MinnesotaEric
Super Member
Between dying relatives and my 90-year-old mother having been hospitalized, I've been hard pressed to get all my Fall activities knocked out before performing the 400 hour service and rigging the tractor for winter. I thought I had 15 gallons of MobilFluid on hand, but it turns out that I only had 10 gallons. MobileFluid specs out as 10W20 Premium Hydro-Trans fluid from Napa. Not really any cheaper, but way, way easier to get.
Two gallon pails.
Five gallon buckets.
Snow is coming and I just got my mother out of the hospital, so I'm burning the midnight oil.
Service wise hardly any metal was found on the magnetic engine and transmission drain plugs, or the hydraulic magnet that fits inside of the hydraulic oil filter. My oil appeared clean and did not smell burnt. Even so my 400 hour service is complicated by the fact that I'm also replacing the suction lines and bracket that got messed up when I rolled a stump which lead to my using a trailer as an impromptu alignment rack.
For those who are not paying strict attention due to less than ideal working conditions, the filter housing flow arrows point outward. With exception of the parts diagram, nothing in the service manual says which way the filter housing is to be mounted, and yes, it can be installed backwards. In the dark I wasn't paying attention which way it went when I removed the filter assembly because I was trying to get a pan under what was left of the suction line that was dropping a half gallon of oil onto the ground at the time. Thankfully, I was able to confirm the parts diagram was correct from old close-up photos from when I first fabbed the skid plates in 2014.
As it turned out, the new suction lines must be "fitted," and I spent as much time bending the new parts mounting brackets so they'd align up as it would have taken me to bent and align the mounting brackets on the originals. I used hydro oil to lube up the O-rings that seal the suction lines as assembly lube, but blocks of wood and rubber mallets were the go-to tools for assembling the new parts. Eventually, I got everything back together, shiny and new. While I primed both the hydro and HST filters, it got too cold to continue messing around with oily hands, and so I will fill the tractor up with hydro oil in the daylight so I can check for leaks before reinstalling my skid plates.
Two gallon pails.
Five gallon buckets.
Snow is coming and I just got my mother out of the hospital, so I'm burning the midnight oil.
Service wise hardly any metal was found on the magnetic engine and transmission drain plugs, or the hydraulic magnet that fits inside of the hydraulic oil filter. My oil appeared clean and did not smell burnt. Even so my 400 hour service is complicated by the fact that I'm also replacing the suction lines and bracket that got messed up when I rolled a stump which lead to my using a trailer as an impromptu alignment rack.
For those who are not paying strict attention due to less than ideal working conditions, the filter housing flow arrows point outward. With exception of the parts diagram, nothing in the service manual says which way the filter housing is to be mounted, and yes, it can be installed backwards. In the dark I wasn't paying attention which way it went when I removed the filter assembly because I was trying to get a pan under what was left of the suction line that was dropping a half gallon of oil onto the ground at the time. Thankfully, I was able to confirm the parts diagram was correct from old close-up photos from when I first fabbed the skid plates in 2014.
As it turned out, the new suction lines must be "fitted," and I spent as much time bending the new parts mounting brackets so they'd align up as it would have taken me to bent and align the mounting brackets on the originals. I used hydro oil to lube up the O-rings that seal the suction lines as assembly lube, but blocks of wood and rubber mallets were the go-to tools for assembling the new parts. Eventually, I got everything back together, shiny and new. While I primed both the hydro and HST filters, it got too cold to continue messing around with oily hands, and so I will fill the tractor up with hydro oil in the daylight so I can check for leaks before reinstalling my skid plates.
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