Sure Guard Universal Hydraulic Fluid?

[eepete]

OrangeRidge, tnx for the reply.

When my Kubota dealer serviced my B21 after it's 1st 50 hours, he put in "plain old" UDT. He said that the SUDT didn't really make a difference with the warm winters we have here in North Carolina. Owners manual recommends SUDT and advises to consult your local Kubota dealer for further details. This is a '97 B21, so warranty not an issue. The tractor is kept in an insulated garage, so even in winter it will be started at a temperature somewhere above 45 degrees.

My Deere dealer sells 95% regular JD Hy-Guard, 5% low viscosity Hy-Guard. I put regular Hy-Guard in my JD 4520, low vis in the 318 since it gets used to remove snow when we get it, but might be changing everything over to Hy-Guard come spring.

I found somewhere on the net the viscosity numbers (the "cSt") ratings for UDT, Hy-Guard, Super UDT, and low vis Hy-Guard. The UDT and Hy-Guard are within 1.5% the same stuff (viscosity wise). The properties for SUDT are a bit wider as a multi-weight oil, but in general it's a bit thinner than UDT. There is no Deere equivalent to SUDT.

So in the interest of having fluids that are common to my equipment, I'm going to change out the B21 to the Hy-Guard. If this is wrong, then my Kubota dealer is wrong and so is every tractor they service. Deere and Kubota are great companies and I'm sure they have all the additives needed in their transmission oil.

If I lived north of the Mason-Dixon (more or less) I'd use the SUDT due to the colder winters.

Not trying to start an argument here, just putting my out loud thinking and dealer experience on the table. I've enjoyed this thread because it's time to change out my B21 oil.

Pete

 

[OrangeRidge]

It doesn't help with choices when some of this proprietary
fluid is blended differently for different countries ..........

 

[bp fick]

It doesn't help with choices when some of this proprietary
fluid is blended differently for different countries ..........

Feel your pain. You Aussies design and can buy the newest generation Ford Ranger, complete with diesel engine. All we get is a 25 year old gasser model.

Stuff like this happens in the corporate world.

 

[OrangeRidge]

My LR3 is gas . Ford's big problem is their terrible European diesel
engines , which cause no end of problems and expense for those
who choose them for LR3/RRS/Defender , Mondeo , Transit Van ............
I've always said that the States don't know just how lucky
they are , not to have these Ford European 4 and 6 cylinder engines.
If you want a diesel , buy Audi (1st) or other German Marques ....

 

[apnorcal]

A dealers exuberance about selling one product over another is often proportional to the extra markup they make on that product. Below is an excerpt from the article linked at: http://www.pqiamerica.com/THF Reprint.pdf

The THFs in question are priced
well below that of legitimate products and they
list the specifications farmers are looking to
see. Furthermore, THF packaging often
uses colors that farmers associate with onspec
products. But in the words of one
jobber, “It’s a disgrace to the industry, and
if marketers refuse to play the price game by
offering the yellow bucket fluid they are
boxed out of a significant volume of
business.”
Apparently jobbers are not the only
ones being tempted to take a bite out of the
apple by playing the price game. Hussain
notes that a number of OEM dealers are
even selling this low cost-low quality juice in
an effort to meet the needs of their price
sensitive customers. And it’s a tough battle
to convince farmers the fluid doesn’t meet
specifications and could cost them much
more in the long run when the dealers
themselves are selling it.
So can a low price-low quality THF
really cost more in the long run? Well,
according to Deere, Lubrizol, and others
when asked if it would hurt a tractor to use
fluid that doesn’t meet JDM-20A or JDM-
20C specifications, the answer is a
definitive “Yes.” Lower treat rates on the
antiwear could result in damage to the
spiral gear in the final drive. It could also
cause excessive wear in the planetaries.
Lower treat rates on the friction modifier
could result in improper and poor shifting.
It could also cause improper operation of
the wet brakes. The bottom line, in the
words of Winslow: “Its use could bring the
tractor to an early demise.” Deere agrees.

 

[johnrex62]

Profit is a powerful incentive. You remind me of a story my brother told me about when he was working in an electronics store while in college.

He had a young woman come in to buy her boyfriend a stereo. She was not familiar with electronics and asked my brothers opinion of the units for sale. He went through the list of features comparing and contrasting the different units. None was signficantly better or worse than each other, all of the units had some feature another did not, but nothing that stood out beyond preference for decision making.

She asked which he would pick if he was buying it. He pointed out the unit of his choice and she asked what feature made the decision for him. He responded that that unit had the highest PBS value. She bought it.

The PBS was the stores method of determining the commission payout to the salesperson.