Fluid capacity issue

[Scook222]

It will almost be real time. It might settle alittle more once you get it full. Since you haven’t add a never used piece of equipment, you shouldn’t have to let it circulate once it’s full. It might settle alittle if you are draining it from the filter, instead of the drain plug, but no more than the filter will hold.

 

[Ellen B]

Ok great, thanks for the info. I'm going to use the drain plug.

 

[Ellen B]

Haha, well today I learned that you can't let the fluid out from the drain plug slowly. Anyway, after I made a mess I tried draining it from one of the filters, but only about a cup of fluid comes out before it slows to a drip, even with the filter removed completely, and I have to replace the filter and start/stop the engine to get another cup or so to come out. Is there any way to slowly drain a couple gallons of the fluid without having to go through the tedious process I just described?

Thanks!

 

[Scook222]

Those are the only two ways I can think of unless you have an oil extraction pump you might be able to put it in the fill port. I haven’t done the 50hr service on my L2501 but assumed it was like the M7040. On the M7040, the when you swap filters, it will gravity drain all the fluid from the tractor, about 15 gallons. I found out this the hard way the first time we serviced it.

 

[orezok]

Haha, well today I learned that you can't let the fluid out from the drain plug slowly. Anyway, after I made a mess I tried draining it from one of the filters, but only about a cup of fluid comes out before it slows to a drip, even with the filter removed completely, and I have to replace the filter and start/stop the engine to get another cup or so to come out. Is there any way to slowly drain a couple gallons of the fluid without having to go through the tedious process I just described?

Thanks!

You could try having someone partially cover the fill port with the vacuum side of a shop vac. You don’t want to create a vacuum in the tank, just offset the air entering through the tank vent. Then remove the plug and have them adjust the coverage until you get a slow flow from the drain plug.

 

[the old grind]

Somewhere in the service lore of the particular model may be something about having certain cylinders in certain positions when checking hydro level. I have to wonder if the sight glass is mostly for maintaining a minimum vs avoiding too much 'in tank'. The reservoir is more like a car/truck's cooling system thani t's lubricating system. Are there symptoms when going too far above sight-glass-level, or might this be like a 'best when used by' date on table salt?

In a hydraulic system it's only the reservoir that can ever be 'over-full', unlike an engine where high oil levels (common 'wet sump' setup we drive daily) can be stirred to foaming by crankshaft revolutions thrashing it. Machinery fluid levels are never fixed. Any & all fluids will expand when heated from 'room' to 'operating' temp. That's why we don't fill things 'to the cap', lest they spill out while running, and why there's typically an airspace at the top of a tank or reservoir. What I'm getting at is that if hydro isn't spewing from a breather or filler neck, is it really 'too full' as is for now and need to be drained lower?

I don't wish to steer the OP to some hocus-pocus approach, but sometimes 'the book' is so specific for the sake of 'the book'. Do we use only JD, NH, or Kubota-branded fluids, too? Hmmm ...

 

[Ellen B]

You could try having someone partially cover the fill port with the vacuum side of a shop vac. You don’t want to create a vacuum in the tank, just offset the air entering through the tank vent. Then remove the plug and have them adjust the coverage until you get a slow flow from the drain plug.

Perfect, thank you! It started raining so I'll give that a try tomorrow.

Somewhere in the service lore of the particular model may be something about having certain cylinders in certain positions when checking hydro level. I have to wonder if the sight glass is mostly for maintaining a minimum vs avoiding too much 'in tank'. The reservoir is more like a car/truck's cooling system thani t's lubricating system. Are there symptoms when going too far above sight-glass-level, or might this be like a 'best when used by' date on table salt?

In a hydraulic system it's only the reservoir that can ever be 'over-full', unlike an engine where high oil levels (common 'wet sump' setup we drive daily) can be stirred to foaming by crankshaft revolutions thrashing it. Machinery fluid levels are never fixed. Any & all fluids will expand when heated from 'room' to 'operating' temp. That's why we don't fill things 'to the cap', lest they spill out while running, and why there's typically an airspace at the top of a tank or reservoir. What I'm getting at is that if hydro isn't spewing from a breather or filler neck, is it really 'too full' as is for now and need to be drained lower?

I don't wish to steer the OP to some hocus-pocus approach, but sometimes 'the book' is so specific for the sake of 'the book'. Do we use only JD, NH, or Kubota-branded fluids, too? Hmmm ...

I don't know enough about the topic to have my own opinion about moderate overfilling past spec, but I did read some other folks saying something along the same lines and that logic makes sense to me at least. In this case I'm not a little over though, I'm (presumably) 30% over.

I drove the tractor back to the shed yesterday to work on it, and this morning there was fluid on the ground under it for the first time. It's parked on plastic so there's no soak-in loss, and the amount that's there makes me think that it was leaking during operation but not overnight, so that what I'm seeing is just the residual drop off the tractor. Both filters definitely leaked, and while I didn't give it a thorough look over yet I'd guess that it was coming out elsewhere as well. As it never leaked before, including after I serviced it, this is proof enough for me that I need to remedy the situation before putting the tractor back into use.

But since there's no significant anecdotal evidence online about damage from moderate overfilling, I do suspect you're right about that.

 

[Fallon]

John Deere Lubricants - John Deere #MT3668 Hydraulic Oil Dye (from any JD dealer) is your friend. I hated that sight glass & clear SUDT2 on my L3200. Half the jar of dye in the sump makes it look like ATF. That way you can see if the oil level is above or below the glass.

You also get erratic readings from not being level or having the impliments raised.

The shop vac trick to not let oil out of the pan works great for changing filters without dumping oil. I'd imagine you could use it to not make a mess then turn off the vac to drain some oil out, if needed.

 

[Ellen B]

John Deere Lubricants - John Deere #MT3668 Hydraulic Oil Dye (from any JD dealer) is your friend. I hated that sight glass & clear SUDT2 on my L3200. Half the jar of dye in the sump makes it look like ATF. That way you can see if the oil level is above or below the glass.

That's perfect, thanks! The nearby dealer doesn't have any in stock but they ordered it for me. In the meantime, I just drained out two gallons of fluid and am calling it good til the dye gets here. Thanks again for your help everyone!

 

[Fallon]

That's perfect, thanks! The nearby dealer doesn't have any in stock but they ordered it for me. In the meantime, I just drained out two gallons of fluid and am calling it good til the dye gets here. Thanks again for your help everyone!

I only used half the jar on my L3200 & was happy with the results. My new L4060 has a dipstick (yay!), but I can still barely see thad dam clear fluid on the stick. I went to use the 2nd half of the jar on the L4060 & it was all dried out. Not sure if I didnt get it sealed well or what. Still thinking about getting another jar.

Just let any mechanic or future buyer of your machine/impliments know. Otherwise they might wig out that you put ATF in instead of the proper fluid.