sgoldste01
Silver Member
I just bought a low-hours (500 hours) JD GT245. One of the things that made me so excited about this machine is that the seller (who was the original owner) claimed that he was highly proactive about maintenance, generally doing services more often then called for by JD. For example, he said he changed the tranny oil every 200 hours; the service interval is 250 hours.
During my inspection of the machine before buying it, it appeared to me that the tranny oil was at the ADD line. This didn't concern me too much, since the tractor ran so perfectly when I test drove it. On my way home, I stopped at a JD dealership to buy a bottle of HY-GARD, new spark plugs, and a new fuel filter (the seller had just changed the oil, so I left that alone).
When I got the tractor home, I replaced the plugs and fuel filter. I then brought the tranny oil up to the FULL line (this consumed maybe 40% of the bottle). Much to my surprise, bubbles started rising from the bottom of the tranny oil reservoir, and all of what I added went into the tranny. I had to add the entire bottle to bring the level up to the FULL line (actually, the fluid level is now maybe 1/2 inch above the FULL line, so I added a little more than necessary).
So here's my question: Does it harm a hydro tranny to run with low fluid? I know that a tranny that's really low in fluid won't run at all; clearly, this hadn't reached that point yet. From my test drive, the tranny ran and sounded perfect. But do I need to worry that the tranny was damaged from being run at a low level?
By the way, there is no evidence of a tranny fluid leak.
During my inspection of the machine before buying it, it appeared to me that the tranny oil was at the ADD line. This didn't concern me too much, since the tractor ran so perfectly when I test drove it. On my way home, I stopped at a JD dealership to buy a bottle of HY-GARD, new spark plugs, and a new fuel filter (the seller had just changed the oil, so I left that alone).
When I got the tractor home, I replaced the plugs and fuel filter. I then brought the tranny oil up to the FULL line (this consumed maybe 40% of the bottle). Much to my surprise, bubbles started rising from the bottom of the tranny oil reservoir, and all of what I added went into the tranny. I had to add the entire bottle to bring the level up to the FULL line (actually, the fluid level is now maybe 1/2 inch above the FULL line, so I added a little more than necessary).
So here's my question: Does it harm a hydro tranny to run with low fluid? I know that a tranny that's really low in fluid won't run at all; clearly, this hadn't reached that point yet. From my test drive, the tranny ran and sounded perfect. But do I need to worry that the tranny was damaged from being run at a low level?
By the way, there is no evidence of a tranny fluid leak.
