No FEL or hitch after hydraulic oil/filter change.

jgedmond · Nov 3, 2019

I never heard of filling the filter with oil before installing it - either hydraulic fluid or engine oil. Coincidentally, I was changing the oil on my Toro ZTM today. The new filter instructions said to fill the filter to the threads and let the oil soak into the filter media for 2 minutes - I don't remember ever seeing this before on any machine. After 2 minutes, most of the liquid was absorbed and I installed the filer.

stump54 · Nov 3, 2019

JWR said:
Can you find ANYTHING that works OK with fluid from the pump ? Have you tried something off the remotes? It may even be worth borrowing something to hook up to the remotes to narrow the problem and/or indirectly make the system 'clear it's throat.' I would not think that the pump needed priming (mine never did when changing the filter but maybe changing the fluid changes that picture...) ... I think a verbal with your Dealer is definitely in order before hauling the machine to him. It worked fine before and does not now so it is something grossly simple. Any possibility of having some kind of packing material or plastic over one of the openings?

Sure, it is worth finding those other missing pages of instructions out of completeness and curiosity but I cannot imagine what the vague complexities of change filter, drain and fill might be. In your shoes, my first step now would be talking to the dealer's service people. It will be something simple.

Priming the pump fixed it.

And, altogether different manual...

stump54 · Nov 3, 2019

Tractor's up and running again Thanks for all the input.

I followed these directions from LouNY:
"I don't know for sure how your Massey is set up,
it is common for the filter to be on the suction line going to the hydraulic pump,
some pumps will have two sections some just one, usually the suction will go in the bottom of the pump,
remove the line leaving the pump and going to your loader valve, use your shop vac to pull on that line till you get oil,
once you have oil drawn thru the pump place that line in a bucket, then tie that line down securely and start your tractor,
once it starts you should have good flow, shut down and reconnect, top of the hydraulics to make up for what gets spilled.
I would not run the engine till I had pulled oil thru the pump those pumps do not like being run dry very long."

Instead of a line, I removed a small plug from the top on the pump and used tubing and vacuum to pull the fluid through.
I also learned the hard way, to ensure the hose is secure before starting the tractor...