135 massey ferguson hydraulic filter

[shona13]

G'day .casual tractor user.

Yes the first step is to change the oil and clean the filter,flush out the gearbox with diesel and refill with NEW OIL.

The 135 was fitted with two types of pump the mark two in the earliear model and the mark three in the later model.
The easiest way to tell what pump is fitted to your tractor is to look underneath on the transmission housing about where your left heel would be there is a FLAT area on the casing ,if it is a mark three pump there will be a plate about three inches across held on by three bolts ,the filter is a little bit shorter than the mark two filter.
to replace the mark three filter ,Drain The transmission oil from BOTH plugs, remove the cover wit the three bolts, the safety clip and the filter wash out in Petrol making sure it is CLEAN ,refit making sure the large o ring is in place.
Refill with oil and test.
You did say the hydraulics shudder ,this is generally either a stuck suction or discharge valve on the pump or less common a broken piston ring both require that the pump be removed to repair.
Happy days.
Hutch.

 

[Munroco]

Hey Kid; Very informative excerpt for changing fluid and dealing with the filter, as that is what I'm about to do with my '74 MF 135, however I was not able to get to your photo attachments which I'm sure will be helpful. Was wondering if you might be able to drop me an e-mail with them attached..............cheers munroco@gmail.com

 

[ceeceebee]

Just done the oil and filter change on the bask axel/hydraulics of my French built MF135, she will be 50years old on Jan 31st next year, bought in the summer to replace a smokey old John Deere 303 (also French built, got you JD fans scratching your beards to work out what it is, but that's another story). I'm pretty sure the oil in the back axel has never been changed. Pumpkin soup comes to mind for the oil, same colour and consistency, hydraulics OK when warm but slow and jumping when near freezing cold. This early 135 has 6 speed box, runs a dream, no smoke and is an easy starter..So - NO BOTTOM ACCESS PLATE. The filter housing was in two parts, top screw on (with wire through to secure) and a bottom recieving cup (I have seen from other photos this cup was later changed to a flatter plate). First tip, if like me, your tractor has the original 'shell'type mudguards (fenders) the footstep is bolted to the PTO plate, so one bolt is 1/4inch longer for the extra thickness of the support bracket. Having taken the old filter out, the first surprise is that it is a different design, it's just a wire cage effectively, it had been overtightened so was slightly twisted (this is why the early types had to be wired... they shouldn't be overtightened (light finger tight only). The new replacement is much more solid, so it can be screwed real finger tight, whether the wire is then needed is debatable, I just retied a new short wire threaded into the old original wire after a loop was made. The problem then was how to get the assembly back in place (top, filter and bottom receiver cup) and down in one piece...so, clean the cup and screwtop surfaces with petrol, wash the petrol deposit off with washing up liquid solution, cut 4 x 2 inch lengths of sellotape and tape the assembly together vertically, it can easily be lowered into place without splitting apart, screw home (he he he, after searching blindfold for the very small threaded bolt hole), pull the tape off and away you go. Smeared the original paper gasket with Autogasket Blue on one side to stick it in place, another light coat on the outside and offered up the PTO cover, keep the selector at neutral to make sure the shifter goes between the gears, so it selects correctly, tighten up. You're done. The oil, I found about 25 litres brings it up to the PTO cover lowest bolt. The back can be drained first as some oil will remain at the front end for draining through that plug. Not too difficult a job, but warm the tractor up by running it a bit so the oil flows more easily.

 

[PatrickS2222]

Wow, what a mission it is too! I did the same job a few years ago. We bought this current acreage property and the dam here appeared to have never been finished. The wall was missing from about one-eighth of the lower side, resulting in it overflowing with still around 4ft/1.2m of wall above the water level. I borrowed a great little Komatsu drott of about 50hp, lenghtened the dam a small amount and built the remaining portion of the wall. After using our 135 for only a short time with a rear blade attachment for levelling off the wall, the 3PT was very slow to lift a rather light implement. Any other time, if one end did not raise, the front of the tractor would - it was so strong. After stopping for some consideration, I found switching off for some time briefly restored lifting response, but after only a few minutes work troubles returned. Dropped the 40y/o gearbox oil and found how much sludge can be accumulated! Reasoned correctly the screen over the oil pump pick-up was blocked from repeated driving over dam wall, causing oil to slosh fore & aft repeatedly and stir up sludge usually dormant on bottom of long casing. Thought about going through the saga of locating, removing and renewing the filter and elected to remove the top cover because I had seen it done several times on other similar tractors. I could also then clean the casing out much more thorougly. I remember I was astounded our local MF dealer here (KC Farm Equipment) had one in stock $21.00! Only after checking the old filter more closely for bits of gear teeth or other metal or debris I realised it is in fact washable and re-usable! I would understand this, being a descendant of a Harry Ferguson-designed unit. I did not, however, begrudge her ladyship a new filter and gearbox oil after 42 years! Hydraulic performance was restored (as described above).
I remember hearing the technician from the dealer advising "one or two pumps of grease once a year" and citing excess grease in the (SAE90) gearbox oil causes foaming, but cannot recall mention of it causing sludge. I also firmly believe water ingress is the main cause, backed up by a lack of prolonged heavier work to warm the oil and vaporise water content.
Not hard to see why this model was built for 16 years.