oils / fluids

I use 15W-40 diesel-grade oil for the engine, 80W-90 gear oil for the transmission, rear and font drives, and AW 32 hydraulic fluid for the lift box.  I never use all-purpose fluids if a specific fluid is available.  The petroleum companies have spent millions of dollars on research – makes sense to take advantage of that.

What Rich said.

ATF is not indicated for any hydraulic system. ATF has special friction modifiers and is formulated for use in automatic transmissions, not to mention that it’s a little on the spendy side.

The hard work has been done for you already:

Engine oil for engines (CJ4, CI4, CH4 rating for diesel engines).

Gear oil for manual transmissions and axles (a polyglycol base stock synthetic is best).

Hydraulic oil for hydraulic systems (ISO AW 32 or 46 for most climates).

Bob, I was told to run straight 30 in tranny and axles. I am running your other suggestions. Am I supposed to run 80/90 in summer and swap EVERY year to 30 for the winter? Don't like that idea but it does get sub-zero here when snowblowing. Thanks in advance, you definitely are an asset to this site. Fido

Thanks. Regular 30w engine oil doesn't provide any advantage in drive trains, any lubrication engineer will tell you that. The “weighting” of engine oils and gear oils is different. The 80w gear oil is approximately the same viscosity as 30w engine oil – so to answer your question, yes – 80w-90 year 'round. Also, engine oil doesn't have EP additives so the shear strength is minimal.

Also – any gear oil that you use should have an AGMA listing. It's probably in small print somewhere on the label.

If it were mine I would change the fluids.

How is the previous owner qualified to speak on lubricant applications??

How qualified is  Rocky Mtn. Farm Pros to recommend particular lubricants??

You don't have to take my word for it, but if in doubt, call someone who earns a living at it – a professional lubrication engineer. Consult your local phone book.

Change all the oils to the correct ones.

Very nice job on the manual Mike.

I found it very disturbing when I sent some of my Chinese oil specimens in for spectrographic analysis some time back, and the lab emailed me and asked what it was and where did I get it. They couldn't do anything with it. They couldn't figure out what it was. That was bad news for me. (The lab is highly respected, and does all of the oil and coolant analysis for us at work on a monthly basis).

Fast forward.

Due to that experience, and my own knowledge and education, I tend to think of Chinese lubricants, and thus their recommendors, to be an unknown quantity and of dubious value.

It has also been a respected practice to change all oils and coolant with the purchase of a used machine. Starting from scratch, so to speak.

ATF is not a good hydraulic oil. Ask anyone that knows about oils and their applications. I recommend against using it for equipment longevity's sake, buy you can do whatever you want.