885xl brake reservoir

[spin cycle]

not holding any oil.....i'm thinking the metal sleeves slip in the pipes and need pushing back up ....anybody help?

 

[X344chap]

Had the same problem - brakes went to the floor and reservoir not filling. The steel tube in the reservoir drain had slipped down leaving just air in the reservoir. Pushed it back up and put new jubilee clips on pipe - You need to shine a bright light behind reservoir to see the level. Wasnt sure how far to push it back up though - whether you should leave an inch gap for the level. Also note that the inlet pipe from the oil cooler that fills the reservoir has a tiny filter/restrictor.
I heard that if the engine had overheated, it caused the rubber pipes and plastic tank to get soft which allowed the pipe to slip down. I had to flush the radiator last year due to overheating so theres maybe something in that.

 

[milkloss]

Squidged some liquid metal round ours when we pushed it back in.

 

[Tubbylew]

I hate to take the @Thick Farmer approach, but surely swan vestas are the only sensible option? Being similarly aflicted with an 885XL here, you have my deepest sympathies no body should have to endure the punishment, I can only ask, what on earth did you do to deserve it?

 

[spin cycle]

I hate to take the @Thick Farmer approach, but surely swan vestas are the only sensible option? Being similarly aflicted with an 885XL here, you have my deepest sympathies no body should have to endure the punishment, I can only ask, what on earth did you do to deserve it?

i've got two of them.....bought them cos thats what my dealer sold....i know not popular but served me pretty well tbh

 

[Tubbylew]

i've got two of them.....bought them cos thats what my dealer sold....i know not popular but served me pretty well tbh

They're better than I give them credit for tbh. biggest fault is the cheese they used for the lift arms, engine is a good reliable plodder that won't die no matter how badly it's treated.

 

[fermerboy]

View attachment 935404
Had the same problem - brakes went to the floor and reservoir not filling. The steel tube in the reservoir drain had slipped down leaving just air in the reservoir. Pushed it back up and put new jubilee clips on pipe - You need to shine a bright light behind reservoir to see the level. Wasnt sure how far to push it back up though - whether you should leave an inch gap for the level. Also note that the inlet pipe from the oil cooler that fills the reservoir has a tiny filter/restrictor.
I heard that if the engine had overheated, it caused the rubber pipes and plastic tank to get soft which allowed the pipe to slip down. I had to flush the radiator last year due to overheating so theres maybe something in that.

Thats a common fault on them, push the pipe in till its flush.
Glue, a rough up with a screwdriver, squeeze the pipe a little till its slightly off round all work.

 

[X344chap]

Thats a common fault on them, push the pipe in till its flush.
Glue, a rough up with a screwdriver, squeeze the pipe a little till its slightly off round all work.

To be fair - its waited 40 years before it did it....

 

[gadzooks]

Rolling fields today, suddenly noticed out of the blue, brake pedal was doing nothing. One minute working totally normally, next minute pedal straight to the floor with no resistance & zero braking action. Thought at first some kind of linkage between the pedal and the master cylinders had snapped.

I'm a somewhat experienced diy car mechanic but have never worked on tractors, so I was suprised to find a brake fluid reservoir with no removeable cap to refill it with brake fluid. I thought "how the heck do you refill the brake fluid"

After a dig around in the owners manual, and searching the net and finding your forum & this thread, I've come to the understanding the brake system on these tractors runs on transmission oil straight from the gearbox (fed to the brake reservoir from an oil cooler associated with the transmission). I'm under the impression the brakes run on the transmission oil, not the engine oil? Is my understanding correct?

My transmission oil level is at max on the dipstick & the oil on the dipstick looks pretty clean.

The reservoir above the brake master cylinders seems empty to me.. figuring there's a good chance this thread is exactly the issue I've got?

I've been working the tractor pretty hard all day and the engine's certainly gotten as hot as it ever gets, for quite a long time. Ties in with X344chap's comment about things softening?

Is it ok just to undo the 4 jubilee clips on the reservoir pipes and pull it straight up and off? I won't end up losing these metal inserts down the pipes or anything?

Will everything become clear as I proceed.. Just being a bit cautious before tearing everything apart, being used to cars rather than these.. Thanks for any tips

 

[Richard Devon]

you only need to undo the 2nd pipe in from the RH side, that is the return pipe and where the dropping stack-pipe issue occurs

 

[gadzooks]

oh right.. I think I get it, the top of that pipe is supposed to be up inside the reservoir acting like the overflow on a toilet cistern? It drops down and then there's nothing stopping the reservoir totally emptying..?

'stack-pipe'.. good description..

 

[Richard Devon]

oh right.. I think I get it, the top of that pipe is supposed to be up inside the reservoir acting like the overflow on a toilet cistern? It drops down and then there's nothing stopping the reservoir totally emptying..?

'stack-pipe'.. good description..

exactly right.

When you pull the rubber hose off you'll soon see if the steel insert (stack-pipe) has dropped, it should be flush with the plastic.

 

[gadzooks]

The reservoir was completely empty and the metal insert on the 2nd pipe in from the offside had definitely dropped, it was sticking out the bottom about 2 inch or so. Pushed it back up ok using a spanner as a lever, it seemed to be a pretty good interference fit, not sloppy at all, didnt seem like it was in danger of dropping back down too easily. Pushed it flush with bottom of plastic reservoir pipe.

Reconnected hose, tightened up jubilee clip, used tractor for 2, 3 hours

Still no brakes :-(

There's what seems like transmission fluid dribbling down the side of the block now though, looks like it's coming down from vaguely the vicinity of the brake cylinders. Never noticed this leak before today.

Have to get stuck back in I guess.. any thoughts?

 

[agrimax]

I'd guess you may have a perished hose that didn't like being disturbed when you were at the reservoir?
Did you bleed the brakes after being sure the reservoir refilled?

 

[gadzooks]

No - haven't bled them. Didn't know how & the owners manual isn't too easy to read. I went back after last post and had a look, I think the leak I saw might be a perished injector return hose. The brake reservoir was definitely 100% empty when I repaired the pipe, and 'seemed' empty when I checked after a few hours use although I didn't really look too hard. When I went back and had a proper look after last post I could see there was maybe 5mm or so of oil in the bottom of the reservoir.

I'm sure the bleeding instructions are in the manual somewhere I'll just have to have a better look ;-)

 

[Richard Devon]

I'm sure the bleeding instructions are in the manual somewhere I'll just have to have a better look ;-)

I don't think its in the Ops manual. But no matter, all you have to do is put a pair of long nosed mole grips (or pipe clamp of sorts) further down that very rubber hose you just pulled off.

Start the tractor up, oil will then fill the reservoir and won't be able to escape, all you have to do then is open up the bleed screws (7/16" A/F or 11mm) back there on each side of the rear axle. If you can fix a couple of long lengths of clear hose to those bleed screws you will see the air bubbles coming out. It won't hurt to just gently press the pedals down a few times, also press one pedal half-way down then the other the pedal the whole way down. This bleeds the balance line betwen l and r master cylinders
Once they have stopped an dits a continual stream of oil (pref. directed back in to the filler plug) all you gotta do is tighten up the bleed screws. Then take off the pipe clamp.

You should have brakes.....

 

[Richard Devon]

 

[gadzooks]

I re-read the ops manual & it turns out it does have a bleeding procedure in it involving manually pumping alternate pedals. I just didn't recognise it due to my confirmation bias, expecting it to be the same as a car.

The procedure you've given above is worded slightly different to that in the ops manual and the optional power bleed method is additional, that's not in the ops book I don't think. But it generally seems to tie up.

Spanners at dawn & hoping for brakes! Thanks.

 

[gadzooks]

Few weeks later & I still haven't got round to following through the proper bleeding procedure but, thought it worth mentioning that after a few weeks just doing the odd days work now and again, the reservoir did fill up by itself & the brakes came back ok by themselves. No doubt ive still got air in the pipes & should still bleed it properly though i guess.

 

[X344chap]

Its got wet brakes - so if the big o-rings on the brakes have even the slightest leakage then eventually the brakes will bleed themselves. If like me - you've never replaced the o-rings then i'd expect over 40 years of use then there would be a wee bit of internal leakage.

It is an easy 15 min job to bleed it though. Mole grips or brake pipe pliers on the drain pipe from the reservoir and crack open the 2 bleed nipples on the back end.