have a 2010 new Holland b95b backhoe. says use only mineral oil for brake fluid, can I use regular mineral or does it have to be $24 for 16 0z new Holland brake fluid? thanks.
Do they give any specs for the oil?
Not worth it to go cheap on the brake fluid. How often do you add to it ? If it isn't leaking it shouldn't be much of an expense.
For that, spend the $24, and triple check which fluid is in there, what the book says, and what the dealer says. This is not something you want to mix on on most brake systems.
My JCB backhoe uses what I assume will be the same stuff , can't quote a price, but from memory I didn't think it was real expensive. Might be worth a phone call if you have a JCB dealer nearby.
it has a little leak somewhere, waiting for better weather to look into it. the guy from napa sold me mineral oil brake fluid but told me that reg mineral oil is the same thing and he is a chemical engineer ? Book just says use mineral oil does not say anything else. called new Holland and all they know is new Holland brake fluid
Most older(DOT 1-3, even some DOT 4) brake fluids were Chlorinated &/or Ester solutions, aggressive chemically and seriously corrosive but extreme high boiling points. These machines do not see the heat from road service as trucks so do/did not need the expansion/boiling resistance of the Brake Fluid type oils. Silicone fluids are not so bad and as such a few new car manufacturers are going to Mineral Based oils in brakes as I have been told.
The mineral oils are basically hydraulic fluid. Years ago all the Wagner stackers used hydraulic fluid. What a pain that turned out to be. I remember half a dozen L90 and L120 machines where some dipstick couldn't read the tag right on the master cylinder caps that said mineral oil only. They put Dot 3 in and all the seals failed within a few days. Owner would claim warranty and when we went out and smelled the oil, there was a lot of hurt feelings. Some of those old machines had bellows brakes and what a pain that was.
The New Holland mineral brake oil is super thin. If you use regular hydraulic oil, the master cylinders have trouble drawing the thicker oil & the pedals get real doughy. It's not so much a problem in warmer climates like Australia - but in freezing temperatures it will likely cause problems.
Used to see the same thing in fertilizer spreaders with John Deere skidder axles and in the Cat Challenger tractors.
One company I worked for had a mixed fleet of articulated dump trucks. Cat, Volvo, Terex. Old and new. Been too many years to remember which was which. One of them used brake fluid and the rest were oil or worked of the hyd system. Someone did a brake job on one of the machines and got at least one of the rebuild calipers for a brake fluid machine mounted on a oil system. Yeah, about 2 days and guess who was out in the bush pulling wheels off and replacing calipers.
I would use the OEM fluid just to be sure but why would a chemical engineer be working at Napa?
thanks everyone for ur help!
Had an old telehandler in a while back. Used 10w hydraulic oil in the brake system. Somebody put automotive brake fluid in and it caused all seals to fail and then attacked the lines. owner didn’t want to replace the hoses I had to go out in the field twice to rebleed the system then he sent it back in the shop and we had to replace all the brake system lines