Moronic newbie question

[zing]

Thread title says it all.

I bought a 1986 Case tractor 64 HP to help around my hobby farm.

It comes with the manual, but the pictures in the manual are so bad that I cannot tell (for sure) how to top up the oil or the hydraulic fluid. I am 99% on the oil fill, but I do not want to chance screwing it up and filling the hydraulic fluid with regular oil. I have no idea where to finid the fill thing for the hydraulic fluid.

Here is what I think is the oil fill.

Where the heck is the hydraulic fill though?

Thanks for any help. Feel free to poke fun at me too. I recognise that it is a stupid question. :confused2:

 

[zing]

Lots of views, but no replies so I thought I would add to the confusion by adding another picture.

I read in another thread that the Hydraulic fill may be on the floor. Here is a picture of the floor, looking down from the seat with the steering wheel at the top. I circled the hydraulic fluid dipstick, to show where that is. There is a bolt nearby (identified with thw arrow and question mark) that I am wondering if that could be the fill spot. It would need to be opened with a socket though, and it does not look like it has been moved recently.

 

[Carykong]

without a manual,which is your best option, I would ask the previous owner. if that is not practical,I would take a sample with a straw to confirm the type of fluid behing the fill plug you have IDed on the floor below the steering column.

of note, I have a Case VAC 1952. The fill plug for the gear oil is located approximate to your photo.

 

[zing]

without a manual,which is your best option, I would ask the previous owner. if that is not practical,I would take a sample with a straw to confirm the type of fluid behing the fill plug you have IDed on the floor below the steering column.

of note, I have a Case VAC 1952. The fill plug for the gear oil is located approximate to your photo.

I do have the manual but the picture is so bad that it doesn't help, and the previous owner is also not an option since the reason he was selling was that he was moving to a smaller property and could't keep it. All I have is his disconnected phone number.

Your straw idea is a great one though. I might as well just pop that cork and see what colour the wine is. Thanks!

 

[DAY]

The only bit of info I can add is that "oil" (unless it has JUST been changed) will be dark to black on the dipstick, while hydraulic fluid should be absolutely clear- so clear it is hard to see on the dipstick. Also, there are different kinds of fluid- TSC carries three or four.

 

[slowzuki]

Most ag tractors the fill is near the top link for the rear 3 point hitch. There are exceptions of course but generally the rule.

 

[zing]

Thanks for the tips Day.

Slowzuki, I haven't seen anything there that looks like a place to fill fluids, but I may have missed it. I don't have any good pictures handy, but maybe after next weekend I will take a more careful look around there and if I still can't find it I wil get a better picture. What I do have it a picture of the electrical jack and the hydraulic connectors. Would it likely be anywhere near those?

 

[zing]

I looked around the upper 3PH link some more and couldn't find anything that looked like a fill spot. I found a reference in the manual that said it is under the PTO housing so I took a couple of pictures of what I thought that was. I left my socket set at home and wasn't able to get the housing off with the little spanner wrench that I had available, but I will be taking that off to have a look this weekend. Hopefully it is under there.

Once again, this doesn't look like it has been removed in the recent past either so I am not sure. Did no one ever fill the hydraulic fluid in this thing? It shouldn't be that hard to find since you would think that would be a regular maintenance type of thing to top that up.

 

[DAY]

Again, I can't speak to your machine, but filler plugs- a "regular maintenance thing"- can be checked without tools. Dipstick (oil) is a rod with a finger loop on the top, and hydraulic fluid is a plug that can be unscrewed with your fingers. On my big Yella Fella (the backhoe pictured) the hydraulic reservoir is accessed by lifting a panel up where the radiator is, and THEN pulling up a 3" cap, dipstick attached. So yours may be "hidden" underneath a panel, flap, etc. But it can be checked without tools.

 

[dcyrilc]

Obvoiusly this isn't your tractor, but here is where they are located at the back of the tractor and what they look like on my Deere. Hope it helps.

 

[zing]

I have been going on the same logic as Day and dcyrilc and searching all around the PTO housing, as well as based on this entry in my manual.

As you can see there is a misprint because the sentence is cut off, but I was assuming that it was still located around the PTO housing because of that little bit there. Especially since it included a picture of the fill spot.

I found another entry in the manual that does a better job of describing where it is, but it doesn't mention anything about the PTO housing. Instead it says that it is located on the right hand ramshaft cover, then includes the same picture. Problem with the picture is that it doesn't give you any reference to where it is located on the rest of the tractor. I have read the whole manual and there is no other reference to the "ramshaft" so I don't know where that is or what it would do. Can anyone else tell me what the ramshaft is or where it would be located?

I have to be honest, for something that should be a regular maintenence thing that is done on a regular basis, this thing is just stupidly difficult to locate. Thanks for the help you guys have given me so far.

 

[dcyrilc]

I have been going on the same logic as Day and dcyrilc and searching all around the PTO housing, as well as based on this entry in my manual.

As you can see there is a misprint because the sentence is cut off, but I was assuming that it was still located around the PTO housing because of that little bit there. Especially since it included a picture of the fill spot.

I found another entry in the manual that does a better job of describing where it is, but it doesn't mention anything about the PTO housing. Instead it says that it is located on the right hand ramshaft cover, then includes the same picture. Problem with the picture is that it doesn't give you any reference to where it is located on the rest of the tractor. I have read the whole manual and there is no other reference to the "ramshaft" so I don't know where that is or what it would do. Can anyone else tell me what the ramshaft is or where it would be located?

I have to be honest, for something that should be a regular maintenence thing that is done on a regular basis, this thing is just stupidly difficult to locate. Thanks for the help you guys have given me so far.

OK, I'm going to step out on a limb here and try to read between the lines. Wish me luck.:laughing:

The tansmission cover on many tractors houses the ram for the 3PH. I'm going to guess that they are calling the transmission cover a ramshaft cover. Looking at figures 133 & 37, it looks like there may be some form of filter to the right of the fill tube. Can you get us any pix of the right side of the transmission near the engine compartment? I'm thinking maybe just in front of the operators station?


BTW, I'm guessing that once we find this darn thing that we are going to laugh at ourselves asking how we ever missed it.

 

[zing]

OK, I'm going to step out on a limb here and try to read between the lines. Wish me luck.:laughing:

The tansmission cover on many tractors houses the ram for the 3PH. I'm going to guess that they are calling the transmission cover a ramshaft cover. Looking at figures 133 & 37, it looks like there may be some form of filter to the right of the fill tube. Can you get us any pix of the right side of the transmission near the engine compartment? I'm thinking maybe just in front of the operators station?


BTW, I'm guessing that once we find this darn thing that we are going to laugh at ourselves asking how we ever missed it.

Well I am hoping that laughing part comes soon, because I am close to jumping off a bridge at this point. :confused2:

That is a interesting idea for the ramshaft. I was just guessing based on the name that it might be the hydraulic ram that drives the power steering, so I did spend some time looking in the same general area that you are describing, basically right in front of the operator on the right hand side. It is kind of hard to see there because it is behind the connector area for the loader, and also below the hyraulic control for the loader, so there is already a lot going on there. It is only 10:30ish here though, so I think I will take a walk out to the shed again and see if I can get a picture or two. Not sure I will get a chance to post them tonight though and I am on the road tomorrow, so Tuesday at the latest I hope.

The tranny fluid is currently at the bottom of the "safe" area, so I have been putting in a little bit at a time through the dipstick hole, but I sure don't want to continue doing that over the long term. :mur:

 

[dcyrilc]

The tranny fluid is currently at the bottom of the "safe" area, so I have been putting in a little bit at a time through the dipstick hole, but I sure don't want to continue doing that over the long term. :mur:

Especially when it comes time to do a fluid change. I'm not sure how much your tractor holds, but mine takes 14 gallons.:confused2:

 

[zing]

Ok, now I've gone and taken a picture of every square inch of where it should be. One of these pictures should be gold. One can only hope anyway...

I started off with a pic of the operato's side to give perspective. This is where I start my search.

Zooming in...

A picture of what my right ankle can see. Dominated by diesel tank on top, loader arm on right, and brake pedal on bottom. No Tranny fill tube that I can see.

Same area, but from the side standing beside the tractor.

Now from above looking down. Diesel tank at top left and loader arm at bottom. Nothing to see here, really.

Same picture, from higher up.

Side of the engine compartment looking back to the same area. Loader hydraulic ram at top left, fuel filter in middle, no tranny fluid tube though.

Under the operator's seat on the operator's right.

Starting to get desperate now, here is the front half of the engine, with oil fill tube at top.

And here's the back half.

Moving to the back. Right hand side of the 3 pt linkage.

Left hand side.

PTO and PTO housing.

Moving to the left, under the seat on the left hand side.

What my left ankle can see. Transmission dipstick is on the bottom right.

Engine compartment on left of tractor from the side. Oil dipstick is visible next to the block heater plug, but nothing else that could be a transmission fill tube.

Left front of engine compartment, oil fill is visible again.

Left rear of engine compartment. Still nothing to see.

This is Sally. She was helping me look, but she wasn't much help. SHe thought it was over there...

This is what pictures of Sally usually look like.

Is it just me???? Honestly this really is rediculous. I have looked everywhere for something that should be as easy to find as my mouth at supper time. :confused2::confused2::confused2:

 

[zing]

Interestingly enough, even the dipstick is not in the same place as the picture. Pretty close, but not exact. Picture from the manual has it closer to the engine on the left hand side, and it is really located a bit farther back. I circled in blue where it actually is in both pictures, but in the manual thinks it is where the white arrow is pointing.

That is just a small difference, but I wonder how much else is different from the manual?

 

[dcyrilc]

What is the item on the left rear which I circled in this picture?

 

[zing]

What is the item on the left rear which I circled in this picture?

I looked at that a while back, and decided that it probably wouldn't be the fill tube, since it didn't look like the picture, and because it was kind of hard to access, and because it had a funky cover that was not easy to open (it wouldn't budge with a pair of pliers), and because it did not look like it had been accessed for a while. I just assumed that I would find it somewhere else in a more obvious location/appearance. Then I forgot about it.

In light of the fact that I can't find it anywhere else though, I guess I should re-visit it. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Like I said, I had forgotten that it was there. I saw your message and ran down to take a couple of quick snaps, but had to leave right away and won't get a chance to try it until this weekend. Here are the shots though.

Looking at it now, with new eyes so to speak, it might be that the plug with the square key required may have been put there by someone else later in it's life, and then just painted orangy-red when the tractor was touched up. Or perhaps it is original, although it doesn't really qualify as easy access for something that should be regular maintenance. I am thinking that a 3/8 or 1/2 inch socket extension may fit right in there and do the job of unscrewing that plug. I will give it a try this weekend, and stick a straw in it to see what colour comes out. Hopefully it will be red.

Thanks for the response, you may have solved the riddie!!! I am sure hoping anyway. :laughing:

 

[Sigg99]

I'm about as newbie as you, but last fall I bought a 1960's case 830. I married well, and my brother-in-law is a hd mechanic. So we went through, and I changed all the oils, but the tranny dipstick/fill was seized pretty bad, it didn't twist off as it wasn't threaded, but you just wiggled it and it pulled off. They were fairly obvious as fill caps, and I think one was in the left side of the tractor and the other was just under the seat on the transmission housing on the left side. I was poring over your pics trying to see caps like mine, but didn't see them. Good luck!

 

[dcyrilc]

I looked at that a while back, and decided that it probably wouldn't be the fill tube, since it didn't look like the picture, and because it was kind of hard to access, and because it had a funky cover that was not easy to open (it wouldn't budge with a pair of pliers), and because it did not look like it had been accessed for a while. I just assumed that I would find it somewhere else in a more obvious location/appearance. Then I forgot about it.

In light of the fact that I can't find it anywhere else though, I guess I should re-visit it. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Like I said, I had forgotten that it was there. I saw your message and ran down to take a couple of quick snaps, but had to leave right away and won't get a chance to try it until this weekend. Here are the shots though.

Looking at it now, with new eyes so to speak, it might be that the plug with the square key required may have been put there by someone else later in it's life, and then just painted orangy-red when the tractor was touched up. Or perhaps it is original, although it doesn't really qualify as easy access for something that should be regular maintenance. I am thinking that a 3/8 or 1/2 inch socket extension may fit right in there and do the job of unscrewing that plug. I will give it a try this weekend, and stick a straw in it to see what colour comes out. Hopefully it will be red.

Thanks for the response, you may have solved the riddie!!! I am sure hoping anyway. :laughing:

I used to use my neighbors Case 580C backhoe. It had a plug like that which took a 3/4" socket extension to remove for filling the hydraulic fluid. After seeing these pix, I'm hopeful.:thumbsup: I would expect it to be either 1/2" or 3/4" for the socket extension. 3/8" seems a tad small. I'll be out of town over the weekend (3,000 mile round trip to Az helping move my mother), but will be anxiously looking forward to hearing what you find when I return.