Hydraulic Oil Line Heater

[weephee]

Hello all. I have a 1970 International 434 with a bucket. In this cold weather the hydraulics don't work so I'm looking for an inline heater. 'There is a fitting for one on the hydraulic line but I can't seem to find a heater for it and I'm not sure what it looks like. I believe it was an option when the tractor was purchased. Can anyone point me in the right direction. Thanks

[Don McCombs]

You might try JP Tractor Salvage, one of our site sponsors. Click on the link at the bottom of this page. Phone calls work best.

[Stanton]

Welcome to the forum.

[Jim Becker]

I couldn't find such an attachment in the 434 Parts Catalog. Maybe it was an aftermarket item? Without a number or some more details, we probably can't be much help.

Could your problem be caused by water in the hydraulic oil? When was it last changed?

[weephee]

The oil was changed this fall. Shouldn't be any water in it and it worked fine in the fall when it was changed. I would have thought they would have a heater of some sort for the north where temperature go well below freezing

[Jim Becker]

You are right, oil that fresh shouldn't have a contamination problem. What type oil did you use?

[Eugene]

Magnetic engine block heater or two attached to the hydraulic oil reservoir. Available from auto parts stores. May take several hours to warm up the hydraulic oil.

Next thought, it takes a while for the hydraulic oil to warm up enough for the system to function when it's cold. Run the tractor for 5 to 10 minutes in cold weather before operating the hydraulics.

Edit. Look up engine block heaters on the internet. There are several different possibilities.

[weephee]

Thanks for all the replies. I did call JP tractor but they had never heard of a heater. If there isn't anything in the parts manual there likely isn't anything in the service manual but I will try and find one and see. When it warms up a little I'll post a picture of the heater attachment but in the mean time, thanks again for your help

[Jim Becker]

Eugene's suggestion of engine block heaters is probably the best you can do. At the least, it is something readily available. I'm not familiar with that model, assume the transmission serves as the hydraulic reservoir. If so, there is probably a lot of mass associated with it and will take quite a bit to warm it up enough to make any difference.

[Eugene]

Still have two magnetic block heaters on the shelf. Use to use them in Iowa when it got to -10/-20 degrees. It would take 3 or 4 hours to warm up a vehicle enough to start.

I made electric timers which would turn on the block heaters at 4 AM. By 8 AM the vehicles would start. You can purchase electric timers from a number of local sources.

A number of different styles of heaters are available including small blanket types.

[Matt Kirsch]

Any luck with this? I suspect rather than this being cold-related, it is probably due to the pump losing prime or a plugged filter.

Personally I have never seen it so cold that hydraulics would completely quit working. Slow, yes, never completely quit. I've lived in Western New York all my life and while it's not exactly Nome Alaska, we do get our share of below zero, and the tractors had to move every day to keep the cattle from being buried up to their eyeballs in their own waste.

I too have never heard of a hydraulic oil heater.