I noticed the other day that my power steering felt a little notchy and not smooth and the brakes were making some noise.....and then today I noticed that the 3-point hydraulics up and down felt really rough, almost like there was air in the system.
I checked the dipstick for the hydraulics fluid in front of the seat, and the hydraulic fluid is really white and milky looking....it's got moisture in it. It's been a few years since I've changed the hydraulic fluid, but the tractor doesn't really get used much...maybe 40hrs a year. Usually for short durations....fire up the tractor, move a pallet around, or move a trailer and then 20ming later shut it off.
I'm just trying to figure out how the moisture got in the hydraulic system.....is it just from humidity? Is it from using it for short durations and not letting the hydraulic fluid get hot enough and evaporate off the moisture?
I've got some JD Low-Viscosity Hy-Gard to dump, clean the screen filter, and refill the hydraulics this weekend. I'm assuming it wouldn't be a good idea to do it again after a few hours of use...just to get all the moisture out. Hopefully it didn't damange the pump, brakes, or anything in the hydraulic system.
Did I just wait too long between fluid changes? Any other ideas on how moisture got in the hydraulic fluid?
I checked the dipstick for the hydraulics fluid in front of the seat, and the hydraulic fluid is really white and milky looking....it's got moisture in it. It's been a few years since I've changed the hydraulic fluid, but the tractor doesn't really get used much...maybe 40hrs a year. Usually for short durations....fire up the tractor, move a pallet around, or move a trailer and then 20ming later shut it off.
I'm just trying to figure out how the moisture got in the hydraulic system.....is it just from humidity? Is it from using it for short durations and not letting the hydraulic fluid get hot enough and evaporate off the moisture?
I've got some JD Low-Viscosity Hy-Gard to dump, clean the screen filter, and refill the hydraulics this weekend. I'm assuming it wouldn't be a good idea to do it again after a few hours of use...just to get all the moisture out. Hopefully it didn't damange the pump, brakes, or anything in the hydraulic system.
Did I just wait too long between fluid changes? Any other ideas on how moisture got in the hydraulic fluid?