Is it worth the risk

[Shimmy1]

Post photos of whatever you find in the suction screen, both metallic and non-metallic. It might give some clues.

Is the 225-4118 considered a clean-up filter, Nige? The filter has about 300 hours on it. I did come to find out that these guys are running the trans oil to 1500 hours or more, depending on oil samples. This oil has about 1200 on it, no idea of calendar time, haven't been able to get that info yet. They are running Mobil HD30. Part of me wants to believe the machine was traded because of this sample.

 

[Shimmy1]

Do you know when the oil was last changed and/or sampled or is the machine fairly new to you? I think your plan to follow Nige's suggestion is good. Pushing snow I don't think is as stressful on the transmission as dirt work. 100 hours on new oil if it's operating fine (other than an elavated level in the oil sample) shouldn't cause catastrophic failure.

New machine. I don't have a kidney loop system, so I'm going to do a pump and dump. I wonder if 20 gallons would be enough for the first flush to get 90% of the old oil out? Fill 20, start it, move it back and forth a few feet in each gear, stop and drain it out? Before anyone gets their panties wadded up, I feel that $500 worth of oil is well worth it if it cleans the system up.

 

[Nige]

Is the 225-4118 considered a clean-up filter, Nige? The filter has about 300 hours on it. I did come to find out that these guys are running the trans oil to 1500 hours or more, depending on oil samples. This oil has about 1200 on it, no idea of calendar time, haven't been able to get that info yet. They are running Mobil HD30. Part of me wants to believe the machine was traded because of this sample.

By its 5-micron rating 225-4118 would be considered a cleanout filter if it was installed in a system that normally used say a 15-micron filter.
As it is, because it's the only part number available for that system it's considered a "service filter", but either way it will act like a cleanout filter. One thing you need to make sure is that the plugged filter warning system is working correctly.

Mobiltrans HD30 is a good oil. I have plenty of experience of it in tractors and it works well.

If the previous owners were running the powertrain oil to that number of hours (even based on sample results) TBH I'd say get the oil well hot, dump the whole lot right now, pull & inspect the magnetic screen, and change the filter. Run it 50 hours and resample, then ditto at 100 hours. I wouldn't do a 2nd oil change until I'd seen the results of the samples. IMO your idea of moving the machine around a bit after the 1st oil change then dumping it again isn't really going to see the oil hot enough to get best results.

 

[Shimmy1]

By its 5-micron rating 225-4118 would be considered a cleanout filter if it was installed in a system that normally used say a 15-micron filter.
As it is, because it's the only part number available for that system it's considered a "service filter", but either way it will act like a cleanout filter. One thing you need to make sure is that the plugged filter warning system is working correctly.

Mobiltrans HD30 is a good oil. I have plenty of experience of it in tractors and it works well.

If the previous owners were running the powertrain oil to that number of hours (even based on sample results) TBH I'd say get the oil well hot, dump the whole lot right now, pull & inspect the magnetic screen, and change the filter. Run it 50 hours and resample, then ditto at 100 hours. I wouldn't do a 2nd oil change until I'd seen the results of the samples. IMO your idea of moving the machine around a bit after the 1st oil change then dumping it again isn't really going to see the oil hot enough to get best results.

That's why I asked if you think 20 gallons is enough to circulate through the system and push a good amount of the dirty shat into the sump. Then, put the full amount (maybe 5 gallons less) and run it for a few hours to get it good and hot, then dump again. I realize this is a bit unconventional, but with the absence of a better filter, and knowing it has a 5 micron on already, I'm willing to sacrifice this first dump to get the system cleaned up.

 

[Nige]

So long as there is enough oil in the system so that it is at least visible right on the bottom of the dipstick when the machine is idling in neutral I think your idea will probably work. Any less than that there is a possibility of the pump cavitating if the oil does not return fast enough to the transmission housing, especially if the oil is relatively-speaking cold. Full system capacity is listed as approximately 38 gallons.

 

[Delmer]

Last I checked, an SOS is cheaper than a gallon of oil... that tells me what I'd do.

 

[Shimmy1]

Last I checked, an SOS is cheaper than a gallon of oil... that tells me what I'd do.

Right now, there is nothing more to be gained from a sample. The oil is $hit, the compartment needs to be cleaned up. I don't have a kidney loop, there are no other filters available. I INTEND to resample after 50 hours. The problem is getting this thing cleaned up. If someone told me that one change would accomplish that, I'd still do two. $1000 worth of oil if it gets another 3000 hours out of this tranny is peanuts in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Shimmy1]

AND, if I waste $1000 on oil, so be it. It's going to cost around $23k to get this transmission rebuilt.

 

[Delmer]

"elevated" is not an emergency in my mind. "Urgent" on a new machine isn't always an emergency either, depending. You just don't have the sample history on the oil to guess what's going on.

A new used machine like that, I'd run it several hours then drain the oil hot, if there was debris in the bottom of the case, like reach it with a finger and see it, then I might flush it with diesel if the case is open enough that it would absolutely all drain, or do 20 gallons like you said, but enough oil that it will run, then a few minutes at least? Another full fill and dump right away is what I wouldn't do, it went 1,200 hours on the last oil, I'd test it and change accordingly. Or rig up a bypass filter, I'm sure there's ways to do that temporarily, either with a rigged up electric pump, or off the hydraulics, even a return filter while you're working.

$1,000 new oil, and/or $5,000 for the sensors, makes $23 seem cheap for a transmission rebuild, to me. But you don't know you need that yet.

 

[Welder Dave]

Can you rent a filter cart? I rented one for about $125cad. from a hyd. shop and the filters were about $90can. each. It used 2 filters. The Donaldson filters were about a foot long. I only bought one new filter because they said the other one had only ran through about 10 gallons of new oil. I think the filters went down as low as 2 micron. Water wasn't an issue and I don't think it is in your case either. I drained the old oil and pumped the new oil in with the filter cart. I bought a small brass 1" NPT ball valve at Home Depot to thread into the drain hole on the hyd. tank. The filter cart pumped oil faster than the tank drained and I didn't want to keep turning it on and off. I'd fill a pail and then pump it back in the tank and repeat several times. I think you could put new oil in and run the machine a bit to circulate it and then drain it and pump it back through the filter cart a few times. Would maybe cost a little more than 2 oil changes but only need to buy 1 oil quantity and could drain and filter it several times to clean everything out better than just 2 oil changes.

 

[James Sorochan]

I see the outfit Dakota Fluid Power that has a bunch of locations in your neck of the woods. Give them a call and see if they have a cart for rent.