Changing Hydraulic Fluid on L3240 HST

[Chewwy]

I am getting ready to do the 400 hour service on my L3240 HST. The service includes changing the hydraulic filter, the transmission filter and the hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic fluid change requires 11.1 gals. There are three plugs that have to be removed to fully drain the fluid. See the diagram for the locations of the plugs. My plan is to remove the plugs one at a time and catch the fluid in 5 gal buckets.

Is the quantity of fluid from any of the 3 locations going to exceed 5 gals?

I am concerned about exceeding the 5 gal capacity in the buckets and having to quickly swap the buckets to avoid a mess on the shop floor.

 

[RjCorazza]

I don't know if a 5 gallon bucket will fit under your machine, and the center drain may (?) exceed that. I use a large Tupperware style storage container when I do mine, and even with that I stop the flow 1/2 way through to make handling it easier.

 

[Chewwy]

What I called a 5 gal bucket is actually a 5 gal oil drain pan from an auto parts house.

It is only about 8 inches tall and will easily fit under the machine.

I had thought about using a plastic concrete mixing trough from Lowes. It is also only about 8 inches tall and will hold much for than 5 gals, but not 11 gals.

With 3 drain locations it seems unlikely any one would except the center drain would exceed 5 gals.

 

[RjCorazza]

The rear differential drains on my L4060 and previous L3410 didn't drain much fluid... perhaps a gallon or two.

 

[azbinder]

1-Put drain pan under tractor.
2-Remove which ever plug you chose and drain enough fluid to fill the pan. 3-Install the plug and then empty drain pan into a larger container.
4- Repeat steps 1-3 until the rest of the fluid is drained.

 

[masscity]

I have the L3540HSTC-3, same trans as yours. I'm at 853 hours and I'm going to do my 3rd change soon. I use 5 gal pails, the two rear side drains fill less than half of each bucket and I do them first. Then I do the front main one and that is about 4 3/4 gal. I get somewhere around 8+ gal total out of it. Your tractor may vary some.

I put it up on blocks, because the use the buckets and gives me plenty of room.

 

[Chewwy]

I have the L3540HSTC-3, same trans as yours. I'm at 853 hours and I'm going to do my 3rd change soon. I use 5 gal pails, the two rear side drains fill less than half of each bucket and I do them first. Then I do the front main one and that is about 4 3/4 gal. I get somewhere around 8+ gal total out of it. Your tractor may vary some.

I put it up on blocks, because the use the buckets and gives me plenty of room.

Thanks!

That is the info I was looking for. Quickly swapping even partially filled 5 gal pails when you are on your side or on your stomach is not a picnic and trying to reinsert the drain plug while it’s still flowing could be a messy ordeal.

The operators manual indicates that your L3540 also holds 11.1 gals of hydraulic fluid just like mine. Only having to deal with 8+ gals and no more than 5 gals from the main drain appears to resolve my worries.

 

[rScotty]

I'm curious to hear a report from someone who has tried to change the trans/hydraulic oil via the fill port using an oil extractor. Did it work? The fill port looks big enough to fit a large diameter extraction hose.

On our Kubota I tried to change the engine oil that way using an commercial electric motor driven vacuum extractor... not worth the effort - I think it failed because of the tiny tube diameter required to fit down the dipstick tube. After about 20 minutes of running the pump, it had only moved less than a quart of 10w30 synthetic.
rScotty

 

[Chewwy]

I'm curious to hear a report from someone who has tried to change the trans/hydraulic oil via the fill port using an oil extractor. Did it work? The fill port looks big enough to fit a large diameter extraction hose.

On our Kubota I tried to change the engine oil that way using an commercial electric motor driven vacuum extractor... not worth the effort - I think it failed because of the tiny tube diameter required to fit down the dipstick tube. After about 20 minutes of running the pump, it had only moved less than a quart of 10w30 synthetic.
rScotty

I will try it and let you know. I swear I saw some one on youtube doing it but can’t find it. Maybe I just dreamed it.

Am going to use one of the fuel syphon gizmos that are used to fill kerosene heaters.

 

[chim]

I've never trusted a pump for fluid removal. Just have a hard time believing it removes as much fluid as removing the plugs.

The drain pan I had wasn't going to be large enough for draining the L4240's SUDT2, so I bought a big mortar mixing pan at Home Depot.

Pro's: Has greater capacity than needed / is a huge easy to hit target / slides easily between drain plug locations.

Con's: Can be a bit cumbersome when dumping old fluids into used 5 gallon containers for disposal.

 

[Chewwy]

I've never trusted a pump for fluid removal. Just have a hard time believing it removes as much fluid as removing the plugs.

The drain pan I had wasn't going to be large enough for draining the L4240's SUDT2, so I bought a big mortar mixing pan at Home Depot.

Pro's: Has greater capacity than needed / is a huge easy to hit target / slides easily between drain plug locations.

Con's: Can be a bit cumbersome when dumping old fluids into used 5 gallon containers for disposal.

Unlikely the siphon drain from the fill port will remove that much fluid, so removal of the drain plugs will still be necessary.

The mortar mixing pan is a possibilty but as you mentioned it would be somewhat difficult to get the fluid from that pan to the disposal containers. It could also be used to catch any overfill in 5 gal buckets since the buckets would fit inside the mortar mixing pan. However 5 gal buckets don’t fit under the machine without putting it up on blocks.

Based on masscity’s response, it seems likely that It will not exceed the 5 gal capacity of the drain pan I have.

 

[dstig1]

I bought a storage tote when I did mine. Made sure to get one big enough to hold it all and short enough to fit. The 2 plugs on the rear axle did not yield much fluid. Expect the bulk from the center plug. I would not recommend putting it up on blocks as one poster showed - I am assuming those blocks are stacked loose and not screwed together - as that is just asking for trouble. Since mine is the bigger 5240, it probably has more fluid in it than yours, too.

Then I used a hand pump to transfer the used fluid into the now empty jugs that held the new fluid and brought those in to the used oil place to dispose.

 

[masscity]

I bought a storage tote when I did mine. Made sure to get one big enough to hold it all and short enough to fit. The 2 plugs on the rear axle did not yield much fluid. Expect the bulk from the center plug. I would not recommend putting it up on blocks as one poster showed - I am assuming those blocks are stacked loose and not screwed together - as that is just asking for trouble. Since mine is the bigger 5240, it probably has more fluid in it than yours, too.

Then I used a hand pump to transfer the used fluid into the now empty jugs that held the new fluid and brought those in to the used oil place to dispose.

Please don't assume, they are screwed together as ramps and I drove the tractor up on them. I've done it twice and soon will do it again.

The reason I put it on blocks is, because I use 5 gallon pails and I need the room.

Edit, also in the winter I would drive on to two blocks on the right side to grease the two flanges and later in the year to grease the subframe u-joints. I did this for many years.

I wanted an easier way to grease the flanges, so I talked to my welder-mechanic, he helped me drill two one inch holes in the subframe to grease the two flanges and now it's much quicker.

As far as the safety, I can crawl under my tractor with plenty of room. The height is for the pails only.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I learned the hard way that a 5 gal drain pan won't hold the hyd. oil from the bottom drain on my old L3430 HST. What a mess!

Since then, I use an oil extractor on the fill plug hole to take out a couple of gallons first before removing the drain plugs.

Likely not the same on your L4240 though.

 

[Chewwy]

Completed the 400 hour service yesterday.

Was able to remove about 2 gals of hydraulic fluid from the fill port using a syphon extractor. Got about 2 1/2 gals total from the two axle drain plugs and close to 5 1/2 gals from the main drain plug on the bottom of the transmission case.

Of the 11.1 gal capacity listed for the machine, we were able to remove a little over 10 gals.

 

[5030]

I took a 150 gallon aluminum fuel tank from a wrecked semi tractor and cut one end off of it with a plasma cutter and Tigged on a pair of aluminum round stock handles so I could move it around. My M9's hold almost 15 gallons of fluid each and the aluminum fuel tank holds it all quite nicely and fits under the tractors with plenty of room to spare.

You can buy aluminum fuel tanks at most truck salvage yards. If one end is damaged it don't matter anyway.

 

[5030]

Once I've drained all the fluid into the aluminum fuel tank, it gets real heavy, so I use an old discarded one gallon plastic jug to get most of it out of the aluminum fuel tank and put it back in the 5 gallon pails the replacement fluid came out of and the remainder at that point, I can dump into one of the 5's and then it either goes into my waste oil tank or to the local Auto Zone which at least here, will take 5 gallons a day for recycling. Not sure about other states and their 'recycling' but here in Michigan at least, most auto parts stores as well as Tractor Supply will accept 5 gallons a day for recycling and the 5 gallon pails make that handy and fairly easy to deal with.

 

[big bubba]

just get a plastic utility household container @ Wal, etc. was able to get a 60 qt capacity, just enough for my hyd change.