Water in transmission/loose top link plate

Hello, forum. Gonna describe some issues I think are all related and maybe someone can tell me if my approach is going to work. Hopefully I have the terminology right

I have a TO-30 that I use in the winter to run a snowblower/do general snow removal along with misc stuff throughout the year.

Last winter I was having some trouble with the 3pt hitch not wanting to lift even when warm/just lifting a few inches off the ground/generally just sticking and acting up.

In the early spring as hings were melting off I had no implement on my 3pt and found it would not lower. I popped the dipstick inspection plate off and manually forced it to lower by pushing on the control forks or whatever they're called with a screwdriver. Always would lift back up and not lower until I got the idea to lower it, then put an implement on. With some weight on the hitch something popped loose I guess and the 3pt has been working apparently normally since.

I didn't see anything obviously leaking or spraying in there BUT I noted the oil was milky like it had water in it and I pulled out three fist-sized chunks of ice.... which obviously is not good and suggests to me what the problem likely is.

I had changed the oil in the transmission a year prior and this seems like too much water to be explained by simple condensation. I already have replaced the gearshift lever boot but that didn't seem to help, I think water must be getting in somewhere else.

I was planning on doing the following to get it ready for the upcoming winter:
Drain the transmission
Remove every cover and panel I easily can get off and re-seal it using a bead of RTV silicon.
Refill the transmission with clean oil.

I was looking it over yesterday to figure out where I was going to be able to do that and I noticed something and I noticed where the top link connection/spring assembly goes into the housing under the seat there is a loose plate there. Probably has 1-2mm of play in it. Seems like that would be a good place for water to be getting in.

I didn't try to tighten the bolts up, doesn't seem like it could be that easy. How much do I have to tear apart to remove that plate and clean/rtv it or is it not going to be that easy? Anything else I ought to try doing aside from what I'm describing?

There is a felt seal that is supposed to be in behind where the three bolts are. If it is gone you will definitely get water in the transmission. Those three bolts shouldn't be loose either. If you leave your tractor setting out in the weather you need to cover the draft control spring and stuff up so water can't get into the hydraulic oil. Your lucky that the pump didn't bust from ice in there. If I was you I would get a new control valve which will cure the lift arms sticking and drain the oil out and clean the sump out really good and refill with fresh oil.

If you are getting water into the Transmission and Hydraulics, it can get in through two places, the bottom of the gear Change Lever and the Draft Spring at the back of the Drivers seat. You can fit a Rubber Boot on the Gear Lever these are available from this site and are cheap, they just slide over the Gear lever right to the bottom. The Draft Spring is harder to rectify because it will usually all be seized up and it may need cutting off to repair it with a new seal. You can just cover the Spring for now with something water proof to prevent anymore water getting in, BUT it does need replacing. If you would like the info about how to replace this seal on the Spring, then email me and I will send it to you.. If the hydraulics are not working at the moment, then remove the Right Side round port Cover on the side below the seat Now look inside and you will see a part hanging down from the Top and into the oil at the Bottom. You need to have the Engine idling and the PTO in gear. Using a long rod or screwdriver, move this part hanging from the top, backwards and forwards a couple of times and this should move the Control Valve a couple of inches, this Valve is what is causing your problem. You need to move it at the lowest part because it is hinged in the middle If it is free and you move the part, the 3 point will lift and lower. If it doesn't move after that, then email me at the address below and I will send you more info about what you can do to get it working again. BUT KEEP YOUR HANDS & SCREWDRIVER OUT OF THE OIL
John(UK) [email protected]