F600 wrecker hydraulic filter head

I have a 78 f600 4X4 wrecker. It has sat for about 3 years. I fixed the brakes. The old holley carb was always giving me problems...so I switched the carb etc. I got it running real good now. I went to try the boom/winches. Nothing moved, So I figured it has set to long and leaked the fluid out of it. I put 5 gal. of fluid in it. Started it up and was lifting the boom, extending the boom, and working the dual winches. When I started to get close to maxing the extention boom. It started jerking. I then realized something was not right... But not before I pumped out about 3 gal. of hydraulic fluid in my driveway. grrr.
I scrabed dirt/fluid into a bucket... What a mess. Then I crawled under the wrecker...what a mess. At sometime the canister hydraulic filter housing had froze and busted. I have contaminated the hydraulic system with the water that was in the canister. I turned the truck off as soon as I realized it was leaking. The boom is lifted and the extention boom is almost extended all the way. It will hold it self up. I now need to try to get the system cleaned as good as I can. I don't want it to freeze up this winter and I don't want to damage anything more on it...
Now I am going to switch it over to a spin on filter head. I don't want some freak filter. I.E. I want to be able to use different brand filters, not locked into 1 brand. I looked on ebay at some... What micron filter should I use. What brand head/filter do you think would work ok with this wrecker sytem. Have I forgot something? TIA...MTP

The first thing to find out is the GPM of the system. Should be some numbers on the existing filter, the pump, somewhere on the wrecker bed... Match that number to the filter base. As long as you go with a name brand filter, the replacement elements will be available and interchangeable. I would start with a 25 to 30 micron, then after a few oil changes, drop to a 10 micron.

Might want to look inside the tank. There may be a suction filter that need to be replaced. Could also be full of some nasties that need cleaning out!

For any recommendations you will need to give at least fitting/ line sizes and pump gallons per minute. Pump brand and numbers would also be good info.

I am looking for a right-front stub axle shaft for my 78 F-600 4x4 , you know of any good junk yards? sorry I cant help with your question.

who is the manufacturer of the tow package? holmes, vulcan, jerr-dan? there should be a tag up by the winch or headache rack with the manufacturer tag to identify it. then call a jobber that sells parts, they can look up the specs on the package and let you know the correct filter. worldwide towing equipment is a good supplier, they can get you what you need.

Sorry, to say I don't know of any. Ours are old girls. There has been alot of metel sent to china over the years. I did buy a parts truck from a farmer upgrade. It is not 4x4 though. Still nice to have around. My wrecker has a 361? in it. Where are you located? I'd like to know in case either ever come up for sale. I wish you luck in finding your part. If you do locate a 4x4 parts donar please fill me in and I'll do the same...MTP

Thanks for the replies.This is what I did before any of the hydraulic issues... Before I started the wrecker, I took the drain plug out of it a little fluid/water came out of the tank. I then sprayed air into the tank a little more came out, but not much. The wrecker was owned by my buddy, he sold it to his dad.When his dad passed away I bought it from his mom. They run/ran a wrecker/bodyshop/wrenchshop. The son and dad have worked wreckers all of there lives. The son told me when I bought it he couldn't find any I.D tag on it. He thought it may be a Challenger. At least that is what I think he said.
The wrecker has been taken care of, He or I never had any Hydaulic issues,until now. I looked at the pump today I found a flat spot under the grease, I then took a putty knife and scraped the grease off. I found a tag but the center area is rotted away. I could not see/read any thing. I did find some tags on the winches, but they had been painted over. I will have to be easy with them or I may lose any information that may be on them. The inlet /outlet on the canister head is 3/4 inch. A buddy of mine had an extra spin on filter head. It is used but in good shape. I took the head plus his old filter to a supply house. They sold me a Wix 51553 filter. I googled the filter and found out it was a 33 micron filter.
I was going to flush the system with some 10 wht. oil, using his old filter. Then put the new filter on and new hydaulic fluid. I figured the new filter would have been smaller than 33 micron. [email protected] you still think that this should have a 10 micron filter?
I'll try to check the wrecker I.D. a little better tomarrow. I am going to put this filter head on. I need to get the system flushed before we get freezing wheather again. Thanks for the replies,any other advice, given this new info? MTP...

Mike, I think you'll be OK with the 33 micron, got to be better than it was before!

If you can get into the tank and clean it that would be best, but flushing will be second best. After it's run a while, look at the oil, see if it's cleaning up, clearing out the water. Then change it, run a new 33 micron and check it again after it's got some run time. Might just change the filter a couple times, leave the oil if it's looking good. If it get to sit a few days, try loosening the drain plug, see if any more water has settled out.

Any idea how the water is getting in?

Thanks for the replies/advice...Steve, I think I figured out how the water got in it. I had the wrecker sitting outside during a bad winter. I think it was 3 years ago . We got so much snow that winter. It was unblievable. The wrecker was tilted sideways on a slope. When the snow started melting in the bed of the wrecker it must have flooded the bed. With it unable to drain, it found the place of least resistance. The tank is under the bed with the fill cap inside the bed. Lesson learned...Thanks again...MTP