Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Anyon Familiar w/the older John Deere/New Holland Skid Steers?

This is a stab in the dark . . . I have a John Deere 575 skid steer (a rebranded NH 455). The hydraulics (boom lift and bucket tilt) are painfully slow - almost none existent. This difficulty started recently. The fluid in the reservoir is milky looking. Where do I start with diagnosing this? Drain the fluid, if so, how? I have not been able to locate a drain on the reservoir. Replace the filter? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated - I've got 16" of heavy, wet snow in my 1/4 mile long driveway.

My stab in the dark-
I think the frame on that model is the reservoir, and there is a drain plug on the left rear, bottom area of the frame just below the dipstick and breather. Drain the oil and change the filters, and refill with hydraulic oil that meets spec. If it's working well enough to do so, you can raise the front of machine with the bucket to make oil drain easier. Position jack stands for safety's sake. Your milky color is from moisture getting into the hydraulic oil, either via leaking seals in the cylinders, or pump. It can also be caused by aeration from the system being run low on fluid; air holds moisture, moisture causes milk.
Good luck with the snow removal- it's a biitch of a storm.

Water or aeration would be my guess as well. Is it leaking or low?

levrluvr,

I'm guessing you're right that the frame, or at least part of it, constitutes the reservoir. No way the little tank up front on the left holds 15 gallons of hydraulic fluid!

Tried to make it to the JD dealer today, but they're still cleaning up and not many of the tech showed up. Those that did are plowing. Maybe later today or tomorrow.

Don't rule out condensation accumulation, especially with seldom-used older machines and possibly low fluid levels.

We have one of these and Levrluvr is on track. Plugged filter or low fluid levels will make your hydraulics very slow, does it jerk when the boom is going up or just take forever? Changing fluid and filter is a good start. Pm me if you have more questions, will try my best to help.

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