Flushing compartments

johndeerejim · Mar 2, 2021

Hello,

In December I purchased a Ford NAA that had sat outside for 7-10 years. I drained the transmission, differential and hydraulics just recently. The differential oil was reddish but not watery, the hydraulics and transmission had water in the oil from condensation. Not surprising, I pulled the transmission cover and it had condensation on it. I let them drain and kept the plug out for days, and except for the couple of ounces that came out the second time I pulled the transmission plug (and onto the floor), all quadrants appear to be empty. Should I flush them with kerosene or other liquid, or run them as is? I've even rocked the tractor back and forth and all were drained dry. I would have preferred to do this in warmer weather, but thanks to a kerosene heater it was above freezing in the garage. Know water is the enemy, so want to ensure 100% or as close to it is out of there. Gets cold in southeast Michigan. Thank you all, really enjoy this forum.

shaun wallace · Mar 2, 2021

There is still couple quarts of oil still in there but only way to get out is split. The hyd has place and diff does too. Put new oil in and go with it.

showcrop · Mar 3, 2021

Heat will drive the remainder of the water out of the oil. It just takes a few hours of working hard. Modern oils have many additives, that the oil originally speced did not have, and some of these cause the oil to absorb water. If you will be working the tractor hard for 4-5 hours once every month or two the water will be evaporated out of the oil. If not you can go with the oil that came with the tractor originally and just drain the water off the bottom once or twice a year. You will save significant money too.

Bret4207 · Mar 3, 2021

(quoted from post at 08:41:14 03/03/21)

Heat will drive the remainder of the water out of the oil. It just takes a few hours of working hard. Modern oils have many additives, that the oil originally speced did not have, and some of these cause the oil to absorb water. If you will be working the tractor hard for 4-5 hours once every month or two the water will be evaporated out of the oil. If not you can go with the oil that came with the tractor originally and just drain the water off the bottom once or twice a year. You will save significant money too.

I don't think that happens. I tried driving the water out of milky hydraulic fluid by heating it to about 225-235F in a metal bucket for hours and hours and hours. It never got less milky. I've tried the old "leave it in a barrel and it will settle out" idea and it didn't work either. I do believe a centrifugal system that works sorta like a cream separator would do it, or maybe specialized filtering, but I don't have access to anything like that. Once it's milky, it's contaminated and I don't think theres a lot we can do about at the farm level.

BillinCentralMO · Mar 4, 2021

I would change it. Run it a few hours and look at it again. And most likely change it again. I would not reuse any of the fluids.

showcrop · Mar 4, 2021

It appears that perhaps I was not clear with my post. By remainder I am referring to that little bit of moisture that is in the remaining quart or two in the hydraulic compartment. You have told us that you have drained it very well and of course you would not pour the old oil back in, LOL. Understand that keeping it undercover won't likely help with keeping moisture out of it unless you run a dehumidifier as I do. Most likely the oil that was in it was UTF which tends to draw moisture out of the oil. If you put gear oil in the transmission and plain hydraulic in the back the water will settle down to the bottom where you can drain it out 2-3 times a year by just loosening the plug. Cheap hydraulic is much better for it than water contaminated UTF.

Flushing compartments

johndeerejim

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shaun wallace

Well-known Member

showcrop

Well-known Member

Bret4207

Well-known Member

BillinCentralMO

Well-known Member

showcrop

Well-known Member

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