Newbie with a 960...a bunch of questions

I bought the manuals, and pored through them. Even so, I didn't see a specific step-by-step procedure on how to change the oil on the final drive boxes, and what kind of oil to use.

The fella I bought the tractor from said to use 120 wt gear oil. Can I use a Mobil DTE Extra Heavy or a Mobil Gear 629? What is the recommended viscosity for oil in those final drive boxes?

Now, can anyone give me the step by step for draining and refilling the final drives?

On to other questions:

If I understand this correctly, the tractor is divided into 3 parts: the engine, the tranny, the rearend/hydraulics. Of course engine oil goes into the engine (30 wt?). Now, hydraulic oil goes into both the tranny and the rear end? What hydraulic oil properties am I looking for? Do you guys generally use Ford branded oil? I like the Mobil 13M hydraulic oil, would this be good for my tractor?

I have remote hydraulics on my tractor. The lever and hoses are under the seat. One of the fittings is leaking a little bit, so I pulled it off to see what the deal is. I was expecting a crush washer between the fitting (that square fitting attached to the end of the hose) and the distribution box on the tractor. There was none...is this correct? Also, where would I source the rubber gaskets on the top of the fitting through bolt?

Power steering pressure side hose. Where would I get one of those? Just bring it down to the NAPA and have them make me one up?

Also, my power steering pump reservior (the round reservior on top of the pump) does not have a filter in it. I see in the manual that a filter goes in there...I assume I'm missing it, where would I get one?

I want to leave the 6 volt system intact. I see that there are electronic ignition kits for 6 volt systems. Are they worth it? The best engine improvement I made to my 73 VW Thing was EI. Does EI help the tractors as much too?

That's it for now. If you read all the way to here, thanks.

Bob
East Hampton, CT

One common problem I have found with the row crops and their final drives is that they tend to be loose. Every one that I have checked has been loose on at least one axle. You can quickly check by grabbing the top of the rear wheel and rocking it back and forth. The only reason I brought this up is that when I found my right side to be loose, I kinda panicked and took it all apart thinkin it was really bad, but I'm thinkin now that unless it is really bad, I would leave it alone. It is hard to get them just right and if you try and do it by the manual, you will end up with a drinking problem. Remember that just a little bit of slop will ba amplified a great deal by the time you get to the outer diameter of your wheels. If you run into trouble here, holler and I will tell you my whole story on how I got mine straightened out.

PS I may be a bit biased, but I think you got one of the best Ford tractors made.

Dan

For the oil, lots of folks like Ford 134. You can use any hyd oil that meets that spec - look at the fine print on the universal cans. Some folks like to use heavier stuff in the back to prevent seal drip problems - I'm sure those that have gone through this will explain it.

I live in MN, and use Shell 15-40 oil in all my tractors now. Seems to work well. 30 does too.

For power steering hose, I just had the Napa-type store make one up for me.

I'm not sure what kind of fitting the hyd port would be, but there are 2 types - one uses a washer, & one is pipe thread that gets tight. Who knows what got pulled out of the parts bin for a 'quick fix' years ago - check & match it up right.

You need a filter for the power steering. I'd go to New Holland for that, altho a good ag filter place will cross match it.

NH is downgrading some support for the 100 series, but you still can get most all of the stuff you mentioned from the dealer but probably costs more money (that's why they are downgrading...) - other than that filter.

--->Paul