first time changing hydraulic fluid

[DonaldP]

Some places don't like you to mix the motor
oil with tranny fluid. There are people that use
motor oil to heat their workshop and don't want
a mix! Wonder if tranny fluid would work for painting
my wooden fence??? Anyone know?? changing
tranny fluid for the first 50 hours and front axle.

willy

Mix it with Milk! I used to milk wash the fences when I was a kid. It seemed to work? (But for god sakes don't drink it, I don't think that will work even if you cut it with a copious amounts of really good Russian Vodka.)

 

[Captain Dirty]

. . . Changing the hydraulic oil and filters (hydraulic and hydrostat) are listed at 600 hours, so I was planning to do that soon. I read some suggest to only change filters if the fluid looks good, but I don't know if I'm able to judge that for sure. It looks fine to me, but . . . Hydraulic oil doesn't seem to change color like engine oil does. I don't really know, probably best to change the fluid on schedule.

Send a sample of your hydraulic oil to reputable laboratory, and ask for a recommendation if the oil should be replaced. Their analysis will be far better than your naked eye. Blackstone Labs (with whom I have no connection other than being a customer) provides free sample bottles and mailers and will sell you a pump and tubing kit to collect samples. Cost of an analysis is around $30.00 which is short money compared to the cost of the oil for a complete change and cheap assurance for peace of mind.

 

[oosik]

The service shop at the local Kubota dealership has a waste oil furnace. They will take motor oil and hydraulic oil - gladly.

 

[tmeric7]

Thanks for the replies and tips everyone!

I did search old forum posts before putting the question out there, but I suspected that there was more than I actually found. Thanks SmallChange for noting your prior post. I searched you and found it.

My plan for refilling was to heft the 5 gal buckets into the air and not spill the fluid everywhere. The pumps a couple of you post seem like the wise method. I can be stubborn (and I want to really appreciate the pump when I buy it in the future), so I may still go plan A this time, haha. And thanks for the drain pan advice.

Only one poster mentioned air in the lines after the job and a spongy feel. Is this a common sort of side-effect? Are their ways to avoid it? (Like lowering the FEL and rear hydraulics, as one poster mentioned.)

 

[Avenger]

Yeah, to get the air out, simply cycle the hydraulics a few times. No bleeders or anything like that.

 

[grsthegreat]

Some places don't like you to mix the motor
oil with tranny fluid. There are people that use
motor oil to heat their workshop and don't want
a mix! Wonder if tranny fluid would work for painting
my wooden fence??? Anyone know?? changing
tranny fluid for the first 50 hours and front axle.

willy

waste oil furnaces burn any kind of oil. they dont care.

 

[rScotty]

The service shop at the local Kubota dealership has a waste oil furnace. They will take motor oil and hydraulic oil - gladly.

Is it just me? I'd have trouble selling tractors with emissions controls and then burning waste oil.
But then I'm not so sure that collecting soot and then burning it all at once makes sense either.

 

[ericm979]

The DPF or similar keeps the soot out of the air where people breathe it and get cancer. It's not for CO2 emissions. Tire IV has limits on emissions other than soot but they're possible to meet with engine tuning.

But yea I agree that recycling waste oil is better for the environment than burning it.

 

[Avenger]

Is it just me? I'd have trouble selling tractors with emissions controls and then burning waste oil.
But then I'm not so sure that collecting soot and then burning it all at once makes sense either.

You're talking about rules the EPA... the Government... places on its people. The same Government that is responsible for the Afghanistan. Nothing the Government does makes sense. Everything they touch, they mess up. Just sayin.

 

[stevem5215]

Problem is that the government and corporations are made up of people. People make the bad decisions. Just so happens that in the case of Afghanistan it's government decisions that employed contractors in positions that were of importance in keeping it all going. Pull the contractors out and guess what happens ? Failures within. That's what happened. Bad people decisions.
Then the decision to leave Billions of dollars in defense spending is just another bunch of bad people decisions. We all know those people.