The tractor I speak of was a
B7200 and the “true synthetic” was Amsoil. I mention the brand hesitantly because in reviewing my last post I find the phrase “true synthetic” to sound snobbish. What I should have written was 100% synthetic.
I no longer own the
B7200. But when I bought it about 18 months ago I used it for a few hours and then changed all the fluids (Kubota Oil and SuperUDT.) I noticed that the HST ran a bit smoother with fresh oil. A few months later I was placing an order for Amsoil for my cars and decided to make the switch for the tractor. I am not a dealer; I occasionally join their preferred buyer club for six months and load up on a year or two worth of lubricants for the cars. The discount far exceeds the $10 fee. Anyway I was replacing the leaking seals around the brakes on the tractor and was concerned about the contamination of the hydraulic fluid so I changed it and put in the Amsoil. The HST seemed to run smoother. This isn’t scientific it’s just a gut feel.
Now I’ve moved on to a
BX23. Fast approaching 50 hours and the engine will get the Amsoil 3000 Diesel oil (because I have it) and the HST will get SuperUDT.
My reasoning for synthetics comes down to two things:
1. Cold temperature flow. The lighter the oil is at startup the less damage that is done during initial pressure buildup and warm-up. Synthetics are better in cold weather.
2. Long periods of time between changes. I am not a professional user. I am a homeowner who like to toy around on my tractor. I may put 75 to 100 hours a year on it which means that the fluids are not changed in a time interval that I am comfortable using dino oils with.
I really do not have a firm loyalty to a brand although I do like the Amsoil stuff right now because it is one stop shopping. I place an order on the web for my motor oil, hydraulic oil, 2 stroke oil, grease, fuel additives, and even their filters and they deliver it to my door a few days later.
I think other brands of synthetics are good too so I’ll leave the brand discussions to the other zealots.