3C hydraulics not responding

[MrF]

I think its a wise and astute thing they did having seen the state of some of the hydraulic oil drums on sites and kicking round peoples yards in the past...

Could it be that slowness getting oil into it is a sign it needs a new filter element or did you do that already? Mines slow, but not that slow. I can get a decent amount into it in about 10 minutes.

[CHRISEEBOY]

Changing the hydraulic filter was the one thing I didn't do. The main reason being because charnleys were out of stock at the time, but the 30 litres or so of oil that came out was very clean, and the previous owner claimed to have changed the oil recently - but this is the same guy who said it had plenty of engine oil when it left his place. It didn't.

If I were to replace the hydraulic filter in the future, would I lose a lot of oil or does it all stay in the tank?

[MrF]

You loose the quantity of oil thats in the filter, but if you drain it into a clean container from the filter then you can reuse it if needs be. My machine felt much improved when I swapped mine out, but the oil in it when I got it was far from clean.
I'm lary about previous owners claims about filters, mine had empty new-looking diesel filter canisters when it arrived that the previous owner had said had just been done, and when I ran it on a bank early on in ownership it dragged raw crap into the pump out the bottom of the tank causing it to need rebuilding. For the sake of a pair of 3 quid filters

[essexpete]

Personally I would not use the oil drained off from a dirty filter unless you have a way of filtering back in.

[FOWLER MAN]

Great that it was a simple fix...Don't know why JCB felt the need to have freshly poured oil going through the filter in the 3C3,unless taking out the bypass valve. Don't recall it like that in the MK2 and the 3CX is certainly straight into the tank.

Hi,
I just noticed your comment and I cant say I'm surprised.
It was always considered good practice to filter new or used oil into the reservoir. Hymac, Priestman and most others were fitted with a dedicated factory fitted Whale or semi/rotary hand pump which filled the tank via the return line filter.
Other filling methods were frowned on.
Fred