What hydraulic fluid? School me please...

Bighammer

New User
Unfortunately I don't have (and can't find) any type of owners manual or repair manual for my crawler. I have only recently purchased it, after having been stored for years. I'd like to change out all the fluids, but not sure where to start.

The crawler is hydrostaticly driven via a 2 cylinder Isuzu diesel. I'm also wondering (I know nothing about hydrostatics) if the hydrostatic system uses the same tank as the lift cylinders (?)

Here's a pic of the tank:
17135.jpg
"See manual for specs" Lol I would love to obtain one!

Unfortunately there's a fine mesh screen down inside the filler neck so I can't see beyond that to observe the fluid depth.


17137.jpg


The second picture of the tank shows what looks to be a drain plug (?)

Anyone willing to give me some tips or point me in the right direction would be very much appreciated! I'm not a mechanic, but I'd like to learn the basics of caring for this crawler.

Mark
 
Why do you not start by showing us a photo of the entire machine or at least tell us what brand and model.
 

JM, this is a 1983 Gerlinger crawler. The model is LC30. I hit a dead end trying to find anything about this brand. All I know is that they were made in Salem Oregon from the mid 70's to the mid 80's when Caterpillar bought them out and ceased production.

Here's a picture of the loader:


mvphoto17184.jpg


It's a small machine, 6000 lbs, but it's only got 711 hours on the clock and it runs like a top! I'm very interested in changing out the fluids, but I'm hoping for some advice on what hydraulic fluid to use. Also I'm concerned with the hydrostatic transmission, does it need PM service as well?

Thanks for your reply

Mark
 
If it truly does have a hydrostatic transmission I would want some good oil in it. The hydraulics back then just good hydraulic oil. I have never seen one so it is something I can not really help you with. I do think you are doing right by servicing the thing in that condensation and time means water maybe in your fluids. Sure is a neat rig for sure.
 

Thanks JM!

Would you reckon that the hydraulic tank / reservoir would be utilized for the transmission as well as the loader cylinders?

I will post some more pics

17189.jpg


17190.jpg
 
From the looks of the sprocket, I'd believe the hours.
If you can't find any other reservoirs, chances are it's a common one, for both the hydraulic system, and hydro.
The important thing is clean oil. Hopefully there's a standard spin on filter somewhere you can change. Sometimes the filter is in the tank. The bolt on cover makes me suspicious of that.
I can't remember the sequence, but NH went through several oils after coming out with their skid steer loaders. For a time they used type A auto transmission fluid. For a while they used engine oil. They also used tractor hyd/trans fluid. Theirs was a common sump for everything. Point being- clean, good quality oil is more important than the type. I'd lean towards tractor hyd/trans fluid for your machine.
It sure is a neat find. Best of luck.
 
I googled it and got some old discussions on it--give this guy a call!


Could I get you to make a copy of the owners manual and engine manual? I can send you a check to cover the cost of having it done. I have a 79 model LC30. It is in great shape and has 800 hour on it. We had to build a new bucket for it and replace the seals in 3 cylinders, but that is minor. Send me an email if you want to see pictures. We just repainted it, so it looks like new. Thanks, Ben Baty 404-273-3997
 

Great info, Thanks for taking the time to reply Bob! This really helps a lot!

I haven't been able to spend much time with this machine yet, but I'll certainly be looking for any filters that I can replace. So far I found these two:

17225.jpg


It appears that the larger one (on the left) is the hydraulic fluid filter and the other one is a remote engine filter. Will confirm tomorrow...

There's some information on the WWW about the Isuzu engine, but if anyone has any information or experience with them, I'd love to hear about it! Apparently they were used in the marine industry for quite a while.
 

Haha! I did call Ben a few days ago! He sold his machine a few years ago. Unfortunately his brother in law put a bunch of crappy old diesel in it that was half water. It sat for several years after that and he eventually got rid of it.

Thanks for your suggestion though!

Best,

Mark
 

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