1984 jcb 3cx gearbox/transmission oil

[petervickery]

Hi I am Pete and I am new to this forum. I have just bought a jcb 3cx s/n 311534. I presume it is round about 1983/1985. She is really old and needs a lot of attention. I have noticed that the oil level on the transmission is low on the long spring dipstick. What oil do I need to put in there and do I just pour it in through the dipstick hole? What oil should I be using for the rear diff. there is a leak on the wheel hub and I need to top up. There seems to be water contamination in my hydraulic oil. One of the rams are leaking and the oil leaking looks a bit milky. Where could this water be coming from. There is an oil cooler in front of the main radiator but it doesn't seem to be linked to the water system in any way. I will presumeable need to change the hydraulic fluid if it is contaminated so what oil do I use for the hydraulics. I am based in South Africa so I hope that availability of spares will not be a problem. Sorry for the long post. Oh one other thing...Does anyone know where I can download a manual for this model? The download on this site seems to be for a slightly later machine. thanks

[essexpete]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Have you got a large lever for the fwd /rev shift. It will depend on the make of transmission as to which oil you use. If the earlier type then a 10w transmision oil should be used. The oil level needs to be checked after start up and with the engine idling to get a proper level (if you are quick you can stop engine and immediately dip). Don't overfill and it will often not take much fluid to top up. Rear axle needs an oil suitable for wet brakes not just an ordinary ep gear oil. The hydraulic oil could be a 46. Others will soon be along to add (or correct) info.

[petervickery]

Thanks Essexpete. I have just spoken to a guy at JCB and he seems to think I should use Sae30. I don't believe that would be correct. I think the slightly later machines use sae30. I spoke to another spares guy and he seems to think that I should use a standard ATF? Thoughts?

[petervickery]

Sorry, Yes I have a big forward/reverse lever attached on the left of the dashboard. There is a big manual gear lever on the right with 4 gears. The forward reverse lever seems to be mechanical ie cable rather than electrical.

[petervickery]

So I have done a bit of research and come across total ATF 33. In the specs it actually mensions borge warner transmissions and also jcb 3cx. There are certain ATF oils that should not be mixed with those that are suitable for this application. Perhaps that is why in a lot of these posts some people agree with the use of ATF and others are against it. Perhaps it depends on which ATF? Any thoughts?

[philwheelton]

If you have a cable operated transmission it should run on engine oil 10w would be ok for it.

[topkit]

As Phil said 10w oil for the shuttle itself then the Gearbox takes a different oil. Some people use ATF in the Shuttle but when i serviced my machine i used the correct oil several people recomend Total Dynotrans oil for the Shuttle i used JCB 10W oil in my shuttle and JCB 90 grade gear oil in the Gearbox itself.

[petervickery]

Thanks for all the replies. Pete says a 10w transmission oil and Phil and David say 10w engine oil. Is this the same thing? Also I have googled dynatrans and find a dynatrans MPV and also a dynatrans AC. Which one would it be?

[petervickery]

Assuming then we are talking about engine oil, would it be a 10w20 or 10w30 or 10w40 or should I look for SAE10. Sorry to be thick but I am a bit confused.

[topkit]

On the JCB drums that i have all it says is 10W the part number is 4000/2501 if you do a search on that number it should tell you, this is for the shuttle part of the transmission not the gearbox itself, the oil that goes in the gearbox itself is 90 grade. The JCB part number for that is 4000/0301, The Total Dynotrans is Ac10w. Hope this helps you.