THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

I haven't seen any pic's of these apart anywhere, this is why you flush hydraulics . Nasty waxy build up resulting in broken levers

What do most people use in their hydraulic systems?

I've had very good results over the years from silicon based "brake fluid".
The drawback with this product, is that you really need to put it in a fully rebuilt system with new seals, or a very well flushed older system.

I may be wrong, but I understand a lot of US Military vehicles use similar products.

This is why I change ALL of my Pinzgauer fluids annually. I don't have any Swiss records, so this is how I stay ahead of problems. It's cheap, I only pay for brake fluid, transmission oil, time, and BEER! Never had any problems, so I guess I'm right. Get dirty, get drunk, get dependability.

Damn mine didn't even look that bad.

The main thing that I noticed was the hard build up, almost like brittle plastic, of the separated brake fluid built up in the groves of the seals forcing it out and causing premature wear and failure of the seal. I don't think flushing out the lines will prevent this but may slow it down.

While we are on the subject. I came across a tool that has a screwdriver handle that has a flexible shaft about 2 feet long, the shaft is about 1/8" in diameter and resembles the old style speedometer cable spiral coil. I was thinking it would be great to snake out the Hydraulic/Brake lines, if it were just 4 feet longer. Anyone seen or used these. And what are they called.

Miles

Hey Jim the only pic missing is the pic of the fluid reservoir. Usually a 1'4" or so of gunk in the bottom.

Hi Peter usually Dennis uses Dot 4 in the reservoir. You are right on the silicone being used by much of the US military vehicles. However you are right on needing to renew the components and or fluch exceptionally well. The DOT 4 is nice and compatable with the fluid used by the Swiss.

Back in the old days you could get a "universal" speedo cable. They were appx 5 ft long,maybe that would work if you could find one. Mark

Question:
Say you want to use the silicone based fluid and was not in the mood for a total rebuild of the hydraulics. What would you use to completely flush the system?

Oh and how do you insert pictures into your posts?

Thanks
Brian
1973 712M

Say you want to use the silicone based fluid and was not in the mood for a total rebuild of the hydraulics. What would you use to completely flush the system?

Dennis or Jim may have a better knowledge of this than me as I started from fresh (I used Silicon fluid after a complete rebuild) but I have heard that you can flush the system with copious quantities of Metholated Spirits (not sure if that's what you call it in the US etc) then use compressed air.

Please note however that Regular Glycol based based fluid, DOT 3-4, and the Silicon type DOT 5, are TOTALLY incompatable and extreme care should be taken when switching between products, that ALL traces of the original fluid are removed before switching to another kind.....be it if you are switch from DOT 3 - 4 to DOT 5 or visa versa.

There are a few ways to post pictures. You first need to resize images to about 340 & save in low resolution using some sort of image program like Photoshop. Then use an image hosting site. I like using Image shack (it's free like others) : http://imageshack.us/ it's easy to use, click browse, then select the image file & click host it. A page will appear with the link for message boards you need to copy & paste into your post. To continue posting pictures click on yellow frog icon & repeat process. You only need to copy & paste the link into the text area of the post nothing else is needed.

Photobucket.com will resize them to 250 when you up load them. They then provide a link that you can copy and paste to your posting.