450c hot hydraulic reservoir

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kodiakman178
MC crawler
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Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:10 am
Location: Rockford, WA USA

450c hot hydraulic reservoir

Post by kodiakman178 » Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:26 pm

The ground finally dried out enough to cut a road in from the top of my property to the bottom. Ran my machine for about an hour, damn near burned my arm on the side of the reservoir. It’s been warm/hot before but never this hot. What is too hot for that tank and fluid? Checked the tranny fluid and it was normal temp. Would too much fluid in the tank cause it to be so hot?

Also tried to climb back up the hill which is super steep and it wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t even spin the tracks. Is there such thing as too steep to climb? My machine is a 77 but only has 2570 hrs on it.

Any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks

B Town
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Re: 450c hot hydraulic reservoir

Post by B Town » Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:26 pm

Hello kodiakman 178,

The hydraulic fluid can get warm, esp on a hot 90+ degree day with long hours of us. It probably should not be as hot as you describe. Couple questions or things to think about. Is the hydraulic fluid newer, clean, not milky, is the reservoir at the appropriate fill level in the site window? Does the oil smell? Normal oil smell? Burnt? Scorched?

Does your SN 450C have the filter inside the oil tank? If the filter is in the tank, does the pop up lift up when raising and lowering your work. If it does pop up, this would indicate a restriction such as a plugged filter. Has the filter been changed? Recently? Is your crawler a dozer? Does the hydraulics work as expected?

Second part, Yes, you can get on a steep enough decline or incline to lose oil at the pickup and therefore loosing all track function. I have been working my 450C trackloader, bucket downhill, and lost all drive. Luckily, I was able to continue downhill to a lesser degree departure angle and regain drive function.

Take care, Bruce

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kodiakman178
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Re: 450c hot hydraulic reservoir

Post by kodiakman178 » Thu Apr 26, 2018 10:24 am

Bruce, thx for the reply and suggestions.
The fluid is prob due to be changed, I just bought the machine and the guy before me had it for 7 years not sure on his upkeep.
The fluid is clean looking and smells just like the new stuff I got. I may have the level at the top of the site glass.
Yes the filter is inside of the tank, the pop up hasn’t lifted, but hydraulics did seem a bit slower after running for a couple hours.
Yes it is a dozer.

Thanks again for the reply I’ll have to cut that road in w some switchbacks because it is steep.

Thanks, Trevor

B Town
350 crawler
350 crawler
Posts: 752
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 7:04 pm
Location: Western Iowa

Re: 450c hot hydraulic reservoir

Post by B Town » Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:16 am

Just to clarify the pop up will only pop up when using the lever to control the dozer blade. You have to watch it while actively moving the blade up/down. The filter is out-of-site and therefore out-of-mind. I would definitely change the filter. Slower movement in the blade after several hours of use, could be an aging pump? Keep us posted, Bruce

Jim B
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Re: 450c hot hydraulic reservoir

Post by Jim B » Thu Apr 26, 2018 12:00 pm

Your hydraulic temperature may not be as bad as it seems. I think JD gives and operating range temp of 150 to 180 degrees. A rule of thumb used by many is 100 degrees over ambient temp. Either way it will be uncomfortable to the touch, to say the least. Check it with a non-contact thermometer (heat gun) to be sure.

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