Hello I am new to the forum. I have two D6Ds here in Bolivia, one 1982 and one 1986. The motor in the '86 seized in the field two months ago and I had it completely rebuilt as well as the transmission. This was a large undertaking because the job site is 3 1/2 hours from the city and there is a serious lack of parts and decent mechanics here. Motor and trans were pulled and trucked to the mechanic's shop. I had to send the injector pump to another city twice to be rebuilt because the first tech did a horrible job using inferior parts. I bought new "CAT" branded injectors, which may or may not be OEM because there are a lot of counterfeit parts here. Each trip out to the machine with mechanics cost a small fortune. Last week, after sending the injector pump back for a third time and having to buy a new injector because one of the new ones was clogged the machine is finally running again. Now I just found out the mechanic put 20w50 motor oil in the transmission and final drive. From what have found online the recommended oil is SAE30 for trans and 50 for the finals. I bought "American" Brand Hi-Tek synthetic 15w40 for the engine under recommendation by the oil importer Widman in Santa Cruz. Which he claims I can run for 500 hours before changing. The 1982 D6D is due for transmission fluid change and I need to know what oil is best for it. Operating temps are never less than 50 F. Also, I am thinking I better buy a full barrel of the correct transmission oil and change out the 20w50 in the 1986 machine. Any info will help.
My questions are what is the correct transmission fluid for an older but rebuilt transmission and what do you guys recommend for engine oil and final drive oil. Thanks!
Transmission oil is Caterpillar TDTO 30 or equivalent. Motor oil is 15W-40. Final drive oil is GL90.
There was another thread about this somewhere around here. Back then Cat used 30W motor oil in engine, transmission, hydraulic and final drive. You can get Shell Rotella T4 in 30 for the engine which I run in my D4D, and as d9gdon stated the TDTO 30 in trans and finals. The 20W50 is probably OK in the engine but I would try to find the Rotella T4 30W next time. I haven't decided what I'm going to use for hydraulic oil in mine. Anyone have any ideas?
There are a number of recommendations but those machines can run a lot of different weights of oil with little affect. I had a fleet of D8s in my younger years that ran 30wt in the engine and transmission, 50wt in the finals and AW46 hydraulic oil in the hydraulics. Never had a problem not attributed to old age. The 20W50 in the transmission should be OK as the machines started out using straight 30Wt way back when. I've never spent the money for synthetic oils in anything short of machines destined for the arctic. First problem is the cost of the stuff and second is that it will find a place to leak no matter what you do. As far as how long you can run the oil in the engine, that depends on how good your engine is. Oil doesn't wear out when the engine is running properly! It only picks up contaminants which cause wear. If your engine has a lot of blow by, overheats a lot or gets fuel dilution then you wasted your money on the extra cost of synthetic oil. Buy a name brand oil from a trusted supplied and you should have no problems.
Engine oil is SAE40