Leaking hydraulic pump case drain line (i think)

[rdavison39]

Hi there - I'm dripping hydraulic fluid when machine is running - doesn't leak as much when engine not running. Also, this winter I stored the machine with bucket in up position supported by safety bar. I returned this spring to find a gallon or 2 of hydraulic fluid on the floor. i think i pinpointed the area where I'm losing hydraulic fluid. Per "ChatGPT" it appears to be a "hydraulic pump case drain line" although i cannot seem to find this part in the manual. It does feed into the pump on the left side and into the radiator on the right. The leak of course seems to be right in the middle behind and under the hydraulic pump. I have a couple of questions

1) How do i replace this? Is it a matter of of undoing the nuts and trying to extract it. I'm not sure I would be able to get it out unless i remove the hydraulic pump which i really don't want to do. I suppose i could cut it out given i'm replacing it

2) Which leads me to my next question - can i replace this with a flex hose instead of a rigid metal tube ?

3) Will i lose all my hydraulic fluid when i detach this line ?



Front view (after removing hood)



Closeup of the right side.


CLoseup of the left side - its leaking onto the blue J-towel but i can't see the hole




Thanks in advance - any insight, suggestions on approach much appreciated.

Thx
Ron

 

[HarleyHappy]

Huh, my backhoe has 4 pieces of rubber between each line going into cooler. Pretty sure its factory as there are crimps on each end for a hose to clamp too.

 

[Coaldust]

Yes
Yes
Yes

I think that line will come out of there. Looks like -16 to me. Just get a couple caps to screw onto the ports.

You could probably replace the hard line with a hose. If it was mine, I would silver solder or braze the pin hole and re-use the hard line.

You can also build the infamous Willie59 suck bucket to hold the fluid from leaking out while you work on it.

The suck bucket

Well, I've posted this handy little shop tool in a couple of places on the forum, makes it kinda obscure to find it hidden in a thread somewhere though. So I thought I would start a thread about it so it's easy to locate for someone who would find it useful for them. Problem I had was trying to...

www.heavyequipmentforums.com