I have a 1974 Case 580B CK which I rebuilt the engine on. It starts like new and runs fine. At first it lacked power and wouldn't move properly(in my opinion). I checked the transmission and torque tube and found both heavily contaminated with water. I have flushed the torque tube twice and the transmission once and the new oil is just as contaminated as the old. How can I clear the contaminated oil from the machine? I really don't want to tear it apart anymore than I have to. Thanks in advance for any advice or guidance.
torque tube are a pita, either leak into tube, bad tranny output or diff input. best of luck...
Welcome to HEF Husker67. :drinkup It's been a long time since I've seen one of those machines, and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the transmission/torque tube serve as the reservoir for the equipment hydraulic system as well?
If that's the hydraulic reservoir then you're only changing a fraction of the oil at each change, that water will only drop in half or whatever with each change, and NEVER go away completely. One way to go about it, is to reuse the drained oil. So, drain what drains out after it's run and is warmed up. Let that amount sit, and either add new oil, or wait a day and pump/siphon the old back in, preferably with a filter. If you added new, you can run it while the other oil settles, then switch. That will get some of the water out. Then you can use special filters, heat and/or vacuum to remove the "dissolved" water from the oil. The other option is to disconnect the hoses on each side of each cylinder and very carefully and thoughtfully pump the old out with the new...I've never done it, don't want to, only read about it, but I can find you a better description if you want to consider it.
Is this a Power Shuttle machine? If so, the shuttle and convertor are separate from the transmission and rear end. You should find two separate plugs in the torque tube and the forward one should also allow access to the plug in the torque convertor. A full drain, and generous flush with diesel wil get a lot of the moisture contaminated oil out. Change the torque convertor filter in front of the rad and refill. Another change will be in order once you run it for awhile. The rear end uses gear oil and can be drained separately. Same process, to flush and then refill. Expect to do another change after its run for some time. If its not the shuttle version, I would suggest you consult your service manual for suggestions on how to proceed. Oil is cheap compared to a major overhaul. You will need to determine where the moisture/water are coming from and if possible, park under cover when not in use.
I have the same problem with my ** 50 HX. I haven't found where the water can come in. It becomes a real problem in the winter, when the oil is cold and miniature ice block forms in the oil. Then it clogs the priming pump intake filter. One way I have found to drain some of the water is the access cover at the lowest part of the transmission. 3 bolts holds the cover and a cork seal. When I unscrew the bolts, partially, some water drips out of the transmission, then it changes to oil. Delmer: although oil is cheap, I will eventually run out of new oil (or it becomes costly). Removing dissolved water from the oil is a very interesting idea. Could you elaborate on how special filter or vaccum can remove that water? Thank you, jf
I did mine once by draining the lowest point of 5 gallons on a warm day after the machine was sitting for a week, fractioned off the water and put the rest into a turkey fryer type pot, heating this oil up slowly to around 300F for 20 minutes. This can't be rushed, let it heat up over an hour or so else you could cook the oil, the oil did turn from milky back to clear and I did that a couple times, With a good hard running, the oil has been good looking ever since. My water leak was from the vent cap letting rain in. Water in hydraulics is bad and the older folks here have said that even cooking the water off, there's still some water trapped in the oil.
The filters have some chemical that removes the water, but only so much, and they're not cheap. Like Fast said, heating the oil over boiling will drive off the water. If you've ever spattered cooking oil you get some idea of what can go wrong with that, the oil passes the boiling point easily but the water suddenly foams up and if there's not enough space it goes over and into the fire! A vacuum lowers the boiling point of water so that if you can get your oil close to 200, then the vacuum will boil off the water just like it would at higher temperature at atmospheric pressure. A refrigeration service vacuum pump will easily boil water at hot temps, even a junk refrigeration compressor will pull a decent vacuum for this. The vacuum is more controlled because the power is lower (as the water boils the water vapor drops the vacuum and the temp), the temp doesn't need to be as high, and it's a closed container.
Thank you Delmer!
Welcome husk if you do what juskatla has just said you will be good assuming you have the power shuttle machine i would buy the cheap tsc hy trans fluid and a shuttle filter and just change the oil and run it for a while then drain the tsc stuff and see if it is clean then go buy the case brand hy trans when it is all cleared up which will be kind expensive but in my opinion its worth it and put the case brand in there and you should be good ........These are notorious for water getting in the torque tube threw the shifter boot especially if its kept outside your best bet is to tarp the crap out of it if you dont have a place to park it inside .... Hydraulic system is in the loader arms seperate from the shuttle compartment and the rear end/trans is also a separate compartment so you have the following 1) hydraulic system using regular hydraulic oil with drain plugs located in the bottom of each loader arm and the filter located in a steel canister near the top of the right loader arm..... 2) shuttle oil using hy trans oil with 2 drain plugs under torque tube one towards the front under the torque converter and one in the center of the torque tube and a filter in front of the radiator in a steel canister........... 3) rear end/trans oil using 80/90 gear oil with one drain plug located under rear end .......... When my neighbor bought his 580b i helped him change the rear end oil and the stuff in there was like elmers glue so we raised the rear tire off the ground drained what we could and poured some diesel in the rear end and put it in gear and let it run...We had to do this about 4 times draining the old diesel and putting in new until it cleared up then we put in the 80/90 and all is good now ..... When he bought it it was stored outside but he keeps it in his barn... As far as the way these move they are sluggish at best if you have power shuttle but i hear the mechanical shuttle model are way better as far as them moving ...... good luck and if you have anymore questions ask someone will reply if you can post some pics we like seeing them ..........