Hydraulic Fluid

[gerlacr]

I drained the hydraulic-gear fluid out of my Yanmar 1500D that I purchased recently and was a bit shocked at what came out. I am not sure exactly what I expected but the fluid was a brownish yellow and had clumps that felt like the consistency of fine dirt. What can I use to flush the gear box out to remove any lingering yuk before I refill it?

 

[MDNick]

Gerlacr,

About the best thing for that is kerosene. Don't use diesel and DON'T use gasoline. Kerosene is light enough that it will act as a solvent, cleaning agent, but should completely drain out of the transmission, with the lingering yuk. With the kerosene in there, you could briefly operate it (a few minutes) to circulate all bearings and gears. After that, drain the kerosene, refill with fresh cheap oil, operate for long enough to get it hot, and drain again. Then put in good oil and your good to go.

One has to wonder where the yuk came from and if any damage has been done to bearings, etc. For your sake I sure hope not.

Having said all the above, I am not a professional mechanic, but I have played one on TBN./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Nick

 

[justractors]

I am a practicing mechanic (Drs practice so why can't we).
Nick said it all. I have used diesel fuel to do the same thing however. I have also done the same thing to flush contamination out of an engine.
Bill

 

[Kodiak]

A word of caution on the use of kerosene. It may effect some of the newer hydraulic seals used in cylinders. Some seals are may become to soft allowing bypass and reducing their useable life.

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>...What can I use to flush the gear box out to remove any lingering yuk before I refill it? ...</font color=blue>

I'd be careful of the kerosene/diesel fuel incompatibilities with internal seals... or you could open up a real can of worms for the future... /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Instead, I would use "more" hydraulic fluid you can pick up @ Walmart or Sams Club for say ~~$11. for a 5 gallon pail... run the unit for a few hours with that and drain it and replace with the factory recommend fluids... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[gerlacr]

I'm not sure about your parts of the country, but out here in Southern Cal, Walmarts don't carry hydraulic fluid. I live in a predominately metropolitan area. The only place I have found it is at tractor dealers and the going price appears to be in the range of $28 for a five gal pail. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and spend a few bucks on fluid.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Ozarker]

If you can't get cheap hydraulic fluid to do it, get cheap transmission fluid.

 

[Frosty]

My grandfather had an old 6 cyl. Chevy (1949 I think). Every oil change he would add a gal of diesel, start and idle it a minute; drain again and fill 'er up with fresh oil. That old car ran like a Swiss watch!

 

[art]

I like John Millers answer to your problem. Definitly use Hydraulic oil only! Fill to appropriate level use for an hour or so and pull the filter and see what you have. If totally contaminated again, start over until you get a good sample.

 

[s1120]

try looking tn an auto parts store, a lot sell it also.

JMIII,
Your right on the mony. I do the same thing when I am working on an old car. If the motor needs cleaning out, I get out what I can, then fill it up with cheep oil, and run it for a bit. Drain it, and replace the filter, and your ready to go.

One more thing. When you drain it out, make sure its warm. That will floot out more crud.

 

[Soundguy]

Do you have napa's, or other car parts stores in your area? Napa carries universal transdraulic fluid or torque fluid 56 (fina), which is cheap and works.... might even be jd303 spec. Farm supply stores usually carry that in bulk as well. Our mechanic here at the construcion company I work for uses a 10wt oil toi flush the tranny or hydraulics. ( Heck.. some of our older cat and JD heavy equipment use 10wt oild for the hydraulics , and some use sae 30 for the transmission... makes you wonder ).

As for the hyguard fluid from JD.. that 28 bucks is about what they charge here in central florida as well.... we just did the hydraulic servic our 2240.. held 8 gallos or so.

Chris

<font color=blue>"I'm not sure about your parts of the country, but out here in Southern Cal, Walmarts don't carry hydraulic fluid. I live in a predominately metropolitan area. The only place I have found it is at tractor dealers and the going price appears to be in the range of $28 for a five gal pail. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and spend a few bucks on fluid."

 

[gerlacr]

I checked with the local Napa and the only thing they carry is plain hydraulic fluid that is used in hydraulic jacks. They did not know what universal transdraulic fluid or torque fluid 56 was. If the plain hydraulic fluid isn't right then I will use the cheap transmission fluid approach. Does it matter what type of transmission fluid?

 

[Soundguy]

You gotta be kidding me.... there company sells it under their own brand name ( napa ) and they don't even know about it.
( Universal transdraulic fluid )!

Call them again, and tell them to look up napa part # 85475.. that is the number for the 5gallon pail of the stuff. I'm not certain.. but probably meets jd303 spec, check it.

It really burns me when business don't even know their own stock. I know for a fact that other companies like Office Depot make it a practice to quiz their employees on what materials were carried by that company.

Soundguy

<font color=blue>I checked with the local Napa and the only thing they carry is plain hydraulic fluid that is used in hydraulic

 

[Ozarker]

It doesn't matter what type. Transmission fluid is just light hydraulic fluid.

 

[gerlacr]

I ended up using some cheap transmission fluid ($1.29/qt). Once I had the rear end gear box housing opened up I was shocked again. There was a .5" deep layer of thick muck and water on the bottom of the housing. I heated the transmission fluid up, poured it in the housing and then stirred and agitated it as much as I could with long screw drivers shoved down between the gears and shafts before draining it. This removed the majority of the crud. Luckily the gears were in good condition despite the presence of the water. There were only a few rust lines where the liquid probably sat without movement for a long period of time. The condition of the rear end made me curious about the front end so I opened the drain on one of my front drive hubs and out poured water, oil and muck. It is amazing these things last as long as they do with the abuse they take.

 

[normde2001]

What you describe makes me want to drain my hy/tran fluid just because I don't know how long it's been in there, and it still works ok. I don't have access to the tractor now, but when I get back to it I guess I can run a probe of some type in through the fill opening and see if I can dredge up any sludge.

 

[Kodiak]

Your hydrostatic trans filter should keep this from happening.