Go BottomSynthetic lubricants for HST Kubota
 | jpostup
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 21 NH 
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2004-01-26 75118
Hi:
Living in New Hampshire is challenging as we've had really cold weather. I am happy to see my B2910 HST starts fine, and runs well given a long warm up period.
However, I kept thinking that synthetic fluid in the hydrostat and synthetic gear oil would be a good thing to do. (I use Mobil 1 in my Audi after all!)
I was reminded when I spilled a bottle of Castrol regular motor oil on the bench, seeing that nothing came out due to the stiff molasses in the bottle I have to ask.
With several -20 Degree F mornings, is anyone else using synthetic fluids? thanks , what do you guys use?
Jeff
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 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada 
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2004-01-26 75119
I know of only two synthetic HST fluids. Amsoil makes one that is very, very expensive. Amsoil does not submit their products to API for testing.
The other product is Chevron All Weather which is tested by API and is still expensive, but 1/2 the price of Amsoil. Chevron is the only product I have found that cross references to Kubota Super UDT.
Another board member uncovered information that Chevron makes Kubota's HST fluids. The info is in the archives, somewhere. ....
Link: Chevron All Weather
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 | Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2004-01-26 75120
I think that with needing to change the oil as frequent as needed in the northeast that the Kubota oil is costly enough as a partial synthetic for the thoughts that you will never wear that out. It is your pocket book and there are people who like the stuff. I do know about the cold temps but I still like the factory stuff. ....
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| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2004-01-26 75124
Art makes a good point.
There is very little difference in the pour point between the Chevron full synthetic and the Kubota semi-synthetic. ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2004-01-27 75159
Mine is a gear tractor and all-weather petro oil works for me. I've used both NH F200 and a similar AGCO oil. I think they're both called semi-synthetics. It gets cold here too.
I couldn't justify the cost of a synthetic because I don't think I have a problem that needs curing. True enough that my loader bucket does lower in slow motion in float after the oil has been in the cylinders long-enough to chill, but the hydraulics work fine, the TX shifts OK and doesn't make abnormal noise. I have heard that synthetics make HST's run cooler that are doing heavy work in the summer. If that's true then maybe summer conditions rather than winter would make a case for synthetics. ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-01-27 75169
JPostup, your comment about a 'long warm up period' makes me wonder, at what speed is it warming up, it should be started at about 1,000 rpm (set it there before shut-down), and as soon as it's running smooth it should be set up to about 1,500 rpm to warm up, anything below that it will never get warm.
It's only recently that we have started changing our machines over to HST's, before that they were all GST's.
We run quite a few of them through the winter and all are relatively new and running factory oil in the TX still. The recent cold spell up here was the first real test, we had to plow 3 times in temperatures of -25 to -35 F.
Starting was not as much of a problem as keeping them running warm enough was.
One of the golf courses which is open as a country club during the winter has a B series which they use to clear sidewalks, etc, and changed it over to full synthetic, they say that there is no noticeable difference once it's warmed up, only when it's cold.
Best of luck. ....
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| jpostup
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 21 NH
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2004-01-27 75227
Thanks for the experience you all shared here.
I'll stick with the Kubota oil. I know about Amsoil from the racing scene, that's overkill indeed.
Warm up period is about 10 minutes Murph especially at minus 20 F. Thanks for the simple tip of pre-setting throttle to 1K RPM prior to shutdown. Certainly Toronto cold is lower than New Hampshire.
Other precautions I may take are the block heater and (possibly) TX heater. I agree, I may be a bit paranoid here. Just want to make it last.
All the best Jeff
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-01-27 75233
Jeff, we use magnetic heaters, they come in two sizes (that I have seen) 200 watts and 300 watts.
We use the 300's, one for the TX & another on the oil pan.
They only need to be on for an hour or two to have an effect. They make a big difference since the lighter oil lets everything turn over easier.
A small battery charger and or a battery blanket will help too, batteries lose a lot of their power in cold weather and diesels need to really spin to start quickly.
Best of luck. ....
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| tamanaco
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 41 wellington, oh
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2004-01-27 75241
Hello Murf,
That magnetic heater you mentioned, does that say on the tractor after starting or is it removed? Were can you purchase one of these units?
Br ....
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 | jarndt
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 351 Northern Virginia
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2004-01-28 75269
IMO it is more important to use a good fully synthetic oil in the ENGINE vs. using fully synthetic fluids in the HST. (not that is has to be a choice, one or the other) I'm sure Kubota put plenty of R&D into sourcing the proper HST fluid. There is a lot of outside research to support the use of full synthetics in an engine, however.
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| DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2004-01-28 75274
Those magnetic heaters are available through any major auto parts store and on-line from JC Whitney.
In my experience they have more than enough magnetic power to leave them in place while pursuing normal operations. ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2004-01-28 75275
I got my two magnetic heaters in a standard auto box store. I thought mine wee 250w but small difference.
I remove them before starting the tractor since there's little reason to leave them on and it doesn't take much to 'restick' them. They do get hot and in removing them I once sat one down on a drop-light cord and melted it nearly to the point of a short. That was in about -10F weather, so some care with them should be taken. ....
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