I need to change the oil in the engine and transmission in the 955 I just bought. How much does the engine and transmission hold? I plan on using Shell Rotella 30 in the engine and Chevron Drive Train 30 in the trans. When I drop the trans oil, I would like to clean the strainer and filter. I have never done this before; were is the trans strainer and filter located and do you have to drop the belly pan to get to them? Does it take a new gasket or o-ring to reseal? As far as filters are conserned, whats the opinion on the CAT filters? Are they better than others? Are they made in China?
Here are your capacities and oil specs. Because it was built so long ago the 955L is no too choosy on what type of oil it requires: - Engine - 5 gallons of SAE 15W/40 API CF-4 (I would not recommend to use a monograde oil as you are planning) Transmission - 9 gallons of SAE 30 TO-4 Hydraulics - 39 gallons of SAE 10W hydraulic oil Cooling system - 10.5 gallons Final Drive (each) - 2.25 gallons of SAE 50 TO-4 oil Steering Clutch compartment - 17.5 gallons of SAE 50 TO-4 oil. Cat filters are manufactured by Donaldson, not in China AFAIK. I would not use anything like Fram, Wix, or NAPA if it was my machine. If I had to choose an aftermarket filter I'd go for Donaldson for obvious reasons, Filters usually come with the seal or gasket in the box but you have to check and buy separate if necessary. Don't re-use the old one.
Thanks agian Nige. I guess I just need to email you directly with my questions. Thanks for the help!!
Nige 955L stering clutches and transmission are same oil. 30 w is only oil recomended in transmissions and clutches
I stand corrected.
Thanks for the clarification.
Worked on the 955L this weekend and got most of the service work done. Changed all the fluids using chevron drive train 30 in the trans and bevel gear compartment, chevron drive train 50 in the finals, and shell rotella 30 in the engine. I ordered some zinc additive to put in the engine oil to boosted the zinc amount. A call to Shells tech line told me that the rotella 30 has 700 ppm zinc where 1200 to 1600 ppm is required for normal operation flat tappet cams and moderate valve spring pressures. The rotella 15w40 comes with 1200 ppm of zinc which is the bare minimum. I also talked to the chevron tech folks after I got a couple buckets of oil from my local oil supplier that looked old and out dated. I call to ask if the oil had a shelf life and they said it did. They said that 5 years is the max life on oil even if it has been stored in a temp controled building. The reason for the 5 year life is because they can't guarantee that the additives in the oil are still mixed properly which could cause problems. This info was for the drive train oil Cat spec TO-4, but engine oil has the same problems and a shorter shelf life. Doing the service, I changed the trans and steering clutch filter and cleaned the trans strainer as well as the steering clutch strainer. The steer clutch strainer was a bear. Had to remove the seat, batteries, and battery floor plate just to be able to squat down in the area under the seat to reach the strainer. All the fluids, filters and strainers looked great with just a small amount of "fuzz" on the trans strainer magnets and a small amount of clutch fibers on the steer clutch strainer. There was also a couple pieces of red shop rag fibers and two chunks of what looked like the coating from the inside of the case. According the the previous owners records they had about $4500 worth of work done in the steering clutch compartment including new bearings and seals back in 2002. I assume this is where the debris came from. Looking forward to finishing things up and getting to push some brush!!!
You are a wealth of information I really appreciate that.
From experience gained between all those years ago and now I would advise to get hold of an Operation & Maintenance Manual. For your late 85J machine it is two separate manuals, one for operation, the other for maintenance. I don't see any used ones for sale but you can download a pdf copy of SEBU5343 from the Cat Pubs web site for $30.