Questions on 1966 Ford 3000 Hydraulic system

[tdg23113]

I am a new member and it has been years since I have done much tractor work, dates back to the 1970's and was related to several 8N Fords that I owned.

Now I have questions about our 1966 Ford 3000 tractor. Tractor was working fine, hauled it down to a friends lot on the trailer, unloaded it with the 6ft blade on it. Adjusted blade to cut a drainage ditch and when I got to the end the blade would not lift. Not even move! Figured it may be low in hydraulic fluid so I bought a gal of universal Trans/Hydraulic fluid, removed the plug on top of the transmission and poured the gal in. I could not see the fluid before I poured in the gal. Cranked tractor and after a few seconds lift worked fine. I used it to finish the drainage ditch then while filling dirt around the drain pipe I noticed the lift starting to chatter. Since I was nearly finished I finished the work, loaded the tractor and drove home. When I got home I could not lift the blade to unload the tractor!

Figured since I had never changed fluids I would do so. Looked in Ford tractor manual to see how to determine when correctly filled and could not find answer, no dipsticks and nothing that appears to be correct way to determine when the transmission/hydraulics are full. Looked for answers here and could not find them but did see a post that seemed to indicate that the transmission and differential share the same sump area and this confused me. Can't find how to insure the differential is full either! Can see both filler holes but no way to know when they are correctly filled. Any one familiar? Once I determine fluid levels are correct I can then trouble shoot the lift problems.
Thanks for any suggestions,
Dennis

 

[Soundguy]

diffy and hyds share a sump. trannny it's own sump.. and now overfull.. your input seal may start leaking and oil the clutch!

 

[tdg23113]

diffy and hyds share a sump. trannny it's own sump.. and now overfull.. your input seal may start leaking and oil the clutch!

First thanks for the information. Can you tell me how to tell when the differential and the transmission's are filled to the proper level? There MAY be a "fill to" hole on the side of the transmission but I could find NOTHING for the differential.
Dennis

 

[Soundguy]

look at the pto shaft. look left towards tha axle trumpet.... check plug

 

[tdg23113]

look at the pto shaft. look left towards tha axle trumpet.... check plug

Looked for it a few minutes ago and there is nothing on the left side that could be a check plug (not sure what you call it) but I looked again all over the differential/hydraulics area and I believe I may have found it forward of the differential "bell" pretty much behind the lift lever for the 3 point hitch. There is a square headed plug like you see used on many lawnmower engines. I believe this may be it because it seems to be to high to be the drain plug.

Am going to have to dig into this further anyway. I used a light to see if I could see fluid in the differential and I couldn't. I decided to pump the extra 1 gal of transmission/hydraulic fluid that I put in the transmission and put it into the differential. Cranked the tractor and let it run for awhile and the lift still will not pick the blade up. Guess I will trouble shoot it tomorrow.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Dennis

 

[Soundguy]

NO! that is not the level plug!

 

[Tx Jim]

Diff/hyd oil check is sq head plug(parts key #4) outlined in red

 

[Soundguy]

post a pic of the plug u see. it won't be right up underneath the 3pt lever.

 

[tdg23113]

Diff/hyd oil check is sq head plug(parts key #4) outlined in red

That's the one I found, you are right Soundguy, its not exactly under the 3 pt lever its behind its kinda behind it. I just took the tractor over to a local guys shop to let him fix the lift. It started raining here and they are calling for it the rest of the week and I can't get the tractor in my little shop and don't want to work on it in the rain. Thanks for the info.
Dennis

 

[Soundguy]

Ok, cool, my first read was you were looking right under the lift control. i see on my frst post i said left too. love this phone and hard to read screen. bad info don't help!