System Flush Required?

[Beltzington]

Rebuilding an 25-year old Morbark Wood Chipper, engine needed replacement so I have never seen it run. Seller said he used it once in the last 10-years before the engine blew.

Do I need to drain and flush the system before putting power to it? Simple system, reservoir is about a 15-gal vertical tank, pump is driven by 80HP Diesel off the disk shaft and this drives the two large feed rollers, start and stop valve and 8-hoses.

Although caps were in place, my guess is there is moisture in the system as it sat outside for years. So what would you do? Change the filter and see if it works? Full fluid and filter replacement? Full system flush using what procedures?

Appreciate your comments.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would find out if it has water in the bottom of the tank and drain it out. Then change the filter and if the oil looks good I would try it out. I would change the oil after I knew the chipper worked well enough to invest more money in it.

The world is full of gear tractors with 25 year old hydraulic oil that still perform okay. What is more important is whether the fluid is clean, water, dirt and metal filings are detrimental to the systems. On tractors I like to make sure the fluid is correct, clean with no moisture since these systems have wet disc brakes that can break down with the use of improper spec fluids. On a simple system such as you have for the chipper the risk is much lower and I would wait to change the oil if it did not have water in it,

 

[J_J]

I would drain a little fluid and see if it looks new.

Check all filters

If the fluid was good when stored, it should be good.

If it was stored and the fluid was good and water did get in the hyd tank, it would go to the bottom and you could drain the water,

If you run the hyd system with water in the fluid, the water and fluid will emulsify and make some bad stuff and that needs changing right away, including a good flush.

Once you get the fluids right, and the engine running, check the hyd pressure to see how the pump and hyd system is performing.