Little specks in tractor fluid

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Hi everyone,

I was changing the transmission fluid on our tractor today. I took some empty 5 gallon Tractor Supply Traveler Renew fluid buckets I had in the machine barn to catch the old fluid. I took the lid off and because I was out in the sun, I could see the bottom of the bucket clearly. Reflecting in the sun on the bottom of the bucket were little specks of something, looked like wear metals, but this was new fluid that had just recently been poured into a different tractor, all that was left was a little bit in the bottom.

Are these specks normal? Are they part of the additive package?

I showed them to my brother and he said they probably came from the holding tank. I was wondering if this is normal or not.
 
Might very well be metal partials.

How many hrs are on the tractor?

When did you last change the filter?

Sounds like you did good by changing the fluid.
 
Sorry, I wasn't that clear in my original post. I had the tractor parked on the concrete pad by the barn, I put it there because it was level and was getting ready to drain the old transmission fluid, but, I had not done it yet.

The specks I am concerned with are in the buckets I brought out to catch the old fluid. They were sealed, I had to peal away the sealing ring to get the lids off. Nothing had been put into them, no old fluid, nothing. The buckets were bought from Tractor Supply about a month and the fluid was poured into another tractor. The buckets were sitting empty in the corner of the machine barn, until I grabbed them for this fluid change. So, they were just sitting there. I broke the seal to open the lid so I could catch the fluid coming out of the tractor. This is when I saw the specks in the bottom of the buckets.

That was why I was wondering if it was normal. It doesn't seem like it should be there, in new fluid. That was why I was wondering if it was part of the additive package. Little specks, that look like wear metals, the thought of pouring it into the tractor doesn't seem like a good thing.
 
Originally Posted By: car51
Maybe there was some metal bits in the old buckets you used to catch the fluid?? Dunno


It looks like metal bits, that is what concerns me. This was new fluid, I opened the buckets to catch the old fluid, I had to take off the sealing ring to get the lid off, and I know, no old fluid was ever poured into these buckets. They were bought only about a month before, the fluid poured into another tractor, and then set in the corner of the barn.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Might very well be metal partials.

How many hrs are on the tractor?

When did you last change the filter?

Sounds like you did good by changing the fluid.


It looks like metal particles, I am trying to figure out where they came from. It was in the bottom of the buckets I had NOT even poured old fluid into yet! I had the tractor sitting there, I had not even taking off the drain plugs yet! I was getting the buckets ready to catch the old transmission fluid. I took the lids off, and saw what looks like metal particles in the bottom of the bucket.

I was getting ready to change the fluid on our Kubota M105X. It has 2,888 hours on it. I change the filters when I last changed the fluid, about two years ago, the spring of 2014.
 
Often additives condense and settle a bit in jugs or buckets but I've never seen anything glittery in new oil. Take some pics of it in bucket and then wipe up the bits with a white paper towel and see what they actually are.
We don't get the TSC traveler oil up here but it always seems suspiciously cheap to me, but lots of guys on the tractor forums use it with no complaints.
 
Originally Posted By: njohnson
Sorry, I wasn't that clear in my original post. I had the tractor parked on the concrete pad by the barn, I put it there because it was level and was getting ready to drain the old transmission fluid, but, I had not done it yet.

The specks I am concerned with are in the buckets I brought out to catch the old fluid. They were sealed, I had to peal away the sealing ring to get the lids off. Nothing had been put into them, no old fluid, nothing. The buckets were bought from Tractor Supply about a month and the fluid was poured into another tractor. The buckets were sitting empty in the corner of the machine barn, until I grabbed them for this fluid change. So, they were just sitting there. I broke the seal to open the lid so I could catch the fluid coming out of the tractor. This is when I saw the specks in the bottom of the buckets.



I am Still not clear on this.

Are you saying these buckets in question were dry, sealed buckets that had no previous fluids in them?

If that was the case, then the particles in question Had to come from container processing.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: njohnson
Sorry, I wasn't that clear in my original post. I had the tractor parked on the concrete pad by the barn, I put it there because it was level and was getting ready to drain the old transmission fluid, but, I had not done it yet.

The specks I am concerned with are in the buckets I brought out to catch the old fluid. They were sealed, I had to peal away the sealing ring to get the lids off. Nothing had been put into them, no old fluid, nothing. The buckets were bought from Tractor Supply about a month and the fluid was poured into another tractor. The buckets were sitting empty in the corner of the machine barn, until I grabbed them for this fluid change. So, they were just sitting there. I broke the seal to open the lid so I could catch the fluid coming out of the tractor. This is when I saw the specks in the bottom of the buckets.



I am Still not clear on this.

Are you saying these buckets in question were dry, sealed buckets that had no previous fluids in them?

If that was the case, then the particles in question Had to come from container processing.


Sorry for the confusion. No, the buckets had fluid before, the original fluid. What I was trying to say was that I had not used them to put any old, used fluid drained out of our farm equipment. That's what I do, save the buckets, and put motor oil, tractor transmission fluid that I drain out of our tractors into them.

The buckets in question, I bought them from TSC, poured the new tractor fluid into our Case 2470, put the buckets in the barn. They sat there for about a month. I went to change the transmission fluid on our other tractor, grabbed the buckets, opened them up to catch the old fluid, and that is when I noticed the little specks in the bottom of the buckets.
 
I'm a hydraulics guy, and tell customers that new oil is not clean. Plants that understand that fill through filters. It is rare when I used a portable particle counter in show-and-tell presentations to find new oil that met machine cleanliness specs.

The saving grace is that I never saw large enough particles to hurt anything, and after several hours of operation, the contamination level was reduced to a suitable range if filters were appropriate.
 
Originally Posted By: George Bynum
I'm a hydraulics guy, and tell customers that new oil is not clean. Plants that understand that fill through filters. It is rare when I used a portable particle counter in show-and-tell presentations to find new oil that met machine cleanliness specs.
The saving grace is that I never saw large enough particles to hurt anything, and after several hours of operation, the contamination level was reduced to a suitable range if filters were appropriate.

+1
thumbsup2.gif

........ and there are some who scorns at the suggestion that,due to improper storage facilities and techniques at "off-road mine sites",brand new unused oil in unopened oil drums containers could be contaminated ....... with water.
shocked.gif
 
Originally Posted By: zeng
........ and there are some who scorns at the suggestion that,due to improper storage facilities and techniques at "off-road mine sites",brand new unused oil in unopened oil drums containers could be contaminated ....... with water.
shocked.gif

Ah yes! 55 gallon drums stored where rain collects over the "sealed" ports, warm/cold and a slight vacuum occurs sucks the water right in. Always store horizontally in racks if outdoors or where falling water exists.
 
Quote:
Ah yes! 55 gallon drums stored where rain collects over the "sealed" ports, warm/cold and a slight vacuum occurs sucks the water right in. Always store horizontally in racks if outdoors or where falling water exists.

Got to agree with this ........ totally.
 
The oil guy I worked with would filter his transmission fluid in the lab before using it. He showed me the dirty filters afterward.
 
Originally Posted By: njohnson
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: njohnson
Sorry, I wasn't that clear in my original post. I had the tractor parked on the concrete pad by the barn, I put it there because it was level and was getting ready to drain the old transmission fluid, but, I had not done it yet.

The specks I am concerned with are in the buckets I brought out to catch the old fluid. They were sealed, I had to peal away the sealing ring to get the lids off. Nothing had been put into them, no old fluid, nothing. The buckets were bought from Tractor Supply about a month and the fluid was poured into another tractor. The buckets were sitting empty in the corner of the machine barn, until I grabbed them for this fluid change. So, they were just sitting there. I broke the seal to open the lid so I could catch the fluid coming out of the tractor. This is when I saw the specks in the bottom of the buckets.



I am Still not clear on this.

Are you saying these buckets in question were dry, sealed buckets that had no previous fluids in them?

If that was the case, then the particles in question Had to come from container processing.


Sorry for the confusion. No, the buckets had fluid before, the original fluid. What I was trying to say was that I had not used them to put any old, used fluid drained out of our farm equipment. That's what I do, save the buckets, and put motor oil, tractor transmission fluid that I drain out of our tractors into them.

The buckets in question, I bought them from TSC, poured the new tractor fluid into our Case 2470, put the buckets in the barn. They sat there for about a month. I went to change the transmission fluid on our other tractor, grabbed the buckets, opened them up to catch the old fluid, and that is when I noticed the little specks in the bottom of the buckets.

Time to change it again...
45.gif
 
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