Deutz Allis 612 Hydro trans and diff fluid change

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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.
 
All Sauer/Sundstrand/Danfoss hydrostatic transaxles of that vintage that I am aware of spec a 20wt motor oil or ATF. Any 20wt variant or quality Dex/Merc ATF will do well in it. My choice would be a quality 20wt motor oil

Joel
 
Thanks Joel - I was going to use tractor fluid but I'll grab some 20 wt from NAPA (I think they still have it.)

Andrew S.
 
Good deal. All you need is a regular 5w20 that all the parts stores have now. If you want to get fancy, a synthetic 0w20 would be great. You can't beat these hydros. They are noisier than most, with a whaaaaaaaaaaaaa! type noise, but are very HD.

Joel
 
That's even better as I haven't seen straight 20 weight in awhile. I'll get a good multigrade 20 weight for it.

Thanks again!
 
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