Inadvertent hydraulic fluid swap at 50 hrs

[Avenger]

You want to use hydro-fluid for a trans-axle. Going down that rabbit hole, trying to find the 'proper' oil is frustrating. Reading labels looking for certification codes, etc.

The shop vac trick does work, just gotta make sure your vacuum is able to pull a good suction. When I did mine (is on my channel), I didnt use the shopvac like a moron. I thought the cone attachment on the hose of the carpet vac would work better. I lost gallons! I have learned my lesson. Clean the dip stick area well, duct tape the large shopvac hose in place, and pull a good vacuum.

 

[Rsking]

I'm confused though, it sounds like you guys are doing this multiple times, shouldn't you only be not changing the oil with the filter after the first 50 hours? What maintenance schedules are you on?

My manual (which is frustratingly written for the xg3125) shows that I shouldn't be changing the hydro-oil til 250 hours and doesn't happen to mention another filter change... now that I think about it.. it's kind of suspect the maintenance schedule only goes to 500 hours...

 

[Avenger]

For many tractors, only the hydro filter is required to be changed. Feel free to change the oil too, but you're just wasting money. Here is the reasoning behind it: New machinery will wear in or break-in, and this causes tiny metal bits to float around the system. The filter catches these bits and and the resulting fluid is clean. But, during these first 50hrs, that filter may start to accumulate too much of these bits and start to fail, resulting in not so clean fluid. There is nothing wrong with the fluid until a few hundred hours, it doesnt break down as fast as something under high friction like engine oil. But that filter, especially during the first 50hrs of break-in, needs to be changed.

 

[RSR]

I'm confused though, it sounds like you guys are doing this multiple times, shouldn't you only be not changing the oil with the filter after the first 50 hours? What maintenance schedules are you on?

My manual (which is frustratingly written for the xg3125) shows that I shouldn't be changing the hydro-oil til 250 hours and doesn't happen to mention another filter change... now that I think about it.. it's kind of suspect the maintenance schedule only goes to 500 hours...

That's the whole problem. For me, it was done by accident. I was trying to just change the filter, but lost so much oil, and still couldn't figure out why the new filter wouldn't fit, that I just decided to drain the whole thing because I couldn't see what I was doing, and was making a huge mess with no solution in sight.

I debated on the type of oil to replace it with and decided to go with the John Deere Hydragaurd, which falls between the recommended range of ISO 46/64.

 

[Rsking]

For many tractors, only the hydro filter is required to be changed. Feel free to change the oil too, but you're just wasting money. Here is the reasoning behind it: New machinery will wear in or break-in, and this causes tiny metal bits to float around the system. The filter catches these bits and and the resulting fluid is clean. But, during these first 50hrs, that filter may start to accumulate too much of these bits and start to fail, resulting in not so clean fluid. There is nothing wrong with the fluid until a few hundred hours, it doesnt break down as fast as something under high friction like engine oil. But that filter, especially during the first 50hrs of break-in, needs to be changed.

Thanks for detailing that out, that makes sense to me, it being a closed, non-combustion system.