[AT] Transmission oil, 90-wt?

[Indiana Robinson]

On 3 Sep 2006 at 6:34, Mike Sloane wrote:

> This is probably "antique tractor heresy", but my opinion is that, as 
> long as it is vaguely slippery, whatever you put in your tractor's 
> transmission will be fine. 1. The quality of today's lubricants is so 
> far advanced from what they sold in the 1940s and '50s that those old 
> specifications aren't really that important (as long as the approximate 
> viscosity is similar). 2. Very few of us operate our antiques anywhere 
> near as hard or long as they were designed for, so that the stress on 
> the components is minimal.
> 
> I have acquired tractors with transmissions half full of water, and they 
> worked just fine with no damage to the bearings or gears (aside from a 
> little rust here and there). So my suggestion is to buy the closest 
> product that fits your needs and budget and don't worry about it.
> 
> And by the way, I feel the same about engine oil - I have a dozen 
> tractors, a diesel truck, lawn mowers, pressure washer, etc. Everything 
> runs just fine on NAPA "Fleet" 15W-40. And all my hydraulic systems (and 
> tractors that use hydraulic in their transmissions) get NAPA hydraulic 
> fluid that is listed as the equivalent of IH, JD, Ford, AC, Case, etc. 
> fluid.
> 
> Again, this is my personal opinion, not supported by any industry data, 
> and you may feel free to differ (but it probably won't change my mind) :-)
> 
> Mike
> 



	AMEN!!!  Abso-freakin-lutely. As you know I have been saying pretty
 much the same thing for years. I don't own any "trailer Queens". All of my 
tractors have worked hard from the day they were made. Most of the 
hardest workers have remote hydraulics and share implements back and 
forth between them. Some of those long cylinders hold about 4 gallons of
 oil when fully extended. It would be folly to buy John Deere oil for the Deeres
 and IH oil for the IHC's and a third oil for the Oliver. They are all a mix and 
are on most actual farms.
	Years ago in simpler times we kept a cylinder for the MF and other 
cylinders for the Farmalls. These days even using older equipment there 
are waaay too many special cylinders on equipment for that to be remotely
 (accidental pun) practical. What I do is exactly what most farmers do. I have
 always chuckled at the almost paranoia that exist about various oils among
 those whose tractors get 99% of their miles from riding on a trailer. When I
 was actively farming (I basically finally retired this year) and renting extra ground 
along with a small amount of custom work it was not uncommon for me to
 be using one for 12 + hours a day 7 days a week for weeks at a time and I was
 never a "big" farmer. Well, I am a "big" farmer but the bathroom scales don't
 count.   <(^¿^)>   Many around me farm 6 to 12 times as much ground as
 I did. They also put in a huge number of hours sitting on the tractor sometimes 
hiring help to keep them running almost 24 hours a day. Think about that kind
 of use a minute... Compare it to riding around on a trailer or mowing grass a
 few hours a week or tilling a large garden or small fields. How many back lots
 will you have to bush-hog to match even one week of 12 hours a day of engine
 running time.
	We knew all those years that oils were getting better and better but at any 
given point we never worried about our oils that we were using being good 
enough to do the job. We just bought good quality oil and ran with it.
	My Allis C (1946) book calls for 20 weight motor oil in the rear end (tranny/diff/has
 hydraulics). It gets ran maybe 10 to 15 hours a year. I run the same stuff in it
 that I do in the rear end (tranny/diff/hydro) of my Deere 4020. Anyone that wants
 to argue with me that I am hurting that Allis C with it is wasting their time...  I used
 the same stuff when I was doing excavating. Sometimes I bought "universal 
trans/hydraulic". Sometimes I used Deere's oil, sometimes IH, sometimes MF. 
Guess what it all mixes and it all works well.
	I have always been amazed at the gullibility of many people that don't grasp that 
manufacturers always specify their own oil for the money they make from it... Both 
from direct sales profits and just getting the customer back in the dealership 
where they may hopefully lust after shiny new stuff. I don't
 have a problem with any companies products (usually bought from several 
different companies according to specs and in their container) and using only it
 would be wise for any tractor under a warranty just to protect the warranty. 
Years ago dealer oils were pretty pricy. Today they sometimes are the best bargain 
if you watch the prices.
	I didn't get into this stuff a few years ago. I have been doing old tractors for 55 years. 
I loved old tractors before loving old tractors was cool...  <(^¿^)>   Sometimes it amazes
 me when I see the huge growth in this hobby and then get to thinking about how recent 
of a thing it really is in the bigger picture. Even collecting old cars is fairly recent. I 
recall thinking about buying a couple of Model A Fords in 1961. Both were fully drivable
 and were about $100 each. Today they would be a little bit more...   <(^¿^)>   About 
5 years later I stood like a fool with my hands in my pockets while a nice Oliver 70 series
 with good rubber sold at auction for almost nothing. Nobody wanted it, it was just an old
 tractor... I had already been warned by my parents that an old piece of junk like that 
would just go down in value as it got even older. My father always worried about 
antiques getting too old.   <(^¿^)>
	From about age 5 until about 8, I spent much of my play time playing out in a back lot 
which held cows and hogs along with several old unused grain binders, a corn 
binder, A tedder, a dump rake, several old wooden wheel wagons,  a model A Ford 
which had a run-in with a train, a number of misc. pieces of equipment and a pile of 
McCormick 10-20 parts. Looking back its a wonder I lived through those days. I 
climbed all over that stuff...


--
"farmer"

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be 
continually fearing you will make one."
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)


Refurbished Shopsmith's
Good used SPT's
http://www.indiana-robinson.0catch.com/


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net