1250 Hydraulic oil change
 

Looking to change the hydraulic oil on my recently acquired 1250. I know, Hytran, 7 quarts, I got that part drilled into my head in the little reading I have done.

So three questions
1) Gaskets - What do I need and where can I get them?
2) Filter - what do I need and where can I get it
3) Assuming I find a bunch of gunk when I pull the cover off what is the proper cleaning procedure?

Anything else I should know when doing this is appreciated as well.

1) Gaskets - What do I need and where can I get them?
Rear Cover gasket: Your local dealer or one of our sponsors located at the top of the page.
2) Filter - what do I need and where can I get it
You can get a Hydro filter at your local dealer or NAPA: Here is a link with the numbers: http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12
3) Assuming I find a bunch of gunk when I pull the cover off what is the proper cleaning procedure?
Raise the front end higher than the rear to let it drain good, then use some carb cleaner and some lint free paper towels or rags and just reach in and get the goop out.

You can get a piece of gasket material at a local auto parts store and cut yourself a new gasket, probably as cheap to just go to cub dealer and buy one...but you may not have a local shop.

Dwayne made some good points, however, my 129 rear end was extremely dirty, I am guessing it had close to a 1/2" of sludge in the bottom. I used a stiff bristle parts brush and diesel fuel for the initial clean up/ sludge removal. Then I finished it by wiping it out with microfiber towels dampened with laquer thinner, it removed all traces of the diesel and sludge and it dries almost instantly. The carb cleaner should work equally as well, I just happpened to have a gallon of laquer thinner on hand, so I used that. Like Dwayne pointed out, put the front end up on car ramps or jack stands, makes cleaning/ draining all the junk out of there much easier.

Oh, if I recall, the hydro filter can be obtained at most auto parts stores, have them look up a Wix 51410....I will check to make sure I quoted the right number, that is off top of my head, if I am in error, I will edit and change it! The wix number has been corrected!

Thanks guys, I am going to tackle it this weekend if I can find the gaskets, will let you know if I hit any snags. One more question, I just notice that my hydraulic lifted deck is sitting on the floor after the tractor does not run for a couple of days. Is this normal or indicative of a problem?

That's pretty normal, and likely caused by internal leakage in the control valve.

After you clean and replace the filter you "might" have to do an additional filter change after some run time, due to loosening particals that you can't reach to wipe out. You will know when if you seem to start to loose power/speed or reaction seems sluggish. :TwoCents:

So,

Does anyone use anything other than hydrotrans? I was looking at the autoparts store and they had a hydraulic fluid which says "meets IH B-6" and it's $9.95 gallon. O' Rilley's autoparts.

I was thinking it might be good to throw it in for 50 hours and then do a change back to the CC stuff.. if it is superior. I'm assumming there will be lots of gunk in the bottom of mine.

Michael

In my opinion, hytran is the only way to go. Its a little pricey, but you pay for what you get:beerchug:

Well said! :ThumbsUp:

Yea put it's not available easily ..

TSC carries a semi-synthetic hydrotran stuff. WILL That work? It's $13/quart.


Michael

Not sure if you've heard this before but my local cub dealer wanted $10/qt for hytran and I located a ihcase dealer within 20 miles that will sell it by the gallon for $17 might be worth locating the big tractor store, they were also very knowledgable of our little tractors. Even more so than my local cub stealer!

$13/quart? That's more than CC charges for the real thing!

In Texas you probably will have an easier time finding a Case heavy equipment dealership than a CIH farm dealer. Hytran can also be obtained from Case heavy equipment dealers.

I'm talking about the cub cadet oil. P/N 737-3120
it's $13.99 quart @ TSC.

Will this work in our older hydro's or is only for new stuff.

Michael

No, that is only for the newer machines.

I went to a local Case dealer for hytran out of their bulk tanks and they were no very big on that idea as they sold it in sealed 5 gallon pales at the counter for alot more cost.

They sold me 4 gallons bulk but left me know that was not how they like to sell it to the public to carrie out. I was a pain in the arsh for the guy at the counter,he had to go in the back and have a mechanic fill my container.He was not very happy and said the bulk fluids are for machines in the shop for repairs.I got the impression it wouldn't happen again.

I am having no luck finding HyTran, the nearest IH dealer is 40+ miles away. I am probably opening a can of worms here but can someone tell me what the big deal about HyTran is? has anyone tried something else with good or bad results?

I started this for the same reason...

but finally took a long lunch drive out to the dealer. He was REALLY nice and asked about the Cub. Remembers selling and servicing them.

I was going to do a first change with fluid from O' Riley's which says it meets B-6 spec and is 1/2 the price. But when I drained the fluid it was pretty clean and not a lot of gunk. So, I decided to go with the factory fluid.

How it differs from other fluid? Moisture isolation, anti-wear additives, and then like most hydraulic oil would be SAE 10 wt.

The vendors on this site sell the quarts.

Michael

Found out the local cub dealer (which is really close) also has the gallons of HyTran, so I am going that route. So you dont need a IH dealer, a Cub dealer might carry HyTran by the gallon too.

Hy Guard has a patented formulae that absorbs small quantities of moisture.
It is proven good, make no mistake.
That being said,
It is my opinion that the largest equipment manufacturers in the world would not sell inferior lubricants for their equipment.
Deere will tell you their Hyguard is better, just as others will like Kubota, Cat, New Holland IH/Case Etc. will promote their lubricants
Our older hydros were put in Deere, Cub, and others, including Cushman Vehicles.
The hydro manufacture, Sundstrand recommends
Anti wear hyd fluid or ATF type "F" or hyd transmission fluid.
I personally use Tractor supply hyd oil in my Green and Red tractors with no ill effects.
Just like folks are loyal to their particular brand of motor oil.
I personally believe that oil that meets specs is sufficient.
I do know oils/lubricants have improved immensely since I started changing them 60 years ago.
This is just my opinion which I am entitled to.
Others have theirs which I respect.

Touche ol'george. I've been using TSC type hyd oil in my 125 for 25yrs and it shows no signs of slowing down. Never had a problem and have been using NAPA brand filters. Never had a problem with moisture on any oil change that I have done throughout the years. Tractor sits on a dirt floor inside a pole barn.
:beerchug:

I changed to oil yesterday it is leaking a little. I did a very thorough job of removing the old gasket material with a razor blade so I don't think that is causing the problem. I have retightened a couple of time but I really don’t think it would be wise to get it too much tighter. I did not use any gasket sealant. Is it normal to have a slight trip while the gasket swells up?

Is it leaking from the rear end cover? Does your tractor have the rear hitch plate? Did you put the three longer bolts in the bottom holes threw the hitch plate? If you put one of the longer bolts in a different area it will bottom out and not actually tighten up against the cover plate. There could also just be some old fluid between the hitch plate and the rear cover, Spray it down with some brake cleaner, but beware some times it can soften and eat the paint.

Yes it seems to be leaking from the rear end cover at the very bottom. I did make sure to use the long bolts on the hitch. I thought about the fact that it could be oil that is stuck between the hitch plate and the rear end cover but it seems to be a little too much for that. I will spray it down to make sure. How tight should the bolts be?

If the cover has been over tightened during it's life, it will get distorted and weep/leak
I like to open the vice jaws a inch or so and and using a larger hammer, smack the cover right @ the bolt holes just enough to flatten the bulge caused from overtightened cover bolts.
It works for any metal cover.
It don't hurt to go just a tad more than flat, as the bolts will pull it flat.
Now don't get crazy here, your just trying to restore a cover to flat.
This is pretty much standard procedure for auto/truck oil pan,rocker covers etc, or any cover that gets "puckered in" from too tight a bolt.
Prolly' you will be lucky and be able to reuse your new gasket.

The cover did not appear distorted at all, it was perfectly flat. I am actually shocked it is leaking. I really hope I dont have to pull the cover to get this fixed, I dont know how I am going to save $40 worth the Hytran.

I don't like to use "sealers" on that gasket, but, I do put a small amount of grease (chassis lube) on that gasket at assembly.

If there is a small place that might leak, the grease finds it before the Hy-Tran!!

The grease will even "seal" a used gasket nicely.

Are there torque specs for the rear end cover?

Yes they are in the service manual in the tech section of the site.

Thanks, I was hoping to not have to sift through 145 pages to find it. Does anyone know off hand what the torque spec for the rear end cover are?

There's a chart in the first couple pages of the service manual that has the torque values for all fasteners, bolt grades, materials, etc.

Right but it states that the chart is for rigid joints(no gaskets or compressible materials used) . At any rate it says 70 lb/ft for 9/16 bolts. Seems really high for a rear end cover so I am guessing there is some place else I should be looking.

they are referencing bolt dia. not wrench size.
Should be 3/8" bolt dia for a 9/16 head

them plastic dish pans make a wonderful catch pan,saving every drop

You could also look in the section of the service manual that discusses disassembly/reassembly of the transaxle. It won't take you that long to flip through the manual and find it. None of us are going to be able to do it any faster.

And for what it's worth, I think the correct torque is 30 ft-lb, but open up your manual and verify that.

It is a type 5, 3/8" bolt, according to the chart it is 33 to 37 lb/ft (even though the chart says it is for rigid joints). I don't see anything that mentions the torque specs for the cover in any other place.

I am going to make sure they are all torqued to 33 but am not holding a lot of hope that it is going to stop the leak. Any other suggestions to avoid having to drain the housing again?

As expected re-torque of the bolts didn't fix the leak. What should I do now? I can't think of anything other than RTV on both sides of the gasket but I hesitate to do that because almost everyone says they get a good seal without RTV. If I do go the RTV route what kind should I use? Can I reuse the gasket?

I would jack up the rear and put a super clean catch can at the back so it will catch what does come out. I would double check the flatness of the cover on a level surface looks can be deceiving.

Jack it up high enough, and you won't loose any oil!!:biggrin2:

If you are gonna use RTV, don't use the gasket.
The surfaces have to be DRY/free of any oil or the rtv won't stick/work properly.

what material is the gasket?

Is it paper? The cork or just 1/32 grey composite?

Mines leaking a bit after service. I'm not a fan of RTV's.. probably pull out something more exotic. If you put RTV on a gasket, be careful- it makes it slippery and torquing will allow it to squeeze out and break. You need to snug them and let it sit before final torque.

I'll probably use the Wurth orange sealant on a gasket.

Michael