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Jim Allen
09-27-2005 14:23:59
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A while back I asked about using Case/IH Hy-Tran vs some of the budget generic fluids, especially Wal Mart Supertech and Tractor Supply Traveller, or some of the products from the well known oil companies. I got product data sheets for as many oils as I could, spoke with one lubrication engineer, several lubrication specialists/experts and some sales guys and several tractor techs. Here are the results of that research.
Basically, the older IH units don’t have any super-special requirements that are met ONLY by genuine Hy-Tran. Many good oils meet or exceed the standards set by IHC. While you can buy the genuine stuff in buckets at the Case/IH dealer, the bulk stuff in back MAY NOT be Hy-Tran. It may be better. In the case of my closest dealer, it was actually Mystik JT-5 (a branch of Citgo) and its specs actually exceeded those of genuine Hy-Tran.
Those of you that spoke up against using the cheaper generic fluids are basically right. There is a generic "Farm & Fleet" standard for these types of oils which makes them basically "safe" for the applications listed on the label, but not necessarily desirable over the long term. It’s the old cost versus benefit thing... they aren’t going to spend more to sell for less. They may use fewer additives, or cheaper ones, and perhaps a lower quality base oil to keep the costs down. I’m going to do an oil analysis on the Tractor Supply fluid I used (which will basically be a flush oil) at 150 hours and that will tell the tale on the Traveller product.
The big problem I found with regards to the cheaper fluids sold at the box and farm stores is that I couldn’t get much info on them. No surprise. The Wal Mart fluid, for example, may be made by one company for three years but then is contracted to another for the next three. The specs will change slightly, even though it wears the same label in the store, but they’d rather not have you know the particulars. One of those company’s product may be pretty good for the money but the new contractor may not be quite as good and that leads to questions they don’t want to answer. It all meets a minimum standard, however.
As to the oil company products, they are most often superior to Hy-Tran. Some of the names that came up as excellent hydraulic transmission fluids (and are more or less list in the order of preference) are Chevron, Shell Donax, Mystik JT-5 and Mobil 424. The Chevron additive products, under Oronite name, are in many of the better fluids and they are very good. John Deere’s (dare I speak of the green tractors!)Hy-Gard fluid is reputed to be a top notch fluid, better than Hy-Tran in fact. It ain’t cheap, though. There are high-dollar synthetics available as well like Amsoil. They should be great, but not many of us is willing to spend $20/gallon or more.
My thoughts are that you can get a top quality oil that exceeds the Hy-Tran spec for about $6-7 a gallon (less than the $8.00 a gallon for Hy-Tran). Some local prices were $5.87/gal for Mystik JT-5 (bulk), $6.52/gal for Shell Donax (5-gallon pails) and $6.91 for Chevron (5-gal pails). Bottom line, Hy-Trans is great fluid but, IMHO, the markup placed on it at the dealer puts it in a price category above where it should be based on the product. It’s your money, your tractor and your decision.
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