Need a expert on motor oil. Which brand?

In this day and times where money gets tighter everyday trying to find cheaper ways to do things. I have always used Rotella T 15W40 engine oil in all my tractors and one truck. Today I bought eight 2.5 gal. jugs at $25.50 per jug. I was almost tempted to buy the TSC Travler 15W40 brand at $19.99 per 2.5 gallon jug. I read all the spec on the back of each container and it was all the same specs and recomaditons. Does anyone know if there is any difference at all and has anyone ever used any TSC oil. In my 1486 and my two 1466's I always leave one gal of oil out and add one gal of lucas oil treatment and the 806 and 856 I leave two quarts of oil out and add two quarts of lucas to them.

I have always heard that as long as they meet the same standards then the oil itself is the same, the only difference is the additives that each brand uses to achieve different goals and to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Asking a group of people which brand of oil is the best is like asking which tractor brand is the best, you are going to get some decent answers but it will likely end in argument.

Larry, there is almost as much debate about which oil to use as there is about which spark plug to use.

I will provide my opinion, and I stress: IMHO (in my humble opinion).

It is far more important to change your oil and filter regularly (or as required) than it is what viscosity or what brand. Of course, it depends upon whether your tractor is a weekend warrior, a parade queen, or a down and dirty farm tractor. Each one of these uses requires different frequency on oil change, and sometimes the type of oil you use.

I use straight weight, HD30 in the summer, and HD 20 in the winter. My tractors get used to haul firewood, plow snow, and plow/disk a garden in the spring. I also have a couple that go to the tractor shows and parades, but that is about the extent of their workouts. I start them once every 2 weeks in the winter, and run them for at least 20-30 mins.

My oil changes are when the seasons change, and the filter changes each time. soooooo, unless you are farming daily, or using them at competative tractor pulls, just change the oil and filter at appropriate intervals, and use decent oil.......pick a brand.

I happend to use Wolf's head. Penzoil in a pinch.

Hope this helps. PS: I don't have a strong opinion about multivis vs. straight weight. Also, none of my tractors were made after 1951, and most were made before 1946. I also use 1 quart of Lucas for each oil change. May not need it, but it makes me feel better!

Delo, Rotella, and brands like Kendall, Quaker State, etc do have higher prices, but they also have quality products and reputation. The additives and viscosity stabilizers are not all the same, and this includes the quality and purity of the additives, Synthetic brand names are also good. I would (and do) go with the quality in vehicles that I intend to keep. Jim

In my opinion if your spending good money for the Lucas just buy the Rotella and save your money on the Lucas. $$$$$
Don"t get me wrong, Lucas is a good product but I think you will also be fine without it.
It's just one of those things that you think you need but you probably don't.
I have seven tractors between 40 and 60 years old and 200,000 miles on two vehicles that never had Lucas put in any of them. Regular oil and filter changes I think is the key to a long lasting engine.

PS: I use Valvoline.

I rebuilt a 12hp Kohler and put in Wally Oil, I mowed the yard and changed the oil,it had used a qt. next week the same thing, after that I switch to Quaker State(any brand name oil will work fine) and it never used a drop the rest of the summer.

Ive always used Rotella but i have noticed recently in TSC that the Travller oil bottle label looks a lot like the old Rotella bottle labels. As rotella is changing there bottle labels again. Which leads me to suspect that maybe shell is bottling the traveller brand for TSC now?

What Jeff said, and the Traveller will be just fine.

BTW... This is who bottles TSC oils..They have changed their website, so the list of companoes they bottle for has changed, but they were some well known companies/name brands.
Oil bottler

Not a WAlMart fan....Have 1987 200K miles Chevrolet truck that has been on WalMart oil for years and it runs near perfect and does not use any oil. Just got back couple days ago from pulling 3500 Lb. trailer for 1200 miles and oil was still on full mark when I got home....engine has never been touched inside.

Lucas is a great product, but it should be used in conjunction with good oil. Also if you were to really get into this you should run the tractor for a whole oil change period and then send the oil out to be tested. That way you can see how your engines doing and see how the oil is doing at the end of your oil change between the two brands. I think Rotella is the best oil for diesel engines but then that can be just a personal opinon also. This is one of those questions that you may get 10 diffrent answers.


However. You usually get what you pay for and that 22$ is alot cheaper then an engine overhaul. And oil is pretty much the life blood of an engine and is something that alot of people look over

I use brad penn, has alot of zink and sulfur that the new oil doesn't. The off the self oil had to this stuff out to meet epa emission.