Can You Mix Hyd. Oils ?

[jimainiac]

I have a Woods backhoe for my tractor, and it runs off the PTO with its own oil system. The manual calls for just plain hydraulic oil, so in the past I've used hydraulic "R & O" oil. I have a pail of "tractor fluid" for a gear type tractor, from Sam's Club that I no longer need (new tractor), and a pail of "R & O" oil. Would it be all right to mix these two types of hydraulic oils together in the backhoe? I'd like to use it up, and this time I wouldn't have to buy any oil for the change. With what I have, the mixture might be half and half, or two thirds one third. Thanks in advance for any help on this. I have a feeling it would be okay in the backhoe but would like a more knowledgeable opinion.

 

[DieselPower]

Ideally you should never mix different products but in the real world it happens all the time. The UTF is going to have a better additive package than a plain R&O oil. It shouldn't cause any problems as long as it's the correct viscosity. What ISO viscosity hydraulic oil does it call for, a 32? If so the UTF should be fine.

 

[jimainiac]

Thanks for the reply DP, I was hoping you might give an opinion. I'm not where the backhoe and it's manual are, but I don't think it specified anything but plain hydraulic oil. When an owner's manual specifies a certain fluid I'm pretty careful to use what it says. So I started using R & O oil that I picked up at Sam's Club. It seemed like a safe bet, a hydraulic oil for equipment. They had that, and tractor fluid that I got for changing the transmission/hydraulic oil in the old gear drive Kubota. I've used the R & O oil in the backhoe for its changes with no problems. I doubt that the backhoe is too fussy, since if it was hooked directly to the tractor it would be using whatever the tractor was using, in this case Kubota SUDT, because this tractor is HST.
I wonder what R & O stands for, anyway? The pails say AW 46 R&O hydraulic oil.

 

[flusher]

Thanks for the reply DP, I was hoping you might give an opinion. I'm not where the backhoe and it's manual are, but I don't think it specified anything but plain hydraulic oil. When an owner's manual specifies a certain fluid I'm pretty careful to use what it says. So I started using R & O oil that I picked up at Sam's Club. It seemed like a safe bet, a hydraulic oil for equipment. They had that, and tractor fluid that I got for changing the transmission/hydraulic oil in the old gear drive Kubota. I've used the R & O oil in the backhoe for its changes with no problems. I doubt that the backhoe is too fussy, since if it was hooked directly to the tractor it would be using whatever the tractor was using, in this case Kubota SUDT, because this tractor is HST.
I wonder what R & O stands for, anyway? The pails say AW 46 R&O hydraulic oil.

Rust and oxidation inhibited

 

[DieselPower]

Like flusher said the R&O stands for rust and oxidation inhibited. The AW 46 stands for anti-wear and the 46 is the viscosity, ISO 46.