Dakar
Bronze Member
Okay guys, am I a genius or a moron? I reached the 50 hour point on my 425 and did the maintenance including the hydraulic filter change.
Naturally I turned what should have been a simple job into a real chore. On the current 425's with the Robin engine, the bleed port on the hydraulic pump is not as accessible as it could be, being underneath the fuel tank and behind several other hydraulic hoses. Getting the fitting off at 1/8 of a turn at a time while standing on my head wasn't so bad, but trying to get the bleeder hose to thread onto it was no fun. After a number of attempts, I finally got it started, and as I was repeating the 1/8 turn at a time routine, I got to thinking: Hey, this hose is just going to sit in the tank anyway, how much pressure could build up in it? It doesn't really need to be tight does it? Naw, it will be fine if I stop here. After all, I am going to have to go through this whole process again in a few minutes.
So I stopped right there and proceeded to bleed the air out of the system. Of course I was so engrossed in watching the little air bubbles that I never looked back into the tub to see the growing oil slick that was approaching Exxon Valdez proportions. Anyway, 2 rolls of paper towels later, I had tightened up the hose, added oil, rebled the sytem, removed the hose, and it hit me. Why not leave the hose on the pump, with a female fitting on the end, and the cap back on that? Coil it up in the tub, and it is just laying there waiting to be used 50 hours from now (and no chance of losing it.) I called up Terry to get his blessing on my brainstorm, but instead of him saying 'what a fantastic idea, we will do that with all PTs in the future', all I got was a distracted 'yeah, maybe that will work okay.' So I went ahead and took the hose down to the nearest tractor store and got the fitting attached and hooked it up that way, and it has run fine, but I got to thinking maybe I better bounce this off the real experts and either take my lumps if it is a truly bad idea or accept the accolades if everyone likes it. I honestly can't see any down side to it as this is just another section of the same hydraulic hose that is already on the tractor, but what do you experts think?
Naturally I turned what should have been a simple job into a real chore. On the current 425's with the Robin engine, the bleed port on the hydraulic pump is not as accessible as it could be, being underneath the fuel tank and behind several other hydraulic hoses. Getting the fitting off at 1/8 of a turn at a time while standing on my head wasn't so bad, but trying to get the bleeder hose to thread onto it was no fun. After a number of attempts, I finally got it started, and as I was repeating the 1/8 turn at a time routine, I got to thinking: Hey, this hose is just going to sit in the tank anyway, how much pressure could build up in it? It doesn't really need to be tight does it? Naw, it will be fine if I stop here. After all, I am going to have to go through this whole process again in a few minutes.
So I stopped right there and proceeded to bleed the air out of the system. Of course I was so engrossed in watching the little air bubbles that I never looked back into the tub to see the growing oil slick that was approaching Exxon Valdez proportions. Anyway, 2 rolls of paper towels later, I had tightened up the hose, added oil, rebled the sytem, removed the hose, and it hit me. Why not leave the hose on the pump, with a female fitting on the end, and the cap back on that? Coil it up in the tub, and it is just laying there waiting to be used 50 hours from now (and no chance of losing it.) I called up Terry to get his blessing on my brainstorm, but instead of him saying 'what a fantastic idea, we will do that with all PTs in the future', all I got was a distracted 'yeah, maybe that will work okay.' So I went ahead and took the hose down to the nearest tractor store and got the fitting attached and hooked it up that way, and it has run fine, but I got to thinking maybe I better bounce this off the real experts and either take my lumps if it is a truly bad idea or accept the accolades if everyone likes it. I honestly can't see any down side to it as this is just another section of the same hydraulic hose that is already on the tractor, but what do you experts think?
