i was wanting to flush the hydraulics system on my 226b cat skid steer. I found the drain hose but I cannot find a petcock type valve for the drain. I called 3 branches of the nearest Cat dealer and they all said there was a valve there on the return manifold . Looking up parts on their website to get an understanding where the drain is but I sure don't see it and it's not listed in the parts. I talked to parts guys and the service managers but I don't think they have actually ever worked on these machines to know. Any help from you guys would be appreciated!
Does this help..? This is from a Cat Parts Book for a 226B, MJH-prefix. If your machine is not MJH then post a S/N. #1 is the hydraulic system drain hose - petcock 6V-7238 circled in red.
Nige thanks so much for your response. I think the dealer was coming up with that same manifold and I was also on some searches. My manifold was a prior part and is like the one I pictured. Turns out, the plug on the end of the hose is all there is to the drain. No petcock. It's draining now. What is your opinion on using cat hydro vs the same oil I use in engine? If you went anything other than the cat hydro oil, would you use a 10w motor oil or a 10w tractor fluid?
I stock one oil for hydraulics here...TO-4 spec 10w. Used everywhere, except loader axles w/ wet brakes. I use Deere Hygard in those.
Back in the Age of Steam the fashion was to use a single fluid for (almost) every compartment on a machine. So for a hydraulic system an SAE 15W/40 engine oil would be the recommendation. Those days are thankfully long gone and now each compartment is specified for the type of fluid that is actually needs in relation to the components in the system. I would go for an SAE10W hydraulic oil (HYDO) or an SAE10W TO-4 TDTO). You may find the TO-4 is slightly more expensive, if you can't justify the expense use the straight 10W HYDO. You don't have to use Cat-branded oil unless the dealer has a promotion on that makes it competitive price-wise with a good quality hydraulic oil from your local parts supply house.
I have a 2013 caterpillar 289 C2 skid steer with about 1400 hours on it can you find me information on where the drain holes is and and the cockpit to open it to drain the fluid also, how would I flush it?
Fully agree. And will definitely run into people using some odd oil because "that's what they do"... "been working fine" Have one shop that "blends" their own hydraulic oil with a mix of 0w30 engine oil and ISO 15 hydraulic oil. No idea why. No one there really knows, just someone decided that one day and "that's what we do" Truth is unless you have a fleet of machines running alot of hours and are tracking things, really no way to tell if that product is ok or not. Huh, we keep shelling out pump at roughly 3000 hrs. Used to go 10k with xyz product (or oci) Argued today about using 50wt trans oil in transmissions that call for it. Shop claims it foams too much and 75w90 works better. Funny how it's only their ~15 trucks out of hundreds of other customer owned trucks.