Greetings:
I just picked up a nice Deutz Allis 612 Hydro lawn tractor (it is a Simplicity 4212 with different decals and green paint built for Deutz.) It is for my father-in-law to cut their small flat lot (less than 1/4 acre.) It is a 12 horse B&S with a Sundstrand BDU-10S-114 hydro transmission. The unit is about 20 years old. My main question is, should I change the hydro trans fluid and gearcase oil as a matter of maintenance, or should I leave it alone? The unit is working fine so far.
I downloaded the owner's manual from Simplicity's website and all it says to do is keep the fluid in the trans and gearcase (differential)full. It doesn't even tell you what type of fluid to put in either the gearcase or the transmission (!) Is anyone familiar with this machine/transmission and what fluids it takes? The gearcase looks like it was very slowly seeping and there was no fluid near the level of the fill plug. It smelled like gear oil so that is what I topped it up with. I hope that was OK.
The hydro transmission does not leak and the fluid in the reservoir does not look dirty. I expected something like Hy-Tran tractor fluid in there but it looks and smells like motor oil. There is no external filter and there is a hex head on the bottom that may be a drain plug but it could also be a valve, etc. The manual is no help here.
Honestly I'd feel better changing both due to the age of the machine. I have some Valvoline tractor fluid that I thought I'd use if it is compatible.
Sorry for the long post - any advice is appreciated!
Andrew S.
I just picked up a nice Deutz Allis 612 Hydro lawn tractor (it is a Simplicity 4212 with different decals and green paint built for Deutz.) It is for my father-in-law to cut their small flat lot (less than 1/4 acre.) It is a 12 horse B&S with a Sundstrand BDU-10S-114 hydro transmission. The unit is about 20 years old. My main question is, should I change the hydro trans fluid and gearcase oil as a matter of maintenance, or should I leave it alone? The unit is working fine so far.
I downloaded the owner's manual from Simplicity's website and all it says to do is keep the fluid in the trans and gearcase (differential)full. It doesn't even tell you what type of fluid to put in either the gearcase or the transmission (!) Is anyone familiar with this machine/transmission and what fluids it takes? The gearcase looks like it was very slowly seeping and there was no fluid near the level of the fill plug. It smelled like gear oil so that is what I topped it up with. I hope that was OK.
The hydro transmission does not leak and the fluid in the reservoir does not look dirty. I expected something like Hy-Tran tractor fluid in there but it looks and smells like motor oil. There is no external filter and there is a hex head on the bottom that may be a drain plug but it could also be a valve, etc. The manual is no help here.
Honestly I'd feel better changing both due to the age of the machine. I have some Valvoline tractor fluid that I thought I'd use if it is compatible.
Sorry for the long post - any advice is appreciated!
Andrew S.