.....if you have a 2wd YM2310 it does not use gear oil, only universal Hy/Tran in the transmission. If you have a 4wd YM2310D, it uses 90wt gear oil in the front axle.
Correct. Actually I can't think of any Yanmar that doesn't use a Hy/Tran oil in the transmission. I like a multiweight 75/80w-90 gear oil in the front axle.
Hy/Tran oil is a surprising light viscosity oil for a transmission and that is surprising at first sight. But it apparently has a high and durable shear strength because it has to run between the gears of the tranny and gear pump while being light enough to work in the cylinders of a hydraulic system. Power shift is a hydraulic system with lots of seals. So the oil also needs to be compatible with a broad range of synthetic seals, but doesn't need to stand up to combustion.
The price for the recommended true JD303 Trans/Hydraulic fluid from the John Deere dealer stunned me. But I bought it...reluctantly... Maybe that's why lots of people use "just-as-good-as" from the farm store. There you can buy gallon jugs of Hy/Tran which claims to meet JD303 specs. Apparently it is good enough. I've not heard of any problems with any of the JD303 knock offs even though they are brands of oil nobody has ever heard of.
Though if a fellow really wants to save dollars and be ecological then why not buy real JD303 and re-use it? After all, it was designed to go thousands of hours in commercial equipment under much higher load, temperature, & pressures than our little tractors will ever see.
I got to noticing that the JD303 that is drained out of my Yanmars looks just like it did going in. So I ran a simple viscosity test that shows that to be unchanged. And that made me think: If viscosity hasn't changed and the color looks new then it is a good bet that lubricity hasn't changed. I didn't check the [pH], and probably should - though without any water in there and no color change I doubt [pH] has changed either. I'll sure check that next time.
And why should the old JD303 not be good as new? After all, the system is completely sealed and has not one but two of the best particle filters this mechanic has ever seen. We know our tractors don't stress the oil anywhere near what the oil is designed to take. And I change at intervals of hundreds rather than thousands of hours. As for suspended particles smaller than the filters can handle - and there are bound to be some - well, nobody has yet has devised a better separation method than letting it settle undisturbed for months. So that's what I'm doing. Letting it settle, siphoning it into clean containers and reusing it.
On the same note, I'm beginning to wonder just how much trouble it would be to refresh the old motor oil too. That's way more of a chemistry project, but surely it is doable for the person willing to take the time. I hate to just waste the stuff.
YMMV, rScotty