Tranmission/Hydraulic Oil

Gene F

Member
Need to replace the transmission oil in my international ?340?. What oil should I use? I noticed at the TSC Store there is ?Hydraulic Oil? and ?Trans/Hydraulic Oil ?. What is the difference? Because the hydraulic also use the oil from the transmission, I assume the ?Trans/Hydraulic oil? is what I need to use. I would appreciate your feedback.
 
First off, I would recommend that you pick up a reprint owner's manual so you have all this information at your fingertips in the future.

Now the "what oil to use" question usually sparks a controversy. By the lack of responses I see people are probably avoiding answering because of that.

The manual recommends IH Hytran. However, that was in 1959, and in the 58 years since, the oil has been improved. Last time I checked it was called Hytran Ultraction, and is backward compatible to original Hytran.

Here is where the controversy kicks in: Hytran Ultraction is EXPENSIVE. Really expensive. Many people balk at the cost and try to find cheaper alternatives such as the Tractor Supply oil.

Some people will try to tell you that you will ruin your tractor if you try to use the cheap oil. They will describe problems they (allegedly) had with the cheap oil which magically went away when they drained it and put in the expensive Hytran.

Others will tell you the cheap oil is fine as long as it is labeled as compatible with Hytran (MS-1209 specification).

IMHO the cheap oil is at least as good as original Hytran. Since your tractor has no exotic wet clutches, I believe the Tractor Supply fluid that is marked HYTRAN COMPATIBLE is perfectly fine in your older tractor.
 
Oil technologies are continuing to change all the time, in yesteryear there may well have been some products that worked well in a given application a little better than something else. But what I have seen with Tractor Hydraulic fluids of late, is any of the good name brands will work pretty well in anything you pot them in. If you can find a local Chevron Distributor near you, you could purchase THF Fluid 1000 oil, made by Chevron. It's in my Kubota 72 inch 31 horsepower zero turn mower, Ford 8-N, and my John Deere Gator, John Deere 6330 Tractor. A superb fluid that won't break the bank, but is excellent quality. Same could be said about Mobil, Exxon. Shell. Some of the very cheapo fluids meet specs when the oil is new--what is it doing at 200 hours?--maybe not so good due to cheap base oil and additive technology. If you want a Cadillac, they cost a
little more.
 
Agreed.

When the TAs first came out IH recommended typical gear oil (90W if I recall). After the MTAs and the first year or so of the 300/400 series IH learned that the gear oil got too thick in the winter causing the TAs to fail. Fist they started recommending 30W oil(?)(maybe it was 20W) and sold an additive in gallon cans (have one on the shelf). Then IH came out with their own trans-hydraulic fluid - Hytran. As long as you don't use the TA in the winter you can use typical gear oil - I did when I first bought my Farmall 350 in 1998. I had my dad's old 300 manual that recommended filling with gear oil. I drained 6 gallon of oil and 5 gallon of water out the transmission and replaced it with gear oil (80/140?) and used it that way for 18 years. I never used the TA much and certainly never used it in the winter. Last year I finally drained the gear oil out and replaced it with a cheap Hytran equivalent from TSC (about $30 a bucket). Even though it is cheap is should be many time better than the gear oil, 30W (or 20W) non-detergent oil with a primitive additive or the early version of Hytran. Certainly better than the oil/water mix that was in the tractor when I bought.

The problem have now is the PTO is knocking deep down in the transmission - something that it never did when it had the heavy oil in it.
 
If the tractor has A TA and hydraulic system pulls oil out of trans/rearend I would use Trans/Hydraulic oil with Lucas Hydraulic Booster oil.
 
If it has a TA, USE HyTran!!!!!! When I first bought my 300, I am one of those who likes to know what fluids are in the tractor and when they were changed. I drained the transmission and added what the owners manual called for. (I have the original owners manual that came with the tractor). I put in the 90 wt and about 3 months later the sprag clutch went out. So $2000 later, I learned the heavy oil was not allowing the rollers to lock correctly and took out the clutch. HyTran only from now on!!!!!
 

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