So if there any reason the loader being installed would affect the level of the fluid when it was first being filled? My thought is that filling the transmission with oil would be the same as if no loader was installed up until the tractor was run and fluid was run into those lines that may have drained empty.
If not, then I'm guessing that the manual is incorrect with its 9.25gal specification. Mildly infuriating. No, just straight up infuriating..
Figured I should add this in as well - I hadn't paid much attention to the fluid levels and such since I picked up the tractor, I was waiting on the 50hr service to go through all that stuff the first time. I'm looking at everything over the weekend and find that the coolant is way low. I would bet any amount of $ that it came from the dealership this way and did not lose that much fluid in the last couple weeks..
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I went ahead and changed the oil as well. Went with WIX filter, I try to use them exclusively, and Schaeffer full synthetic diesel oil. The magnets on the drain looked great. Plenty of fuzz, one tiny sliver of metal but absolutely normal IMO.
When I was putting the old hyd oil from the transmission into smaller containers for easier disposal I was watching all the suspended metal shavings in the last bit of the fluid. I keep thinking about ways to expand the filtering ability, it can't be good for anything in that system to have that stuff just floating around. Based on my research, I was better to go with a non-HST unit in the long-run since there would be less wearing parts sharing fluid. This must have been a misunderstanding on my part or a false assumption?
Lastly, my grandfather-in-law has run a CASE dealership since the 70's. Shop just closed down in the past year. I was talking to him and he said that most hyd systems shared with the transmission have a separate hyd filter. Can anyone here elaborate why this one doesn't (other than the screen)?