WHITE 2-85 Maintenance... Bizarre Hydro Occurence

I'm no tractor pro... I picked up this 2-85 to drag firewood. I keep the fluids clean and full, and have dragged about 300 trees in 4 years... no complaints. The other day it began pushing a generous flow of gray (mortar thinset gray) fluid from a filter under the floor on the LH Driver side... tucked AboveBehind Hydraulic Pump... I bought the White hydraulic manual, and then the Service Manual, and they are surprisingly silent on this filter's purpose... I deduced it is probably the transmission filter... no pleasure removing it.

I started her up, and the water that came out of the port was so much, so clean, it made me thirsty !!! what the heck?!???? I let it run... at least a gallon or more of Crystal clean water, then the gray thick fluid... about 5 gallons later it was a bit darker. I shut it down, there was no unusual noises during this...

I am beside myself at the amount of clean water in there!! I've had this thing 4 years with ZERO problems.

So now i will properly drain and replenish....

Any idea how on earth 1-2 gallons of clean water got in there????

And can some one confirm that the filter is in fact the Trans filter? The "Hydraul Shift" filter is on the right side in the frame well... hydraulic filter is huge in comparison attached next to its pump inthe wide open....

Thanks Very Much !

Does the tractor have a cab? Is the filter attach to the transmission case at a right angle? Do you have the serial and specification numbers? You have a phone number or e-mail?

no cab... filter is horizontal into the side of the Trans case under Left Foot floor board behind hydraulic pump...

Serial # 272879-408...

PH 914-365-0814

Thanks Very Much !!

Without being run too much, condensation forms and doesn't burn off when you run it 20 minutes here & there. Also, if the boot over the shift lever is cracked, rain water seeps in there.

IIRC there should be 3 plugs under the transmission. One should have a screen on it and that is where the pump suck the oil, and the other 2 are drain plugs. I forget exactly how much oil our 1855 took (Oliver version of your White) but I think it was around 8-9 gallons, so 2 pails would fill it for you. And as you have found, it's almost impossible to remove the filter without destroying it.

It uses the same filter as the hydraul shift. (Wix 53107, or NAPA 3107)

Donovan from Wisconsin

(quoted from post at 12:07:04 02/02/16) Without being run too much, condensation forms and doesn't burn off when you run it 20 minutes here & there. Also, if the boot over the shift lever is cracked, rain water seeps in there.

IIRC there should be 3 plugs under the transmission. One should have a screen on it and that is where the pump suck the oil, and the other 2 are drain plugs. I forget exactly how much oil our 1855 took (Oliver version of your White) but I think it was around 8-9 gallons, so 2 pails would fill it for you. And as you have found, it's almost impossible to remove the filter without destroying it.

It uses the same filter as the hydraul shift. (Wix 53107, or NAPA 3107)

Donovan from Wisconsin

Click to expand...

I forget how much it takes as well, but that sounds about right. I use a strap filter wrench, like a seat belt with a socket wrench attachment, and I always hated that filter. It's been a few years, the fill hole is above and to the left of the pto shaft. It's a bigger nut plug that screws out (up), was there a vent on it? I forget, if that vent was messed up, like the top off, during rain water might be able to get in there, but like I said, forget how that looks, so it may not. On the right side area of the pto housing there's a plug that screws out to check the level.