Satoh 470D Hydraulic Fluid & 3pt arms

[Steve777]

So I am doing some winter prep on the old Buck. Changing the tranny/hydraulic fluid and it is time to refill but I realized I am not sure what the right capacity would be. I know the factory specs a bit over 3 gals for the stock tractor, but I have a FEL on it which no doubts ups the volume of fluid needed. Does anyone here know what a good quantity of fluid to use with a FEL? And/or does anyone know what level this fluid should come to when you look into the fill port (I figure if I knew that level, then I can just add after running the FEL and bring it back up to that level).

Another maintenance question I had is on the 3pt arm travel. It seemed to me the arms were not going as high as they used to (eg implements dragging). I removed the top of the 3pt hyd cylinder (descent valve assembly) to check and see if the ball and parts had come loose, but things looked fine there. I was curious if anyone knows roughly the angles the 3pt arms are supposed to make at their extremes. Looks like mine go roughly from 30 deg above horizontal to 30 deg below. Does that sound right? Any other common glitches that might cause the 3pt to not go all the way up?

TIA

 

[Roadworthy]

I have no idea how much hydraulic fluid your tractor takes but three gallons sounds low but I don't know the size of your tractor. As far as extra fluid taken by the FEL I wouldn't worry about it. The specs are usually to fill the system from empty. You won't get it completely empty, some will remain after draining. If the book says three gallons that may be too much. You'll have to monitor as you go. As far as your three point goes, make sure the stops on your control lever aren't preventing complete movement of the control I don't know how much movement is normal for your tractor but if the stops are set they will prevent complete travel. Had I not done that I'd never know.

 

[Steve777]

Well, I measured the amount of oil which came out of the tranny, it was about 4 gallons even (plus a tiny bit spilled on the ground). I did try refilling with 3g of new stuff. (Owners manual has it at 3.25g) That came to 6-3/8" down from the lip of the fill hole after settling. Interestingly, after running it a bit and moving the 3pt and FEL through their ranges, the level did not change much. So I put another 1/3 of a gallon in and will go with that.

Still have not found any good info on how far the 3pt arms are supposed to move up, but after this fluid change the arms go up far enough to let the back blade clear the ground on the hills and valleys in my drive. So good enough for now.