PT 1845 50 Hour Service/ Weekend work

[Charlie_Iliff]

Terry, at PT, gave me NAPA numbers on all 3 fluid filters. Engine oil NAPA 1342, Fuel NAPA 3358, Hydraulic Oil NAPA 1551. For the 50 hour, I changed all three and changed the engine oil. I had to pump a gallon of the hydraulic oil through the pump to purge the air, even though I carefully filled the replacement filter to the brim.
The hydraulic tank cover was seeping, so I took it off, scraped the gasket compound off and reglued it with Permatex RTV. Whatever PT used didn't work, It was seeping all the way around. Easy fix, but took some time.
One of the rear anti-scalp wheels on the deck is rubbing the frame. The tires are foam filled, and I parked it with that tire pushed sideways against something, It stayed that way. When it wears enough to be of concern, I guess I'll have to buy one.
This weekend, in addition to mowing, I loaded a trailer with logs, using the PT boom. I got a pair of skidding tongs from Northern Tool & Equipment. With them hung from the boom by a short section of chain, it was easy to pick up one end of a log, rest it on the back of the trailer, then reposition the tongs on the other end of the log, pick it up, and slide it on the trailer. It was significantly easier than the same system on the forks on the JD 2240, because of the ability to position the boom so easily side to side.
Moved a pile of brush with the hoe and thumb. That worked, but a true set of grapple forks would do better. Maybe someday.

 

[MossRoad]

You know, I thought my hydraulic cap was leaking, but now I'm going to have to check again. FMI(for my information) what did you use to re-seal the tank lid? Just in case /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[davesisk]

The hydraulic tank doesn't have to hold pressure, does it? When I first got my 1418, there was a wrong size cap on the hydraulic tank, it didn't even fit, it was just sitting on top the tank opening. Jeez, that was the first part I ordered from PT...

Dave

 

[bubenberg]

that conversion info is great, i hope that that will help us too with our 425 hydraulic filters. i will be calling terry today. can spend the difference of what the napa filter and the pt filter cost ($15.00) on mobil one oil.

 

[Sedgewood]

Charlie thanks for the NAPA numbers. I too did the 50 hour service last weekend though not all of it. Not wanting to deal with the lack of a shutoff valve before the fuel filter I put off changing that for a while. How did you handle it; the manual says to close the valve? Also I didn't adjust the valves yet. My hydraulic tank cover also weeps a bit and will come off for a reseal one of these days.

A brush grapple is high on my wish list too. I've been trying to come up with something I can fabricate from stock parts that will function much like a log grapple. So far I've considered using several chisel plow shanks on a shaft through the their lower bolt hole and controlled by a hydraulic cylinder. Also am now thinking along the lines of, for a lighter duty unit, using two short sections of landscape rake hinged back to back at the butt end. Meanwhile I found I can move surprisingly large piles of limbs by picking the pile up with the forks and cinching a tiedown strap around the load. I also want something to pick up individual rocks and place them where I want them. Maybe someday...

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: Hydraulic tank seal

MossRoad
To reseal the top of the hydraulic tank, I just looked at all of the tubes of gasket stuff, and bought the one which had the boldest letters claiming oil resistance. It was actually fairly ordinary blue RTV from Permatex.
I took out all the bolts holding the flat plate down and scraped off the black stuff Power Trac had used. Interestingly enough, it was nearly liquid in the areas squeezed between the metal, but firm and hard where it had squeezed out to the inside, even though it obviously was exposed to the oil.
Dave:
I don't think it holds any pressure, although I haven't looked at the cap to see if it is vented. Certainly its function doesn't require it to be pressurized. Where mine was leaking wasn't the cap, but the whole plate on top of the tank to which the filler nech is attached.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

John:
When I was at Power Trac, Terry told me that if you ran the Deutz out of fuel, you just filled it and started it. I told him I didn't believe that. But, since the job was already taking longer than I had planned, (don't they all?) I just changed the filter and turned the key. I didn't even fill the filter with fuel first, although I should have. It fired, quit, cranked for a while, then fired and ran fine.
I don't yet have forks. For a brush grapple, I was wondering about a couple of lightweight additional forks outside the real ones, and essentially a copy of the PT bucket grapple. Ideally, the grapple would have a quick clamp of some sort to the pallet fork structure, and just the two hoses to connect.
The hoe and thumb worked after a fashion, but I think something running in underneath would have been much better.
I have been able to pick up logs and individual rocks with the hoe and thumb, but they have to be the right size, shape and orientation. It's not a rock rake or a brush grapple, but those were the jobs needing doing at the moment.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

John: You wrote <font color=red>Also I didn't adjust the valves yet.</font color=red>

Obviously I didn't read something carefully enough. Valve adjustments weren't on my list. What valves need adjustment?

 

[Sedgewood]

Charlie <font color=red>What valves need adjustment?</font color=red>

The Deutz first 50 hour list (see section 5.1 in the Deutz manual) includes a check of the engine valve clearances.

And, to save my reinventing the wheel, just how did you staunch the flow of fuel while changing the fuel filter?

John

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

John:
<font color=red>And, to save my reinventing the wheel, just how did you staunch the flow of fuel while changing the fuel filter?</font color=red>
There wasn't any. I had less than a quarter tank and it was apparently below the filter. My plan had been just to do the change quickly, figuring that diesel fuel in the pan under the engine would help clean up some of the oil I had spilled from the hydraulic filter, the engine oil filter and the engine drain plug - no such luck.
Thanks for the heads up on the valve clearance. I'll get to it in due course.