Newer Tractor- Change Out Fluids Early

[bp fick]

Anybody got a newer tractor and feels the urge to change out the fluids earlier than the 50 hour mark?

For some estate owners, with what seems like many frequent starts and stops, lots of short working periods, time passes and passes without the hours on the meter piling up. The jobs are short bursts of reasonably intense activity. It's been thru a hot summer and cold winter.

For some, 6 months, 9 months or a year passes and still the hour meter only totals 30 some hours.

Ever get the urge, feel the need, to just go ahead and change the oil/filter and drop the front axle fluid, even though it's "early"?

 

[lawn_king]

I believe in changing the the engine oil early, as far as the hydraulic oil, i do the 1st at approximately 150 hours. most oem recommend hydro @ 50 hours, i myself feel thats overkill.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would change the engine oil at least once a year regardless of the hours. If you plan to operate it in the winter time, I would change it in the fall to a lighter weight oil if manufacturer specifys. Then change it again in spring to a summer weight. A few quarts of oil and filter is cheap insurance against premature engine failure.

 

[jinman]

Fred, if a dealer has a tractor sitting on his lot for 6 months with zero use, do you think he should change fluids? I personally think that the fluids are fine, but the dealer should start each tractor at least once per month and drive it around the lot to get fresh fluid in all the gear surfaces and also "wash" the seals and cylinder walls of the engine. I guess what I'm saying is that if there is no obvious moisture accumulation, I think lack of use for long periods of time is more damaging than not having fluids changed. I always work all levers frequently and exercise all features of my tractor to ensure they are staying free and operable. I would not be concerned with fluids unless I saw a positive evidence of moisture or deterioration. You certainly will not hurt anything by changing the fluids early, but I am reminded of the story of a service department that charged someone for changing air in the tires. It kinda seems pointless to me.

 

[radioman]

Yeah - I been tempted to do fluid changes early , only because of the timing. For example, right now its fall and that the period my tractor is used the least. I hate fixing or maintaining something in the cold and you never know if you need the tractor for plowing,etc. I just do things that fit my schedule, weather ists a bit early, later or just right timing. I find that when doing something early, its a great peace of mind. Since its your first service, I advise doing it now anyway before it gets too cold and get ready for winter. It will give you a sense of getting to know your tractor as well.

 

[LBrown59]

Anybody got a newer tractor and feels the urge to change out the fluids earlier than the 50 hour mark?

For some estate owners, with what seems like many frequent starts and stops, lots of short working periods, time passes and passes without the hours on the meter piling up. The jobs are short bursts of reasonably intense activity. It's been thru a hot summer and cold winter.

For some, 6 months, 9 months or a year passes and still the hour meter only totals 30 some hours.

Ever get the urge, feel the need, to just go ahead and change the oil/filter and drop the front axle fluid, even though it's "early"?

For more info do a search.

 

[bp fick]

Well, I can see some guys literally taking 3 years to hit that 50 hour mark. That isn't unreasonable. Taking into account that when the hours are put on, they could be rather intense bursts of use. Consider also the total number of starts, warmups and then shut down nature of such usage. I would think a lot of estate tractors get used this way. Fire up the tractor, push some snow. Shut it down. Fire up the tractor, till the garden, shut it down. Many, many cycles like that with hours only totally some 20 hours a year.

This would also explain why you see 3 and 4 year tractors traded in with fewer than 100 hours.

Remember when some fluid maintenance intervals used to be stated in months/miles or months/hours? As if to say, whichever comes first?

 

[bpattie]

agree with all and heck, Oil and filter are relatively cheap compared to what you have invested in the tractor.

 

[Thomas]

I am on the same page w/Radioman.

I like to change all fuilds filters before the ground stays frozen,than change fuilds filters first of April.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I change out all manufacturer fluid within a week or two of owning anything including all my cars and trucks. I want any residual stuff that may have been built in the vehicle , shavings, dirt etc.

On my GMC trucks I have noticed they short fill all the fluids and it's not caught by the dealer. On the rear end and front differential both were about a quart low.

Knowing it's teh manufacturers job to produce something as cheap as possible and it's my job to make something last as long as possible their .50 cent a quart oils come out and I put in high quality synthetics.

 

[bp fick]

I change out all manufacturer fluid within a week or two of owning anything including all my cars and trucks. I want any residual stuff that may have been built in the vehicle , shavings, dirt etc.

On my GMC trucks I have noticed they short fill all the fluids and it's not caught by the dealer. On the rear end and front differential both were about a quart low.

Knowing it's teh manufacturers job to produce something as cheap as possible and it's my job to make something last as long as possible their .50 cent a quart oils come out and I put in high quality synthetics.

I can hear the howling everywhere at your post, Cat-Driver. "Don't use syths that early, it will prevent break-in!!!"

Not to get off on a bunny trail, but GM has a half dozen models that are factory filled with slippery Mobil 1.

Seems the adage of using plain jane dino to allow for break-in is at odds with those fancy Camaros, Corvettes, and other Chevy hotrods. I am at a loss to explain it, I just report it.

 

[MicroPilot]

For more info do a search.

This implies there is nothing new to add to this discussion. Kind of a strange thing to be said by the guy that posts to every thread.

I believe in changing the the engine oil early, as far as the hydraulic oil, i do the 1st at approximately 150 hours. most oem recommend hydro @ 50 hours, i myself feel thats overkill.

I found much metal debris in my hydro screen at 50 hours, which i believe is the point of changing the hydro oil at 50 hours. Get that stuff outa there.

 

[bp fick]

When I purchased my tractor, the dealer suggested that it was very, very common place for their customers to drop the fluids quite early. He is such a straight shooter, and this wasn't to boost his back room labor sales, as his context was absolutely a DIY tone. Getting the metals flakes out was exactly that to which he was inferring. I didn't bring it up, he did.

Without testing, one is left with visual inspection of just how much metal we're talking about here. Funny thing was that he mentioned the front axle with such clarity and hinted, just hinted, that while the udt in there was fine and acceptable, they sort of preferred semi-synthetic gear oil. I know this kind of stuff is sooooo filled with variables and personal preferences and opinions, but I still wonder about the briefly used, but worked rather hard, estate tractor that might take years to get to its very first fluid drop. Two or three years seems like a long time to have the initial metals filings circulating. I dunno.

 

[lawn_king]

This implies there is nothing new to add to this discussion. Kind of a strange thing to be said by the guy that posts to every thread.




I found much metal debris in my hydro screen at 50 hours, which i believe is the point of changing the hydro oil at 50 hours. Get that stuff outa there.

When i did my hydraulic service @ 150 hours, on my 3540, there were some metal particles on the magnet under the filter ridge. The hydraulic oil itself was crystal clear clean!

 

[LBrown59]

1*This implies there is nothing new to add to this discussion.
2*Kind of a strange thing to be said by the guy that posts to every thread.

1*Or it implies that adding the search results to this discussion results in even more information gatherd.
2*Not really.

 

[RalphVa]

I changed the engine oil and filter at 13 hours. Waited until 50 to do the other fluids & hydraulic filter. The engine oil and filter still get changed once/year with less than 100 hours generally. The other fluids go the full 200 hours (after the first change at 50). May go longer on the front gear oil since it has no filter that could build up and collapse.

Ralph