Floor Jack Oil ?

[Mrwurm]

My son (4 yrs old) unscrewed the valve on my 3.5 ton floor jack. Most of the oil leaked out. I have about a gallon of new John Deere hydraulic oil that I would like to get rid of. Would this oil be suitable to refill my jack?
Jerry

 

[Bird]

Jerry, I don't know what ill effects, if any, it would have. I seriously considered trying it myself once, but never did. I keep a container of oil "specifically formulated for portable hydraulic jacks" on hand, and I think (won't say for sure) that it's lighter weight, i.e., thinnner, than the tractor hydraulic oil.

However, I'm hoping someone who knows more will also respond 'cause I'd like to know just what the difference is myself.

 

[Youare]

I think that oil would work just fine. Some hydraulic oils have greated anti-wear qualities than others, I suspect the JD oil is a better quality oil than what was in your floor jack to begin with.

Randy

 

[BrokerBob]

Not wanting to miss an opportunity to comment in spite of the fact that I have no particular reason to know the answer, I would offer the following. I would strongly suspect that the viscosity of the original jack oil is a bit lower than hydraulic oil. Thinking it through this would seem reasonable as the operating temperature of a floor jack is.........room temperature. Little or no decline in viscosity as there is no temperature rise. On the other hand, hydraulic oil must be able to operate over a wide range of temperatures and still remain in an acceptable viscosity range. Lubricating properties of hydraulic would have to be at least as good as jack oil and probably significantly better. I would conclude that hydraulic oil would clearly be a superior fluid. I could imagine some minor resistance should you need to operate the jack on a very cold day.

 

[Redfisher]

My jack leaks and i top it up with hyd. fliud from my tractor,seems to work fine.

 

[ewoss3]

Jerry I have refilled 3 jack with Mystic hyd fluid and they actually seem to work more smoothly than with regualr jack oil. I think the change is the mystic is a heavier fluid.