Hydo Oil ?HUH?

[WantedWolf]

Hydo vs crankcase oil. There is a big difference right?

Okay the ditch witch hydraulics level is low and Ive got no book yet. The hydrualic res. sticker says use only 10w crankcase oil. Im reluctant to add that.
the fluid in there now is a very clean golden color (like fresh motor oil) and feels very light. Is this common. most of the hydraulic fluid im used to is red but the enviro friendly stuff I saw was golden. Now im lost.

 

[J_J]

Hydo vs crankcase oil. There is a big difference right?

Okay the ditch witch hydraulics level is low and Ive got no book yet. The hydrualic res. sticker says use only 10w crankcase oil. Im reluctant to add that.
the fluid in there now is a very clean golden color (like fresh motor oil) and feels very light. Is this common. most of the hydraulic fluid im used to is red but the enviro friendly stuff I saw was golden. Now im lost.

There are many different used fir hydraulic fluid. It's best to use what the manufacturer recommended. My Power-Trac uses 10w-40 as the hydro oil. Some of the larger machines also use motor oil. There is a lot of data on this site for you to read. There are some on here that will tell you to use this or that. Then there is the question of synthetic. Talk with other uses of the same equipment and see what they use. My Case skidsteer also uses motor oil with a quart of Case additives. So expect to get many answers on this subject.

 

[WantedWolf]

I hope to get many awnsers thats why TBN is so great.

But I found this that if truthfull helps shed light on this.

"
recently came across the following story posted on a message board by a heavy equipment mechanic:

" I have a customer who recently bought a new service and operator's manual for his old Komatsu PC150 hydraulic excavator He went to the lubrication guide for the hydraulic system and chose what the chart said was a 10W-40 engine oil and got what Texaco showed as being Komatsu's recommendation. Here is where the problems begin... First you never want to use a detergent oil in a hydraulic system - it can cause anything from foaming in the oil which will cause cavitation in the hydraulic pump and result in premature pump failure, to it picking up waste/contaminants in the oil and depositing it as sludge throughout the hydraulic system. But according to Texaco EVERY multi-grade oil available in the US is gonna be a detergent oil... Second, and I actually called Komatsu America on this, they DO NOT recommend a detergent oil in the hydraulic system...What is supposed to be in the hydraulic system is either a 10W or a 30W non detergent oil... This tells me that there are a lot of people out there that are blissfully going by the book and slowly killing their machine's hydraulic system. Hopefully at least some of them have asked before they wasted a lot of money and filled their hydraulic system with the wrong oil. My customer is a long-time hydraulic equipment owner, so didn't ask me before he changed his hydraulic oil... the book has to be right, right?... Now he's stuck with a 50 gallon system that he can only change 30 gallons of at a time so it's going to cost him big to fill and flush enough times to get all of the detergent oil out of the hydraulic system..."

When the OEM doesn't say what they mean, it can certainly make it difficult to follow their lube recommendations. But is a detergent oil, such as a multi-grade diesel engine oil, really detrimental to a modern hydraulic system? "


from this site
http://www.insidersecretstohydraulics.com/hydraulic-system-2.html

 

[J_J]

Detergents are used to help keep the system clean, but the disadvantage is that it caused the water to mix and turn the fluid cloudy. If it were non-detergent , the water would collect on the bottom or lowest place and could then be drained. They do make filters that will collect some water. Here in Florida, I probably could get away with a single weight motor oil, with some additives added. Up North, you need multi-weight oils, and I believe that all multi-weight oils are detergent.

 

[WantedWolf]

Working mostly near Wetlands Im also quite concerned with using "green" fluids.

Im reading over all the old posts and it seems UTF is safe for almost everything. Could I just get away with flushing the system and using a biodegradable UTF? Then Id know for sure that what was in the tank and what I add are the same.


Edit: No warrenty concerns here to consider

 

[J_J]

Working mostly near Wetlands Im also quite concerned with using "green" fluids.

Im reading over all the old posts and it seems UTF is safe for almost everything. Could I just get away with flushing the system and using a biodegradable UTF? Then Id know for sure that what was in the tank and what I add are the same.

If the machine is out of warranty, you can use whatever, but you can't go wrong if using manufactures recommendations. You will have to select a fluid that will work in your climate year round. Price, availability are just some considerations.

I just got off the phone to Ditch Witch, and he said all the equipment they have use THF. He also said the THF is cheaper to service or replace.