185 Power Director slipping.
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=208541
Printed Date: 18 Oct 2025 at 6:50am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 185 Power Director slipping.
Posted By: IBWD MIke
Subject: 185 Power Director slipping.
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 6:33am
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I noticed while moving round bales that the P/D is slipping in high on my 185. Can stop the tractor with the brakes, low is holding fine for now at least. Further inquiry found the hydraulic fluid low. Filled it up, low again the next day, great. I assume the tractor will have to be split to fix the seals. My question is, are the two problems related? Would low fluid level cause the P/D to slip in high? This is a really nice original tractor that I depend on, want to fix it right.
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Replies:
Posted By: Tenn allis
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 7:09am
| Check your pressure in both hi and low on the power director valve before you do anything else. If pressure is good then you know it’s in the power director itself probably broken plates are floating inside the power director or overheated them with lack of oil possibly |
Posted By: Tenn allis
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 7:20am
| And yes a split is required to replace the seals You could run a hose out of the drains to both housings and equalize the oil levels to get by this has been discussed on this forum before. You have a great tractor probably my most favorite all around tractor |
Posted By: SteveM C/IL
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 7:31am
| Fix it right and it'll outlast you. |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 7:50am
| I would think for the Power Director pressure to be affected by a low oil level, your power steering would have been wonky too. Fill her up with oil and see what it does. Oil transfer (if there is any) will be worse in HIGH range. Oil transfer problem should have the transmission/differential somewhat overfull. |
Posted By: Gary Burnett
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2025 at 11:53am
I did the bypass hose deal on a 180 I had ran it another 25 years and then sold it about 5 years ago and its still going strong.
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Tenn allis wrote:Posted By: IBWD MIke
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2025 at 6:35am
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Doc, I filled her up with oil one day then she sat until the next. Hydraulic oil was low again and transmission was high. Steering seems normal.
Thanks for the help guys.
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Posted By: darrel in ND
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2025 at 7:35am
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This is kind of a long story, but sort of related. We hauled all of our hay in this fall using my one ninety gas to load out in the field, and the XT diesel at home unloading them. Both have bale spears and really works well. Not too far into the project, the XT got to where it would no longer tilt the bale back. About the same time, we had issue with it going through more hydraulic oil then normal. Technically, it shouldn't have been taking any, because the loaders really don't leak much, just a very small seep here and there. My son checked the transmission/rear end oil level, and it was high, and had a green tint to it, which told us where the hydraulic oil was going, since we use cenex quick lift hydraulic oil, which is green. Thought the worst, but didn't totally freak out, and had a day or two of not hauling hay to think about it. Was fixing to put an equalizer tube between the compartments just to get the hay hauled, then split it. But thankfully, I didn't get that done. In the meantime, we addressed the issue of the not being able to tilt the bale back. We came to the conclusion that one of the tilt cylinders on the loader had to be bad. I had two good cylinders in the shop, so we swapped em out. After the swap, my son started it up and ran it, and obviously filling the new cylinders with oil took a lot of oil. So he shut it off, and pulled out the hydraulic oil dipstick/fill cap, and I heard some swearing come from him. I asked him what happened, and he said that it was pressured up and blew a little oil on him. I new immediately what the problem was. I took the dipstick from him, and with a little air and lots of brake clean, I opened up the vent in the dipstick cap. We topped off the oil level, and unloaded another 400 bales over the next couple weeks and never added another drop of hydraulic oil. And the tilt function works too, it was easy to tell that the one cylinder was bad with an internal leak. But evidently, even though the hydraulic compartment was pressuring up and pushing oil into the rear end, it must not have blown out the seal, because everything is working is it should. But now, some brakes from Rick just showed up in the mail, and it'll get a brake job. Darrel |
Posted By: DrAllis
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2025 at 10:42am
| I can't begin to count all the dozens and dozens of hydraulic fill dipsticks that I have disassembled and cleaned out so the hydraulic system can breathe!! Whenever I work on a tractor new to me, I always remove the hydraulic dipstick, pull the cotter pin and drop the 3/8" ball out of the tube and THROW it away !! (never ever understood what it's purpose really was). Then, with a rubber tipped blow gun apply air pressure up the tube (while covering the cotter pin holes with thumb and my index finger) and see if air easily comes out the top cover of the dipstick assembly. If not, heat the brass that retains the cover and pull out the steel wool and finally the flat disc with holes in the bottom. clean her all up and re-braze or solder the cover back on. |