TO35 Transmission, hyd, differential oil

wellmax99

Member
Question: TO35 Transmission, hyd, differential oil

two years ago I changed the trans, hyd, diff oil in my TO35, refilled the sump with GL-1 90 weight mineral oil. 8 gals x $16

of course in the winter the pump is slow, last year it was a nuance, but not end of the world waiting for it to pump up then it worked fine.

I read of others on the site filling their sumps with 15w40 diesel oil

the local auto parts store has 15w40 on sale this week for $12 per gal.

Question: would it hurt anything or help anything, if I drained out two gals of the GL-1 oil and replaced it with two gals of 15w40 diesel oil.
would the two oils mix, would it allow the pump to work faster in colder weather after the oils mixed.>

any thoughts are appreciated?
 
OK, you asked for any thoughts, so here goes! LOL

I found this article, I know it's about synthetics, but it was all I found so far:

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28867/mix-synthetics-mineral-oils

Notice the experiment in the last paragraph. That might be worth doing, and I suspect they will mix just fine. But if you take several samples, you can play with the viscosity results at various temperatures and with different ratios of 15w 40, or even try something thinner, like 0w 20.

I have my doubts that only a couple gallons of 15w 40 would make much difference. Looking at the oil viscosity chart, 40 weight engine oil is equivalent to the low side of 90 weight gear oil! Something thinner might make a better mix.
 
I have five to-35's. most are mixed oil. if I run out of one I fill with another. tractors get used very lightly. I do NOT mix engine oil.
 
Thanks for all reply's,

I followed up with some more inquires on other web sites. Basically the same information, it should not be a problem mixing the oils.

real issue: am I just looking at something that will only waste some good GL-1 oil by draining it out. And will the pump really work that much better on a 10 degree day, than it does now by only mixing 2 gals.

at this point, it going to be 70 degrees tomorrow, I may wait a while and see if it really gives me any serious problems, when it does get cold. Lift system is working fine now, just slow getting started on a cold day, but then so am I.

one good idea: Maybe take back my 2 gals of 15w40 and exchange them for two gals of 0w40, now that might make more of a change in the final oil makeup.

just a little thinking outside the box here!
 
A magnetic block heater on the side of the rear end housing works great. About $40 for one of these, you'll have almost that much wasted in the GL-1 oil you dump and replace.
 
Good idea,

I have one for the motor block, just never thought about one for the differential housing as it is so big and with 8 gallons of oil.

Winter would be over before it ever warmed the oil.

Who knows, I will wait until the next cold front moves through and see how the lift works,

Possible I might add a couple of gallons of 0w30 oil which might thin the oil more than 15w40

My review of the oil sites indicated the mineral oil and regular motor oil would mix
 
I use UTF in my MF35 which runs a loader off the internal pump. The first year with the loader I had 80-90 in it and it was pitifully slow. UTF is under $30 for a 5 gallon bucket and has been working for me for 6 years now but I suppose my day of reckoning may be approaching, I don't know.
Zach
 
(quoted from post at 22:50:52 12/10/15) Question: TO35 Transmission, hyd, differential oil

two years ago I changed the trans, hyd, diff oil in my TO35, refilled the sump with GL-1 90 weight mineral oil. 8 gals x $16

of course in the winter the pump is slow, last year it was a nuance, but not end of the world waiting for it to pump up then it worked fine.

I read of others on the site filling their sumps with 15w40 diesel oil

the local auto parts store has 15w40 on sale this week for $12 per gal.

Question: would it hurt anything or help anything, if I drained out two gals of the GL-1 oil and replaced it with two gals of 15w40 diesel oil.
would the two oils mix, would it allow the pump to work faster in colder weather after the oils mixed.>

any thoughts are appreciated?

Well my thoughts are still this....on days that cold you should let the tractor warm up to operating temp before using it. Not just for the hydraulics but running a motor under a load while it hasn't reached operating temp is really hard on them. Particularly the pistons... Pistons expand once they are warmed up...putting it under a load before the pistons have expanded is hard on the piston skirts...that's what busts a lot of piston skirts. I say let the tractor sit and warm up not only so the hydraulics work better but to make the engine last longer.
 
Put some synthetic oil in with your GL-1 as the synthetic doesn't get as stiff with the cold. I'll agree that it would be better to let it all warm up but I suspect that some of the responders don't live where it gets really cold. When it is -20 to -30, the engine will not warm up until you work it. The heat radiates out of the block and oil pan too fast for that and there isn't any way to warm the transmission and rear end until you work them pretty hard.
 
I think I will hold off on the synthetic oil for now,
I agree synthetic is great oil, but most synthetic oils have great cleaning packages,

Synthetic oil might start cleaning or desolving 50 years of gunk built up inside the sump, stopping up valves and such.

If I decide to go with a thinner oil would a couple of gals of 0w20 regular Dino oil work just as well?
 
Why not do what the rest of the world outside America does and simply fill the rear end with 15W30 or 15W40 universal oil?
It works for us and has done at my place for 50 years now!
Sam
 
I ran 10W30 in my TO35 with no issues. This year I decided to try 15W40 when replacing the fluid. So far so good, -10°C and moving snow without any trouble at all.
 
I wish I had done that, just got wrapped up in that non detergent, detergent oil crap.

guess back in the day they just did not have the quality of oils we have today, they were trying to make the tractors last as long as possible.

then I found out in England they have multi grade non detergent oil, why we do not have it available I do not know.

at this point I just hate to drain out that $135 worth of 90 weight mineral oil I poured in the sump last year.

guess I will have to deal with it.
 

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