Why SUDT???

[MessickFarmEqu]

I understand this is not the same as SUDT/UDT vs. other hydraulic oil debate, but I could see someone making the arguement that if you find a SUDT rated fluid, although performance may not be the same, it legally cannot void your warranty.

The only fluid that I've seen that claims SUDT compatibiltiy is one from Amiel (sp?). If there are others I've not seen them. If we could be saving our customers a few bucks and offering the same performance you bet we'd be doing it.

 

[LBrown59]

Why switch fluid after warranty expires ?

 

[Ken45101]

The only fluid that I've seen that claims SUDT compatibiltiy is one from Amiel (sp?). If there are others I've not seen them. If we could be saving our customers a few bucks and offering the same performance you bet we'd be doing it.

Where does Kubota require SUDT and not UDT? I obviously don't know all the various Kubota units, but all of my manuals, under the "lubricants" section say "SUDT or UDT".

Yes, under the individual service section (e.g. 300 hour service), it says SUDT but also says "see the lubricants section" where it specifies either.

Ken

 

[grossgary]

Interesting tidbit regarding warranty: because another VERY WELL KNOWN company for doing what may be deemed as similar (though not by me) is Harley Davidson. Talk about extreme mark-up!

thanks for sharing, that is interesting indeed. i was going to mention HD here:

guarantee the upper level management knows the profits of this transition. Successful companies that have good branding can do this. Loyal customers and great products.

HD is the KING of branding that is what makes them a success and marketing types will study them in college, leadership, etc. doesn't surprise me to see these similarities.

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

I'll apologize in advance if this link has already been posted to this thread.
Kubota Super UDT Fluid

I was actually searching the Kubota forums for a graph that showed a poster's own testing. My memory is foggy on this, but I thought that someone on this forum actually had the means to perform the tests, and had done a comparison for us all. I'll be damned if I can find it though.

Jesse

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

For $12 you can buy a technical paper from SAE...

Title - Development of High-Performance Transmission/Hydraulic Fluid (Kubota Super-Udt) Establishing the Specification and New Test Method

Date Published: September 1997

Author(s): Nobushige Ichikawa - Kubota Tractor Corp

Development of High-Performance Transmission/Hydraulic Fluid (Kubota Super-Udt) Establishing the Specification and New Test Method

These excerpts from the abstract are interesting...

The recent trend has been toward higher-powered tractors to increase working efficiency, and automated transmission and hydro-electronic controlled mechanisms to promote improved operability, comfort and other amenities.

Tractor lubricating oil is a multipurpose oil that performs duties such as hydraulic control that operates the three-point link mechanism, hydrostatic transmission (HST), power shift transmission including gears, bearings and wet clutch, power steering, and wet disc brakes. To exhibit their performance efficiently with the same type of oil, the characteristics of the lubricating oil must be improved even more. In recent years, as the hydraulic control mechanism advances, the demand for performance improvements with emphasis on low-temperature fluidity and improved friction characteristics has been increasing.

So, this proves their goals were better low-temperature fluidity and lubricity than that of UDT.

Unfortunately, if someone buys the paper, it can't be shared on the forum.

Jesse

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

The charted results that I posted from the tractorsmart site are the same results that Kubota saw and published in the SAE whitepaper.

The whitepaper crudely illustrates their testing methods (pretty simple really). The most interesting parts were where they stated that existing oils, including UDT, did not perform as needed to prevent wear, corrosion (while sitting unused) and cold start performance. (Granted, most of us aren't starting at -30 deg C, but testing at those temperatures helps illustrate the delta in performance.)

It's a very short paper, but the egg heads at Kubota really seemed to have done the testing.

Jesse

 

[Taiser]

I can't even get SUDT up here, heard it's a problem to find in Canada as it's sold under some other label. I get some UDT fluid that has a stamp on the label saying it's accepted by Kubota for waranty though and it's what my dealer puts in all the machines. My HST does seem to whine a bit thought, but I've nothing to compare it too, so maybe it's normal. I'd like to try the SUDT if I could just to see if it quiets it down but I'm not due for a change for another 300 hrs, that's YEARS for me!

 

[BigD23]

"There there baby, that man won't convince me to use anything but the good stuff in you." pat pat pat
The man ask a intelligent question and gets this silly post. Only opinions and no good answer.

I go by/use the tractor's owners manual recommendation...It's not an opinion.

Don

 

[megaboz]

It is funny that this has been being debated this long. Oil that meet certain spefications is as good as oil that meets the same specifications, vecosity is a differnet animal. Synthetic verses dino oil, that is a different story. I know this is going to cause a stir, but oh well, it seems that this site is getting close to the point that all some of the people want to do is critize people for their decisions/questions. (and yes my spelling stinks)

I've known a guy that never changed his oil for a 150,000 miles. Sold the card when 5 years old or for $3000 (an old Tempo).

Now running an oil that wasn't designed for the job, or whom the manufacture doesn't say is compatible shouldn't be done in my opinion. But I have read on the label that the same oil that Sam's club sells will work in my BX 24.

I went to my dealer for the first change and to get the hydro oil, they gave me a bucket of the cheap crap for the BX specifically. I pout a 100 hours on the tractor, changed it, and put more in it. The oil that came out didn't look any different than when it in.

Marketing hype on oil is crazy. Personally after 700,000 miles of on the road with vehicles, I can't tell you that I ever noticed a difference with any of the oil's I have run. I do run the required certified oils or better. If the hydo oil is made to run in your tractor by the manufacture, and it breaks it will be there problem if it is oil related. Chances are that it will break, but it won't be because of the oil used, but because there was a weak part in the tractor.

As far as warranty goes, you will most likely be out of warranty before the first failure anyway, so I don't think that is much of a concern. Run the oils labeled for the equipment and you should be fine.