Mixing of Hydraulic Oil

[cflowers]

Hello to all. First time posting on here. I have 4 older John Deere tractors that have used 303 oil from O'Reilly's, and Orchelens for years. Recently purchased a very new to me, a 2011 7230 John Deere that I know uses Hy-gard oil. If I drain the oil from from the hoses on our baler will the little bit of oil left in the system on the baler matter? I have googled many hours and not really came up with a good answer. I only plan to use John Deere's Hy-gard oil in this tractor, and have heard that you could change the other tractors oil to hy-gard and be done with it but not looking to do that right now. I also plan to keep any implement ran by this tractor, only ran by this tractor so the first time hooking up will be the only time the fluids get mixed. Let me have it good or bad. thanks

 

[JerryK]

Probably the best option would be to drain as much out as you can, take lines off/drain cyl's, blow out lines/cyl's, fill with the new type, run machine/cycle all hyd stuff, dump, and refill/ repeat/repeat.... But I don't personally know of anyone that is rich enough to do this.... There is always going to be some mixing involved.... Not saying it is good, but that's just life...

 

[cflowers]

Just thought if I could keep it to a min. then it would probably be okay. I realize you can't get all the oil out. I saw on the 5 gal bucket the other day that the oil we are using in the older tractors says it either meets or exceeds (one or the other, or both) John deere's J20A/B or JC20A/B. Can't remember what the numbers were for sure but in the book on the new tractor is says, the number then, C/D and not A/B So you guys think the oil mixing a little will be alright. Isn't Hy-gard and 303 basicly the same, just the hy-gard has more wear additives for wet clutch and brakes?

 

[RickB]

Just thought if I could keep it to a min. then it would probably be okay. I realize you can't get all the oil out. I saw on the 5 gal bucket the other day that the oil we are using in the older tractors says it either meets or exceeds (one or the other, or both) John deere's J20A/B or JC20A/B. Can't remember what the numbers were for sure but in the book on the new tractor is says, the number then, C/D and not A/B So you guys think the oil mixing a little will be alright. Isn't Hy-gard and 303 basicly the same, just the hy-gard has more wear additives for wet clutch and brakes?

Yes, but in fact the original JD 303 oil was formulated for wet clutch & brakes as well. Gotta be an old timer to remember dumping 303 into a 3020.
I'd be more concerned with the cleanliness of the 303 than the makeup of the oil. If you have good service habits, you will be fine.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If you are concerned, cycle the cylinder using oil from your new tractor. IF the hay baler cylinder is fully retracted in one direction, then all you have to do is drain the oil from the hose on that end, then hook to your new tractor to cycle the cylinder in the opposite direction while allowing the old oil to drain to a container by removing the QA tip on the other hose. There shouldn't be enough oil left after that to worry about. We used to cross contaminate oil back in the 60's and 70's on the farm from different brand of tractors all the time with no problems and this was before they started putting filters on the hydraulics, but the tractors weren't HST then either. I don't think the residual oil of maybe 8-10 oz. into a 15+ gallon reservoir is going to hurt you if you flush it like described.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

cflowers I think many have the same concerns. I have decided it is a NON issue if the 303 is relative clean and does not look like a milk shake.

 

[cflowers]

thanks guys, I did talk to two different dealers this morning and one said I should change all of the tractors over to Hy-gard. Which will probably get done eventually. Just not right now. The other dealer said that wouldn't be a bad idea but as long as we were keeping it separate it should be okay. told him I drained all the oil I could from the baler which wasn't a heck of a lot, maybe a gallon and a half or so, then cycled the cylinders, the oil in the site glass looked a little, not really foamy but has some very very small bubbles in it. and when I say small I mean tiny. Made the oil look almost a very light tan, milky, look. Hard to describe. So I have parked the tractor and going to give it some time and see what the oil looks like in the site glass when the bubble get out. I hadn't really payed to much attention to what the oil looked like in the site glass after running it before so I can't really say it looked milky or bubbly before. My bad. Dealer also said that here in Missouri sense we have such a fluctuating climate that they see alot of tractors come in that the oil will look as if it does have some water in it. AKA Milky. lol anyway They said to basicly not worry about the little bit of oil left over and as long as the tractor seemed the same, not shifting funny or acting strange and no light come on, then it would be okay. So I guess I will roll with it.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have used a couple cans of Sea Foam that will remove some water and clean the control valves on the backhoe.

Rolling it it is the way to go. Working it hard this summer will drive off some water too.

 

[Farmerford]

Rick B:

As old as putting 20W into a 40 or 303 into a 5010.

 

[RickB]

Rick B:

As old as putting 20W into a 40 or 303 into a 5010.

All relative, my friend. Probably we both qualify.