Type of Oil For 1948 John Deere Model A

DougJD48A

Member
I was looking for recommendations on the best engine oil to use in a 1948 John Deere Model A. I was told when I got the tractor to use non-detergent SAE 30 oil, which I have been using for the past 7 years. With all the new synthetic and semi-synthetic blend oils on the market, is there something better I should be using? This was my grandfather's tractor and I want to keep it running well.

I appreciate your time.

Thanks,

Doug
 
Non detergent oil is a thing of the past and should no longer be used since what we have now is so much better. I have a 1935 JD-B that I know where it has been since around 1940 and I use Valvoline 60W racing oil in it due to it burning a lot of oil. Any good brand oil now days is just fine in that tractor. In most of my tractor I use O'Reilly's brand 20W-50

By the way my B was my grand fathers tractor and I even have the owners manual that came with it when new
 
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We us Rotella 15W40 in "Old John", Nancy's 1948 John Deere Model A, that belonged to her father.

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I think most of the people on this board will tell you they use 15w-40 of some brand. I use this in my 37b, 46B & 50B without any problems. One issue you might run into when switching from non detergent to an oil like 15w-40 will be the additives will want to "clean your engine" and if there is a lot of gunk built up you will probably have dirty oil really quick for the first couple of oil changes.
 
The most important thing that we need in our old tractors is Zinc. I use Lucas 15W40 p/n 10075. You really can buy any 15w40 as the cheapest stuff on the shelf today is probably 20 times better they had back in the day. If your going to buy cheap oil, buy a high quality Zinc additive to blend in.
Lucas Oil
 
Well, lets see here...it has made it for 70 years, probably 50 of that was some serious farming use, and used non-det oil and is just fine. You are not going to use it a fraction as hard or as long. The tractor (I assume( is doing just fine? At this point what would you be attempting to improve on with hi tech oil? I don't know your age , but this thing will outlast you using just what it has always used. You can do the 'clean out" with diesel fuel and all and add hi detergent oil and within 2 months, you will have leaks where you never did before. The tractor has proven what it apparently likes. Leave it alone.
 
I am sure I can catch lots of blowback for this but... I use generic (cheap) oil, 10w-40 or 20-50. Walmart 5 qt jugs. Will I ever know if using it is bad? Doubtful. Detergent in it?, yup those old engines need a some cleaning. Also, if the fuel shut off is not good and you flood 4 gallons of gas into the crankcase and have to dump all that special $$ oil, well, you start to like the idea of less expense. Granted the ones I got now only run a few hours a year so not a big deal. Best thing you can do is install hard valve seats in the head and install quality piston rings. That makes the big improvement. George
 

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