For the people who order their oil in 55 Hal drums, where do you order it from? Seems like there’s a few big distributors online but no clue where to checkout
Sams Club.....Best price I've ever found on Rotella by the drum. Ed
We run Mobil Delvac. Never understood how it can be cheaper to buy it at Walmart in gallon jugs than it is at the distributor in a 55 gallon drum, but it is.
We can get bulk or in 55 barrels from local Chevron dealer.
You can get 55 gal drums at most of the chain auto parts store. It has to be special ordered and they get it from their DC in a day or so. We deal with O'Reilly since we've done the sitework for several stores.
We deal with O'Reillys a lot also but they flat out tell us not to buy bulk from them. They can not come close to competing with the local oil companies around here. We have 3 chevron dealers, a schaefer's, a Texas refinery and a shell distributor all within 30min of our shop but we actually buy bulk oil from the deere ag dealer. They supply the tanks, pumps, etc and about every 6months a semi comes by and tops everything off. The specialty lubricants come from one of the chevron or shell dealers though
Interesting how pricing is regional even for the big chains.
There are several small dealers around here including the place i work that sells drums of oils. We dont use the drums we use gallons. I wish it was easyer to recycle the jugs and bottles. If we used drums we would have to rebottle it because of the pour shop setup. That is a bad deal in alot of ways.
My orielly's just gets it from the local bulk distributor, and marks it up. I just get it straight from the distributor if I want 55 gal drums. Walmart will usually be less than oriellys for the 1 gal. jugs or 5 gal pails. It usually doesn't save much $$ buying the 55 gal drums when I price it out vs. the walmart price.
While this is a good question answering it might not come to a good result. First,,, why????????????????? If this is for one truck its about like the fuel issue, the handling and the savings not worth it. Look in the lube forum.. I used to do it but it got so the cost and the savings and all the different weights not worth it. Factor a spill and the storage in when you do this. I shop for some sales in gallons for 15/40, buy a bucket on occasion but havnt bought a barrel for well north of 20 years. As I recall you were doing a 1 truck operation. Not that I am always right but its something I am now just mastering after decades at it,,, when I was young dreamed up every scheme and fitting they ever invented to do the simple. With a single truck keep in mind and look for the easiest most simple, you may not be in this biz next week or next year, Find a place to buy a couple gallons as needed, change it once and keep adding, find a convenient station for fuel, get a few simple wrenches and keep upon the widgets and brake adjustments good, lights working. With no yard, no shop, forget about all that crap, find the easiest way, pay attn to real savings. A real consultant type bud of mine said,,, and I remember this. While thats a good idea its noit going to save or make any money. No point in working like a dog adding an hours labor managing that shate every day to save 2$. Be a different matter at 20 net maybe,,, be real different at 200. Grease the hi wear parts regular. Fuss over alignment to keep tire wear to a minimum, check air.
What I am kind of saying is look for someone to advise you which is different than answering all your questions.
My biggest concern isn’t so much about saving small amounts of money by buying in bigger quantities as it is in keeping the lubricants separated and clean, using the correct product for the application, and in not adding dirt, dust, bugs, etc along with the lube. I have several customers that buy oil by the barrel, but use open containers to transfer it to the machine. Or just use whatever pretty much empty jug that is handy to carry oil out in the lot to top off their rig. One farm buys in bulk, and has reels that will reach across the shop, so no container needed, but no real system to protect against contamination if the lube is needed in the yard or out in the field. Here is where buying some of the lubes in gallon or 10 quart jugs would pay off. The savings that you get in purchase cost are nothing compared to the damage that can be done by contamination; when you compare that to the slightly greater cost of using sealed containers for servicing. Add the costs of properly mixed coolant vs just adding straight concentrate because there is no water in the shop to mix the 50/50. And buying DEF in a barrel and using an “empty” jug to transfer it to the truck!!!! That one hasn’t bit them yet.......
Have you ever researched the specs on Deere engine oil? It has the worst specs of any brand.
I had a Chevron lube rep tell me that Walmart/Sam’s Club is the largest lube oil distributor in the states. Which is incredible, since most of it is purchased in quarts.
When I did use barrel bought a case of gallon and quarts. Had the right label to refill. But want to really save easy is to pack a sammich an apple and drinks to stay out of the C stores. Keep fuel full ain't got to drive out of the way. Good tires on the front, first thing the truck man checks. I am a farmer and there is an exemption for inspection but if I gonna be out of the way much I cough up the 50 and b.s. with the inspector. A hiway man looks at the general condition, the steers and see that sticker and moves on.
To answer the why question, so one trucks oil change is going to be what 10-11 gallons? Pickup truck is another 3.5 or so gallons. To me I don’t care about saving the little bit of money. The bay in the shop I’m renting has a oil pump setup all it needs is the drum. The concept is the same as the fuel question. It’s the convenience factor. Being able to fill up fuel tank on site and not have to stop on the way at a fuel station that’s always packed and wait in line etc just doesn’t make sense to. When you can just fill up on site. Oil having a 55 gallon drum vs buying a bunch of gallon jugs is easier in my opinion. The bay in the shop I’m going to start renting has a oil pump setup just awaiting a oil drum so again The convenience is there.
It does make a difference if it's ready to go, that is a bit better than starting from scratch. If I had to get the equipment wouldn't bother. We bought some 5 gallon from the supplier about the same as drum. Real money comes in North of 400 gallons and bulk I think. I would say if you really had to wait on fuel it might be a factor. I worked a couple smaller had fuel at shop but it was really before Cullman and some other easy setups. I see a couple school districts now using pump fuel. Easy to track. I have site fuel but it's off road and use pump for road. Stock some gas also. With big truck and smaller one could use a barrel in a year or so depending so it's not a bad idea especially if you use a little along the way. I keep threatening to change mine but it don't seem to care. Only holds 5 though and I dump a gallon a year in, sometimes 2. Did some engine work on it 15 yrs ago and changed it then. Don't use it in the winter. We sampled a couple things and ones we add to doesn't seem to make a difference really. Results come back the same. They say run another 75 hrs and test, I add 250 more and test about the same.
Yes. We found it so or at least similar especially if a guy grabs ahead on sale once in a while. If i was changing one a week would be a diggerent matter also but no easier way to add than from gallon jug. Used to jug up 10 a time from barrel and empty it ahead.
No I have not and unfortunately it is not my call yet. The guy who actually owns the company retired from a Deere C&F dealer so to him it is just the best thing ever. I personally prefer the chevron or Texas refinery products
I can believe that. Was watch g modern marvels on the history Channel a while back and found out that McDonald's is the world's largest toy distributor because of the happy meal
Just curious, how did one research the Deere oil? Why would they use an oil less than the rest can be bought off the shelf? They go to Shell or Texaco and say cheapen some just for us?
I have no idea how the John Deere bulk oil program works. There are no John Deere AG dealers in Alaska. But, it sure appears to be popular in the 48. I asked a couple of my colleagues in the lube oil biz about the Plus50 product and about distribution. Some JD dealers contract out the actual delivery of the product and others actually deliver bulk. Interestingly, John Deere sources their Plus50 from a number of blenders, depending upon location and they switch blenders often depending upon who has the best price. John Deere has their own “recipe”. Even though they might use Shell one quarter doesn’t mean it’s the same Rotella product.
It’s worth noting, JD doesn’t pay to have their Plus50 rated by the API. Which, doesn’t matter if you are using it in a JD engine, but could potentially be a problem in a mixed fleet of newer equipment under warranty. Most engine manufacturers require API rated engine oil.
Any fleet user unaware of that could find themselves in a world of hurt if they had an engine problem under warranty........ Maybe the fact that Deere switch suppliers fequently and/or the supplier changes depending on location within the US so the "brew" is never exactly the same has something to do with it..? I must admit the thread title (bulk oil) made me chuckle when i read it and then realized the OP was talking about 55-gallon drums. First thing that comes to my mind when people talk about "bulk oils" is tanker loads in multiples of 5-6000 gallons pumped direct into the user's storage tank. Amazing how the same word means vastly different things to different people.
https://cglapps.chevron.com/sdspds/PDSDetailPage.aspx?docDataId=508153&docFormat=PDF http://www.oilmart.com/data/products/pds/142/TDS Rotella T4 Triple Protection 15W-40.pdf https://www.yoderoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/VALVOLINE-PREMIUM-BLUE-ENGINE-OIL-PDS-1.pdf https://www.greenpartstore.com/assets/images/Plus50IIProductSpecificationSheet.pdf
Good point Nige. Cases, pails, drums and plastic disposable ICBs are considered packaged product in my world. 5000 gallon ISO’s and 9,400 gallon tankers are used to deliver bulk to Anchorage via ship or barge. 330 gallon metal ICBs are considered bulk.
I don't fully understand how a link from other mfg is research about JD oil? Also just interesting to note even 275 isn't considered bulk. I never considered a drum to be bulk.
I get the concept of warranty but we really think anyone can tell a pinch of **** difference in any of it ff they used Rotella or Cheveron? I also get the difference between this site experience and the hobby user with the Kobota garden tractor where it's considered some kind of legitimate research using it 40 hrs a year with manual changes. Most of those guys that worry endlessly about oil don't really know much about it. Changing oil is somehow satisfying and leads to a feeling they really know something about cars.
Those two examples, Rotella and Chevron, especially if narrowed down to a particular flavor, would be easy to quantitatively compare, side by side, with oil analysis. It’s a specialty field unto itself, with people paid to do it, called tribologists. Mostly in the marine and mining industries, and a few employed by lube oil distributors. They get “certified” by a couple different associations depending upon their specialty.
Before retirement, I had occasion to have a computer printout of all the US distribution centers for Sam's clubs. Each DC would service a dozen or more clubs. The list of DC's was 1/2 inch thick, a single line for each DC. And that's for the Sam's clubs. Walmart stores had their own DC's. Their buying power is incredible and dangerous with manufacturers. (they broke Rubbermaid, when they started buying product from Sterilite) At least 30 years ago, when Sam was boss, Walmart's HQ had plain plywood partitions for office spaces. They focused on cost through out the organization.
At the small coal mine I worked for, I was part of the team negotiating a yearly contract. One of the oil company guys took one look at one of my oil sample reports and told me the brand we were currently using just by the additives that showed up on the print out. Back then the three most common engine oils used were Mobile, Shell and Chevron. At that time there were a few low hour engine failures at the Centralia mine on some big engine and they were using the Moblie product. I ask the rep, who wasn't from the Mobile group, about it. He said their information was that those engines that failed were rebuilds and no one though for a moment that they were caused by a failure in the oil product. What he told me straight out was that if the product met the API specifications and you changed the oil on the manufacturers time schedule, there was virtually no difference in the amount of life the engines would attain on any of the major manufacturers oil products.
Has no one around here ever experienced a change in oil consumption by an engine when changing brands? I have had it go both ways. Buy a piece, run it through the first service, and it either starts using a little oil, uses more the first couple services and then stops, or oil consumption declines after the first service. I've even experienced oil consumption decrease when switching brands on an engine that I have operated for 4000 hours. FWIW.
For sure. I’ve ran into some strange lube oil scenarios over the years. Like a batch number of 15w-40 Texaco Ursa turning to jelly in use. (Pre Chevron merger)
Yeah bulk to me involves a tanker. I get drums from either our oil supplier or my auto store I use depending on what I need and when.
This tread is worthless without pictures. Here is a unit T8010, a 9400 gallon wagon filled with 15w-40. Fresh off da boat. The Warehouse Assistant Manager was hostlng it with a Terminal Tractor and did not get the 5th wheel properly hitched. The trailer dropped and the landing gear punched two holes through the frost-jacked tarmac. That could have been a slippery mess! Had to call my favorite tow company to lift it. View attachment 235984
Worn out DOT406 ex-fuel trailers are often used for hauling lube. New lube oil is not considered hazmat, so non-spec tankers can be utilized. Plus, these things take a beating loading/off-loading on the Ship. They get damaged on every trip.
I looked at some 0/40 in JD flyer I get and they are pretty proud of it. It might have a place in the extreme cold but watching a sale takes a little pain out of the 5/40. Gives a little edge to older equipment on starts for modest investment and no work. As a bonus many can go goodly long time between oil service.
My cousins that farm a few thousand acres in southern MN use the John Deere bulk oil program. The dealer install elevated plastic tanks in the shop, sized based on their needs. They fill them when requested. Their tanks are of at least a hundred gallons each with one a bit larger. Not sure about the oil they use but they love the system and the fact that they deal with no pumps. The tanks are high enough and the hoses long enough to reach most machines if parked alongside. They do there oil changes right there and fill another big floor tank with the drained oil for use in their waste oil furnace in the shop.
Have you considered Big Red Flexitanks.? Fit inside a standard dry cargo 20ft shipping container and will take up to 6,000 gallons based on the density of the fluid being transported. No cleaning charges on the container like their would be on a tanktainer after the bag has been removed. AFAIK they can be rail-shipped from a lube supplier to a number of ports in the PNW.
That would be dandy for a 1 truck fleet. 2 if we count the pickup.
Nige, Those look interesting. I’ll have to compare the numbers.
In a previous life our bulk lubricants were supplied out of Savannah GA in Flexitanks. Made shipping a breeze because oce the lube had been pumped out and the bag removed from the container it could be shipped striaght back to the port with no other cleaning required. IIRC Conoco Phillips were the ones who suggested it to us.