Just opened up the chain cases on my new to me 89 1845C to service them, and found it full of a white substance. I want to say it is white lithium grease? Anyone ever come across this before, and any thoughts on how to clean it out? I'm thinking of lifting the wheels off the ground, then clean out what I can by hand...should be fun....then filling the cases with clean diesel fluid and running the wheels forward and back at idle to clean things up. Repeat as necessary until clean, then fill with about 2 gallons (7 liters) of 10W30 per side. Thank you for your advice and comments.
Decided to do some google searching and I think this mystery substance is the old oil, with a ton of water infiltration. Saw a couple youtube vids, and pics of similar white fluid in the chain cases....although mine is a lot thicker! Guess it's worse then I thought....will fill with diesel and clean it all out in the next day or two. Then see what the chain and gears look like. Will probably adjust my chains at this time as well if all is in serviceable condition.
Thrash- you are correct it is watered oil from condensate and leaking from the oval seals that seal the gear cases. I change my case oil every 3- yrs and it looks like that every time.
the 1845C's where bad about that the inspection covers are plastic and on the top and do not seal very well are also easy to crack . On the one I had I would use some RTV sealant around the covers it just makes them hard to remove. Also make sure to grease the grease fittings on the axles behind the tires theres one on each axle
Water makes oil white, but I've never seen it get thick like lithium grease. Is this like a whipped cream foam? kinda thick and stiff looking but not heavy like grease? But with the oil more like a milkshake? If it is oil and water, it should rinse right out MUCH easier than grease would. Use a pressure washer with cold, or garden hose with hot water. A little more water isn't going to hurt anything at this point.
Yes this is what it looks like.....That is why I thought it was maybe lithium grease, since as you say oil contaminated with water is more like a milk shake. I just changed the oil in the case yesterday, as well as the cummins in my truck, so I have a lot of spare good used oil. Was thinking of filling the chain cases with the used oil, then drive up and down the driveway for a few minutes. Then drain and see how things look. If it's cleaned up fairly well, maybe then run some diesel through the chain cases to do a final clean.
I wouldn't use that old oil because it's dirty too. you could always use any cheap fresh clean oil to wash it out hyd oil as long as it's clean
Well worked on the chain cases last night until about 1am. I had only pulled the forward inspection cover for the LH side chain case, and that's when I saw the lithium grease....and that is what I'm going to call it, cause I'm pretty sure that is what it was. I pulled the covers for the RH side and it had the white milk shake...ie water contaminated oil. So only one side to deal with...thank goodness! So I drained the fluid from the RH and put in about 2 gallons of the used oil. Then I spent about an hour trying to pullout as much white lithium as I could with my hand. And I don't have small hands. Got probably 3 gallons worth of material out by hand, and there was probably at least another 5 gallons in the case, plus 2-3 gallons of water.....the LH rear cover was leaking like a sieve! I then did some non scientific experimenting to see what would dissolve the grease the best. Tried the used oil, parts washer solvent and diesel. Turned out the used oil was the best. Put in about a gallon of used oil and drove up and down my driveway...about 400 ft long up hill from house...3-4 times. This loosened it up a lot, so drained that out as best I could, but still alot stuck on everything. Refilled with another gallon of 50/50 mix of used oil and diesel this time, and again up and down 3-4 times. Cleaned a lot more off this time and was clean enough for me to say F'it.....filled with 2 gallons of used oil and sealed things up. Will run it with the used oil for a little while, and will put the used hyd oil in when I do my Hyd system service.....just waiting for my filter to come in. Probably change the chain oil several times over the next year or two until all the white lithium is gone.
Sounds like a plan. The lithium floating around isn't hurting anything. Just keep the water out, and oil in and you're way better than it was.
That was my thoughts as well.
Here are a couple pics from my adventure..... LH chain case when I opened it.... This is the RH side....it had the expected milk shake... And some of what I pulled out by hand....
What it looked like after adding the first gallon of oil and driving.... And how do you get a 5/8 allen head plug out from under the machine, when you don't have one.....you go redneck style. This is what came out....along with the chocolate pudding.
After the 50/50 mix.... And the RH side with the used oil....