cleaning hydralic reservoir

Jeff N · May 31, 2016

I have a JD 5105 MFWD 2004 model. ive cleaned the screen and drained the fluid a couple times plus put new hyd filter and the inside of reservoir is so dirty that it still gets milky and runs bumby at 3 pt and steering. the bucket hyds run fine,
My question is there any way to clean out the reservoir with a fluid like thinner, diesel fuel or another hyd fluid to run through the transmission while I drive it for ten or fifteen mins, then redrain the reservoir again. huh?

dfkrug · May 31, 2016

I do not know your Deere, but other JDs I have owned have rear PTO covers that come off
pretty easily. Opening it up to clean out the sludge is the only way. BTDT.

THF is just too expensive to waste in multiple flushes, IMO.

muddstopper · Jun 3, 2016

On tractor hyd, what I am going to suggest might be hard to do. On large hyd tank with large top covers, I have bought a small wet/dry shop vac and used that to suck the sludge and trash out of a tank. Considering the small vac's are around $30-$40 and a tank of oil is probably over $1000. A throw away shop vac is a bargain. Doubt you can stick a shop vac inside a tractor tank, but thought I would throw it out there anyways.