Ford 4000 Transmission Oil

Part Time Pete

Well-known Member
I've got to get a manual for it, but I've one of the later 3 cylinder Ford 4000's, and I need to change the transmission oil. I'm guessing it takes gear oil, but does anyone know for sure, and how much it takes? Also, there's a 1/2" pipe plug on the right side of the transmission, just behind the brake pedals. I'm thinking that's the level plug?
Thanks
Pete
 

One on the hyd pump and one on the side of the trans.. both WERE... square pipe plugs originally.

That tractor can take any Universal Tractor Hydraulic fluid in the trans and rear end. Later models required a more robust oil as the pump pressures were increased and much more heat was created.

The sos trans required m-2c41a, the standard trans required m-2c53a, and the rear end required m-2c53a.

The newer m-2c53a is/was a 20wt oil, red dye, and a viscosity improver. However the viscosity improver used at that time was a derivative of whale oil and was later banned in the 70s... This meant that all automatic transmission oils of that time had to be reformulated and upgraded. So selling oil branded as a jd303 or ford m-2c53a oil is illegal because that oil spec called for whale oil additives. Whale products are banned world wide by international treaty and can not be sold. Even a modern oil that uses other types of viscosity improvers can not be called or sold as 303 due to the laws.

back to the point,,, any universal tractor hydraulic fluid sold today, will meet or exceed these early specs. There were no recorded failures in 55 years from using these specified oils in these tractors. So the j20t which meets the next and later spec, on sale at tsc for $24 for 5 gallons or the fully synthetic space ship tractor oils at $120 for a 5 gallon container will work. I prefer to use the j20t and change it every 5 years due to water contamination, rather than use a fully synthetic oil and let it run with slug of water in. When the oil starts to turn white due to water egress, its time to change it.
 
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I'll be picky here. I think you mean "water ingress".
Egress means leaving, and if the water would just leave its own
you wouldn't need to change out the gear oil to get rid of it.
 

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