Vacuum trick for hydralic work?

Doug-Iowa · Apr 27, 2018

I have a Massey 1635 hydro that has a small leak in a hose on the bottom of the transmission. When I ordered the hose from the dealer, he offered this procedure to prevent draining the entire 11 gallons of oil from the case. Clean out a small shop vac real well and remove the dust filter. Duct tape the vac hose to the fill pipe on the back of the tractor and turn it on. Proceed with changing the hose, as the vacuum will hold the majority of the oil in the case and you'll only loose a quart or two. This sounds like something I could really make a huge mess trying to do.

I had just planned to drain the oil into three brand new buckets and put it back in after I had the hose replaced. Oil was just changed about 30 hours ago so it has lots of life yet, too soon to change it again. Anyone tried the vacuum idea?

GaryinKs · Apr 27, 2018

I have used that trick on combines, I would rather just drain the oil, what if the shop vac quits or gets unplugged in the middle of this process?

Spook · Apr 27, 2018

(quoted from post at 12:23:20 04/27/18) I have a Massey 1635 hydro that has a small leak in a hose on the bottom of the transmission. When I ordered the hose from the dealer, he offered this procedure to prevent draining the entire 11 gallons of oil from the case. Clean out a small shop vac real well and remove the dust filter. Duct tape the vac hose to the fill pipe on the back of the tractor and turn it on. Proceed with changing the hose, as the vacuum will hold the majority of the oil in the case and you'll only loose a quart or two. This sounds like something I could really make a huge mess trying to do.

I had just planned to drain the oil into three brand new buckets and put it back in after I had the hose replaced. Oil was just changed about 30 hours ago so it has lots of life yet, too soon to change it again. Anyone tried the vacuum idea?

I’vd Used that technique several times. Works great. I never bothered to take out the filter, and I never saw any oil in the vac afterward, it didn’t have enough suction to draw it out, but enough to keep it from draining..

jeffcat · Apr 27, 2018

Let us see. It should wirk because the oil trying to flow out can only exert a couple of pounds as where the vacuum is sucking with a heck of a lot more inches of vacuum. Give this video a look. Verrrrry interesting!!!
vacuum oil job.

2002sliverado · Apr 27, 2018

I did this with my 4640 John Deere a couple years ago, when I had checked the hydraulic system pre-screen in the very bottom of the tub. I used our larger shop vac (10 or 12 gallon) just because I wanted as much suction as I could produce, and I maybe spilled a drop or two. It worked great!

Willow Lane · Apr 27, 2018

I can't say for sure in your case, but I watched the oil company change the valve on the bottom of a 275 gallon oil tank by hooking a vacuum cleaner to the fill line. He never lost a drop. He let the vacuum cleaner run until the tank stopped creaking and groaning and the vacuum cleaner started speeding up, unscrewed the valve and screwed on a new one.

showcrop · Apr 27, 2018

This trick has been recommended a few times here for replacing the outlet tap on fuel tanks, but not for gasoline.

john *.?-!.* cub owner · Apr 27, 2018

When I worked in an appliance shop we used to do a similar thing when changing elements in water heaters. Hooked the vacuum hose to a hot water faucet. once the line feeding water heater was turned off. Of course turn electric to heater off also.

rrlund · Apr 27, 2018

Not for that,but I saw a vacuum used for a wiring job a few weeks ago. The guy put a string in the end of a conduit,tied the other end off,sucked the string through,tied it to the wire and used the string to pull the wire while he fed it in from the other end.

Brendon-KS · Apr 27, 2018

I've used a shop vac in this manner numerous times on 25 gallon reservoirs when disconnecting hoses that are on the bottom. Even a big 1-1/4" supply hose will only lose a small amount when removed provided you have a good seal on the vac - more will drain out of the disconnected hose than will come out of the reservoir. Expect lots of noisy gurgling. A tall reservoir with plenty of distance from the oil level to the filler helps as it limits the amount of oil that can end up in the vac. Just make sure nobody trips on the cord and pulls it out of the outlet, though!

Dennis K (WA) · Apr 27, 2018

I used vacuum many times in the field working on hydraulics by attaching a small test gauge hose to the intake manifold on the service truck. Saved a lot of time when the reservoir was a drum or more.
Didn't work out so good one time on a large rectangular sheet metal tank though. A somewhat loud bang occurred when the tank started to collapse.

Dennis

Vacuum trick for hydralic work?

Doug-Iowa

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GaryinKs

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Spook

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jeffcat

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2002sliverado

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Willow Lane

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showcrop

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john .?-!. cub owner

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rrlund

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Brendon-KS

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Dennis K (WA)

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