Overfilled with hydraulic oil - should I drain the excess?

[finnfarmer2]

Changed the hydraulic oil on the CK35 HST and overfilled it. The manual says the capacity is 7.93 gal, so I poured in 8 qallons for good measure. Checked the dipstick and it shows about 1.5" above maximum. Will the excess oil hurt anything or should I drain some out? I haven't run the tractor yet except for a few minutes. Right now I am leaning towards draining the excess and save the oil for the next oil change in 400 hours. What say you? Thanks!

 

[boggen]

would say remove excess. expansion/contraction of metal parts and like. and oil needs some place to go. also any sort of hills and like and fluid spilling out due to excess.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Yupp if you have already ran it to fill any voids and you checked it per the manual, yes you need to drain some.

 

[finnfarmer2]

I pumped out 2 gallons and now the oil level is half-way between Min and Max. So, for the next hydraulic oil change I'll put in 6 gallons to start with and adjust as needed.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

:thumbsup: Thanks for the followup

 

[Deere Dude]

I would check on the oil level every couple times the tractor is used for a few times in case extra voids fill up and use oil.

 

[k0ua]

Now, here is the "why". The spec calls for 7.93 gallons. And I am sure that is the correct amount that it takes to fill the reservoir. BUT, when you drain a reservoir, you NEVER EVER get all of the old fluid out. You only get "most" of it out. The 7.93 gallons is when the reservoir is completely dry when it was assembled, or if you totally disassemble the transmission and remove all of the parts and dry it all completely out.

 

[Buggs67]

I've just had the same problem. I even used all 3 drain plugs. And that little dipstick is worthless. I tried to ease up to full and BLAM! it was overfull.

I guess I'll pull one of the little axle drain bolts and try to pull out a quart.

I wonder if I could suck it out through the fill tube. (BTW I poured the drained oil into the old pail and there wasn't even close to what the spec said capacity is.)

Everything I do one the tractor points up how crappy the manuals are.

 

[k0ua]

I've just had the same problem. I even used all 3 drain plugs. And that little dipstick is worthless. I tried to ease up to full and BLAM! it was overfull.

I guess I'll pull one of the little axle drain bolts and try to pull out a quart.

I wonder if I could suck it out through the fill tube. (BTW I poured the drained oil into the old pail and there wasn't even close to what the spec said capacity is.)

Everything I do one the tractor points up how crappy the manuals are.

Did you run the tractor for several hours? You need to run it to work the trapped air out. Then check again.

 

[CMV]

And check with everything in same position. Ground 3pt, ground level bucket.

You think the hyd fluid dipstick is sucky? Check your front axle......

 

[cat fever]

My front axle has a dipstick just like the hydro dipstick.

 

[CMV]

My front axle has a dipstick just like the hydro dipstick.

That's good! Mine is a stubby tapered rectangle orange plastic half covered in factory paint horrible little thing The only way I can read it is to press it against paper or a rag and read the level as transferred. At least no harm in overfilling there - will just weep out

I would like it if it were same as HST one - that one is easy to read. Only issue there is the hole is small enough oil can kind of stay there from surface tension so when you pull it out it drags that out and reads like its way over full. Simply wiping & rechecking fixes that, but was first couple times.

 

[Freep]

On the topic of Kioti axle and hydro dipsticks, what are y'all referring to when you say they are terrible?

I ask because my CK3510HST came new with just the barest bit of fluid evident on both of these dipsticks when checking fluid. My dealer indicated that was OK, but it seems weird to me. Is this part of the weird-ness that you are talking about? Just trying to learn my tractor... (and determine if I should top the fluid off).

Thanks!

 

[CMV]

Yours are probably slightly different but there are min/max levels on the dipsticks & you should be within those ranges.



Not great pics but you can see how my F/A one is. What you can't tell from the b&w grainy pic is it is orange plastic & you can't really see clean oil on it. Also note how long the threaded area is - it's screw in to check. Compared to the hyd oil check - that's a nice dipstick that just pushes in w/o threads. And it's stainless steel and easy to see. Has notches for min/max vs scribed lines too. Just a huge difference in design between the two on same machine where one is good & the other is poor.

The engine oil is fine and typical of what one would expect for an engine oil dipstick.

 

[Freep]

Both of mine are nice metal dipsticks, but neither has scribed lines on it - just a flattened area in which the high level is implied by a change from flat to round, and a low level implied by the length of the dipstick. My fluid registers just a drop at the very bottom.

I'm currently struggling with the 50-hour change-or-not-change fluids quandary. I don't want to add more fluid just yet in either case. If I change only the filters then lower fluid means less pressure and less likelihood of fluid loss during the swap. If I change fluid then obviously I don't want to waste fluid topping it off. Everything is working well, but I want to sort it out in the next week or two before I start using the tractor.

 

[CMV]

Your filters don't hold all that much. No big deal adding some fluid.

I did mine @50 & my previous one as well even though that was way early. On my LS there was a noticeable decrease in HST whine. On the Kioti I noticed 0 difference from the Chevron fluid dealer used vs changing to Kubota SUDT2. I know I have good fluid in my machine, but otherwise was kind of a lot of $ for what is probably only a psychological benefit - peace of mind.

If you're having no issues, just get whatever your dealer used & add as necessary until service interval that requires change. Unless you have some reason you think a different fluid will be better - whine, cold weather performance, whatever.... Find out what your dealer used first....chances are it wasn't yellow bucket 303 or similar junk. If it's a good fluid, no reason to change it unless you just want to do it to do it. There was accumulation of swarf about 1/2 the size of pea on my drain plug magnet. Otherwise the fluid itself appeared as new - you could also do that - pull the plug, stop it with your finger, and see if your magnet has anything....

Anyway, add to both so you're in the center of that flat. Won't take much for either

 

[grsthegreat]

On my DK45 i didnt know about the drain plugs on the rear axles and i only drained the main plug. The manual didnt even show the other 2 drains or tell me i had to do it. I found out about them from another member on this site. The dip stick on mine is notched ay low and high levels.

 

[Professor Marvel]

I've just had the same problem. I even used all 3 drain plugs. And that little dipstick is worthless. I tried to ease up to full and BLAM! it was overfull.

I guess I'll pull one of the little axle drain bolts and try to pull out a quart.

I wonder if I could suck it out through the fill tube. (BTW I poured the drained oil into the old pail and there wasn't even close to what the spec said capacity is.)

Everything I do one the tractor points up how crappy the manuals are.

You are right. Manuals these days velly clappy. nah so good

 

[DieselBound]

On my DK45 i didnt know about the drain plugs on the rear axles and i only drained the main plug. The manual didnt even show the other 2 drains or tell me i had to do it. I found out about them from another member on this site. The dip stick on mine is notched ay low and high levels.

Yikes! I didn't even consider this on my NX5510!

Curious, how come when you first pull the dip stick out of the hydro does it read low and then when re-inserted and pulled it jumps up substantially? This has always puzzled me.

 

[PILOON]

With overfilling my concern would be damage to seals in some circuits.
Underfilling on the other hand often will cause over heating but that will show up soon enough,

Serious under filling will result in jerky hydraulics as your warning.

On my CUT the hydraulic reservoir is the transmission 'tunnel' and that never had a dipstick so when I did a major fluid replacement I mad my own dipstick once I had filled to specs. (simple painted wood affair, that works 4 me)