Reasonable Hydrostatic Fluid Usage

[Guest]

Anyone care to comment or refer me to further discussions on the Subject at hand? i.e. What is a reasonable amount of Hydrostatic Fluid which should be used by a Hydrostatic Tractor? Will skip the details on the minor snow story in Connecticut and just say I push a section of snow to end up stopped dead at the end of my driveway. At that point I knew what was wrong... my tractor's hydrostatic resevoir would be empty. Well a little patience and pulling I got enough fluid to be able to back the tractor to a garage to open the resevoir and fill it. Problem solved. Now I probably have 50 to 60 hours on the tractor from when the last time I checked the fluid level. I see no leaks under the tractor, so any ideas where the fluid went and how often I need to check? The model tractor is an HB112 AC Hydrostatic Hydrolift w/the 12hp engine. *Note: I did search the forums for Hydrostatic fluid before posting

[HubbardRA]

I know that is a Vickers hydro and I've never had one of those. The usage answer relative to my Sunstrand is basically zero usage. I might check mine every year or two. The only time I have added fluid to it, since I assembled the tractor several years ago, was last year when I hooked the hydrolift to the charge pump. I had to top it off then, after cycling the hydrolift to fill the cylinder, hoses, and valve. The Sunstrands use/lose almost no fluid.

[BLT]

Mike, there shouldn't be any oil consumption other then leaks. Generally oil used for work shouldn't get higher then 150 deg F. Hydraulics get funky after that temp. That's why you see oil coolers ahead of radiators on liquid cooled machiney wether it be a suction or blower fan. And you can't use the engines coolant to do the job as it would warm up oil an additinal 30 deg F.

[D-17_Dave]

That many hrs is'nt that bad of a leak. But it's most likely comeing from the shifter linkage input pintle that's the common problem with this tranny. Don't worry about looking for it, as it'll only get wourse.

[MPH]

If you were out of fluid in roughly 60 hours I'd say check it at least every two tanks of gas used. Woundn't think running it low is good for any parts that need oil to function.

[babablacksheep]

If you see no evidence of a leak around the shifter input, check out the lines, fittings and especially the cylinder. A leak of any size should be obvious from the dirt accumulation on the leaking fluid. You probably don't see any under the tractor because it only leaks when running (i.e. moving).

[Guest]

Actually, I use to see a lot of fluid under this tractor, but I tighted the drain plug and my problem went away. Thus I figured I fixed the leak, only to find out my machine ran low just recently. Still it's my favorite tractor. Always starts, runs, etc. Though people tell me it runs rich. Thank you for the replies. Michael G.

[Karl_Brandt]

My AC HB-112 had a oil leak before,the oil seal on the Vickers hydro drive motor was leaking into the transmission. Check the oil level in the transmisson. Karl [url]www.simplicityva.com[/url]