Cleaning quick disconnects

[Vermonster]

The rear remote on my TC29S has quick disconnects. I regularly switch between my hydraulic top link and a dump cart. I find that the quick disconnects accumulate a layer of filth especially after I've gone out and tilled. I generally try to clean the quick disconnects before disconnecting or reconnecting hydraulic lines to avoid having much of that filth find its way into the hydraulic system.

Does anyone have a trick to get these things clean?

Am I babying my tractor too much? Should I worry about cleaning these before disconnecting or reconnecting lines?

 

[Bird]

I sure like to have mine clean before connecting them. I wipe the male connector with a rag, and if I can't wipe it all out of the female connector, then I blow it out with the blow gun from the air compressor.

Bird

 

[kerr]

I clean mine every connect-disconnect.Sand aint good on nothing but ice.Like bird said compressed air works for me.I dont even wash my rig with a power washer so not to get sand where it dont need ta be.

 

[ronjhall]

Michael
If you have rubber caps and plugs, always use them. This should help to keep most of the dirt off connectors. Keep caps and plugs plugged in to each other when hoses are attached. I've attached a picture of the caps and plugs I purchased for my Quick-disconnects.

 

[ronjhall]

Forgot the picture./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Cleaning the male end is easiest done by wiping with a rag. I've seen guys carry a can of ether for cleaning both ends. Works excellent on the female ends.

 

[lblair]

I use WD-40 to clean both male and female ends. I spray it in the female end and wipe it out..works slick as sh#& too! I clean them every time. I remove loader at least once a week. It dont add only a few seconds to clean and it will be worth it on down the road
Larry

 

[dieselpwr]

I like to use a hand pump spray bottle like you can get in most hardware stores or garden departments & fill it with diesel fuel for spraying on things to clean them. It makes a nice gental cleaner & it is fairly cheap compaired to bottled arousals.

Troy

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya
i just looked at npalomba's posting on his new 4300 and on his pics ya can see mult coloured covers for his loader snap disconnects i can't recall who makes them but they are better than the black ones ie, ya can match ya lines so ya don't plug them in a$$ about face.ok on the other note about cleaning lines some tractors filter the return oil ,some don't. if it filters the return line then a bit of dirt will be stoped in the filter before it get's in to the back end ....i leave it to ya's to work out what happens if it's not filtered .also don't use a water blaster on fittings as the water will enter ya oil lines (tractor not running no PSI in lines!!!)i have heard of cases where trans probs have happened with water getting in oil only thing they could trace it back to was the guy washed the he## out of it each day the water got in past the disconnects (think about it ,is there 1200-1800 psi left in ya lines when ya take them off???????)
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[jinman]

Troy, I like your idea and Larry's the most. I just removed my loader and what got me thinking was that the colored covers as JDKid mentions (which are standard on our NHs) were filthy when I went to install them. I had to clean the dust covers and fittings. I guess I could take the covers off and store them in my toolbox, but then removing and installing them would be an extra hassle and my luck would surely cause me to lose one somewhere down the line. For no more often than I remove my loader, the WD-40 or your diesel spray both sound like "just the ticket" to keep the adapters clean...and I so love the smell of diesel on my hands.../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

JimI

 

[lblair]

Yeah the WD-40 works well. It has many uses around the shop. If ya buy it bulk and put it in a spray bottle it goes along way. It dont take much to break down dirt on fittings or tools. I use it to clean my mower deck also after the wash with water. It keeps every thing easey to clean the next time too. Happy tractoring, Larry

 

[jdrotert]

Just to throw in my $.02, my uncle (who is a full-time farmer), has an air hose reel mounted outside his machine shed. He has an air gun with a cup mounted on the bottom which he fills with diesel. The blowgun has an extension tube on it. It blows a little diesel with air. Before hooking up any hoses, he drives over to the hose reel, blows clean the connectors then wipes them off with a rag. It has higher pressure than a WD40 spray can. Does anyone know where I could purchase one of these blowguns? I guess I will have to ask my uncle where he got his.

 

[jinman]

Sounds to me like you are describing an airbrush gun normally used by artists. The little cup would usually hold a small amount of paint. It sounds like a handy tool to have around. You might check a craft/hobby/art shop to find one, if it is what I am thinking about.

JimI

 

[Bird]

Instead of a cup on an air gun, I have an air gun that's called an "engine cleaner" that came with a 4' suction tube that I can stick in any liquid and it siphons the liquid along with the air blast. I've used it for spraying solvents on engines, spraying herbicides and insecticides, and for spraying diesel/motor oil mix on the bottom of mower decks. You can buy them lots of places, but it's part #34-34575 for $13.99 at Tractor Supply Co. Very handy tool for lots of things, and of course, you could shorten the suction tube if you wanted to.

Bird

 

[jinman]

I have one of those too, Bird. But it's kinda like using an elephant gun to shoot a mouse when I think of using it to clean quick disconnects. I use mine to spray solvent on engines and equipment prior to pressure washing. A small pump-up sprayer (1 qt) might be a better tool to keep a little diesel in for this job. What do you think?

JimI

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>like using an elephant gun to shoot a mouse</font color=blue>

Oh, I agree with you, but if someone wants to use diesel, it's a workable alternative if you don't have a small sprayer on hand. Personally, I just used plain compressed air to clean my quick couplers.

Bird

 

[MikefromMI]

Day late and dollar short.... I've seen this in the Sears tool catalog before. Think it was 35$.

 

[OkieG]

A couple of years ago I bought a pressure washer. It's one of those tools that you don't know how you got along without, once you have it. It does a great job rinsing away the grime that collects around quick disconnects. Usually, if the quick dicsonnects are dirty, there is at least somewhere else (sometimes everywhere else) on the tractor that could use a little washing while you're at it. The spray pattern (and pump pressure) is adjustable. The protective rubber caps that cover the quick couplers keep the mating surfaces clean, but the pressure rinse eliminates debris that could fall in the way.

 

[Mosey]

I recently had rear remote hydraulics installed on my Boomer and cringed at the thought of dirt getting into the hydraulic system. So, I bought some balloons at Walmart (you can pick the color, but I got black) and cut the end of some of them off so they're not balloons anymore, just a flexible tube. I put the balloon on the hose, then hooked the hose up to the tractor, then stretched the balloon over the coupling. When I don't have anything hooked up, I put uncut balloons over the rear remotes, even though they have some rubber seals that go inside, the balloons keeps the dirt out better than the rubber seals. You can also put the balloons on the end of the hoses when you're not using the cylinder. If you look close you can see what I mean in from the post <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=161782&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=all&vc=1>Spence, hydraulic top link questions. The balloons I got barely stretched enough to get them on, so if you could find some with a bigger mouthpiece part it might be easier.