I am simply baffled

[Wayne County Hose]

Okay, you last 3 posters, you are still using good quality oil to begin. Kendall and Mobil are high quality lubes. I'm talking about the people that do hours of research, go to 4 different brand/dealers, kick tires for months, finally spend 30 grand plus on a machine, then put the cheapest Wally World oil they can find on their discount rack. They buy the 50 cent tube of grease, the no name gear oil. I'm not saying you have to buy your fluids from the dealer or use synthetics. But put all that effort into choosing a machine, spend all that money on it, and say friggit with the lubricants?

I know there are those out there that may say,
"My tractor has 10,xxx hours on it and all I ever used was oil from the flea market." I just don't understand the reasoning. I also know that many like to keep their equipment/vehicles all original, but changing the fluids doesn't mean it's not "original" anymore.

[orangebluegreen]

Originally Posted by Wayne County Hose

I'm talking about the people that do hours of research, go to 4 different brand/dealers, kick tires for months, finally spend 30 grand plus on a machine, then put the cheapest Wally World oil they can find on their discount rack.

Add to that dirty funnels. Some pretty big particles cling to them and need to be cleaned before use.

[SkyPup]

How about buying a new $1.5 million custom diesel pusher RV with a 650HP TurboCat and shopping at Wally World for the cheapest lubricants?

TOO STOOPID?

[EddieWalker]

Guess I'm one of those who are guilty of this. I have almost $80,000 in used equipment, and buy the cheap grease for it. I buy the least expensive grease that I can with moly in it. I grease my fittings before every use and depending on what I'm using, might go through three tubes a day. I change the oil and filters once a year and buy Napa filters and oil.

I realize that there is better greese and oil out there, but I question wether it's worth the expense over the lifetime of the equipment for what it costs versus what I'd get out of it in additional protection.

Every failure that I'm aware of in fittings that require greese are from them not being greesed. Comparing the wear from cheap greese versus the expensive stuff might show a difference, but is it one that is measurable in real world applications? Is there any difference in wear at all? Is it enough of a difference that I can feel it or notice it over the lifetime of the machine? Is the wear even greese related or is it from usage and/or design?

There is a point when you are just thowing money away on the most expensive lubricants compared to what will get the job done. I do buy good quality hydraulic oil, but that's because my dozer is hydrostatic drive and I HAVE to use that type of oil in it.

In comparison, how many people buy premium gasoline for there $30,000 car or truck? How many people buy $100 blue jeans or $200 boots? How many people buy 5/8's or 3/4 rebar for there foundations? Saw blades, drill bits, sand paper. The list goes on and on for what gets the job done and what we can spend more money on for the very best.

Sometimes it's worth it, but most of the time it's not.

I have no problem being cheap and admitting to it. If it fails and it's because of using $2 tubes of grease instead of $4 tubes, I'll admit it, and deal with it. I have thousands of hours on my equipment and don't see any reason to spend more money on greese.

I also have a fair amount of experiece doing repairs on my equipment, and as of today, none of them are greese or oil related. Most are from hoses failing, fitting failing, metal breaking, seals leaking and gaskets that start to leak.

To answer your quetion, when you buy and go through cases of greese in a month, I don't think it's worth paying twice as much for the fancy, high tech, good stuff.

Just my opinion.
Eddie

[Wayne County Hose]

Eddie,

I don't think you are being unwise here. You are buying the least expensive grease with moly in it for use on older, used equipment. No, you don't need $10 a tube synthetic. You are using the good quality oil where you know you need to, and using a good quality (moly) grease where you need to. I don't think you are being cheap. There is a big difference between being cheap and being efficient.

[frank_miller]

I have $150 sneakers, $120 jeans etc and they last 5X as long as the cheap stuff. Heck I paid $300 for a winter jacket 10+ years ago and looks new...Cheap jacket at Gheto-mart would last 1 year. But do what you want..

[coobie]

Originally Posted by Wayne County Hose

Okay, you last 3 posters, you are still using good quality oil to begin. Kendall and Mobil are high quality lubes. I'm talking about the people that do hours of research, go to 4 different brand/dealers, kick tires for months, finally spend 30 grand plus on a machine, then put the cheapest Wally World oil they can find on their discount rack. They buy the 50 cent tube of grease, the no name gear oil. I'm not saying you have to buy your fluids from the dealer or use synthetics. But put all that effort into choosing a machine, spend all that money on it, and say friggit with the lubricants?

I know there are those out there that may say,
"My tractor has 10,xxx hours on it and all I ever used was oil from the flea market." I just don't understand the reasoning. I also know that many like to keep their equipment/vehicles all original, but changing the fluids doesn't mean it's not "original" anymore.

I believe these folks are called TIGHT WADS.LOL coobie

[David_G]

Good quality oil and filters are cheap compared to engine rebuilds.

[john_bud]

Wayne,

I used to work next to a Valvoline distributor / bottler. Couple times a week a semi would dump who knows how many thousands of gallons of oil off. Then several times a day, a couple small trucks would load pallets of quarts of motor oil and take them to the retailers. The exact same content in the containers would be in the store brands as in the ones marked "Valvoline". I asked, all they did was label, fill and ship.

Check the wally world web site and read the MSDS's. I think they will show who is supplying the lubricants. It's not "uncle bubba's lube-o-ramma and gator wrastlin". It's Penzoil, Quaker state, mobil etc. Yes, it's whoever wants to sell at break even pricing, but they don't custom blend Yak Urine and call it 10W30. The oils even at wally's have an API seal, right?

I could be wrong (it has happened!), but isn't more wear due to particulates getting past the air filter and from low oil pressure at startup and NOT from lubricant breakdown? If that's true, how does paying more reduce wear?


jb

[Soundguy]

Originally Posted by orangebluegreen

The one that makes me say hmmm is the recommendation by the OEM to change oil filter every other oil change. Both my Kubota and Honda mini van say the same thing. The Kubota says oil every 100 filter 200. Amazing Honda and Kubota both say that as they are regarded in their fields for longevity when it comes to engines.

I change the filter every time because I don't have X-ray vision to see in there and to make me feel better but who knows maybe its overkill?

Been using Mobil-1 oil and filters.

i change mine at every interval as well.. the extra 8 $ won't kill me..

soundguy