1959 John Deere 440 IC Which Fluids?

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:51 pm

I bought a 1959 John Deere 440 IC gas with a sixway blade a couple of months ago. It is in good shape but two cylinders for the blade leaked too bad to use. I took them off and had them redone. The arms were bent and it cost a arm and leg to have them redone.
I had several questions if somebody could help me out. I have the service manual. It says to use 10W hydraulic fluid. Also the motor oil needs to be topped off its about a pint low. It says 20W for summer and 10W for winter. Here are my questions.
1. Can i just put the cylinders on and top off the fluid slowly working the cylinders to move fluid in.
2. The auto parts store was clueless to what 10W hydraulic fluid is. Can you tell me what I need to buy.
3. For the 10W and 20W motor oil would 10W-40 or 20W-50 work or what should I use.
Obviuosly I'm no mechanic. Its a nice machine I don't want to make a stupid mistake with fluids. I appreciate any advice I could get.

Steve

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:14 pm

tractor hydraulic fluid is what you want most parts stores have it and some walmarts do also and any good motor oil is ok you have to remember multi grade was not around back then

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:27 pm

jtrichard wrote:tractor hydraulic fluid is what you want most parts stores have it and some walmarts do also and any good motor oil is ok you have to remember multi grade was not around back then

Thanks. Was I correct that all I have to do is top off the hydraulic fluid and slowly work the cylinder to let fluid back in?

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:42 pm

most of the time that works ok .... it might take a little time to work the air out

Paul Buhler · Post by **Paul Buhler** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:29 am

Duke: What color is your existing hydraulic oil? If it's light coffee colored or milky, you may have water in it, and this would be a good time to drain and refill fresh. Lavoy has said that he uses hydraulic oil in his machines - I've forgotten the specs (they're posted on this site in another thread). I've been running 20w straight motor oil in Vermont year 'round without problems - I'll be changing over to hydraulic fluid next summer. Good luck with your machine. Paul

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:34 pm

Paul Buhler wrote:Duke: What color is your existing hydraulic oil? If it's light coffee colored or milky, you may have water in it, and this would be a good time to drain and refill fresh. Lavoy has said that he uses hydraulic oil in his machines - I've forgotten the specs (they're posted on this site in another thread). I've been running 20w straight motor oil in Vermont year 'round without problems - I'll be changing over to hydraulic fluid next summer. Good luck with your machine. Paul

Thanks Paul.
The fluid looked ok to me. I went by Tractor Supply today and they had no 10W hydraulic fluid. They told me I would have to go to a lubricant supply center and buy a 50 gallon drum of hydraulic fluid to get 10W. I was a little skeptical of that. I then went to O'Reilys and bought some AW-32 Hydraulic fluid that is suppose to be 10W. I think that should be OK.
Steve

hydrogeo · Post by **hydrogeo** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:49 pm

I run Hytran in my eqipmennt. I suspect these old machines are not particularly picky on the fluids, unlike the newer iron.

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:05 pm

hydrogeo wrote:I run Hytran in my eqipmennt. I suspect these old machines are not particularly picky on the fluids, unlike the newer iron.

I suspect you are right. I'm doing my best to adhere to the service manual on this old machine as I'm going to ask a lot from it. Is Hytrans what the John Deere Dealer sells?

fruitcakesa · Post by **fruitcakesa** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 8:53 pm

I found AO68 = 20wt hydro oil at Napa in 5 gal pails

hydrogeo · Post by **hydrogeo** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 8:57 pm

Hytran is just a universal tractor hydraulic and trans oil. Most farm tractors use the same oil for both the trans and hydraulic systems from a common reservoir. I run the fancy synthetic stuff in my Kubota, but the old junk just gets standard hytran. I'm sure JD sells it. I get my fluids either at Tractor Supply (for the cheap stuff) or Napa typically. If you poke around on the web you will see references to how bad oil was back in the day compared to now. I suspect our cheap stuff now is far better than the best stuff back then.

Post by **Lavoy** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:12 am

Any of the universal fluids will work in the hyd, but you will get some additional squealing, and typically they seem to drop 100-200PSI system pressure.
Lavoy

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:01 pm

Lavoy wrote:Any of the universal fluids will work in the hyd, but you will get some additional squealing, and typically they seem to drop 100-200PSI system pressure.
Lavoy

I think I got the right fluid then. Thanks Lavoy and the others for the good advice. This site is very helpful.

Tigerhaze · Post by **Tigerhaze** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:28 am

duke1 wrote:
hydrogeo wrote:I run Hytran in my eqipmennt. I suspect these old machines are not particularly picky on the fluids, unlike the newer iron.
I suspect you are right. I'm doing my best to adhere to the service manual on this old machine as I'm going to ask a lot from it. Is Hytrans what the John Deere Dealer sells?

I think HyTrans is the name of the fluids that Case sells- John Deere sells HyGard.

I would not say that HyGard is the same as a generic universal tractor fluid (UTF). UTFs are blended to meet the specs of many manufacturers including Deere. Hygard is specifically formulated for Deere machinery. Like Lavoys stated, it shouldn't matter for the application you are considering (loader hydraulics). However several on this board have mentioned that it can make a difference for powershift transmissions like a HLR.

jhv1050 · Post by **jhv1050** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:17 pm

I use 303 hydraulic oil in my 2010 HLR transmission. seems to work fine with no noticable problems.

hydrogeo · Post by **hydrogeo** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:38 pm

All the junk I run is so worn out the fluid spec is the least of my concerns, lol.

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1959 John Deere 440 IC Which Fluids?

1959 John Deere 440 IC Which Fluids?

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