Draining TC so oil can be reused.

[Matt Kirsch]

My '53's hydraulic lines have about a pound of braze on them up at the pump.

I put 'em back on after replacing the seals and orings in the pump and TC, filled the TC, got everything working nice... then promptly found a nice set of lines to replace them with. Figures. So now I have 2 quarts of brand new uncontaminated hytran in the system.

How do I get it out without wasting it? The drain hole just lets it ooze out on to the torque tube, ruining the oil.

[Johnk454]

My '53's hydraulic lines have about a pound of braze on them up at the pump.

I put 'em back on after replacing the seals and orings in the pump and TC, filled the TC, got everything working nice... then promptly found a nice set of lines to replace them with. Figures. So now I have 2 quarts of brand new uncontaminated hytran in the system.

How do I get it out without wasting it? The drain hole just lets it ooze out on to the torque tube, ruining the oil.

Loosed the fill plug to relieve pressure if hot, then snug back. Leave the fill plug in, have handy a short 1/8" NPT nipple and 90deg elbow, unscrew the drain and screw in the nipple/elbow combo. You won't catch every drop, but will loose very little if you leave the fill plug closed initially due to the lack of ingress of air to replace the fluid. Once the temp drain nipple is in place, remove the fill plug and it will flow fairly well into your VERY CLEAN container.

[bob in CT]

I guess the risk is worth it.....

[lazyuniondriver]

The drain process outlined above sounds like a reasonable solution to capture the used oil.

I'm sure it will work and there is probably a 99.9% chance you can pull it off with no contamination side effects.

But on the 0.1% chance the oil does become contaminated to the point of causing trouble, to me it isn't worth risking a small investment to refill with new oil.

You could save the HyTran for future use in a manual transmission so it really wouldn't be going to waste.

I personally wouldn't reuse fluids unless done so on modern applications with easily changed spin on filtering systems.

[Johnk454]

For the record, I'm not wild about reusing fluids either, generally speaking. The method I described above was something I came up with to keep the hydraulic fluid from running across the torque tube as mentioned with the extra benefit of capturing it in a big glass jar for inspection of detritus.

Still, it could be handy to have in your back pocket if the need pops up...

[bob in CT]

I think the transmission suggestion is an excellent one.

[ricky racer]

Duct tape a piece of clean plastic, tin or what have you directly under the drain plug to act as a funnel to direct the flow into a clean container. Clean the area around the plug with a tooth brush or equivalent prior to removing the plug.

[clodhopper]

I would also use clear glass containers. I personally use canning jars. I can hold it up to the light and see any little speck.

[Matt Kirsch]

Thanks for the ideas!

Normally I would toss the oil but since I did a complete rebuild of the hydraulics stem to stern I know the oil is squeaky clean in there. Just hate to waste it.