Service manual for Ford 3500 Industrial Tractor's torque converter transmission

ddierksh · Jun 6, 2017

I have a service manual for the Ford 3500 Industrial tractor but it does not include information for the Torque Converter transmission. The oil in the transmission is a milky color which indicates water has contaminated the oil. The oil passes from the filter and through the radiator for cooling. I had the radiator tested and they found no leaks in the lower radiator tank. The tractor had set outside before I purchased the tractor so I suspect the oil was contaminated from sitting outside. What is the process to drain the oil and replenish the oil? Does the system need to be flushed? If so, how do I flush the system? I've located the oil drain plug on the bottom of the transmission but I have not determined where to add the oil. Any information is appreciated. Thank you.

City Farmer · Jun 19, 2017

ddierksh said:
I have a service manual for the Ford 3500 Industrial tractor but it does not include information for the Torque Converter transmission. The oil in the transmission is a milky color which indicates water has contaminated the oil. The oil passes from the filter and through the radiator for cooling. I had the radiator tested and they found no leaks in the lower radiator tank. The tractor had set outside before I purchased the tractor so I suspect the oil was contaminated from sitting outside. What is the process to drain the oil and replenish the oil? Does the system need to be flushed? If so, how do I flush the system? I've located the oil drain plug on the bottom of the transmission but I have not determined where to add the oil. Any information is appreciated. Thank you.

Hopefully you got it straightened out by now.
If not, Theres a large fill cap next to the shifter and the level plug is on the right side behind the running board.

The water is getting in through the shifter or the neutral safety. The boots are probably gone or rotted out. I always take a 5gal. bucket and place it over the shifter and the safety switch.

For the flush, I use the travelers universal hydraulic fluid. It took (6) flushes on my 4500 to finally run clean. It takes just over a gallon/flush. I used an $8 mopar 090 or 899 filter for the flush, it's been a while so I can't remember which one it was. It spun right on worked good. After it was clean, I flushed the travelers fluid 2x with Case TCH and replaced the mopar filter with the OEM. Maybe it's in my head but I wasn't taking any chances with the cheap fluid in the torque converter. It's taken 80hrs of abuse so far. :thumbsup:

ddierksh · Jun 22, 2017

City Farmer said:
Hopefully you got it straightened out by now.
If not, Theres a large fill cap next to the shifter and the level plug is on the right side behind the running board.

The water is getting in through the shifter or the neutral safety. The boots are probably gone or rotted out. I always take a 5gal. bucket and place it over the shifter and the safety switch.

For the flush, I use the travelers universal hydraulic fluid. It took (6) flushes on my 4500 to finally run clean. It takes just over a gallon/flush. I used an $8 mopar 090 or 899 filter for the flush, it's been a while so I can't remember which one it was. It spun right on worked good. After it was clean, I flushed the travelers fluid 2x with Case TCH and replaced the mopar filter with the OEM. Maybe it's in my head but I wasn't taking any chances with the cheap fluid in the torque converter. It's taken 80hrs of abuse so far. :thumbsup:

Thank you for the information. This is very helpful.