Conoco Tractor Hydraulic Fluid

[BigSteve63]

I'm a lube oil jobber, and sell a couple brands of THF products, my main brand being Conoco. The Conoco Powertran Fluid III is a product made of Group II hydrotreated base oil, and has never gotten me one call back in 8 years now from an angry or disappointed customer that something was not working right. From the biggest JD tractors to small stuff like a Ford 8-N, Powertran is excellent. Mobil 424 Fluid is ditto likewise, never a complaint back to me, nor was there with Chevron product when I sold a lot of their THF. I guess I have to wonder, who puts the most in the pail?, Conoco and Mobil and Chevron, or does some buyer at Wally World really look out for my long range tractor life and performance? He only contracts for the highest quality available? I can well imagine that Wally buys an oil that meets spec when it's new oil, nothing too fancy, and sells it cheap. But if it works, so be it. At Peterbilt and Kenworth, they fill every engine with Chevron Delo, not some generic off brand oil that only "works". I guess I take that as reason to get the best I can find.

x2 again on the Mobil 424. Great product. We have people daily who tell us that the farm store add has cheap hydraulic for 19.99 to 21.99 per pail- I tell them to go ahead and buy it, but make sure you inquire about how they are going to stand behind your equipment should the cheap stuff fail. Most wind up buying the Conoco or Mobil branded

 

[MESSMAKER]

I save anywhere from $175-$200 by choosing something other than my tractors branded fluid. Change the fluid every 200 hours and over 2000 hours I have saved nearly $2000. That is enough to give me pause. It is safe to buy the very best available on most anything(fluid,paint,tools,), but is it the best value?

 

[Soundguy]

I save anywhere from $175-$200 by choosing something other than my tractors branded fluid. Change the fluid every 200 hours and over 2000 hours I have saved nearly $2000. That is enough to give me pause. It is safe to buy the very best available on most anything(fluid,paint,tools,), but is it the best value?

I am kinda in the same boat. The tractors I run generally hold 13+ gallons of utf fluid.

considering that a pail of the name brand stuff fromt he dealer is nearly 80$.. and a generic is well.. way less than half that.... I have deffinately saved some bucks over the years.

soundguy

 

[scopx]

My experience with Hyd fluids.
I bought a gray market yanmar 1802 that had been garaged and well kept. The examination of the hyd fluid indicated it had been replaced with ATF and was clean. I changed out to Super Tech fluid hydraulic and and trans fluid which has the JD 303 requirement. The only difference noted was a more "smooth" drop of lift (bucket.)
Fast forward ~ 2 years when I managed to cut a brake "boot" (my term) and subsequent loss of fluid. A new boot was purchased from a north Texas aftermarket seller and installed.
Fast forward ~3 years when leaking started again at same brake boot. I surmised I had somehow had cut it again. However, when pulled down, the "new" boot had deteriorated (rotted) at the level where the fluid remains in the boot, but is fine above.
A side note, the old boot is fine!
This would cause me to conclude that
1-the fluid from Wally World is/was not as labeled, and or
2-the replacement boot (material) was not as high quality as original.
I will replace fluid with name brand and watch closely as suspect WW fluid mav have damaging properties to seals, etc.
As am unsure of possible problems, I just resealed "bad" areas with Dow Chemical cement and reinstalled. Will use until problem is corrected.
I did note when replacing with the Super Tech fluid, a slight acetic smell, somewhat like brake fluid, but not near as "loud."

Don't guess am asking question here, just providing a FYI.
Comments, other experiences appreciated.
The fluid remains rather clear (my coffee is lot darker, but I drink it strong) and does not appear dark until in container size of a quart or so.
Another interesting note-did find that operating temps of the fluid the be almost ambient when I managed to knock off a rubber flex fitting when clearing timber.
Tom

 

[Soundguy]

Warren oi is the producer of the walmart oil.. I doubt they are turning out garbage.

if you went 3ys with no oil change.. I'd say that was a tad long.

soundguy

 

[scopx]

Warren oi is the producer of the walmart oil.. I doubt they are turning out garbage.

if you went 3ys with no oil change.. I'd say that was a tad long.

soundguy

This is an occasional use unit, not for regular farm use.
Changed the engine oil last month and thought it looked pretty clean, Then checked the oil filter (where date/hours are written) turned out had only 20 hours on oil in about 2 years.

 

[Soundguy]

even on limited use machines.. you still need to change the oil.. changing the oil gets out acids, contaminates.. and most importantly.. moisture.

soundguy

 

[scopx]

Update:

Drained every orifice I could find excepting oil pan and allowed to "drip" for period of time. Then replaced the HYD filter and replaced with Accel straight 303 which had no brake fluid acid smell. I did puncture hyd filter and checked fluid as it ran out. There were black chunks of what appeared to be rubber in a otherwise rather clear fluid.
Checked again after filling/running and all appears well at this time. Machine operates as it should.
I hope I am wrong about the "Universal Super Tech" and this is the end of it.
Tom

 

[Soundguy]

got the old supertech jug? have the residue tested? I guess a bottling error could have happened.. I'm sure it's rare.. but possible..

soundguy

 

[scopx]

got the old supertech jug? have the residue tested? I guess a bottling error could have happened.. I'm sure it's rare.. but possible..

soundguy

Yes, have a goodly amount in original container. And have sent off for analysis kit.