Hydraulic Oil Evacuation

I occassionally need to drain the hydraulic fluid out of a tractor. Draining into 5 gallon cans usually gets messy. I was thinking someone must make a small, cheap electric pump that could be used for this. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Check at Northern Tool, they usually have some small pumps that can be used for oil, diesel, etc. Usually though it's hard to, if not impossible to properly drain a hydraulic tank through the filler neck because of mesh safety screens being in the way or simply because of the way the tank is designed you can't drain it completely. Since the majority of contaminates migrate to the bottom of the tank getting the oil hot and then draining it from the bottom is the best way to do it as you'll remove the most oil and contaminates this way, and that's what you want to do anyway.

As far as the mess you can usually cut down on that by simply installing a valve on the drain. If you leave it in place you can plug the valve itself for safety purposes to prevent accidental drainage, and you can change the plug out and put in a fitting to attach a hose to. The main thing is you've got a valve that you can use to control the oil flow thereby preventing a mess. I don't know where the fittings would be available from but I know CAT has a drain fitting in many of their tanks that has a valve built into it. Once you remove the plug you have to have a special fitting (you can attach a hose to it) to screw in that opens the valve allowing the oil to flow out.

The best Christmas gift that my MIL ever gave me was an oil change pan that holds about five gallons. you can put the plug in the hole in the top to keep it from spilling as you carry it,and it has a spout for emptying into other containers. Later on I got a bigger one on wheels for bigger machines. and you can get a transfer pump for emptying the big one.

I've got a hose with a coupler nipple on the end. Just plug it in to a remote,put the other end in a pail,start the tractor,pull the lever and let the pump do the work.

For changing differential oil, I bought a small shop vac that I use only for fluids.
With shop vacs being so cheap I figured it was well worth it to keep one dedicated to oil changes, and it sure was. Zero mess, and I can have differential fluid changed out and be finished in a half hour.
I neck down the suction hose all the way to 1/4" tubing if necessary.

You can install a valve at the drain. Plug the valve to avoid accidental draining though.

What happens when the pump runs out of oil, but the drain job is not 100 percent? Curious. Tom

Never really been an issue. Any little bit that's left is insignificant. Nothing that floor dry won't take care of.

Just remember most electric vacs aren"t rated to suck up any type of flammible fluid. Granted oil isn"t as flammible as gas or diesel but enough vapors and a spark are all you need for a nice fire.