M differential capacity

After draining and flushing the differential on the M I could only get 10 gals. in it before it started coming out the full plug. I thought the capacity was 13 gals.

Did you take the drain plug out of trans. and rear end. If I remember right you have to drain both of them.

Well it looks like I just mixed 10 gals. of new oil with 3 gals. of crud.

(quoted from post at 21:29:06 12/03/12) Well it looks like I just mixed 10 gals. of new oil with 3 gals. of crud.

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Maybe not. I pulled both drain plugs on mine, left it setting for about 3 days 'till nothing was dripping, inserted a wire and fished around looking for crud, found none, and still couldn't get anymore than 11 gallons in.

My SM, completely clean took 13 gal +/- a little.

2 gallons less is a lot to be replaced by crud. But, the inside of one of those gets VERY dirty, not just the bottom. Also, the bottom could have had a "dike" somewhere.

13 gal. did you pull both plugs

I only took the plug out of the differential thinking that would drain the whole thing. But appearently there was 3 gals. of watery goo left in the trans. I poured 10 gals. of 85-140 in the differential then drove it around. Then I checked the full plug down by the clutch and nice white foamy oil started coming out. I then slugged myself in the face.

If you let the tractor set for 4 or 5 days you could loosen the plugs enough to let some of the water out. Be careful that you don't drop the plug. If you let it set the water and oil will separate but won't get the sludge out of it.

You can drain it out and put it in a freezer and the water will freeze,might have to let it settle first.While you have it drained get a pump up sprayer with diesel or thinner in it and flush the housing thru the drain holes.

I would drain the new oil back out and strain it, and try some of the home remedies mentioned here for separating the water. Meanwhile, fill the diff with diesel fuel and drive it around a little, let it sit a day or two, drive some more, etc. That will break loose a bunch of the crud.

When I first drained my SMD, the stuff that came out was about the consistency of ketchup. I was only able to get enough out to fit about 9 1/2 gallons of diesel in there. After a month or so of soaking and periodic driving I drained the diesel, let some of the crud settle out, and poured a bunch back through in an attempt to rinse, all the while scraping what I could through the drain hole with a heavy wire. Afterwards I was able to get very nearly the full 13 gallons of gear oil in it.

As a side note, when I put the diesel in, the transmission input seal poured diesel any time the engine was running. I decided to split the tractor as I had a slight rear main leak too, and didn't know about the clutch condition. After a new rear main seal, new clutch, new transmission input seal and a redi-sleeve on the input yoke, it's all dry now, and I believe the tranny & diff survived.