Transmission fluid

[hmeadowsjr]

I have a 2012 L3800 Kubota HST tractor with front end loader and would like to know if I have to use the Kubato super udt-2 fluid or can I use another brand?
Thanks

 

[Peter 315]

Any hydraulic fluid that meets utd specs will work. I use mobilfluid 424

 

[hmeadowsjr]

I live close to a Tractor Suppy and they sale Super S SuperTrac 303 Tractor Hydraulic Fluid. Is this a good one to buy?

 

[Peter 315]

If it says on the label that it meets kubota utd

 

[Peter 315]

Do you have the book on your tractor
Traveller Premium Universal Tractor Trans/Hydraulic Fluid might be ok read the label

 

[marchanna]

Lots of discussion on this. In SC you don稚 need as wide of a spread multigrade, so you can save a few bucks. Almost any universal tractor fluid will do. Spirax from your local TSC will do and be a good price. I use a full syn because I can get a 0W30 grade that works well in low temps but then we get a lot deep freezes here in Nova Scotia.

 

[Grateful11]

The L3940 here gets used 365 days a year regardless of the weather for feeding the herd. They made the mistake of going with Kubota Universal UDT. It was ok when it was changed out in the Summer but come Winter it was like a bucking bronco. It was a costly mistake as it was changed again to Super UDT2. Not trying to start an oil war but that's first hand experience. If it were a gear drive I wouldn't worry about it but being an HST I'd go with Super UDT2. The L3940 HST here has still never been as smooth as it was before the change to UDT and back again.

 

[MHarryE]

In your location probably no difference. SUDT2 has improved cold flow properties which helps at cold temps and a tractor equipped with a suction filter. Many here have talked about reduced whine during warm up when using SUDT2 vs UDT or the discount store substitutes.

 

[marchanna]

It痴 hard to find info on the Super UDT but what I could find was from Kubota's SDSs. Super UDT is 70% synthetic, so I would expect is would have much better flow properties in a range of applications. I couldn稚 find a technical data sheet, and that痴 what I normally use to compare.

For hydraulic oil, the oil that maintains a more consistent viscosity throughout the range of operating temperatures is the one that is going to functionally work best. This is especially the case in a hydrostatic transmission. In a gear transmission the most you are going to notice is that the hydraulics are slow if you do not have a decent multigrade.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Think about it this way. You bought an expensive tractor, why use cheap oil? How much are you really going to save over the life of the tractor when oil changes are made every 400 hours?

Although this doesn't apply to a tractor purchased in 2012, you can void your warranty by using non Kubota oil in newer machines.