in enough oil so you arent cavitating the pump and hydraulics work smoothly.

[Gary Fowler]

It isnt difficult or outrageously expensive to change the hydraulic oil and filter and much better than having a busted pump from frozen water in it. If you have that much water in the reservoir, it obviously has been a while since it was changed so it is past time anyway. This is at most a 30 minute job excluding the refilling and flushing as I mentioned in another post, so say 2 oil changes for an hours work and you are done. Of course you have to warm it up first so that could take an hour or more of working the hydraulics depending on the temperature.

[redfarmer]

If you are using case ih hytran or oil with the same properties, it gels and catches in the filter than all you have to do is change the filter a time or three and you good to go.

[raeuber]

If you are using case ih hytran or oil with the same properties, it gels and catches in the filter than all you have to do is change the filter a time or three and you good to go.

Sorry for my ignorance. Is hytran the standard oil in my NH or am I to put hytran oil in to get it to gel and "catch" in the filter?

It isnt difficult or outrageously expensive to change the hydraulic oil and filter and much better than having a busted pump from frozen water in it. If you have that much water in the reservoir, it obviously has been a while since it was changed so it is past time anyway. This is at most a 30 minute job excluding the refilling and flushing as I mentioned in another post, so say 2 oil changes for an hours work and you are done. Of course you have to warm it up first so that could take an hour or more of working the hydraulics depending on the temperature.

Am I am sure a busted hydraulic pump is not cheap, but replacing the oil and filter a couple times is not inexpensive either. I estimate one oil change at $320, so $640 to do it twice.

[Hooked_on_HP]

It's pretty cold up here in the Northeast now and every time I start my TC55DA I can hear little chunks of ice coming through the loader valve. First off, if ice is going through the pump could the pump get damaged? And how can I get the water (or ice) out of the hydraulic oil without completely replacing the oil at this time?
Thanks in advance for any help.

I am wondering about your diagnosis of ice. My experience has been that if there is enough moisture in the oil to freeze then nothing works. Ice won't pass through a filter. Does your hydraulic oil look clean or is it milky looking.
Bill

[raeuber]

The oil looks clean. Not milky or such. My diagnosis comes from listening to what sounds like small ice crystals passing through the loader valve after the tractor is started and the fact that the noise stops once the oil warms a bit.

[jimmysisson]

If you could park it somewhere warm for a weekend you could change the fluid and get any water. Are you due for a change? Yep, fluid's pricy, but pumps much more so. Possibly air passing through the valves? Also makes a chinking kind of sound, but shouldn't last long or affect operations much. Let us know.
Jim