pennwalk
Veteran Member
If water and mud in the gear oil is a concern with the 4WD grays how do you tell if there is mud and water in there?
Chris
Chris
How do you drain the 4WD gear oil
- Thread starter pennwalk
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roger_scotty
Gold Member
What a good question! Here we've been talking about the problem and not the solution. Probably panicked a few folks for no reason, too.
It's easy. There is a drain plug on the lowest point of the axle just inboard of the wheel. If there is any water then it will naturally go to that point. Pull that plug and take a look at the first half a cup of fluid that comes out. It should be pure 90wt gear oil and maybe laced with the typical spoonful of water and some specs of rust from condensation. If it looks like that then you are fine. That is typical and a certain amount of crud and water collects around the drain plug. But if the oil looks like chocolate milk then you need to get the water out of there.
What to do if you do have water? I've never had to deal with it on my Yanmars, but on other differential systems I have. The common thing is to flush it repeatedly by filling, running the tractror, and then draining some light oil like 20 wt motor oil till it comes out clean. Castrol used to make a special flushing oil for that purpose. It was lightweight with a huge load of additives and detergents, but I'd say a regular motor oil would do the job.
When you refill a Yanmar front axle be sure to pull one of the upper outer axle bolts to allow an air bleed. Otherwise it takes forever to put the oil in.
It's easy. There is a drain plug on the lowest point of the axle just inboard of the wheel. If there is any water then it will naturally go to that point. Pull that plug and take a look at the first half a cup of fluid that comes out. It should be pure 90wt gear oil and maybe laced with the typical spoonful of water and some specs of rust from condensation. If it looks like that then you are fine. That is typical and a certain amount of crud and water collects around the drain plug. But if the oil looks like chocolate milk then you need to get the water out of there.
What to do if you do have water? I've never had to deal with it on my Yanmars, but on other differential systems I have. The common thing is to flush it repeatedly by filling, running the tractror, and then draining some light oil like 20 wt motor oil till it comes out clean. Castrol used to make a special flushing oil for that purpose. It was lightweight with a huge load of additives and detergents, but I'd say a regular motor oil would do the job.
When you refill a Yanmar front axle be sure to pull one of the upper outer axle bolts to allow an air bleed. Otherwise it takes forever to put the oil in.
Rowski
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If the machine has been run, not sitting for a long period. Remove the fill plug or dipstick and see what the color the fluid is. If it has any hint of a chocolate milk color, lighter or darker than it has been contaminated with water.
Anonymous Poster
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I had a Shibaura with water in the trans. I am a huge fan of Sea Faom. I checked and the Sea Foam trans additive, it is made to absorb water. I used it and plan to run it for a while and change it again.
roger_scotty
Gold Member
Tell me some more about Sea Foam. I haven't heard of the stuff. Most of the things I know about that soak up water are alcohols and probably not good for rubber seals.
Sorry, I should know this, but I'm wondering where the drain plugs are on a 1401d front axle. I read a post by Roger Scotty which says the plugs are just "inboard of the wheel." I may need to go back home and take a better/closer look, but are the plugs pretty obvious? I know there are bolts under there--4 of them, I think, but I'm not sure they look like drain plugs.
Also, I found out that the previous owner had topped off the gear oil with some sort of STP product; how can I get that out and replace it with 90wt. gear oil--will 85-90wt. work as well?
Thanks!
tonyw
Also, I found out that the previous owner had topped off the gear oil with some sort of STP product; how can I get that out and replace it with 90wt. gear oil--will 85-90wt. work as well?
Thanks!
tonyw
hosejockey2002
Gold Member
On my 1401D there is a fifth bolt just to the inboard side of the outer four bolts that you described. There is also a drain plug on the differential down low on the "drivers" side. I wouldn't worry about the STP additive, it will just drain out with the gear lube. I used 80-90W in mine and have had no problems.
thanks, hosejockey. I'll look for those plugs this weekend--is the drain plug on the differential just below the check hole? Hopefully, I'll change the gear oil since I have no idea when it was last changed.
Thanks again
tony w
Thanks again
tony w
EFC
Veteran Member
I had a real problem with mud in the front axels so i built a little pump with a tank that pumps in the top and recovers in a pan that is used as a sump for the pump. I thought I was really clever and would just hook it up and let it run for 20 min or so seemed to work fine. I did it on a tractor I used at my house for a long time. A year later or so I drained the front axel and the same muck muddy crap came out. I hadn’t been using it in mud so how did it get in there. I tore it apart and scraped out half a coffee can of very hard, packed mud out of each side. The solvent wouldn’t even think of breaking it down.