Hesston 6650 windrower - 10w-40 for hydraulic oil

rockyridgefarm · Jul 7, 2018

Hey all,

I had to leave my windrower outside over winter, and I see the hydraulic oil is milky, which of course means I got water in it. It calls for using 10w40 engine oil. Should I go by what the manual says, or can I put a hy-tran hydraulic oil in instead? It takes 20 gallons, so the price difference is considerable. It gets 20-50 hours use a year cutting small grains.

Thanks

David from Kansas · Jul 7, 2018

No reason to not follow the manual.

JD Seller · Jul 7, 2018

I can tell you what I have done to salvage oil that has a little water in it. Drain the oil out and catch it in clean buckets. You will need a propane burner of some sort. ( A very forgiving wife if you use the kitchen stove. LOL ) I use an old propane grill that has a side burner on it. I put a couple of gallons of the contaminated oil into a steel pan/bucket over the burner. Slowly heat it up to a low boil. This will not damage the oil and will evaporate the water out of it. Strain the oil through a tee shirt and you will be good to go.

As for replacement oil. Most hydraulic oil is around 10W. So I would not hesitate to use a good quality Hytran hydraulic oil. I would use the Hytran over regular hydraulic oil. It works better with pumps and hydraulic motors.

moresmoke · Jul 7, 2018

Current spec hytran and hygard are on the
heavy side of 10-30.

The farm store hytran is 10w.

The temperature in the area you use it
dictates how heavy of an oil to use.

caterpillar guy · Jul 7, 2018

JD: You sound like me there. I have done the same thing to get water out of oil befor ealso then strained it the same way as well.

rockyridgefarm · Jul 7, 2018

(quoted from post at 18:34:26 07/07/18) JD: You sound like me there. I have done the same thing to get water out of oil befor ealso then strained it the same way as well.

Thanks for the input all. I feel kinda foolish because only the sight glasses and under the cap ( which is actually an oil filter) was milky. When I went to drain the oil, it looked fine

Brendon-KS · Jul 7, 2018

For the modern Hesston/Massey Ferguson windrowers a number of different oils are approved for use
including universal tractor fluid, ISO 68 and 46 hydraulic oils, and 15W-40 engine oil. There's
nothing about the hydraulic system in your older machine that would be any more picky about what
oil was being used than in the new machine.

steve terplak · Jul 8, 2018

Thanks for asking that question.

We bought a used Hesston 1160 center pivot and the manual
says to fill the reservoir with 10w-40. The manufacturers
sticker on the machine says straight 20w (I think, not at the
farm right now). And when we checked the fluid, both dad
and I thought it looked, smelled and felt like hy-Tran.

So that makes sense.

IA Roy · Jul 9, 2018

I have an old electric deep fryer. I use it
to boil the water out of tranny oil before
winter from 51 case dc

BarnyardEngineering · Jul 9, 2018

I'm surprised you don't have issues with foaming, using multigrade engine oils. The oils have detergent in them, which foams when used in hydraulic applications.

Hesston 6650 windrower - 10w-40 for hydraulic oil

rockyridgefarm

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David from Kansas

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JD Seller

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moresmoke

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caterpillar guy

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rockyridgefarm

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Brendon-KS

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steve terplak

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IA Roy

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BarnyardEngineering

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