The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I found some post on some forums about people flushing their rear axle/hydraulic with diesel.

"I drain most of the oil, fill it up with some diesel and take it for a litte ride, drain it and refill it with oil"

Woun't this damage the o-rings and seals?

Changing my oil tomorrow and don't want to make it worse

I have a recollection that it is OK to use kerosene to flush but NOT diesel as it buggers the o-rings and seals. Anyone else remember?

No to diesel, yes to Kerosene, refer to "gearbox flush its uggly!!" in the Dexta forum by "greendoglive" on June 26,2010.TSG.

Kerosene and a little oil is best.

Kerosene flushing for rear axle is possible, but totally ineffective. The dirt remains on bottom and will mix with the new oil making also it creamy.

I had to use 150 bar pressure to clean the rear axle. White spirit was also needed.

Perhaps that is why it was a recommended procedure from Ford to the dealers.

Back in the day, before these tractors reached 50+ years old, I could see where kero in the trans would flush out light dirt and particles from the bottom. Now that many of these tractors have out lived their original percieved life expectancy, which is quoted as a 10 year life span for any farm tractor in general use. And also that many have had the gear box neglected for as many years. To remove an inch of crud from the bottom it would require at least lifting to top and high pressure washing the crud from the bottom though inspection holes and the hydraulic pump hole. In over 40 years of repairing stuff, I have never found a magic elixer that would completely remove hard, packed in crud from neglect of proper mantainance at specified intervals.

A Happy Fordson, is a Maintaned Fordson.

Or in other words... Change your fluids when you are suppose to.

Of course the problem with this is we have inhereted the neglect from previous generations, and often end up with doing everthing the hard way to get a good and lasting repair job. Dandy Dave!

Dandy Dave is right! Regular maintenance is the way to go and the cheapest dollar you can spend in the long run. I recently did over a Massey 50 for a friend that had 3/4 inch of the thickest crud I have ever seen in the bottom of the transmission. An old plastic kiddies shovel got most of it out and engine cleaner and a brush got the rest. YUCK!

OK, I posted this in the wrong section of the forum. I thought I posted it in the Dexta section, but some way I posted it wrong.

But anyhow the oil change is now done. I could not get out the drain plug as the trailer hitch was in the way. I removed the drop down part, but couldn't find a socket that would fit up in there and on the plug.
I ended up using three times the amount of oil First I drained the old oil through the aux hydraulic, I just unscrewed the line for the front loader and let the hydrualic pump do the rest. Filled it two times with fresh oil, drowe it around and worked the hydraulic some and drained it the same way. The last time I bolted everthing back up, filled it with oil for the last time and got out all the air from the front loader system.

Wow this made a difference The hydraulic is much faster, it holds it position much longer and the flow control works the way it shoul.
The old oil was milky white, and very thin
This will have to do until summer is back

Dexta, or Major, or Ford, or massy, or john deere, or case ih....It is universal to change the oil at the proper intervals to have good service from your machine.

You would have got the same answer from any tractor site or from any mechanic with real experiance.

You, as a Dexta owner, like us that have Majors, most likely inherited the problem from neglect from previous owners so don't take it as your fault. It is just a fact of owning a vintage tractor, Some have been well cared for. And some have not. Maybe the flush worked for you because yor Dexta has had some care.

Sounds like you have it solved. Good luck and Happy Tractoring. Dandy Dave!