How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby Tom400CFI on 02 Feb 2011, 17:09

...In a shift or over the course of a night. At what point, would you "call it" and park a cat. Obviously if you have extra cats, you can do that any time. If you're running everything youv'e got, though, and your machine develops a leak, at what point -or rate of leaking, do you park it?
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby cbender on 03 Feb 2011, 13:43

Hey Tom, hope you are having as good a winter as we are, though the recent cold temps had our mechanics scrambling. Regarding when a leak is cause for shut down...stating the obvious, if there is enough blue or red on the ground and an alarm is going off, you have passed that time. On our crew (running PB300 and 400s) our decision will primarily be based on rate of leakage. If you started out the shift with a full site glass and a small/medium leak develops that causes this to drop to the bottom of the site glass, then you better already be heading for the shop if close or in our case we have a couple of on-hill stashes of oil. I've been taught that a tiller or drive hose failure can empty the reservoir in about 16 seconds. Each operator needs to be constantly vigilant regarding leaks from both his/her cat and the cat ahead of theirs. Shut down may also be determined by what hydraulic system is leaking. If you blow a blade wing hose, it might not be as big an issue as say the parking brake line or any leak directly under the pumps and motors.

By the way, this year alone, we have had two or three failures of the hydraulic implement valve blocks which develop a crack. I suspect this is from operators trying to shake off the snow from their implements instead of shoveling, and this creates a momentary spike pressure in the block. This is just another training issue.
Curt Bender

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of acreage is forgotten"
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby Tom400CFI on 03 Feb 2011, 19:34

Thanks for the reply. You're thoughts agree with mine. I was "just checking".

cbender wrote:By the way, this year alone, we have had two or three failures of the hydraulic implement valve blocks which develop a crack.

We've had several too this year too. Unusual. It could be from what you said. I've never seen one of my ops do that, but I'm sure it happens.
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby snowwizard on 03 Feb 2011, 22:01

With the size of hyd oil tanks any leaks can be time to get it back and fix asap. (Only if low level light is not on). All so always make a visual check for oil level. Important thing is operators need to shut down the tractor when major leakes happen. (When low level light comes on).
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby Canadianbombar on 20 Feb 2011, 23:09

I would say a couple gallons of ATF per 8 hour shift and get to the bottom of the problem the next day in the shop if you desperately need the production from that cat. Any more than that and you would waste more time refilling and checking your site glass than working. I've seen PB 200 valve blocks cracked too....seems to be a weak point on all those cats. I would more think they get cracked from the fluid moved in the force of hitting a boulder under the snow than shaking the blade. In a lot of places in the west one actually has to shake the blade just to gain traction on a climb.
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby troutriver on 21 Feb 2011, 00:04

Quit messing around and find a real mechanic to fix the damn thing right. We had a 25K failure last year because some moron operator thought it was not that bad a leak and he could "get it to the shop". No luck. PB/Prinoth would love to sell you some parts....You can't always trust the low oil level lamp alarm to warn you anyway. I found the one on my winch disconnected because it failed and instead of replacing it, it was bypassed. There are some people "fixing" our machines who should be cooking burgers instead. It only takes 4 seconds to drain a tank on these cats given the 100 to 140CC pump systems, so keep that in mind when a major hose blows.. The damage gets done faster than you can ask what to do on the radio.

Running a questionable machine sets a bad example for the crew. They may do the same thing, make a mistake and burn up a system. Put the pressure on the shop as the "bad guy" who can't fix it!! Best thing we had done was laminate the warning symbols/description on the dash into a "flash card" to hang in each cat. Then the operators knew what the hell the light was they had come one, whether it was serious or fatal and they had to shut the cat down regardless of where they were. Sounds dumb, but there are alot of moron drivers out there.

If the leak is in a blade/tiller/aux circuit where it leaks only when a certain function is used, thats a bit different. If its in the drive/tiller system I won't chance it. These things are not that difficult to repair with a good person. Either way, get it fixed. Good luck.
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Re: How much is too much (hydraulic leakage)

Postby msturm on 22 Feb 2011, 21:01

I would say any leakage is a problem. A slow drip as you back out of the shop could be a blown hose and dry pumps 30 seconds later. Its not a good idea to take chances with some of the most expensive parts on the cat. Better to get it fixed as soon as possible. Besides that, nobody likes pink snow.
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