The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I had replaced my rear oil with hydraulic fluid and found this caused leaks and the rear lift arms to slowly drift down. I reached out to the forum and was told to replace with sae 30. I completed the oil change with the 30 weight and the arms are continuing to slowly drop. A friend has recommended replacing with 80/90 gear oil. He feels this will fix the problem. Any thoughts at what I should do to stop the arms from continually moving down. Thanks in advance for any comments. David 1959 Fordson Major

What model tractor are you working on? Dandy Dave!

Might want to try the other forum,

But if the lift cylinder or the check valve are in a bad way, changing fluid viscosity will only slow things down. Not stop them/

Might want to open up the fill port and have a careful look and listen to try to determine where the trouble is.

Either way, the unit will need to come apart for a clean up and freshen up.

Rust works against both mechanisms, so really the trouble could be both the piston packing and the valve.

The tractor is a 1959 Fordson Major Diesel.

Single or double lever lift?

ps, I have a single lever lift on my 1950 E27n, Fill the lift chamber with UTTO (Hydraulic fluid)

The lift performs flawlessly. All I'm saying, is that it's not the fluid causing your troubles. Something is worn or broken.

With that, I could be with "heavy oil" the lift would droop slow enough to be acceptable. I have never found that solution very satisfying.

You will get more replies in the "Fordson New Major" Thread. Post there. Dandy Dave!