TC 33D Hyd leak from weep hole

[Tc33DPhil]

Thanks for your post!! I am not alone lol. Do you think replacing the o-ring slowed it down any? I actually measured the o-ring I removed and it seemed close to what the nominal called for in that part. I am going to try a new one of that size or maybe one slightly bigger, as long as I can shove the pipe in. Still a little worried that it isn't this o-ring at all, and it's somewhere else in this cavity. recently it seemed to be leaking a lot more )I was using a PTO chipper and running the tractor at high enough rpm to get the PTO to 540. I will be putting it back together shortly with a new o-ring to find out. By the way, I bought a tractor freight fluid extractor (air powered) to suck the sludge out of the cavity so that it can drain from the weep hole again. Perhaps if I have to live with it a while such as you, I can rig up a little catch pan under the weep hole like a diaper for my hydraulic fluid lol

 

[Tc33DPhil]

Digging deeper on this. I've attached a snapshot of one of the pages of the service manual for the TC33D. It shows the HST pump and it's relation to the housings and piping and filters. Seeing this, it now makes a little more sense. The HST pump and motor is "inside" the cases and the lines and fittings that I have been showing go through the sides of the case to the pump inside. I think the HST pump actually "lives" halfway in one case and halfway in another. The charge pump side of the HST pump lives in the dry side where the clutch and shaft from engine are. And the HST motor side of the pump lives in the rear transmission case. The HST pump is attached to this case by four bolts. You can see in the picture where the tube from the oil cooler with the suspect o-ring goes into the HST pump. Of course there look like there are other places on that side of the pump where it could be leaking into that cavity. Again of course with no way of knowing without splitting the tractor apart. I guess there is an outside chance that it isn't hydraulic oil at all, but engine oil from the rear main seal leaking into the dry area where the clutch and output shaft are? I don't think this is the case, as I never noticed the engine oil level dropping when the tractor was spewing the fluid. Really hoping that it is the o-ring on the cooler tube, but don't have a good feeling about it. Stay tuned for results of test.