I wondered if I could bundle a mixed bag of questions here. I have never owned a tractor of diesel engine before and am trying to learn as I go. Anyway here goes.
First, my first oil change is coming up and I have filters standing by. In my area, Central Florida, I have easy access to Chevron Delo diesel motor oil but am uncertain what grade to use. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The weather here is warm but does freeze a handful of times a year.
Second, the local tractor repairman, was talking to me about the issues in Florida with humidity, condensation and warm tractors cooling off. He suggested that it would be wise, at a regular interval to crack the transmission drain plug, just a hair, to let any accumulated water to drain out without draining the hydraulic fluid out. I know this sounds easy, but I suspect that it is more of a PITA than one would suspect. It dawned on me that, if I were to install a high quality stainless petcock valve, this inspection and draining would be easy, simple and I would be more likely to do it regularly. Does this idea sound feasible to anyone who reads this? Does anyone out there know what thread type the drain plug has. Is it metric or NPT. I think this idea would make this maintenance job a breeze.
Third, I know the hydraulic filter is there to capture particles in the fluid but does the case surrounding the filter also act as a repository to collect water?
The repair man was also adamant that you should, on a very regular basis, crack the plugs at the base of the 4 wheel drive axles and drain about a pint of gear oil and then replace the lost oil with fresh. The reasoning behind this was that there is a great deal of metal shaving that accumulate in the front axle and that by draining them regularly you don't have a constant supply of abrasive metal floating around in your gear oil. This make a lot of sense to me but my valve idea won't work here because of the open exposure of the drain plug area to contact with the ground, brush, etc.
Any comments are welcome here in my first thread. Thanks to all for the knowledge I have already gained as a lurker here.
First, my first oil change is coming up and I have filters standing by. In my area, Central Florida, I have easy access to Chevron Delo diesel motor oil but am uncertain what grade to use. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The weather here is warm but does freeze a handful of times a year.
Second, the local tractor repairman, was talking to me about the issues in Florida with humidity, condensation and warm tractors cooling off. He suggested that it would be wise, at a regular interval to crack the transmission drain plug, just a hair, to let any accumulated water to drain out without draining the hydraulic fluid out. I know this sounds easy, but I suspect that it is more of a PITA than one would suspect. It dawned on me that, if I were to install a high quality stainless petcock valve, this inspection and draining would be easy, simple and I would be more likely to do it regularly. Does this idea sound feasible to anyone who reads this? Does anyone out there know what thread type the drain plug has. Is it metric or NPT. I think this idea would make this maintenance job a breeze.
Third, I know the hydraulic filter is there to capture particles in the fluid but does the case surrounding the filter also act as a repository to collect water?
The repair man was also adamant that you should, on a very regular basis, crack the plugs at the base of the 4 wheel drive axles and drain about a pint of gear oil and then replace the lost oil with fresh. The reasoning behind this was that there is a great deal of metal shaving that accumulate in the front axle and that by draining them regularly you don't have a constant supply of abrasive metal floating around in your gear oil. This make a lot of sense to me but my valve idea won't work here because of the open exposure of the drain plug area to contact with the ground, brush, etc.
Any comments are welcome here in my first thread. Thanks to all for the knowledge I have already gained as a lurker here.
If you put something in your profile you are sure to improve the quality of replies. Better yet is a simple sig line (permanent text that follows each message, look in User CP for for it) that lets the reader know what model you are talking about. Or post in a brand-specific forum.
