Anyone actually go 100 hours between oil changes?

[mrpoppy58]

I also change oil and filter at 50 hours. If a person will drain their oil into a bucket and save it for a cold morning and see how thick it is they will see why i change mine at 50 hours. I wish all a Merry Chistmas.
mrpoppy

 

[5030]

I have followed the maintenance schedule on all my (7) Kubota's.

That said, my last three are used for farming and 100 hours comes real quick. I change my filter at 50 and oil at 100. Of course I top off the oil after the filter change. I don't want to get into oil types other than say I adhere to the OEM's recommended API grade.

I'd say that your change frequency would depend on how you use the tractor, how hard you work it and the enviroment in which you use it. Adverse enviroments like dust and extreme cold and hard use like construction, commercial uses and farming dictate more frequent oil changes and GREASING. Greasing is something that quite a few owners seem lack in. I read the thread and saw one poster that greased at 50 hours. Kubota recommends 10 hours on the FEL and that should be for all grease fittings on the tractor. I'd suspect that at 50, you are probably galling the plain bushings and pins in the loader and that's a lot of pre-mature wear. When it comes to grease unlike oil, I use a premium synthetic water resistant grease. The grease I use costs around $1300.00 for a 125# pail. Of course I have a penumatic grease pump. I gave up on cartridge greasers long ago. I prefer the synthetic grease as I can use it universally from pivots to reciprocating parts to wheel bearings.

 

[Toolguy]

The oil in my dad's 1967 3020D John Deere got changed every 200 plus hours just as the service manual recommended. My dad was and still is cheap and if the book says 200 hrs than anything less is just wasting oil. That tractor went over 30 years and 6000 hrs until one day while he was baling hay it started to lose power. He gave it some more throttle until it just would not go any more. The crank had seized due to worn out bearings. If that was the result of going too long between oil changes, old age or just normal wear, I don't know. I don't think 100 hrs between changes is anything to worry about. I would just change it at least once a year or 100 hrs, whatever comes first.

 

[ZackaryMac]

100 hours for me, as the manual says. About once a year. Mowing grass and snow removal is it's main use.

 

[Jay4200]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That tractor went over 30 years and 6000 hrs until one day while he was baling hay it started to lose power. He gave it some more throttle until it just would not go any more. The crank had seized due to worn out bearings. If that was the result of going too long between oil changes, old age or just normal wear, I don't know.)</font>

FWIW - Crank bearing failure is typically a direct result of going too long between oil changes. The oil gets too much crap in it to stay in suspension, so gunk works into the bearing surfaces and eventually chew up the bearings. Loss of viscosity reduces float if the crank, which makes things even worse. From what I understand about tractor motors, 6000 hours is pretty early to blow one up, so I'd have to say that 200 hr frequency was not sufficient. Jay

 

[5030]

Smokin' /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

<font color="blue">From what I understand about tractor motors, 6000 hours is pretty early to blow one up, so I'd have to say that 200 hr frequency was not sufficient. </font>

I don't think I can get on board with 6,000 hours being "pretty early", nor do I think that any appreciable engine longevity can be achieved by using drain intervals that are shorter than those recommended by the manufacturer, assuming that your oil (dino or synthetic) is doing its job.

Evidence for the latter can be found in many studies of European maintenance practices in which considerably longer drain intervals than those used in the US result in no measurable increase in wear or failure.

If your manufacturer specifies a drain interval of 100 or 200 hours and an API spec, and you have engine problems, I'd have to think that your "oil of choice" has probably let you down. If you use oil x (dino or synthetic) and oil tests come back with good numbers at the mfrs. drain intervals, with the oil holding up well and no sign of abnormal wear of internal engine components, I can't see any need to reduce the drain interval. If the tests come back with bad numbers, I'd change my brand and quality of oil (dino or synthetic) before I reduced my drain interval.

So - could the 6,000-hr. engine have lasted 8,000 - 10,000 hours if the oil had been changed twice as often? First, I tend to doubt it. Second, even if it would have, when you figure in the time and materials for all the extra oil changes, depending on the price tag you put on your time I can see that adding up close to the cost of a new engine anyway.

As usual, no easy answers, and probably more than one way to get the job done in a cost-effective way.

 

[HGM]

This may be comparing peaches to nectarines. Close but not exactly the same.. By using the 33mi per hr of idle time, I come up with about 200,000mi. (not a mathmetician[sp?], but I believe thats correct /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif).. I would be verry disapointed if my Powerstroke was to fail that early...... If a diesel has CLEAN oil, air, and fuel there is no reason it shouldnt last at least 3x that...

Again, not being a long time tractor guy, I cant say that from experience on a tractor. However, as far as truck diesels go, that was way early...Due to acidic buildup and condensation in diesel engine oils, extended change intervals could dramaticly reduce life. I'm not one that believes an oil test must be done to determine oil life, but I do believe it would show these contaminates. If you would benefit that much from an extended interval by all means, have it checked to make sure you are offering the best protection to the engine... I will keep changing at recomendations or slightly more, no less than once per year.

 

[VA_Joe]

With an engine - the use profile has a lot to do with longevity. The less an engine is used - the harder it is on the internal parts since it is non-use that gives moisture and acid build-up the chance to do their deeds.

Long periods between starts gives oil the opportunity to drain back to the pan leaving bare the protective coating it provides. Each engine start is a "dry start." Moisture from the oil condenses on internal engine parts causing rust. Gaskets dry out and rot. Etc.

The point is that these are all things that do not happen on a daily driver but will happen on a tractor (or car) that is only used on weekends or is put away over the winter. The 6,000 hours happened over the course of 30 years. That is a very long time for any engine. If the 6,000 hours of use occured over the course of five years vice thirty - the story would likely been much different (he probably would have gotten another 6,000 hours over the next five years).

Anyway - my two cents.

Joe

 

[R_Redding]

We have a Kubota ST30 and a TYM390 both of which are changed every 200hrs..Which usually equates to 6 weeks as each are used to cut rough with a Lastec articulator full time.
The ST has 4500 hours and still runs well ,with good compression for starting in the current weather.
We use a 10w40 universal engine/hydaulic oil from Shell..

Rob