some say 80 90 others spec t04 sae 30, talked with a equipment guy who works on all brands. he said t04 50 on all finals from dozers to excavators he said he has less problems. what do you think???
TO - 4 50 wt gets my vote
Me too, except in tropical climates where I would go up to SAE 60 FD-1 (there is no TO-4 60).
How about 15W-40? My manual says 15W-40.
In the dim and distant past when equipment manufacturers were trying to go the "one size fits all" route where oils were concerned it wasn't unusual to see 15W-40 engine oil recommended for far more than engines, including hydraulic systems and final drives. May I ask how old is the manual and the machine to which it refers..? Personally I wouldn't go that way on any machine of mine. I'd want oil designed to lubricate power transmissions in a final drive or swing drive. (We had the same argument with Hitachi regarding their recommendation of an SAE40 engine oil in their excavator pump drives. Despite their objections we switched to SAE50 TO-4 and our oil analysis, and component life, improved out of all recognition. On this job we are using SAE60 FD-1 in the same compartment also with really good results, but then it's pretty hot here)
i have some manuals that spec 15w40 and another that specs 10w30 on a skid steer,this equipment doctor guy claimed a final drive is a final drive, and in a normal temp midwest conditions to4 50 is the go to juice. he said john deere was having final problems in the 700 and 750j dozers which spec john deere hygard or 80 90. and now they all run to4 50 and have not come back to the shop with double the hours on finals now. does anybody know of a final drive setup that would be smaller or bigger that this oil would be bad for or definitely not work in??, heck i have heard of guys with leaky finals filling them full of grease, but we all want the best we can get for are equipment!!
The most important recommendation for any type of fluid in any type of component is from the manufacturer. You should be asking the question of people who have a stake in ensuring your components last as long as possible. The question to ask then is who is going to cover the cost of any damage that may or may not have been caused by the use of a fluid not recommended by the manufacturer.
We had that discussion here HeavyEquipmentForums And my opinion is in there, too
2006 Kobelco SK250
sometimes i wonder if some equipment makers have ever really even tested out parts wear thru oil sampling, i think maybe they do not want them to run forever,one of the big three suppliers who runs the major parts hub said, we make way more of parts then any new sales machinery,he said they run a 300 % markup on parts. if i had a machine that was under warranty then i would defiantly follow the recommended oil types, but once thats up they could care less what oil you use.
just bought another machine, its manual says, to30, with a note1 (power train oil has different properties from engine oil. be sure to use the recommended oil.) this is a midi size excavator
I had a discussion once with a manufacturer regarding oil for use in final drives. They were a manufacturer who, instead of specifying an oil type, instead gave a list of recommended oils right down to the full name, as in Brand X such-and such, Brand Y, etc. When I asked if we could use the same oil as we used in all other excavator manufacturer's final drives the answer was a negative, and the reason - "because we haven't field-tested it". My response was that we'd happily supply all our data to them and be their guinea pigs to test that particular lubricant with a written guarantee that there would be no comeback on them if things went South. Again a no.......... Like posters above suggested, we waited for the machine to go out of warranty, then switched anyway. I still have the "before" and "after" oil analysis data from that machine and five others like it. The improvement in oil condition by switching from a manufacturer-recommended lubricant to our preferred one was nothing short of astounding.