I am rebuilding my boom cylinders on my 1996 cat320 excavator and going to change fluid also. My question is should I stay with cat brand fluid? Or is there any fluid that is less expensive and still as good as cat brand.
Any SAE10W (or AW32) hydraulic oil from a reputable lubricant manufacturer (E.g Shell, Mobil, Texaco, Conoco etc, etc.) will be every bit as good quality-wise as Cat-branded oil (which was produced by Mobil the last I heard). Just don't go buying oil from Joe Blow's Gas & Bait Shack and you'll be fine.
Yup, Nige is correct, any SAE10w will work for hydraulic oil
Does you Cat dealer carry their own "branded" line of oils? Mine carries both Cat brand and their brand. Their brand is formulated to meet Cat spec's and is in line price wise with the AW32 that most auto parts stores carry.
Good that will save me some money! And CM1995 I called the cat dealer here in west TN and they only sell cat brand. Thank you all for the info.
That sucks. I wouldn't pay the premium price for the Cat black bucket, it's around $25 more per 5 gal. pail. Like the others said their are other good alternatives that are cheaper.
NAPA is a good source, if it was me I would make sure it's an AW grade (Anti-Wear)
We have a local NAPA store. So I will get it from them. Thanks
Napa works just fine.
Yea but you get that nice Cat bucket in the deal
All oil is not the same. Cat oil is specifically engineered for the high demands of Cat equipment! Why yes I did attend the Cat oil seminar, does it show? *** We use a local brand oil that actually is a step or two above most specs and still cheaper than name brand stuff, and way cheaper than Cat. But yeah, those black buckets are pretty nifty though. lol
Yeah the cat dealer charges me $87.00 for 5 gal Napa was $40.95 for 5 gal. lol I went with Napa.