question 2

"What Oil Should I Use?" by Francis Robinson

He states that ND-oils should be shelved and to use modern oils. Even if you do not rebuild and put in new seals.

Also he states that straight Mineral oil is the best they had 50 years ago and that the modern trans-hydrolic oils are better to use. That the modern oil would have been specified if they had existed.

Sooooo . Now I do not know what to do.

Is Francis knowledgable or full of it? I would like to hear what Big Dean and RayIN have to say as well as others.

Below is a section of Francis Robinson's article.

"I keep seeing this question pop up over and over again in discussion groups all over the web. As with many things there are often several right answers and a few wrong ones.

...the lubricants called for in most old tractor manuals were simply the very best recommendations they could make at the time of manufacture and many of the products we have available today just didn't exist. Had todays products been available then, not only would the manufactures have recommended them, they would have been thrilled by todays quality.

"Can I use detergent oil..."?

Of course you can ! ... Very early detergent oils had a few problems but those were eliminated over forty years ago. ALL four cycle engines in normal use today should be running with detergent oil. ... Non detergent oils belong in your oil can. The detergent helps to keep the contaminates in suspension in your oil so they drain out when you change oil.

...I changed all of mine(Trans-hydrolic oils) years ago to the newer "universal trans-hydraulic" oils which are compatible with such lubes as Massey-Ferguson "Permatran" or John Deere "Hy-gard" and many others. ..."

Maybe your oil designations over there are slightly different, but SAE 90 (EP90) over here is only used in certain differentials and swivel hubs e.g. older Land Rovers, and stinks of sulphur even when new. I would not put SAE 90 in the trans of the TE as I don't think it will do the job as it is too treacley.

There is an MF dealer near (30 miles) me that still has a couple of old boys who were pretty much apprenticed on the TE20s, and their comment was that 15W - 40 in the engine was fine, and any modern multi-purpose tractor/hydraulic oil will be OK for the back end - so that's what I do for mine, and so far it seems to be all right.

Their comment was also that if the detergent based oils had existed back when the TEs were new, they would have used them.

Maybe it's just a case of "Horses for courses"

• Big Dean's Massey Ferguson Web Site

Phil(WA)