Frozen hydraulics

[Pete From WNY]

I have a ford NAA. Sometimes when it's cold it takes a several tries to get the 3 point arms to lift. I raise and lower the draft control lever, until it primes the pump while gunning the engine.
Sometimes If it's really cold I can't get it to lift at all !

I was thinking of heating the hydraulic fluid with a dipstick heater. Does anyone have another way ?

Pete

 

[balatonm]

I have the same problum with my 4000, I just pull the 3pointlever op all the way and let the tractor idol AND WARM UP untill the blade is raised all the way.
Within at least 30min of starting the tractor i usually have full control of the hydrolics, loader and blade both.

 

[jokers]

What weight hydraulic oil are you using? I`d be concerned about cavitating the pump.

 

[old]

Common problem on the old fords like yours. A seal between the transmission and hyds goes bad and mixes the oils so the hyds get a heavy weight oil mixed with the hyds and makes them work slow. I would try this. Drain the transmission and hyds and then fill with hy-tran type oil its thinner then the other stuff but is made for both transmissions and hyd systems. My 841 does the same thing and when I park it I put blocks under the back blade and that also seems to help but till it warms up I can't use the blade. But it has a loader on it so I don't need the blade other then for weight on the back
Hobby farm

 

[Anonymous-0]

The problem is reversed for me , when its cold something between zero and 32 the hydraulics (3 point) works fine all the way up and holds a load
summer time it raises about 18" with a bush hog ,but that's it ,any good advice out there , The oil specs say Type A, but now unavailable any advice what's-up ?.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I would be concerned with using HY-TRAN in transmissions built for SAE 90 gear oil, if operating in high draft situations. Rotary mower use, probably no concern, but I would still use the heavier product; John Deere's HY-GARD. In high draft applications I would do the opposite, fill both compartments with synthetic 75W90. The 75W90 will give the necesssary gear/bearing protection and be fluid enough to pump in low temperatures. Perhaps using a sulfur-less compound 75W90 GL3 could be a good idea rather than a GL5 which contains extreme pressure lubricants containing sulfur. However I have used GL5 gear lubes in older machines with plain bronze bearings and never have had any difficulties.

 

[Dan-IA]

Yep. Bought an electric hydraulic wood splitter this fall. Got so cold that it wouldn't move, the 2HP electric motor on it stalled. I brought it in the house overnight. It worked in the morning.

 

[old]

I've used hy-tran in my 841 for 20 plus years now and have never had any problems. Thats why its call hy-tran its made for both hyds and transmissions. I use it in most of my tractors and I have a lot of them
Hobby farm

 

[souNdguy]

You may have too thick of hyd oil as was mentioned.. OR you might have a leak at the suction side of the pump or plumbing.

soundguy

 

[El Toro]

I use Dexron in place of Type A. Hal

 

[El Toro]

I use Dexron in place of Type A. Hal

 

[Beans]

Same problem with our 5000. Have to wait for the hydraulics to warm up then i can use the 3 point hitch for the carry all we made so I can haul feed.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Going to belabor this issue just a little longer because there are a few fine points. Yes, HY-TRAN was developed for hydraulic and mechanical transmission of power, but both the hydraulics and gearing on the new machines were designed for this product. HY-TRAN does not have the film stability at high temperatures or high loading capability that gear oil features. John Deere standard Hy-Gard is a similar product to HY-TRAN but contains zinc antiwear compounds and has a slightly higher viscosity. Both features would improve film stability compared to HY-TRAN. But the zinc antiwear compounds are not always compatible with IH clutch/brake material and I never use anything but HY-TRAN in CIH machinery compartments that contain clutches/brakes. Interestingly many CIH dealers remove HY-TRAN from the older axial flow combine final drives and replace it with 85W90 or 75W90 gear oil to eliminate bearing problems. This supports the premise that gear oil gives more protection. I don't know what is specified for the new combine final drives, but I assume it is gear oil not HY-TRAN. You might have been lucky, or not have used the tractor in continuous high draft situations or Ford might have simply overdesigned the components and really didn't need the additional safety factor provided by gear oil. In a continuous high draft application such as plowing I probably wouldn't chance it, and if I did would use the John Deere product. One caveat, 75W90 gear oil might not adequate anti-foaming properties for use in high volume/flow hydraulic systems. I don't believe the early Fords will have this problem.

 

[old]

But the heavy 75W90 will cause all sorts of problem in systems that call for say a 10W or 20W oil which in the case of the ford and many others is the case. Works well in rear ends and systems that don't also supply hyds but not in the others when its say 32 or lower out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

We are way over-killing this subject Rich, but the beauty of 75W90 is that it is a synthetic and flows quite good at low temperatures. The SAE 75W90 oil designation is misleading because you can't directly compare it to the commonly known engine oil SAE weight labels. For example in the cold room where we did cold start development this stuff would flow at -25 degrees F. In contrast, 30W engine oil was similar to a high viscosity rubber at these low temperatures. SAE 80W90 is not the same animal, and it is even worse than the 30W engine oil. However this comes at a high cost, 75W90 is nearly $10/quart.

 

[old]

Yep and you hit the other point. At $10 a qt. I know I couldn't use it because with 30 tractors that would bank rupt me
Hobby farm