John Deere 60 fizzing oil in transmission

Troubleshooting some problems I've been having with a 45 loader on my JD 60. Oil in the lines was making a lot of hissing noise and when I opened the transmission fill plug a bunch of frothy oil came out. I pulled the rockshaft housing off today and expected to see the rockshaft cylinder gasket blown but it appeared to be ok. Is there another reason I could be getting this much bubbling in my transmission? Thanks,

Pete

Pete,


Sure looks like you have a cracked line or failed o-ring in the power trol lines that is allowing air into the system.

How much water was in the bottom of the transmission? Hydraulic oil and transmission oil are not the same oil so I think you have 2 issues here. Lighter hydraulic oil in cold weather will cut down on the buzzing hydraulic lines. I have also had frothing transmission oil in some of my tractors. I put fresh oil in my late A transmission last August and plowed for a while with it. The oil was looked a lot like yours because of the air whipped into it not because of water. The air whipped into the oil will expand it. While you have the rear housing off change the seal on the pto input shaft.

(quoted from post at 05:26:32 01/24/19) How much water was in the bottom of the transmission? Hydraulic oil and transmission oil are not the same oil so I think you have 2 issues here. Lighter hydraulic oil in cold weather will cut down on the buzzing hydraulic lines. I have also had frothing transmission oil in some of my tractors. I put fresh oil in my late A transmission last August and plowed for a while with it. The oil was looked a lot like yours because of the air whipped into it not because of water. The air whipped into the oil will expand it. While you have the rear housing off change the seal on the pto input shaft.

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here should not be any water at the bottom of the transmission case, I changed the transmission oil in December. As for the powrtol, I run only hygard for hydraulic oil. Is there something lighter than hygard? I also had not been driving the tractor around much, just engaging the clutch in neutral.

I use hyguard in mine to so that is fine. If you let that oil you drained set in a bucket for for a while the air will dissipate and the oil will return to normal color. I ran my 520 at -18 last weekend and the hydraulics were noisy till the oil got warm. I let the tractor run and warm up before I plowed snow.

ET, thanks for the advice. I spoke to the old JD dealer this morning and it seems like the only thing to do is to put it back together and see if I can't get the air worked out of the lines. The transmission oil that I drained is maybe 6 gallons in volume today which is down considerably from yesterday so I guess it's just air and not extra.

Sure is weird looking ? someone fill it up with beer ? LOL. If unknown oil in there I'd use new oil. For sure do the PTO pump seal and bushing while right there. Wonder if possible pto pump could be putting air in there ? was the pto gears turned on ? little shifter up by tranny gear shift tower.

(quoted from post at 07:47:01 01/24/19) Sure is weird looking ? someone fill it up with beer ? LOL. If unknown oil in there I'd use new oil. For sure do the PTO pump seal and bushing while right there. Wonder if possible pto pump could be putting air in there ? was the pto gears turned on ? little shifter up by tranny gear shift tower.

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Mike,

I was running new 80-90 gear oil in the trans. I don't think I had the PTO lever engaged since it's not necessary to run the loader like on my b. How difficult is it to replace the bushing and seal? I can see what you're talking about but I don't know what else I would have to take apart to drive out the old bushing. Just cut the mechanics wire and unbolt the housing? Thanks,

Pete

Cut the wire and remove the bolts. It will then come off. Dowel pins and maybe some old gasket shellac may be holding it require a bit of prying. Now if you 60 is early enough it may not have a bushing in that end cover ? Depending on how much it was used it may or may not be worn ? but a sure bet the seal is old and hard unless someone just did it in the past ? New seals will use 2 narrow ones with lips facing opposite. Old original one was one real thick double lip seal. That is a pump housing so it has a gear in it. Shaft is the other gear. The gear has to be set in mesh and then the housing slipped over it when going back together. Easy job to do since you are right there. I always replace the seals in one anytime if I had to remove that rear end housing. Many times that was the only reason I had to remove the cover ! gear oil and pto clutch disks do not like each other.
Wonder if the gear oil said anything about anti foaming on the container label ?

Mike,

It's a 55' model and according to the serial number in the parts catalog it should have a bushing. With that being said, I didn't detect a lot of slop/movement in the shaft so I don't know whether it will need a the bushing as well. I ordered 2 of the AA5247r seals from deere this morning. From what I can tell, theres no gasket between the pump housing and the rockshaft housing? Just use some Permatex or high tack when reassembling?


As for the oil, I am remembering now that I used a combination of wolf's head 80-90 which I have used in the past without incident and a few gallons of an 85-140 that I got from some nearby mechanics who do a lot of work on crawlers. It was expensive stuff so I only bought five gallons and I stretched it with the wolf's head. I didn't think twice about it but now I'm wondering whether that was a mistake and the two are reacting/breaking down when in use? In any case, if the rockshaft cylinder isn't leaking air, the transmission oil frothing shouldn't be affecting my loader operation.

I agree with all the above.

Looks to me like a leak in the hydraulic suction line sucking air.

If you drained the oil in clean buckets you can probably reuse most of it.

(quoted from post at 12:44:28 01/24/19) Looks to me like a leak in the hydraulic suction line sucking air.

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David,

That was one of my original thoughts as far as the loader operation but I don't understand how that would fix up the transmission. The suction line plumbs into the powrtol reservoir right?

ET, I caught all the fluids in clean buckets. Since all the oil is new I want to reuse as much as possible.

Pto seal usually causes tran oil to get into pto clutch not the other way around.
Hyd suction line sucking air is not the same as trans so wouldn't cause trans foam.
Could your gear oil be high detergent causing it to foam???