ZF Hurth 63 IV drain plug question

Alex D

Active Member
Oct 2, 2006
1,408
Smith Mountain Lake, VA
Boat Info
2004 240 Sundeck
Engines
Mercruiser 5.0 MPI B3
I've got Hurth z63 IV V-Drives like all later 340's.
They have drain plugs. Does anyone knwo what size and thread they are?
I want to make up some high pressure hoses with garden hose attachments to easily suck the ATF out of the bottom of the trannies. Frank (Siren's Song) had made up a set for his 450 and talked about it last month.
 
The plugs on the 630's are 1/2 NPT. I made up hoses for my boat last year. Work like a charm. Just be aware that the plugs are on the port side so on the port trannie space is tight against the hull and you are going to need some elbows and nipples. I had the hoses made up at an auto parts place, 3,000 PSI hydraulice lines, total over kill but gets the job done.
 
Thanks JL ... so it might have been you that posted this on SRO not FW ...

Anyway, did you put elbows on both sides or only on the port side??

THis will be one of my winter projects ... :smt038
 
fwebster said:
Alex....... you want a photo to go by? I have not figured that one out here yet, but I can email you one if you want it.

That would be super!!

you can e-mail to farmforce-hardon@yahoo.com
You can also easily attach a photo here with the attach file function on the bottom of the window where you type your forum messages. Just use browse to navigate to the photo on your computer and attach. It will show below your message in your posting.
 
Frank W never fails to impress. His install has a gate valve along with a custom machined mounting bracket with a street elbow mounted to it. Mine has just the male garden hose fitting with a brass cap and is straped to the transmission oil cooler bracket with a couple of nylon wire ties.
 
Is this drain hose under pressure when running <like an engine coolant hose> or just atmospheric pressure like the engine oil drain? In other words, does the addidion of this hose increase the chance of a high pressure fluid leak of transmission fluid?
 
LMBoat said:
Is this drain hose under pressure when running <like an engine coolant hose> or just atmospheric pressure like the engine oil drain? In other words, does the addidion of this hose increase the chance of a high pressure fluid leak of transmission fluid?
I wondered the same thing. It seems that if the drain hoses are under pressure, it would make more sense in Frank's picture to place the ball valve directly on the transmission and run the hose and drain adapter to a convenient location.

The oil drain pump system on the 460DA and up has lines and valves for both transmissions in addtition to engine and generator oil, so I'm guessing that these lines are not under pressure.
 
It should not be under any pressure.
The Hurth trans case is vented on the starborad side via a little case vent.

That being said, when I pull my dipstick on a cold transmission, there is always some slight vacuum in the case as I can hear air getting sucked into the trans when unscrewing the dipsticks.
 
For guys who are running ZF 280 Series IVs (as in my 03 420 DA with Cummins 450s) the transmission filter cap is 36MM, and don't even bother with anything other than a 36MM socket, 1/2 inch drive. The friendly crescent wrench is not the way to go. I tried briefly with a crescent and succeeded only in removing some paint from the filter cap and some skin from my knuckles.

Ought to get the 36MM socket (part of a set of big metric sockets I ordered) from Harbor Freight in a couple days, then I can clean the transmission filters properly.

regards
Skip
 
I've been catching up since being gone for a while so I just saw this one.........

Do not mount anything but a flexible hose in the transmission drain hole. The engine vibration and the weight supported will eventually break the brass/bronze pipe nipple used between the transmission and the valve.

I learned this one the hard way before doing any transmission damage, but not before making one heck of a mess.
 
Should the ATF in the VDrives be changed often (like the motor oil in the engine) or should it just be monitored and kept topped off and then changed on a different schedule?
 
RiverGalsMan said:
Should the ATF in the VDrives be changed often (like the motor oil in the engine) or should it just be monitored and kept topped off and then changed on a different schedule?

If I remember right from my manual, and we both have the ZF Hurth 63 V drives, you should change once a year or every 100 hours.
I change mine once a year since we only put about 60 hours on the boat each year. Also might want to pull the strainers to clean ... mine never had any debris in tehm however.
 

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