PT Hydraulic Tank Question

SpringHollow · May 19, 2007

I took off the cover on the hydraulic tank on my PT 1850. About 20 % of the way in on the opening from the left side ("driver's side"), there is a vertical metal plate dividing the tank. I have not drained the tank, so I can not see what is going on. Does anyone know the purpose of this smaller chamber?

Inside of the main chamber, there is a metal enclosure (about 6 1/2" wide) coming up from the bottom of the tank. Not sure what is in there either.

Thanks,

Ken

woodlandfarms · May 19, 2007

I am going to take a stab and say it is a baffle to keep the oil in the system when the tractor is at 45 degrees.

Watcha' doin' rootin' around in that tank? What did you find? Lots o sludge or was it clean? You put a temp gauge in there?

SpringHollow · May 19, 2007

I think more is going on than just a baffle. The plate felt like it was going all the way. If it was just a baffle, then I would have thought it would not go all the way to the bottom or not go all of the way above the oil. I wonder if it is a "cleaner" reservoir for the makeup pump.

Yes, my thermometer, etc. came in a couple of days ago so I will be installing it. Started looking to see the best location for everything. I cleaned up the top of the tank real well before removing it. Now, I taped foil over the top until I can put the cover back on.

I did stick a magnetic retriever down into the tank and a few small filings came up. When I slid it around on its side, I get a layer of sludge sticking to the plastic sides of the probe. Removed a bunch of that but I know there is more still there. I will have to stir it up and filter it out.

Ken

J_J · May 19, 2007

ksimolo said:
I took off the cover on the hydraulic tank on my PT 1850. About 20 % of the way in on the opening from the left side ("driver's side"), there is a vertical metal plate dividing the tank. I have not drained the tank, so I can not see what is going on. Does anyone know the purpose of this smaller chamber?

Inside of the main chamber, there is a metal enclosure (about 6 1/2" wide) coming up from the bottom of the tank. Not sure what is in there either.

Thanks,

Ken

I believe that that bulge you see in the tank, is the tunnel for all the hoses and wiring going to the front. That plate is the baffle to help keep the hyd fluid from splashing around to much and stirring up sediments

J_J · May 19, 2007

Ken,

As far as the stuff on the bottom, I would not have messed with that unless you were going to throughly clean out the tank. To clean that tank out throughly, will take a lot of vacuum, and rinsing. In general, any thing that has a greater density than the oil, will settle to the bottom, and if anything is equal to the density of the oil, it will sort of float and move with the fluid. You know that there is very little filtering going on. Take water for instance, it is more dense than the oil, so most of it goes to the bottom. Now, the hydraulic experts, say, to not use detergent oil. Detergents try to emulsify the water and blend it with the oil, and to much water will give the oil a milky look. That is why since I live in Florida, I was thinking of a 40 weight non-detergent oil, or a good UTF, or a synthetic oil that is equal to or better than what we are using now. It hardly ever gets that cold to use thin fluid, and it does get into the upper 90's. Anyway, clean it out real good, and filter the best you can.

SpringHollow · May 19, 2007

Hi JJ,

The reason I removed the cover is that I am installing a remote filtration setup so I need to add bulkhead fittings, etc. I am also adding a thermometer. Once everything is installed, the oil will be recirculated for a while through a 10 micron and then a 1-2 micron filter. I am trying to determine where to put the inlet and outlets for the filtration system. Back in December I had talked to Terry about external filtering versus PTO filtering which he liked. I still like the idea of being able to filter the oil when necessary before running it through the pumps. I have even toyed with the idea of installing a 12V pump and having a recirculating filtration system running while I am running the PT. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of room to work with so for now I will stick with my 120V setup. Since I am using Quick Disconnects, it does not change what I need to install on the hydraulic tank cover. Maybe I could mount a 12V system on the engine cover and just remove it when I need to open it up. There is even a slight chance I could get a system to fit behind the seat.

How are the two chambers connected? If they are connected, I can put my supply in one chamber and my return in the other. The small chamber seemed to be much cleaner than the large chamber. If connected, it might make sense to put the return from the filter system into the cleaner small chamber. I was hoping to install the bulkheads tomorrow but perhaps I should wait and talk to Terry first.

I thought the metal "box" might be the pass through for the hoses, etc.

By the way, much of the sludge was more like a slime, sort of a cross between an oil and a grease.

I took a sample of the oil in case I want to test it to compare before and after filtering but the oil had been sitting for a while so it might not be a good test. Plus, I am not sure the cost of testing is worth it just for the fun of a comparison. The real worth of the test is for others to decide if it is worth adding a filtering system.

So, if I ever decide to change the oil to something else, is it okay to just warm up the trailer, drain the oil, clean the tank, add new oil, change the filter and purge just like a normal filter change? It does not seem like one would be adding air to the system by draining the tank as long as one does not mess with the hoses.

I was tempted to go to a 10W30 UTF but I am worried that it is not viscous enough. I definitely need the colder temperature capability so I can not go with a straight heavy weight. My guess is I will stick with standard motor oil with a small possibility that I might switch to a synthetic oil.

toy · May 20, 2007

ksimolo said:
I think more is going on than just a baffle. The plate felt like it was going all the way. If it was just a baffle, then I would have thought it would not go all the way to the bottom or not go all of the way above the oil. I wonder if it is a "cleaner" reservoir for the makeup pump.

Yes, my thermometer, etc. came in a couple of days ago so I will be installing it. Started looking to see the best location for everything. I cleaned up the top of the tank real well before removing it. Now, I taped foil over the top until I can put the cover back on.

I did stick a magnetic retriever down into the tank and a few small filings came up. When I slid it around on its side, I get a layer of sludge sticking to the plastic sides of the probe. Removed a bunch of that but I know there is more still there. I will have to stir it up and filter it out.

Ken

I bought a hydroulic tank at the scrap yard last year with the intent of cutting it apart and making a small loader bucket but when I took the 90 degree fitting out of the tank I discovered that partition in the tank so I put it on hold cutting it apart so I am curious about anything that you find out about that plate in the tank since you can take the inspection cover off of the oil tank on the pt and get a better feel for how it is attached to the tank. I beleive it is like jj said a baffel to keep the oil from slushing around in the tank and keeping the contaminents in the tank stired up in the oil, if that is infact the case I would think that the openings for the oil to pass through would be up higher and maybe on the sides of the tank. The boy that loaded the tank said that it was a good tank and was used on a dump truck I might not cut the tank up but I would like to know more about that partition in case I would cut it up. Since you already have the cover off if you could find a magnetic rod that is used in hydroulic tanks to attract metal containments that might be another good modification that might help keep your oil cleaner. If I ever run across one I would like to add it to mine if it didn't cost an arm and a leg.

SpringHollow · May 20, 2007

I never heard of a magnetic rod for a hydraulic tank. Nice idea. Similar to magnetic drain plug for an oil pan. I bought an extra bulkhead fitting to install for future use so I can use that if I ever find a rod or make my own. Thanks for the idea.

My oil is 3 - 4 years old. Maybe I will just drain and replace it now. I was going to wait and see how well this oil worked for me so i knew if I wanted to try something else. Also, if I change it now, I will have to change it cold since I do not want to run it without filtering the oil first.

Ken

marrt · May 20, 2007

ksimolo said:
Hi JJ,
I was tempted to go to a 10W30 UTF but I am worried that it is not viscous enough. I definitely need the colder temperature capability so I can not go with a straight heavy weight. My guess is I will stick with standard motor oil with a small possibility that I might switch to a synthetic oil.

This is exactly my concern. I would like 20W40 or 20W50 UTF...but I don't think it's made. What about using motor oil but adding an additive package? I think Case or one of the other manufacturers does this.

marrt · May 20, 2007

Regarding magnets, you can buy a couple neodymium magnets off ebay pretty cheap. I have some chrome coated ones and they are the strongest magnets I've ever seen.