trans MISSION

One of our four wheel drive tractors had an issue with the transmission: when we checked the hydraulic oil it was black.  Since hydraulic oil is supposed to be clear we knew we had an issue.  Unfortunately for us taking out the transmission is kind of a nightmare.  The good news is that my father-in-law is a mechanical genius and so are the guys that work for him.

In order to get to the transmission we had to take off the cab of the tractor:

Then we had to take out the transmission which is about half the size of a refrigerator and weights about a half a ton. 

After all that fun then it was time to take apart the transmission and try to find the problem.

It turns out the transmission was ok, the black oil was actually being caused by the pto clutch assembly.  It burned out when there was too little pressure on the clutch plates which caused them to rub, get hot and turn the oil black.

I know what you are thinking.  And you're right - It does look like a city in the introduction of Game of Thrones...

Once we figured out the problem we rebuilt the transmission and we put all the bigger pieces together. 

The scary part about doing all this work is that there is no way to test the transmission unless you get it all back together and start it up.   Once we got it all back together the transmission worked great.  We are officially ready to start pulling heavy things again.

-Trans Mission Specialist Ryan