Time for a hydraulic fluid change?

[baxter28]

This is what my hydraulic fluid in my JCB 3CX backhoe looks like.

It came from Florida, where I am sure it was run in high-humidity and rainy conditions alot. Has ~2200 hours on it, and I don't have service history so assume its original...

Should fluid look like this? Ie, can I run it another 5hrs this weekend or should I do an immediate change? Its been performing fine. I took this picture when I swapped in a 10-micron cleaning filter to run for a while.

 

[Tinkerer]

Typical appearance from water contamination.
5 hrs won't / shouldn't do any harm.
Do you have the service and operators manuals ?
Flushing the hydraulic system is covered in detail in the sm.

 

[cfherrman]

I would think that that oil sitting will do more damage then running, water after all is a hydraulic fluid.

 

[nicky 68a]

I have a 1983 JCB 3CX that I abuse once or twice a week.
It gets hydraulic oil only when I blow a pipe occasionally.I’ve been known to put any oil I have in it.
It also has some water in it and runs just fine.
I’d leave it well alone

 

[Birken Vogt]

I had an ancient backhoe that looked like that when I bought it and still did when I sold it, never added any.

However, the functions were jerky, I suspect the water did not operate the cylinders smoothly.

They make machines that cycle the oil through and strip the water, however, availability varies by region. I have posted a video link on here a long time ago.

If I was you I would make plans to clean it up, but do it when convenient.

 

[Delmer]

Drying oil with heat is not that difficult. Set it up so it's easy to do, because you'll have to repeat many times, but you will get the whole system acceptably dry, and then you can change the oil if you still want to.

Water will make cavitation worse, make foaming worse, etc.

 

[Coaldust]

Hydraulic oil is cheap compared to pumps. I would change it and then start maintaining the oil, but whatever. I’m in the oil biz, so my paradigm of the world is distorted.

I keep my $hit tight. Others can get by with duct tape, zip ties and wire for a long time and make it pay. On the other hand, I live in a single wide and smell like rabbit ****, so there’s that. I’m not sure what the correct answer is. What was the question?

 

[Delmer]

Coaldust isn't selling yellow buckets of oil with his name on them for $20 either. Yeah, it would be great if you flush all the lines and cylinders with a top grade hydraulic oil, and then kept it clean and dry. If you're going to drain the tank and refill with a bottom end oil, you'll get rid of half the water, and half the good oil. I'd rather get it dry in that case.

 

[CM1995]

Was it a Sunbelt Rental machine?

 

[baxter28]

Yes, Sunbelt rental in FL near the coast.

I called a local petroleum company and gave them the JCB fluid standards, after the dealer said they only had it in gallon jugs (or maybe a 55g or IBC tote) at $33 gallon. Local place had Citgo and Mobil equivilents and also their house brand - house brand was $530 for 7 pails (35 gallons) which is ~$15 a gallon.. At this price, will be pulling as much out as I can and replacing..
I'm in an area with 10-12% humidity generally, so I don't expect much moisture to return to the system.. but concerned I wont get that much out. I have read filters will trap water, and I just put a cleaning filter in there. Will swap that out after 10hrs or so and see what happens.

 

[Delmer]

There are special filters to absorb water, they are a very expensive way to remove water. House brand could be yellow bucket, could be citgo, could be anything.

 

[cfherrman]

Get the fluid spun possibly, my neighbor does it.

 

[CM1995]

Yes, Sunbelt rental in FL near the coast.

Thought so from the green reflection in the pic.

Regardless of how much water is in the hydro oil the simple fact its was a SB rental I would do a full service including fluids and filters. Nothing parties like a rental and nothing misses a scheduled service like a rental either...

Just my $.02, YMMV.

 

[cfherrman]

Haha true words, nothing parties like a rental

 

[baxter28]

would do a full service including fluids and filters.

Yep - for sure. Given its just over the 2000 hour mark I assume none of the 2k service was done. I had a date on the oil filter but no hours, so no clue...

Done most everything so far - hydraulic fluid and rear axle are the only ones left. Maybe brake fluid, but probably will just turkey-baste it out of the reservoir and refill with fresh vs a full bleed.

Keeping track of 3CX consumables here:

Consumable Parts

Reliable vendors:

greenacreslimited.notion.site

 

[CM1995]

Check out Willie's thread on the Suck Bucket. Probably come in handy on the fluid change.

The suck bucket

Well, I've posted this handy little shop tool in a couple of places on the forum, makes it kinda obscure to find it hidden in a thread somewhere though. So I thought I would start a thread about it so it's easy to locate for someone who would find it useful for them. Problem I had was trying to...

www.heavyequipmentforums.com

 

[baxter28]

Check out Willie's thread on the Suck Bucket. Probably come in handy on the fluid change.

The suck bucket

Well, I've posted this handy little shop tool in a couple of places on the forum, makes it kinda obscure to find it hidden in a thread somewhere though. So I thought I would start a thread about it so it's easy to locate for someone who would find it useful for them. Problem I had was trying to...

www.heavyequipmentforums.com

Good idea, thanks. The siphon pump I got from harbor freight immediately broke a fitting so the power suck option is appealing.