Flushing Hydraulic Impliments

[jimb1]

We have an hydraulic Post Rammer with four rams which we use mainly behind a John Deere 6520 with its 24 speed Quad Transmission requiring good clean oil (Hy Guard). We need to use it on our much older Ford 4100 so we can leave it out the back of the farm on the fence-line we are rebuilding and don't want to leave the John Deere out there as it is needed for other work. The Ford has different oil in the back end (old and a bit dirty (it is an old 1983 machine), so I want to know how to effectively flush out the Post Rammer system before putting it back onto the John Deere.

Has anyone found a method of doing this that doesn't waist gallons of expensive Hy Guard Oil, like flushing the rams and hoses with the likes of Diesel?

 

[ptsg]

Why not give that Ford 4100 a treat and change the oil in it? By the description, looks like is in desperate change anyways. Then it's not that critical if you mix the oil between the two tractors since it will be clean oil and it's not that much quantity always.

 

[BeezFun]

I have a similar situation, my neighbor and i share a post pounder and I use expensive Kubota oil. When I first hook up the pounder to my machine, instead of putting the return hose which normally goes straight to dump, I put it in a 5 gal bucket and watch for the color of the fluid to change. But the volume of oil on my pounder is relatively small, maybe your ram uses a lot more fluid. Since you're only doing this once, unless the volume is very large, I think you'd be better off just using the expensive oil to purge the ram. I wouldn't use diesel fluid or anything other than hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic system at all, many can cause problems with the seals and orings. Use a lower viscosity hydraulic fluid if you need a separate flush.

If you don't want to use the JD oil to do the flush because the volume is large, you could probably use any kind of small pump and kludge a hydraulic hose connection to the pump with hose clamps to purge the ram. Put the pump suction in a bucket of new hydraulic fluid. I assume the rams are single acting, so if you put them in the retracted position, the bulk of your oil will be in the hoses and valves, which the pump should be able to purge even at low pressure and flow.

 

[Duff]

Why not give that Ford 4100 a treat and change the oil in it? By the description, looks like is in desperate change anyways. Then it's not that critical if you mix the oil between the two tractors since it will be clean oil and it's not that much quantity always.

Totally agree with this.
But to add a little more.. You could also install a HP filter to the inlet side of your post rammer.

 

[jimb1]

Thanks for the replies. PSTG has a good point so I will do that. However I'm not sure whether I can get the back end of the Ford properly clean (It has had about four rear-end oil changes over it's life; Although a 1983 vintage it has only done 4600 Hours!) Unfortunately three of the four thumper rams are double acting so it will take a bit to flush them. I like the idea of catching the oil left in the thumper when I do put it back onto the tractor I'm being a bit more fussy about (The John Deere)....can always use it in the Blade Hydraulics of my old BTD Dozer - it's a bit hungry for oil.