I have been working on this for over a year now and still cannot understand what is going on.....
I have a 12+ year old bush hog 286 that runs like a top, for now. The problem I have is water is somehow getting into the gear box (or rats are playing a trick on me and adding oil in the night). I thought the problem was that I stored it in the elements but now it is stored under a pole barn and the problem persists. I had the pole barn completed in May, 2020. When the barn was complete I sucked out all of the oil I could. I realize that I probably did not get it all but at least most. I then carefully filled the gearbox to the check plug. Just enough so that a tiny trickle of oil was leaving the check plug and sealed it all up with plumbers tape on the fill hole and check plug.
So yesterday I decided to check the oil level. Unit was cold--hadn't been used in a couple of days. I pulled the check plug and oil began to run out. Not a little trickle as I had filled it up, but a good bit and the color was milky. (And, yes, the unit was in the exact same spot where I filled it up earlier--so being level or not level is not an issue here). I cannot, for the life of me, understand how the gearbox is adding that much fluid/water. I realize that during use the oil will thin and get frothy but in this case the unit was cold and should have returned to the level in which I filled it.
Does anyone have any ideas on what is going on? I understand that an over filled gearbox can be just as bad as a near empty one and I don't want to damage any seals. Finally, there is no visible damage to any gaskets, etc.
I have a 12+ year old bush hog 286 that runs like a top, for now. The problem I have is water is somehow getting into the gear box (or rats are playing a trick on me and adding oil in the night). I thought the problem was that I stored it in the elements but now it is stored under a pole barn and the problem persists. I had the pole barn completed in May, 2020. When the barn was complete I sucked out all of the oil I could. I realize that I probably did not get it all but at least most. I then carefully filled the gearbox to the check plug. Just enough so that a tiny trickle of oil was leaving the check plug and sealed it all up with plumbers tape on the fill hole and check plug.
So yesterday I decided to check the oil level. Unit was cold--hadn't been used in a couple of days. I pulled the check plug and oil began to run out. Not a little trickle as I had filled it up, but a good bit and the color was milky. (And, yes, the unit was in the exact same spot where I filled it up earlier--so being level or not level is not an issue here). I cannot, for the life of me, understand how the gearbox is adding that much fluid/water. I realize that during use the oil will thin and get frothy but in this case the unit was cold and should have returned to the level in which I filled it.
Does anyone have any ideas on what is going on? I understand that an over filled gearbox can be just as bad as a near empty one and I don't want to damage any seals. Finally, there is no visible damage to any gaskets, etc.
