743 Hydraulic sight glass

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don04

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Oct 9, 2007
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Hello all. I searched but have not found answers to my quest. I am borrowing a buddies 743, and the last time I was working, the hydraulics when driving were not smooth.. "bucking" I believe is the term. Searching has suggested that the hydraulic fluid may be low, and there is a "looking glass" (or dipstick) on the left side while sitting in the cab. I have not been able to find the "looking glass". Can you please help with specifics where it is? I am starting to wonder if a past owner painted over it. Thanks Don
 

Fishfiles

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Well , as I remember there were a few different ways to check the oil on the older 743's , if it has a sight glass it would have a hex headed piece of metal with the round glass in the middle of the hex screwed into the side the tank , it could have a dip stick on top the tank or some had two winged drain plugs like on the bottom of the radiator , one was a low mark and one a high mark
 

Tazza

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Well , as I remember there were a few different ways to check the oil on the older 743's , if it has a sight glass it would have a hex headed piece of metal with the round glass in the middle of the hex screwed into the side the tank , it could have a dip stick on top the tank or some had two winged drain plugs like on the bottom of the radiator , one was a low mark and one a high mark
Exactly as Fishfiles said. It will be on the Left hand side of the machine when sitting in the seat. Early ones had the 2 nuts one low one high. Open the high one and fill till oil starts to come out, tighten up and you are full. Sight glass style just fill till you see oil half way up the glass, the dipstick style had high and low marks.
 

gwiley

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My 743DS has a dipstick that sits outside the cab just behind the left lift arm (when at rest) further back than the seat. Feel around that area and you will find it.
 

marko13

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Apr 29, 2023
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Exactly as Fishfiles said. It will be on the Left hand side of the machine when sitting in the seat. Early ones had the 2 nuts one low one high. Open the high one and fill till oil starts to come out, tighten up and you are full. Sight glass style just fill till you see oil half way up the glass, the dipstick style had high and low marks.
I know this is an old post but I hope somebody sees it. apparently I have the site glass, but I dark in there I can't tell if it's empty or over full. I'm adding oil little by little to see if anything comes up in the glass but if I'm already over the top am I going to do damage by overfilling the oil?
 

marko13

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Apr 29, 2023
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And now I noticed I had a bucket of AW 32 hydraulic oil I put in and now I have a partial bucket of AW46. can I mix them? I don't know what was in it this is a new to me used machine.
 

brdgbldr

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I know this is an old post but I hope somebody sees it. apparently I have the site glass, but I dark in there I can't tell if it's empty or over full. I'm adding oil little by little to see if anything comes up in the glass but if I'm already over the top am I going to do damage by overfilling the oil?
I always use a flashlight to check the sight glass. It makes a huge difference.

You can also remove the screen in the fill hole and take a look in the tank or use a makeshift dipstick to measure down.

If you overfill the hydraulic oil, it will not harm the machine. It may however make a big mess when it heats up and expands out of the fill hole.

As for mixing the different weight oils, it's no big deal. The AW32 is thinner for colder seasons or areas. A lot of owners change the weight of the oil season to season and you can never really get all of the old oil out of the machine so some mixing always happens.
 

marko13

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hey man thanks for the quick reply. so by the time the oil got up to the top of the Phil spout I realized yep I'm over full. I still can't tell by looking in the site glass with a flashlight if there's anything in there or not since it's obviously full past the top.
 

marko13

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hey man thanks for the quick reply. so by the time the oil got up to the top of the Phil spout I realized yep I'm over full. I still can't tell by looking in the site glass with a flashlight if there's anything in there or not since it's obviously full past the top.
I'm wondering if I should try to siphon out all that excess oil judging from the size of the tank it must be gallons to get that far above the site glass.
 

laurencen

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Oct 3, 2016
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you could syphon or pump it out on the auxilary line, as for the sight glass they get dirty, unscrew it on the last threads quickly put your finger over the hole, clean the inside of glass and screw it back in
 

gotowin

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Nov 25, 2019
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hasn,'t been mentioned here yet but make sure all the hyd cyl. are retracted as much as possible before checking the fluid level.
 

mocus250

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Sep 6, 2023
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the hydraulic reservoir on my S 250 holds about 5 gallons. there is Adrain hose behind cover plate by back tire below the reservoir. not sure if your 743 is the same way
 

Micheal

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Apr 23, 2023
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I know this is an old post but I hope somebody sees it. apparently I have the site glass, but I dark in there I can't tell if it's empty or over full. I'm adding oil little by little to see if anything comes up in the glass but if I'm already over the top am I going to do damage by overfilling the oil?
I don't think so, I'd take cap off and pull out strainer so you can look inside with flashlight.
 
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