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jdemaris
03-29-2006 09:01:26
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Re: Are the cheaper hydraulic oils ok to use? in reply to Sandcassle, 03-27-2006 19:55:43
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It is just about impossible to change all the hydraulic oil, there will always be some trapped in the lines and cylinders. That being said, I don't believe the brand of oil you choose is going to make any difference as long as it is the correct viscoscity. If you had a hydraulic system with a closed-center piston pump, I'd be more cautious. But a Deere 450 with a simple Cessna gear pump will work fine with 10W or 20W non-detergent motor-oil, or just about anything else that's labeled as non-foaming general purpose "hydraulic oil." If you live in a cold climate, you need to be a little more choosy. Even the Deere 303 or Hyguard oil gave us problems in cold weather. 350s and 450s would sometimes blow their return-filters off, or break the peg on the filter-restrictor indicator from bouncing because standard Hyguard is too thick when it gets below zero. John Deere company told us to either thin the Hyguard with diesel fuel, or use their "special" cold weather oil. In these situations, the "el cheapo" $15 a bucket generic hydraulic oil worked better than Hyguard. As others have already said, you do NOT want to use hydraulic oil in a transmission, or wet clutch/brake housing, or hydrostatic trans. Only a conventional stand-alone gear-pump hydraulic systems like the 350s and 450s all use. We had many customers, especially the loggers that dumped the cheapest hydraulic oil they could find into their crawler tanks, and I have never found damage or premature wear that could be blamed on off-brand oil. The only thing that comes close to that is - Deere oil tends to keep water in suspension - if water gets in - that's why it's often milky looking. Some other brands of oil let the water separate more and collect at the bottom of the tank. This is neither better or worse - just a different situation. It makes NO difference if you don't let water get in, if you do? If you don't check and drain the bottom once in awhile, you'll get ice with one oil, and ??? with the other.
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