Oil & Fuel Transmission Oil Filter Change

[Rich D in Saugerties]

I thought I was well prepared to do this on my Series 3000 model 3225 - had papers on the floor, a catchbasin, rags, the replacement filter ready with oil on the gasket seal, and had jacked the tractor front end up 8". I unscrewed the filter and quickly tried to swap filters - oops, the nipple had come off with the filter and had to be swapped from the old to the new!

Trying not to lose too much of the $8/qt fluid, I rolled up a piece of paper towel to stem the flow of fluid while I made the nipple swap. Finally got it changed and only lost about 10 oz. of the precious fluid.

I'd chaged a dozen or so filters over the years, but never had this happen. So be prepared - this could happen to you as well.

 

[JTKub]

Hehehe.. I feel your pain Rich. Back when I did a ~10hr trans filter change on my 2544, I *thought* I had the new filter right next to me to do the swap. Only after I unscrewed the old filter, did I realize the new one was way over on the work bench. Needless to say, out came a gallon of basically new CC Drive System Fluid Plus. It's a few years down the road now, but in place if the CC trans oil, I use Shell Rotella-T 15w40. R-T 5w40 would be a better choice for winter use, but is slightly more expensive than the 15w40.

Joel

 

[moe1942]

I have a davit crane in front of my shop. I can elevate the boom and stand my GT2542 straight up if I need to. Easy on the back for a lot of jobs like this and blade sharpening..

I'll bite the bullet and use CCC hydro fluid while it is under warranty. My dealer said MTD won't tell them if it is the same as Hy-Tran..or what the MIL-Spec is..

 

[Bob_Bainbridge]

I have a davit crane in front of my shop. I can elevate the boom and stand my GT2542 straight up if I need to. Easy on the back for a lot of jobs like this and blade sharpening..

I'll bite the bullet and use CCC hydro fluid while it is under warranty. My dealer said MTD won't tell them if it is the same as Hy-Tran..or what the MIL-Spec is..

The new (expensive) drive fluid is definitely not the same as Hy-Tran because it's synthetic oil and Hy-Tran is not. My dealer said it wouldn't hurt to top it off with Hy-Tran but I don't agree with that. Oil is much cheaper than a Hydrostatic drive unit.

Bob B.

 

[JSharp]

JTKub posted a datasheet for the Cub Drive system fluid at one point. A bottle of it I have around here is marked "synthetic blend" and below it in larger letters "petroleum oil." As I remember from the datasheet the pour point was so high that it seemed the synthetic part of the blend must be *really* low. Like 10% or something.

Pretty lame for $8 a quart. Short of some magic corrosion resistance additives it seems to be nothing special that would warrant the high price.

Bob is right, transmissions cost big bucks and we know some Cub dealers will fight over every warranty claim. But Hydrogear recommends motor oil on their web site with no mention of magic or proprietary fluids. It's sort of hard to argue with the people who built the product.

I have the Cub fluid in mine now and will keep using it for top up after filter changes. But once it gets to maybe 200 hours I'll likely change it and use a 5W-40 synthetic...