I just had the hydraulic oil replaced in my tractor and now I would like to use my logging trailer + grapple which has old oil in the lines. Is there any reasonable way of avoiding contaminatimg the new oil. Is there a filter that I can install on the return line between tractor and trailer? Can I add something to the oil which would absorb the water but not harm the oil (methly hydrate, feul conditioner)? Flushing the system by disconnecting the return line sounds like I would go through an amazing amount of oil.
Water in hydraulic oil?
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Soundguy
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I'd let the return and bad oil dump in a bucket and run new oil into it.
How much oil you talking int he lines and cyls? 5g? thats what 30-40$ of UTF from walmart or TSC. Is your tractor hydraulic system health worth that?
soundguy
How much oil you talking int he lines and cyls? 5g? thats what 30-40$ of UTF from walmart or TSC. Is your tractor hydraulic system health worth that?
soundguy
Thanks for the reply soundguy. Yes the health is certainly worth every penny. Love my tractor. My concern was there are six cylinders to purge. I was under the impression I would go through a lot of oil new and old while I would purge each cylinder in and out as well as the flow of oil which would bypass the controls when the demand of oil from the cylinders would not handle the volume the tractor pumps. I assumed a lot of oil flows in a little time. Hope this makes sense. ( I had some work done on the Hydraulic dept which among other things cost $228 worth of oil)
But there is a silver lining to this story. I thought I had water that iced throughout the wagon/grapple hydraulic. Nothing would work the cylinders would just twitch, the tractor would grunt when I would play with the levers, believe me after many hours of trying to warm up lines, cylinders, levers, in desperation and process of elimination I tried inverting the inlet and outlet hoses and presto. The mechanic obviously pulled a switch when he was working on the rear end. Talk about rear end a blessing the mechanic痴 is 20 miles away.
But, but, but, providing the lines aren稚 switched around, wouldn稚 it be logical to have a filter outside of the tractor on the return line of the hydraulic system that would pick up contaminants such as humidity or would that cause more problems?
But there is a silver lining to this story. I thought I had water that iced throughout the wagon/grapple hydraulic. Nothing would work the cylinders would just twitch, the tractor would grunt when I would play with the levers, believe me after many hours of trying to warm up lines, cylinders, levers, in desperation and process of elimination I tried inverting the inlet and outlet hoses and presto. The mechanic obviously pulled a switch when he was working on the rear end. Talk about rear end a blessing the mechanic痴 is 20 miles away.
But, but, but, providing the lines aren稚 switched around, wouldn稚 it be logical to have a filter outside of the tractor on the return line of the hydraulic system that would pick up contaminants such as humidity or would that cause more problems?
kennyd
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Welcome to TBN Paul
Here is what I would suggest, and it won't use much oil at all...
First, remove the QD's from the hoses, then the hoses from the cylinders, then blow compressed air though them to push out the oil. you can flush them with diesel fuel if they are really cruddy then follow with air again. Then manually cycle the cylinders to push all the old oil out of them. It's a really messy job...but the best way.
There is no filter that can remove the water from the oil, just solid particles.
Here is what I would suggest, and it won't use much oil at all...
First, remove the QD's from the hoses, then the hoses from the cylinders, then blow compressed air though them to push out the oil. you can flush them with diesel fuel if they are really cruddy then follow with air again. Then manually cycle the cylinders to push all the old oil out of them. It's a really messy job...but the best way.
There is no filter that can remove the water from the oil, just solid particles.
J_J
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What Kenny says is the best way to get rid of old fluid.
You might try these filters, they are supposed to absorb water and trap contaminants. If the water has been in there awhile, rusting and the formation of an acid sludge may already have taken place. If they are the filters with a change out indicator, you might use one up and switch to another until the fluid looks good. Six large cylinders would hold about 8 to 12 gal of fluid.
http://www.maesco.com/products/racor/r_hydro/r_hydro.html
There are also external filter carts made to clean out hydraulic systems, and you can also build your own cart, with a 2 or 3 GPM, 115v AC hydraulic pump and a couple of filters, a 10 micron, and a 25 micron, and some of those water absorbing filters. Just hook it up and let it run on a set schedule for a couple of hours
The fluid with detergents in them are sometimes a good thing, but not with water. The detergents causes the water to mix readily. giving that milky appearance. Some of the manufactures say they can take that milky fluid and clean it up like new oil. Whether it is worth it or not, I don't know.
You might try these filters, they are supposed to absorb water and trap contaminants. If the water has been in there awhile, rusting and the formation of an acid sludge may already have taken place. If they are the filters with a change out indicator, you might use one up and switch to another until the fluid looks good. Six large cylinders would hold about 8 to 12 gal of fluid.
http://www.maesco.com/products/racor/r_hydro/r_hydro.html
There are also external filter carts made to clean out hydraulic systems, and you can also build your own cart, with a 2 or 3 GPM, 115v AC hydraulic pump and a couple of filters, a 10 micron, and a 25 micron, and some of those water absorbing filters. Just hook it up and let it run on a set schedule for a couple of hours
The fluid with detergents in them are sometimes a good thing, but not with water. The detergents causes the water to mix readily. giving that milky appearance. Some of the manufactures say they can take that milky fluid and clean it up like new oil. Whether it is worth it or not, I don't know.
DieselPower
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Welcome to TBN Paul
Here is what I would suggest, and it won't use much oil at all...
First, remove the QD's from the hoses, then the hoses from the cylinders, then blow compressed air though them to push out the oil. you can flush them with diesel fuel if they are really cruddy then follow with air again. Then manually cycle the cylinders to push all the old oil out of them. It's a really messy job...but the best way.
There is no filter that can remove the water from the oil, just solid particles.
You hit the messy part on the head. I helped a friend with a old (and I mean old) backhoe that was contaminated with water. Got the system cleaned out and once we got her running it works great, still does.
There are filters that can remove water but the problem becomes a cost issue. The filters get saturated rather quickly and require frequent changing. They are best used as preventative maintenance filters to absorb small amounts of water as it enters a system and not to clean a contaminated one.
J_J said:
In the industrial world there are quite a few very effective filtration systems, usually large vacuum distillation towers. You usually only find these at large hydro-power generation plants where they are filtering thousands of gallons of turbine oil at a time. There are companies that also provide this service mobile, again they are geared towards the large commercial industry.
Gary Fowler
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Just a note, if your cylinders are completely extended or retracted, then you only have to flush in one direction as alll the oil you are going to get out of them is already been pushed out of the cylinders. Then all you have to do is clean the hydraulic lines by blowing them with compressed air and then hooking everything back up. Normally cycling your system several times will remove the air from the lines. Add enough oil to your sump to bring it back to full and you should be good to go.
I'm assuming you have rear remotes to connect to the trailer. If so, you can get a filter head for $25-50 and water absorbing filters. The filters are really no more than the non-absorbing ones. About 10 bucks each as I recall from our local hydraulic repair shop. Probably cheaper online. Have the filter head fitted with the same remotes so you can snap it into the return flow line. Then just use it normally and it will filter out the bad stuff.
How much water can the filter get out? It's on the order of 6 oz total water per filter. I would doubt that you have more than a few oz of water, unless you have stored the equipment with an open port. One or two filters should get you cleaned up.
Here's a link to the Donaldson filter information
http://www.donaldson.com/en/ih/support/datalibrary/000697.pdf