Update on nortrac 304 after useing a few years

[budvoss]

Tractor has been very good to me.. It so far has done all i asked of it. I keep it in low range when ever i work it and that is 99% of the time. I recently moved to south carolina and had to dig out a spot for my garage. The 304 dug into the banking like a pro, just slow.lol . I ran into some large pine tree stumps that the 304 could not handle . I ended up buying a Sany mini excavator for that job as renting a excavator near here was very hard to get ( sany has problem that they cant seem to fix and im very disappointing about that purchase ). I change the oil on 304 after every 20 hours lol and gear and hydraulic oils every year. I add a quart of my used engine engine oil to every diesel fill. I have put 350 hours since my brother inlaw gave me ol jenny.... I love the 304 and I do not think i could ever get rid of her....

Here is a picture of hill i cut into for garage and ol jenny

 

[Bob Rooks]

Very nice work, but I don't believe the oil needs to be changed that often. I would not advise mixing engine oil with fuel at a ratio of greater than 10%, in fact I would not advise doing it at all unless it was decanted and filtered to be sure there is no moisture in it as it can damage the barrel and plunger assemblies in the fuel injection pump.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Just out of curiosity, what is the issue with your Sany mini-ex that they can't/won't fix?

 

[piper184]

Is the purpose of putting used engine oil into the fuel just to dispose of the used oil?
I can't imagine that introducing any contaminants to the fuel system can be good for it.
Seems like really excessive oil and fluid change intervals. Rather than spend the $$$ (and time) on all those oil changes I would be inclined to pull samples and have them analyzed to see when the oil breaks down to the point of needing replacement. This will also give you a running trend of engine wear and can alert you to potential problems. I once saw a scraper engine that developed an intake crack between the filter and the head. Oil testing showed a sharp increase in dirt in the oil on that unit. This led to inspection and correction before the dirt did any significant damage to the engine. That one "save" paid for all the oil sample on that machine for it's entire life. Made a believer out of me.

 

[DieselBound]

Not recommended to put used engine oil in your fuel tank! Especially not for newer diesels (don't know if it was ever factually a good thing to do in the past or not).

How many total hours?

I'd had thoughts of an excavator but much of the time I'd want a larger one and that would be too expensive. I'm fortunate in that I can readily rent them.

It's great when stuff works! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCR7QgGwFRA)

 

[Bob Rooks]

Somewhere in my stuff I remember Cat publishing recommendations for blending used engine oil with fuel. As I recall it was a multi-process system that required heating and oil polishing. A pretty sophisticated endeavor for the average slack-jawed side-steppin' beach creature. So if you're just pouring used oil into your tank, you're cutting the life of your fuel system by at least 75%. It's your call. If you're really serious about fuel blending read this first:

Effects of the lubricating oil and diesel mixture combustion on the oxidation and microphysical properties of particulate matter

This research focuses on the diesel and diesel/oil mixed fuel combustion particles as the research object and analyzes the characteristics of the two …

www.sciencedirect.com

I agree with Piper. You can save a lot of money by oil analysis, not only by extending oil change intervals, but by checking for cross contamination from coolant or hydraulic oil, and predicting eminent engine failure by quantifying different metals present in the oil. But first of all, you have to believe in science.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Is the purpose of putting used engine oil into the fuel just to dispose of the used oil?
I can't imagine that introducing any contaminants to the fuel system can be good for it.

It was/is a way to get rid of the used oil, AND save on fuel costs. This concept was originally started by large operations that consumed thousands of gallons of lube oil per month (like mining, power stations, ships, and pipe laying, etc.), not to mention hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel. So you can see that it's really cost effective on a large scale. Not so much for the guy with just a couple of machines.

 

[Darvish]

I've been adding around 1/2 pint of 50%/50% 30 wt. oil / transmission fluid to 2 gallons of gas for my small air cooled engines, to their benefit, for 30 years, (Kohler, Briggs and Stratton, Honda, Robin, etc....): but I never even thought of adding oil to diesel.

The referenced article (above) by Mr. Rooks is informative.

If my '03 7.3 (f350) had a cat., I wouldn't risk it, since replacement catalytic converters are about $3,000 here on the Left Coast.

But they weren't required until '04, so.....

 

[budvoss]

I use to make a mix of 50/50 diesel and used oil for my old 98 dodge diesel when i lived in fl for years. It was great in a warm climate In fact cummin's use to say in their book to ad the used motor oil to the diesel. IT loved it.. I had a tank in the bed and would fill it with a mix whenever i pulled the camper up north to avoid the stations.. I agree if you have a cat def setup then no dont mix.. Heck with diesel upwards to 6 bucks a gal Im going to keep on mixing for the china gal but not for my 21 ford..lol

 

[budvoss]

Just out of curiosity, what is the issue with your Sany mini-ex that they can't/won't fix?

Sorry i did not see this question before now. The Sany is fixed after the rep came and had it returned and repaired. After the valve body replaced , and who knows what else lol it was just two hyd lines that where in the wrong place. So far 50 hours with no trouble at all..In fact if prices ever come down I may upgrade to a larger machine.