CutTheHolesOut
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2023
- Messages
- 50
- Tractor
- Bolens G274
First time I tried to start up my old bolens g274 tractor from the mid 80’s this winter. Temps were below freezing for more than 24 hours beforehand. Around 20-25°f when I tried yesterday. She started just fine, as well as she ever does, but there was immediately a high pitch noise. Went to raise the loader and it moved but barely. Shut it off to assess the situation and thought maaaybe I just needed to warm the fluid up. So I started her back up, let her run at around 1700-2000rpm for a couple minutes and the noise went away, but the loader wouldn’t even budge this time. Shut her off again thinking what did I do I just burned out my hydraulic pump. Then had the tenacity to see what the deal was one more time and started her up an hour later. The noise was back (good news I thought) and the loader would do the same as the first time - move but just barely. Shut her off not wanting to cause any more damage than I might have already and here I am. Never showed any signs of trouble last winter below freezing, or any other time I’ve used her when the temps were up. I would like the advice from you guys before I do something else stupid, but there are a few things I think it could be.
1. Maybe the pump somehow went bad while it was sitting (about a month). I don’t think this is very likely.
2. Water in the transmission fluid (shared by transmission and hydraulics) froze and is causing a blockage of some sort. In my opinion this is the most likely situation, and I would just do a fluid change when things warm up to fix it.
3. Pretty much same as number 2 but I also did damage to the pump in the meantime. I just can’t imagine a little ice causing this kind of damage for such a short period of operation.
She’s due for a fluid/filter change anyways so I want to get that out of the way in the spring either way, but I was wondering if there’s something I’m not thinking about that might be able to get me through the winter with her.
Shes old and does leak a little bit I always check the fluid level before startup. It appears good.
She also takes in a little water from the gear shift. I try to keep it out the best I can but a little does seep in with a heavy rain. The fluid has a very slight milky look to it, but it’s definitely been worse in the past.
If there’s anything I forgot to mention just say so and I’d be happy to supply additional information. Just looking forward to hearing what you guys think about it.
1. Maybe the pump somehow went bad while it was sitting (about a month). I don’t think this is very likely.
2. Water in the transmission fluid (shared by transmission and hydraulics) froze and is causing a blockage of some sort. In my opinion this is the most likely situation, and I would just do a fluid change when things warm up to fix it.
3. Pretty much same as number 2 but I also did damage to the pump in the meantime. I just can’t imagine a little ice causing this kind of damage for such a short period of operation.
She’s due for a fluid/filter change anyways so I want to get that out of the way in the spring either way, but I was wondering if there’s something I’m not thinking about that might be able to get me through the winter with her.
Shes old and does leak a little bit I always check the fluid level before startup. It appears good.
She also takes in a little water from the gear shift. I try to keep it out the best I can but a little does seep in with a heavy rain. The fluid has a very slight milky look to it, but it’s definitely been worse in the past.
If there’s anything I forgot to mention just say so and I’d be happy to supply additional information. Just looking forward to hearing what you guys think about it.
