For me, it's not a battle between me and Kubota. I don't doubt Kubota "branded" oil is more expensive but I would assume its a piece of security as you can always state you have used "their" product in case of warranty work. I would also assume that the tiny tiny portion of the product sales of whatever company (Valvoline in the US, Petrocan in Canada; I assume
) that the Kubota branded oil encompasses yields any profit to Kubita in the end simply due to line changeup costs and packaging. These jugs probably aren't cheap. Unless you have statistics on the financial profits of that arm of Kubotas final sales in any interim, there really isn't a basis for argument other than the reality that switching an oil distribution run to custom packaging on what is surely not a dedicated line (reinforced by the fact Canadian oil is s different entity all together and therefor isn't exported) simply isn;'t profitable but gives the customer security in knowing Kubota approves and backs this blend.
As per highway trucks, some drivers run at 1250 RPM, sometimes refered to as the "sweet spot" on CAT's where the redline is 2100 because the fuel mileage is best. Idling is hard on the seals and causes blow-by but it is also low idling as once the temp drops below 180F the sulfer doesn't burn off sufficiently and, in addition, not as much moisture is dissipated and this causes the creation of Sulfuric Acid that now begins bathing your crankshaft. Hence high idel at 1100 to keep the temp near 182 - 188, but these puppys are big girls. They run a million miles before rebuild with consistency and as per oil anaysis, they aren't really lookng at the oil, per say, as much as they are looking at what deposits are in the oil to indicated where certain parts by metal composition that is evident are wearing. Nickel, I believe would indicate Crankshaft ware and if excessive allows the owner to investigate before catastrophic failure. But lets not forget these engines are easily $25,000 just to rebuild. The robustness on all parts of highway trucks from the suspension to the tires alone take HUGE abuses and keep going.
For me, its also not only piece of mind but that I love my tractor so after break in it immediately got switched to Mobil1 10W-30 full synthetic and I also had a case of the tiny Japanes Kubota branded synthetic oil filters the tractor comes with. My dealer sells larger, Fleetnets for cheaper but I choose to use theses. I used what is called Kubta Super UDT which it is the understanding its composite is a partial sythetic blend by Petrocan of there Duratran line. At next hydraulic change I will be switching to full sythetic Petrocan hydraulic Duratran. As I do see some winter wind chills to -45 all of this assures me that it will start when I need it. Lubricant will flow at t hese temps unlike molasses and gets to the surface areas necessary, FASTER.
I DON'T feel taken.
