656 Hydro dying?

[TimWafer]

A few weeks ago I posted about my 656 Hydro suddenly lacking drive when under a load or going up a steep hill. I didnt have the time to really look into it and frankly was afraid of what i might find so just parked it and havent used it. Last night I decided to get it out and see if I could diagnose it a little bit anyways. I put the bush hog on it to also test the PTO and tried to mow a path up and down the hill. Initially it seemed to work fine but I noticed oil on the left hand side around the starter area where none had been before. After it heated up some it started to act up again and came almost to a stop on a steep section. At the same time I noticed a mist of oil coming out below the dash around the battery.
My thoughts now are maybe its just a line that is cracked or something in there that leaks primarily when under high pressure when under a load and not the hydro itself that is going bad. Does this sound like a possible scenario? Didnt have time last night to look much further. It has a cab on it and access is difficult. Will pull the battery out next and see what I can see, maybe tonight.

 

[pete 23]

A leak on those small steel lines to control valve will definetly
cause drive problems.

 

[used red MN]

If you can’t figure it out contact Herrs Machine in KS. See link. I don’t know how far they will go, nice small town
company. PS, next major town west of my hometown.
IH Hydro repair

 

[TimWafer]

I think I found the problem. Last night I removed the battery and plate underneath, then pressure washed all the crud out so I could see in there. After doing that and disturbing the lines it was obvious when i started it up where it was leaking. The two 1/4" lines crossed each other and had been rubbing in that spot. One had a tiny pinhole in it but it was enough of a leak now that the tractor wouldn't move at all. It was also obvious that this had been a problem in the past as one line had been brazed at that point and the other obviously had been replaced. You would think they would have put a rubber hose over them at that point to prevent rubbing or rerouted the line somewhat to avoid it happening again but I guess not.

 

[Saintbacon]

I wanted to see if this solved the problem for Tim, but the post is showing up strange.
Sorry! Tried to delete this to no avail.


This post was edited by Saintbacon on 09/27/2021 at 12:06 pm.

 

[TimWafer]

(quoted from post at 00:52:30 09/28/21) I wanted to see if this solved the problem for Tim, but the post is showing up strange.
Sorry! Tried to delete this to no avail.


This post was edited by Saintbacon on 09/27/2021 at 12:06 pm.

Replacing those two 1/4" lines did fix the problem. One definitely had a hole worn through it.

Yesterday I ran over a limb with a sharp broken off branch on it with the same tractor. I was brush hogging some trails in the high weeds. Totally ruined the rear tire & lost most of the fluid. Argghh!

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

At least you won't have any weeds growing there for a while!