changed hydro fluid......now fel seems to have little less power?

[kyles974]

I now own the tractor...but before when I was just borrowing the tractor from wife's work I ran the fel. Good and hard. So I decided to change the fluid for them since I was sure it had never gotten changed.

The tractor is a Jd 2320.

When ichange the fluid I went to napa. And boughtso.e fluid that was Jd rating or says its the same.........anyhow it seemed like the bucket didn't have the power it did prior to. It wasn't a big difference....but a little enough to notice.

I'm I crazy......or does this seem to be true?

I now own the tractor and getting g ready to change it back to Jd hydro fliud I think?

Anyone have any thoughts in this?

 

[jinman]

I think you are likely imagining things. I'm not trying to insult you, but there is little chance that the compatible fluid you bought from NAPA is causing the pressure relief valve to open at lower pressure. That's the only thing that can cause the hydraulics to have less power. I suspect you are just getting used to the tractor as we all do and it doesn't seem as powerful as before.

I would say that when you make a "seat of the pants" judgement call on power, you are likely to be wrong unless there is breakdown somewhere in the system. The only true measure of before/after would be to measure the system pressure with a gage both before and after changing fluid. Since the pressure directly relates to the power of the loader, that measurement will remove any doubt. As far as speed goes, use a stopwatch to measure the lift times from the arms lowered to the ground up to full height. Those times will give you baseline measurement for future tests. Remember, with all tests, it is important to run the engine up to about 2500 rpm and repeat this rpm everytime you do testing. Keep all your controls the same and look for timing or pressure differences.

I would NOT change the fluid because the loader "seemed" to be slower or weaker. Find out from a JD dealer's service dept what your pressure and times should be on your loader and then make the measurements with gages and a stop watch.

EDIT: BTW, clogged filters could cause some slowdown of operation, but it should not cause a huge difference in power.

 

[kyles974]

I don't take it as an insult. I figured it was probably me.
I was wondering if anyone else ever seemed do see a difference in when changing fluid like I "seemed" to notice.

Thank you for your comment ......

 

[Localmotion]

I've never had the problem myself, but a friend once changed his hydraulic fluid and had a similar problem to you. He spoke to his dealer (it was an old Massey) who told him he needed to bleed the hydraulic lines on the loader. He did so, and the loader was back to normal... Still can't work out why, as I would have thought the spool block would trap the oil in the loader when the sump was drained - maybe a spool got knocked or something - anyhow, it maybe worth a try....

 

[whirly]

Bleeding is such a messy job. All you need to do is run the FEL to it's full limits several times to get the air out of the system. I just got finished changing all of the hoses from the bucket to the spool valves and that is all I needed to do. It may take 6-10 full travels on all the cylinders to get the air out but it will work.

 

[kyles974]

Bleeding is such a messy job. All you need to do is run the FEL to it's full limits several times to get the air out of the system. I just got finished changing all of the hoses from the bucket to the spool valves and that is all I needed to do. It may take 6-10 full travels on all the cylinders to get the air out but it will work.

Ya, I think it was just me, lol.
Pi
I did travel the.fel to bleed it out etc.,

 

[Soundguy]

only thing that comes to mind is that some utf fluids are not universally the same viscosity as the ones they repalce. that could equate to some performance differences.. but in a good non leaking system.. shouldn't mean much..