Dontcha just love new tools /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
My 284 also had a pretty reasonable looking oil in it when it was delivered. Looked to be straight 30wt and was the same oil in all systems of the tractor. I still replaced it and flushed all of the compartments with just 1-2 hours run time on the clock playing around in the yard. I did get a little bit of water contaminated/imulsified oil out of the front axel when I drained it. I also got a LOT of crud/dirt and metal shavings out of mine when I flushed it. The kero I flushed with was clear/red when I started and you could see to the bottom of a 5 gallon container. The kero I drained out of the tractor after flushing is nearly black and you can't see but a inch or so into it now. It also has a lot of metal particles in the bottom of the container, most from the hydraulic resovoir which I flushed using kero fed under pressure from a windshield washer pump. I made a spray wand out of thin aluminum tube that I could get way into the resovoir. This allowed me to flush all the metal shavings I could see in the cavities in the bottom of the resovoir to the drain port. I use this dirty kero along with the original oil to light brush piles on fire. That original oil that came out sure is flamable. It lights very easilly compared to regular motor oil.
In my opinion, the oil that came with mine is too heavy for the hydraulics, particularly in a cold climate. If you search back in the forum you will see some posters who were having problems in the cold with slow/non functional hydraulics. this was usually with the original fluids still in the tractor. Too much restriction on the hydraulic suction, such as trying to draw thick cold oil can be hard on the pump and shorten it's life. I use AW32 in my hydraulics.
If you search back in this forum, you will also come upon several cases where posters have complained of low oil pressure when running hard in warm weather. That will happen with a straight weight oil. A multi weight oil(15W40) will hold up much better and allow you to maintain proper oil pressure under higher temps and loads. It will also flow better during a cold startup.
Call me old fashioned but I think gear boxes should have gear oil in them. I don't know the petegree of what was originally provided, but mine didn't appear "sticky" enough to function properly where gears mesh, particularly when hot. I put 80W90 (yellow metal safe, anti foaming)GL-4 in mine.
Good Luck and enjoy your new toy... I mean tool
