water in tran oil

[old codger]

i have recently taken ownership of a 35x. The trans was full of emulsified oil. There was no free water at the bottom, just all sandy coloured glunk.
i have the two drain plugs out and have been draining it for a couple of days. The question is ,what do i use to clean it with and for how long do i leave it in there to clean up the old oil. My initial thought was to fill it with diesel but a friend suggested kerosene ( i think it is parrafin in the US). Any thoughts would be welcome.

 

[JimRB]

Fill it back up with oil and find a task that makes the oil hot again. If it was the middle of summer where you live, running a brush cutter through tall thick grass for an hour will get things about as hot as you can get it before you drain again. A friend had a MF35 with the same ugly oil. We changed it once but I do not know if he changed it another time after running it some more.

 

[WilliamBos]

Do not use kerosene, as I have been told it is a cutting sgent. You can use diesel.

Buy new rubber gearshift booties.

 

[Jerry/MT]

i have recently taken ownership of a 35x. The trans was full of emulsified oil. There was no free water at the bottom, just all sandy coloured glunk.
i have the two drain plugs out and have been draining it for a couple of days. The question is ,what do i use to clean it with and for how long do i leave it in there to clean up the old oil. My initial thought was to fill it with diesel but a friend suggested kerosene ( i think it is parrafin in the US). Any thoughts would be welcome.

Just let the sumps drain till they stop dripping. The fill with fresh oil and put it to work. You can evaporate any residual water just by putting the tractor to work. Make sure the shift lever boots fit tightly or rain water can get into the tranny through them. Most of the water will come from condensation other wise. Regular use is the best way to minimize water in the oil.

 

[rsewill]

I had water in my hydrostatic transmission. I changed it out about a half dozen times with just a short run to warm the oil between changes and it looks good now. Later some on the forum advised using some Diesel, perhaps 10% of total volume and then changing it out. Next time I would do that as I believe it will better clean out the water.

 

[Mike476]

Had the top cover off mine for other maintenance but to simply replace the oil I'd flush once with some diesel, oil is too expensive.

What you see in the photo is albout half the oil left after draining, I had removed some with rags prior to taking the photo.

What surprised me was the amount of grease from the three point arms that made its way into the sump case (RH side of photo), made a h*** of a mess of my filter. The filter can be changed easily through the PTO engagement lever at the bottom of the photo.

And yes, replace the gear shift lever boots, they don't come with a snap ring like some so I used plastic zip ties to keep them secure.

 

[old codger]

thanks fellas for the quick reply. I think I will go with the diesel flush for a ten minute run, then drain it for a couple of days then install new oil. If it is going to get water through condensation I will not get it clean for any long period so will monitor it over a long period. I will get new rubber boots but the tractor will live in the shed and when it rains we both knockoff.

 

[toddol1971]

thanks fellas for the quick reply. I think I will go with the diesel flush for a ten minute run, then drain it for a couple of days then install new oil. If it is going to get water through condensation I will not get it clean for any long period so will monitor it over a long period. I will get new rubber boots but the tractor will live in the shed and when it rains we both knockoff.

I put a dab of silicone around the top of my boots