Its that time of year - Repair time

[woodlandfarms]

I have waited long enough and now we have snow so I am not going to get any seat time for a few days.

So, I am going to find my many oil leaks. The ugliest I think is in the tunnel between the front and back. One of the 27 hoses has a leak. A real PITA. I am thinking of pulling and replacing the wheel motor hoses as they look original.

So, keep it surgically clean. If I can connect one hose to the other, use it as a pullng device. If not, I guess I will use use a electric pulling tape.

Now, this all said. It looks to be really ugly getting at the hose heads on the wheel motors. What does everyone think about loosening / removing the wheel motors? Any reason this is a bad idea? Looks like they take 6 3/8" bolts to hold them on. I worry these motors are going to weigh a TON.

Look forward to advice.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So, My neighbor is the chief mechanic for the local forestry department. He just came by, and suggested I cut open the plastic sleeve between the two halfs. He said that he thinks it is not the wheel hoses but something else, something that has constant pressure.

The sleeve is really shot. Just looking for opinions before i make a mistake.

Carl

 

[J_J]

So, My neighbor is the chief mechanic for the local forestry department. He just came by, and suggested I cut open the plastic sleeve between the two halfs. He said that he thinks it is not the wheel hoses but something else, something that has constant pressure.

The sleeve is really shot. Just looking for opinions before i make a mistake.

Carl

I believe that the sleeve that is wrapped around the hoses in the tunnel is there to protect the hoses from rubbing on the tunnel walls.

I would suggest the first thing you need to do is throughly clean all the hoses and belly pan with a pressure washer with a strong detergent.

I have already mentioned about the dye that you put in the hydraulic tank to find leaks. It is the fastest way that I know of to find leaks.

You mechanic friend may be right, but then again he could be wrong. Let me put it this way, If you have a leak in a wheel motor hose that is in the tunnel, it will leak out of the tunnel either toward the front or back, but only when you are moving. The leak could also be leaking on one of the top hoses, and running down another hose.

Once the PT is running, you will have pressure going through a hose up to the steering box, and lift circuit. The fluid for the steering come back to the steering cylinders, and then back to tank. The lift fluid is used and is sent back to tank. If you are not doing work, none of the circuits have much pressure in them.

The PTO pump is also running all the time, but does not have much pressure. It will make a loop up to the PTO valve and back to tank.

If I were there helping you, I would pressure clean every thing, and put leak detector dye in the hydraulic tank.

Clean all hoses and belly pan, and tunnel before each test.

Park in a dark area to use the ultraviolet light to see a leak which will have a yellow/green look.


Wheel motor circuits, I would drive straight forward and straight back for 30 min using no steering and no lift, and no PTO. Shine light over every hose associated with the motor circuits. If you find that the fluid is coming from the wheel motor hoses, you can fix the one that is leaking or all.

PTO circuit check. Do not drive, steer or lift. Hook up an implement to the PTO , and run it for a while under stress to build up the pressure. Again, park it in a dark place, and shine the light on the PTO pump and all hoses associated with the PTO circuit. If the leak is in that circuit, replace the hoses.

Steering circuit check. Only turn the steering wheel left and right for a while to build up pressure, and park it in a dark space. Shine the light on the steering pump and hoses associated with steering. Replace hoses if leaking.

Lift circuit. Fluid for the lift circuit comes only from the steering box if you are not steering. Pick up a heavy load many time to build up pressure. Park in a dark area, and shine light on the steering and lift pump, and on the high pressure hose for the steering, which is the supply fluid for the lift circuits via the steering box.

These test should check out all hydraulic hoses. Return hoses do not have much pressure in them, but check out all fittings.

The leak detector dye can be left in the hydraulic tank for future checks on any leak. including cylinders and motors.

These test can be performed by anyone on their machine. It is simple, cheap and may help solve your problems.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Got my leak detection kit and will give it a try.

The rubber sheild is rotted... No love there. I will make a decision tomorrow on wether I cut it or not. It clearly does not protect the hoses in the exposed joint any more (bottom is all rotted out) and the edges of the tunnel are sharp as all heck.

Carl

 

[cqaigy2]

Got my leak detection kit and will give it a try.

The rubber sheild is rotted... No love there. I will make a decision tomorrow on wether I cut it or not. It clearly does not protect the hoses in the exposed joint any more (bottom is all rotted out) and the edges of the tunnel are sharp as all heck.

Carl

Have given much thought about what you'll replace it with or at least how your going to protect the hose?

 

[woodlandfarms]

Nope. Not sure what issue there is with the hoses exposed in that joint. That said, I do need to keep them from abraiding. Maybe that is why they are covered?

JJ's suggestion is ok. Put in some goop and see if you can see the leak. Problem is that the leak is in the tunnel. In reality. I guess I should just pull all the hoses. My hope was a less painful solution.

Also, dead of winter and washing this thing is not high on my list.

Carl

 

[woodlandfarms]

Found the leak. Cut back the covering (in flap mode so I can re-use it). Pulled on hose to the side and there was the leak. Nice and serious. My PT has nearly 17 hoses. running to the front. Wife is going to do some hose tugging and see if we can figure it out.

I am thinking PTO at the moment. But there is a weather checked hose just underneath so my work is not done.

Carl

 

[ponytug]

Dear Carl,

Congratulations! With a little luck it may be the only leak. If I might make a minor suggestion to JJ's excellent list of how to problem solve the hoses, I would do it in a different order: lift, steering, PTO, then wheel motors, that way you get to problem solve initially without moving the PT.

It sounds as if your unit is old enough to think about replacing the tunnel liner, and the all of the hoses. Is it?

Even on my new unit, I got into the tunnel edges and filed/sanded/deburred them. There were some viscious edges. Some of the places that are at intrinisically bad angles, I added some conveyor belt material to form a smoother corner.

If you decide to go the fish tape route, you will probably want a set of plugs with hooks on them to enable you to pull easily.

I don't think that connecting up the wheel motors is that bad. Each hose that you remove frees up more space to work. I would get a full set of plugs (hoses ends and motor ports) to make it quick to disconnect, plug, remove the hose, and move onto the next hose. Then you can go into pulling mode and pull each hose, starting from an emptier tunnel.

Just a thought.

All the best,

Peter

Found the leak. Cut back the covering (in flap mode so I can re-use it). Pulled on hose to the side and there was the leak. Nice and serious. My PT has nearly 17 hoses. running to the front. Wife is going to do some hose tugging and see if we can figure it out.

I am thinking PTO at the moment. But there is a weather checked hose just underneath so my work is not done.

Carl

 

[woodlandfarms]

Well, I am fairly confident it is the front left wheel motor. We found the most accurate test was banging on the pipe. So... Now.... Pulling this junk through the tunnel. This is going to suck.

Carl

 

[J_J]

I have waited long enough and now we have snow so I am not going to get any seat time for a few days.

So, I am going to find my many oil leaks. The ugliest I think is in the tunnel between the front and back. One of the 27 hoses has a leak. A real PITA. I am thinking of pulling and replacing the wheel motor hoses as they look original.

So, keep it surgically clean. If I can connect one hose to the other, use it as a pullng device. If not, I guess I will use use a electric pulling tape.

Now, this all said. It looks to be really ugly getting at the hose heads on the wheel motors. What does everyone think about loosening / removing the wheel motors? Any reason this is a bad idea? Looks like they take 6 3/8" bolts to hold them on. I worry these motors are going to weigh a TON.

Look forward to advice.

Carl.

It might be a good idea to remove or loosen the wheel motors to aid in removing the hoses. The wheel motors get heavier as the cu in go up. For example

12 cu in motor weighs around 35 lbs.
17 cu in motor weighs around 68 lbs
24 cu in wheel motor, weighs around 80 lbs.

As far as pulling the hoses through the tunnel, If one end has a straight fitting, it is an easy process. If your present hoses have a 90 degree fitting on both ends, it will be tough, if not impossible to pull through the tunnel. A way around this is to order the hoses with a 90 on one end and a straight fitting on the other, and add the 90 degree fitting after pulling the hose through the tunnel. Just tell your hose technician what you are trying to do. That wire pull lubricant might help in pulling the hoses. I would only work on one hose at a time so you don't cross connect something.