E Hydro oil Question

   / E Hydro oil Question #1  

Kubota 2350

Platinum Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Messages
692
Location
Michigan, In The Thumb
Tractor
2016 JD 3046R Cab ...................... Mower: 2016 Scag Tiger Cat II ZTM
I have a JD 4310 E Hydro and I'm getting ready to change the trans oil, the dealer sold me Hy-Gard low vis for year around use.
After looking in the manual I see that this oil is only recommenced for up to 80 degrees.

Is this right? I can use just plain Hy-Gard, but not sure about winter use.
What do you guy's use that have hot and cold weather?
I use the tractor for snow removal in winter, and brush hog, and tiller in the summer.

Kind of at a loss here.
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #2  
Lo-Vis is the correct stuff.
Dunno where you got your info for 80 degrees but this is what I found from Deere:
OMLVU17926_J7a16.jpg
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #3  
For the reason Dave points out I use low viscosity year round. There is a small, probably unworthy of mentioning but noticable performance difference: the FEL bucket when full of heavy material tends to "flop" empty on hot days with low-vis compared to hi-vis. But it doesn't take very long to develop a feel for it and compensate.
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #4  
And to be fair and balanced, at -20F during the winter the tractor moves much more readily with low-vis!
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #5  
Down here in North Carolina, my dealer buys much more hy-gard than low viscosity hy-gard. I run the low-vis in my JD318 garden tractor because I use it for snow removal. When I change out the hydro oil in my JD4520 CUT, I'll switch to plain 'ol hy-gard. Due to volumes, dealer has better price and machine is primarily for mowing and will see little winter use when it's below freezing.

If I was back in New England, I would run lo-vis. So like many such oil decisions, it's "where are you" and "what are you doing".

Pete
 
   / E Hydro oil Question
  • Thread Starter
#6  
There is a small, probably unworthy of mentioning but noticable performance difference: the FEL bucket when full of heavy material tends to "flop" empty on hot days with low-vis compared to hi-vis.

Could you define "flop" for me please?:newhere:
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #7  
Flop - in this usage, an intransitive verb:

1: to swing or move loosely
2: to change or turn suddenly

With hi-vis, dumping the bucket either heavily or lightly loaded resulted in the same steady, predictable, uniform movement.

With lo-vis, on hot days and with a heavy load like wet clay soil, dump acceleration was much higher and terminal velocity faster.

It was the unexpected increased acceleration that caught my attention, as I was in the middle of excavating soil from the 100ft road I was building when the changeover from hi-vis to low-vis occured. Otherwise I may not have noticed.
 
   / E Hydro oil Question
  • Thread Starter
#8  
OK, Mine will dump very fast at the very end of the dump cycle, other than that I have no problems.
Tractor has always done that though.
Probably already has low vis in it.

Thanks
 
   / E Hydro oil Question #9  
So what are you paying for 20liters of trans/hydraulic oil now? It was about $20 when I bought my 4300, now its over twice that, but its still the same price as straight hydraulic oil....
 

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