Got a leak. :(

[jbordelon]

So, as you can see from the photo, I have a pretty bad leak. I believe it consists of engine oil AND hydraulic oil. It's coming from where the tractor separates. Any clues as to what kind of trouble I'm going to find when I split the tractor?

The leak just started out of the blue. Everything was fine and then I walk in a couple of days ago after a few hours of bush hogging and see this. The leak seems to have stopped since the tractor cooled down, so I guess that's kind of good. The weird thing is all my fluid levels still look good.

 

[old]

Could be a rear main or the transmission seal of both. I can not say for sure on that one but many of the older fords had a cotter pin in a hole in the bell housing to keep the bell housing drain open so you should check for that. That all said it takes less the a table spoon of oil to make one big puddle so you probably have very little to worry about unless of course you think you have to have a perfect tractor LOL. To fix that you pretty well need to split the tractor so to me I would just put a pan under it so as to keep from having to clean up the oil spot on the floor

 

[jbordelon]

Thank you, Old. As you can see from the pic, I do not have to have a perfect tractor.

I just wanted to make sure something major was not damaged. If I have time this winter, I want to disassemble and paint it. I can replace the seals then.

 

[old]

Very common for an old tractor to leak. That is why many of the old fords had a cotter pin and a hole in the bell housing so as to drain that leaking oil out and keep it off the clutch disk. And then if you figure the hyd system and the fact it runs at 2500 PSI or more those are real hard to keep from not leaking due to the high pressures

 

[sotxbill]

Common. Check level of trans and drain it down to correct
level... Problem will go away in most cases. Due to water
getting in tranny and overfilling. So it comes out front...

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 11:49:06 07/26/12)

So, as you can see from the photo, I have a pretty bad leak. I believe it consists of engine oil AND hydraulic oil. It's coming from where the tractor separates. Any clues as to what kind of trouble I'm going to find when I split the tractor?

The leak just started out of the blue. Everything was fine and then I walk in a couple of days ago after a few hours of bush hogging and see this. The leak seems to have stopped since the tractor cooled down, so I guess that's kind of good. The weird thing is all my fluid levels still look good.

Sure enough does look like it leaked 'right out of the BLUE".... ............................................
Might check power steering fluid level, too.

 

[Hal/Eastern WA]

If it is a diesel, it could be "making oil" by leaking raw diesel into the crankcase oil. After a while, the diesel can make the engine oil way too thin.

Or, is there any chance that the oil was overfilled before you ran the brush hog?

I think I would watch what it does for a while. If your oil levels stay up where they should be, and the drips continue, I would think about oil analysis. That is not a huge oil leak, but it would be messy. Like Old suggested, you might want to put a pan under the tractor when you park it. An old cookie sheet with several layers of newspaper on it makes for very easy cleanup. good luck!

 

[PeteTheRookie]

Leaks stink!

On my 4500 I installed a drip pan that extends from about 6 inches before rear axle to about a 18"s behind the front axle. It was the back side of a metal office desk I dismantled.
Hangs a few inches below the oil pan. Suspended by nylon braided 1/4" rope. Has some oil dry in it that I change like kitty litter when it gets too dirty.
Leaks too much to let it go, but not enough to split the tractor for. Especially as I do not have a place to split it!
Will try and get a pic of it if it stops raining.
Not complaining about the rain. Water bill is going to be high from trying to keep the trees/flowers alive. Let the lawn burn as I hate mowing anyway.

Pete