Air in hydraulic lines

[550Doug]

My IH 434 has a loader on it but has armstrong steering. I recently have found a power assist unit for that tractor and I'm just finishing the installation. However, I've had to drain the hyd resevoir and all the lines connecting the pump and steering cylinder. So there is a bunch of air in those lines now and I'm wondering, should those lines should be bled?

 

[rustred]

it will work its way out, bleed them if u want . why would you not cap the lines instead of draining everything.

 

[wp6529]

No, simply cycling the steering lock to lock a handful of times should work the bulk of the air out. Residual air will work out in time just as little bubbles in the flow back to the reservoir. Same as most any dynamic hydraulic item like a loader, outriggers, backhoe, etc. Only relatively static thinkgs like brakes need to be nled since they do not cycle and return the bulk of the fliid to the tank.

 

[JimB2]

On a 434 hydraulic system there is no air breather on the reservoir, so to bleed the air quicker, loosen the filler plug enough so it will let air out and not fluid when it burps and cycle all the hydraulics
and keep checking the reservoir fill level. One problem with those tractors is they have a very small hydraulic reservoir unless your loader has an aux pump and tank.