Looking for inexpensive AW46 - Hydraulic Oil
- Thread starter Bmantel
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- hydraulic fluid
Gord Baker
Gold Member
Gord Baker
Gold Member
If it is mainly for hobby use, wait for Summer, drain and filter what you have and put it back in. Plan B, Wait for Summer, sell it at a profit. Plan C, Buy whatever is recommended by the Mfgr. It is the life blood of the system. Tell wifey you did it for her. Replace All doubtful hoses and when checking for leaks, replace Seals etc.
Gord Baker
Gold Member
buangungoy
New member
For me here in Canada! Cheapest I have found is at walmart
Here's my input:
Step 1: Unless your hydraulic oil is obviously contaminated (cloudy, smells like fuel or rotten or burnt, etc.), get yourself a professional oil analysis. Costs less than $30 bucks and it WILL inform you on the actual status on your oil and maybe some internal parts instead of you guessing.
Step 2: Determine the reason why you want an oil change. If "just because I bought it and I want to change the oil", then you might be making the situation worse instead of better by replacing a high-grade oil with correct additives the cheapest stuff on the market without any additives. As mentioned, excavators are an intricate, complicated and high-spec hydraulic system. The tracks, motor, cab, etc. are nothing more than support systems for the hydraulic system. This is completely backwards from tractors, etc. where the hydraulic system is a support system and usually not near as complicated or high-tolerance as the rest of the tractor.
Step 3: Join this forum and ask your questions: www.heavyequipmentforums.com This is where the experts reside. Not knocking anyone here but tractorbynet is NOT the place to asking this info when HEF is available.
Best of luck with the big iron.
Step 1: Unless your hydraulic oil is obviously contaminated (cloudy, smells like fuel or rotten or burnt, etc.), get yourself a professional oil analysis. Costs less than $30 bucks and it WILL inform you on the actual status on your oil and maybe some internal parts instead of you guessing.
Step 2: Determine the reason why you want an oil change. If "just because I bought it and I want to change the oil", then you might be making the situation worse instead of better by replacing a high-grade oil with correct additives the cheapest stuff on the market without any additives. As mentioned, excavators are an intricate, complicated and high-spec hydraulic system. The tracks, motor, cab, etc. are nothing more than support systems for the hydraulic system. This is completely backwards from tractors, etc. where the hydraulic system is a support system and usually not near as complicated or high-tolerance as the rest of the tractor.
Step 3: Join this forum and ask your questions: www.heavyequipmentforums.com This is where the experts reside. Not knocking anyone here but tractorbynet is NOT the place to asking this info when HEF is available.
Best of luck with the big iron.
1stDeuce
Gold Member
Man, you guys have beat this to death in short order! 
My$0.02 is that if you're putting AW46 rated hydraulic fluid in it, you're good. I've never heard of a hydraulic system failure from running the wrong brand of oil...
I don't think you're going to have problems with most modern 10W30 engine oils either. There are not a lot of additives in most hydraulic oil, and most do not do much to stabilize at high temps like a split designation motor oil does.
I would probably stay away from ATF, as it's closer to 10wt or thinner, while AW46 is more like straight 20wt. Given the cost of a fluid change, springing for a UOA first might be a good move... You may find that the fluid in it is still fine, and topping off with some fresh when needed would be all you need to do vs. a complete flush. The unit may have had fresh fluid put in it right before you bought it due to a blown hose or bad seal...
Finding a supplier that will take a 55 gallon drum of used oil might be the important part, even if you have to pay a bit more for the new oil. Hauling it to Oreilly's five gallons a week would be a total PITA...
My$0.02 is that if you're putting AW46 rated hydraulic fluid in it, you're good. I've never heard of a hydraulic system failure from running the wrong brand of oil...
I don't think you're going to have problems with most modern 10W30 engine oils either. There are not a lot of additives in most hydraulic oil, and most do not do much to stabilize at high temps like a split designation motor oil does.
I would probably stay away from ATF, as it's closer to 10wt or thinner, while AW46 is more like straight 20wt. Given the cost of a fluid change, springing for a UOA first might be a good move... You may find that the fluid in it is still fine, and topping off with some fresh when needed would be all you need to do vs. a complete flush. The unit may have had fresh fluid put in it right before you bought it due to a blown hose or bad seal...
Finding a supplier that will take a 55 gallon drum of used oil might be the important part, even if you have to pay a bit more for the new oil. Hauling it to Oreilly's five gallons a week would be a total PITA...
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sequoyah101
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You have already gotten more detailed replies than necessary. It is a huge subject. Strangely, hydraulic oil is more a manufacturers spec and not SAE or API standard such as motor oil.
Check with your local jobber / fuel supply. Ours is a Chevron outlet and they sell what I call a house brand Universal hydraulic oil that I use for most equipment. I have a friend who made his living as a heavy equipment mechanic for quite some time that now owns a rock crusher and a lot of equipment. He uses the jobber supplied Universal oil just as do the local county road departments, most local contractors and farmers as do I. It is the best value I have found that I can be confident in. See what is available and check the specs, they probably match.
Equipment manufacturers often mix suppliers of components and so it can be hard to find an oil that lives in the sweet spot of overlap for all the components. Sauer Danfoss as in my dozer is happy with a good AW-46. My little excavator will accept just plain old 30 weight engine oil. RexRoth seems to be the most particular I have dealt with in viscosity. I had a subsea application that required Panolin and it was the devil to get a blend that would run right on surface for deck testing in 110 degrees and then subsea at 38 degrees. Viscosity is probably more important than specific oil maker. BTW, a lot of oil is made by blenders such as one down by Norco, Louisiana who labels for a lot of big names you know. Atwood's got in trouble over a blender's product just a few years ago. I literally got a 98 cent settlement check.
Just about nothing you do on a machine like that will ever be inexpensive. I gather you have never owned such? Clean oil, clean fuel, clean air, keep it greased and the tracks cleaned and it may go on for a long time without incident. It is newer so when it fails it will probably be electrical or some solid state electrical device. If not that something will break. Either way, it will likely be a difficult repair when you finally find the problem and it will likely be expensive to repair.
I keep my stuff "friendly" sized and had considered buying a 120 to 160 size machine for some projects. I even considered buying a dragline. Pushing 70 I need to keep things in my handling range and don't need to be trying to restring dragline wire rope. For the risked exposure to some big repair and the fact that you can probably exhaust the need within weeks of work at most I have opted against larger machines. The other big risk is getting stuck and not having something to get it out of the mud. I either take a long time with my little machines or hire it done or don't do it at all. Even my little machines cost to maintain is not insignificant.
If I did buy such a large machine I would buy it to use and then sell. Transport is always a problem and unused they break down amazingly. You don't want a 25 ton yard ornament.
More than you probably need to know and more than I needed to write. Good luck.