Hy-Tran, Rotella, Mobile or Traveler? Need Advice

[Shawn.J]

Hello,
New to the heavy equipment world and really need some advice. I have read all the old post but some date back to 2010 and most are before transmission-hydraulic fluid is $150+ for 5 gallons!!!!!

I have a new to me Case 480E LL. I just got done rebuilding all cylinders and replacing every single line.
Do I really need to drive 2hr to my Case dealer and spend $156 per bucket for Hy-Tran? Or can I use Traveler Premium for $65 from down the street? I have a split hydraulic, Transmission so lots of options to run cheap stuff in hydraulic system and good stuff in Power Shuttle, though then that complicates things with two products.
So do I really need to spend $450 on Hy-Tran or can I spend $195 on Traveler premium from Tractor supply? This machine will get very little use just around my house but don't want to screwed up all my hard work rebuilding it with the wrong oi.

Rotella is also an option but nearly $130, and Mobile Delvac at $70.

Appreciate any advice.

-Shawn

 

[Nige]

Rotella is also an option but nearly $130, and Mobile Delvac at $70.

They are both engine oils though, correct.?
You were talking about transmission/hydraulic systems before. Confusion reigns...........

can I spend $195 on Traveler premium from Tractor supply?

Good quality oil & filters are the best insurance policy you could ever buy for a machine. I would suggest never to buy anything containing any of the words universal, tractor, or farm - either in the name of the product or of the store that is selling it. My 2c, YMMV.

 

[Shawn.J]

My apologizes, I was not very clear on that. Just talking oil for the hydraulic/transmission. Engine oil I can handle. Was think Rotella HD Tractor fluid and Mobile Delvac Tractor fluid might be cheaper options then Hy-Trans but better quality then the Traveler stuff.
So with your suggestion that would be the Hy-Trans only. Thanks for the option and advice

 

[Nige]

I’m not a Case expert. I would defer to someone else’s knowledge on what would be the preferred oil for your transmission. Based on what you mentioned above both the Shell & Mobil options would still appear to be on the table.

 

[John C.]

If I took a poll right now from all the very experienced wrenches, that frequent this site, concerning all the newbies that come on here asking how to be cheap with a machine they just spent tens of thousands of dollars for, I can pretty well guarantee that nearly all if not all of us would be getting a bit tired of hearing those kinds of questions. You are basically just asking for someone to confirm your conjecture that any of your listed oils will be fine so you have validated yourself in choosing the cheapest.

Basically, if you can't afford the oil, why do you have the machine?

 

[Shawn.J]

If I took a poll right now from all the very experienced wrenches, that frequent this site, concerning all the newbies that come on here asking how to be cheap with a machine they just spent tens of thousands of dollars for, I can pretty well guarantee that nearly all if not all of us would be getting a bit tired of hearing those kinds of questions. You are basically just asking for someone to confirm your conjecture that any of your listed oils will be fine so you have validated yourself in choosing the cheapest.

Basically, if you can't afford the oil, why do you have the machine?

John,
Can you or your very experienced friends show any prof the cheaper oils do not work? Thats what I was looking for, I was looking for someone with experience and knowledge to say the Power Shuttle will work just fine or it wont work fine with say the Traveler Premium oil. Keyboard warriors are a dime a dozen, true hands on prof is what we are missing. I can't find a single post saying the $60 oils caused problems. All I can find are post like you saying "you cant afford it".

 

[ahart]

I think what John is trying to convey here is, it’s up to you to determine price vs value in the conversation of fluids for your machine. Cheap oil could very well work for you, I’m sure you could find a study or personal opinion to confirm this. If you want oil that defiantly will work with no questions, put the hy-Tran in. If you are willing to take a chance on oil that will probably work for what you’re doing, buy the cheaper oil. You can always look up the ISO specs on both oils you are looking at and compare. There are many variables on whether cheaper universal oils will work or not. We have always had good luck with countrymark Co-op branded oil, just have to decide whether it’s worth the risk for your operation.

 

[funwithfuel]

There's always wal mart

 

[Shawn.J]

I think what John is trying to convey here is, it’s up to you to determine price vs value in the conversation of fluids for your machine. Cheap oil could very well work for you, I’m sure you could find a study or personal opinion to confirm this. If you want oil that defiantly will work with no questions, put the hy-Tran in. If you are willing to take a chance on oil that will probably work for what you’re doing, buy the cheaper oil. You can always look up the ISO specs on both oils you are looking at and compare. There are many variables on whether cheaper universal oils will work or not. We have always had good luck with countrymark Co-op branded oil, just have to decide whether it’s worth the risk for your operation.

Thanks! I appreciate the advice. There is lots of re-branded "magic in a bottle" with a colt like following and was just wondering if Hy-Tran was just that or is it really a different product. Outside of Rotella and Mobile, Case and the cheap Traveler stuff is coming from a big refinery, so is the Hy-Tran really that much different and better? I have googled this for way to long and find plenty of guys saying the Traveler stuff works just fine and they run it, Then you find the guys with a Hy-Tran tattoo on there arm! What I cant find is anyone saying they personally had a cheaper fluid cause a problem. Honestly I want to run the Hy-Tran but I want a scientific reason to do so not just because that's what the cool kids do. Its a $7,000 tractor does it really need and deserve $450 of hydraulic oil?

 

[ahart]

You it Mr, gotta weigh cost vs value.

 

[MG84]

Hy-tran is considerably different than your standard hydraulic oil. It is hygroscopic, has a slightly different viscosity and has a very robust additive package. I have a case 480E backhoe and only run either IH Hy-tran or Case TCH fluid in the shuttle shift, even though it is a 3hr round trip to get it. The hydraulic reservoir gets any decent name brand tractor hydraulic fluid.

 

[Delmer]

Isn't it like one bucket in the reverser? then you can run what ever hydraulic oil you want, within reason, it doesn't need to be a transmission/hydraulic oil. The shuttle/reverser DOES need to be a trans/hyd oil, and preferably hytran. If the oil in it looks good, change the filter and put the old stuff back in, better a good old oil than a yellow bucket of sludge.

 

[Welder Dave]

In the trans. I'd at least use an oil that meets Hy-Tran specs. The hyd's aren't as critical.

 

[Delmer]

If the oil in it looks good, change the filter and put the old stuff back in, better a good old oil than a yellow bucket of sludge.

I should have said the hydraulic oil. Change the reverser with the best oil you can find, hytrans is easy if that's best. You're never going to change all the hydraulic oil anyway, 1/2 or less if you drain and refill, so if it has water dry it out, change the filter, and put it back in rather than drain it and use a $20 yellow bucket.

 

[Coaldust]

OP,

Sometimes you have to look deeper than the spec sheet. The spec sheet lies. I may be another keyboard warrior, but I dabble in the lube biz. For example Traveler is blended by Warren Industries.

Warren has a history of litigation for false claims that their products meet “spec”. Including very recent shenanigans concerning tractor oil. Look it up. Many industry folks wonder how they stay in business.

Since clown world began with global additive shortages, force majeure, blah blah, I’ve witnessed other funny business with off-spec product. The quarantine storage is overflowing.

I would stick to the majors in 2023 and pay the premium, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Nige]

Continuing on from my learned friend's post above (and IMO you would be well advised to heed his opinion) here's another story regarding oil, this time an engine oil. I am not going to name the manufacturer at this point because I can't yet prove to my satisfaction that the product is not legit, but get this...........

1. In the data sheet was the following statement - "[the oil] is designed to exceed the newest API and OEM service categories". Note carefully it didn't say "meets or exceeds", only "designed to exceed". The datasheet for a comparable oil from Mobil clearly stated - "Accordingly, this oil meets or exceeds the requirements of API CK-4, CJ-4, CI-4 Plus, & CH-4 service categories, as well as key original equipment manufacturer (OEM) requirements." It then went on to list a load of OEM Specs that the oil met.

2. Further down the datasheet it lists "Typical Properties" with the caveat "The typical properties listed reflect the general characeteristics of the product, and are not manufacturing specifications. If they are not manufacturing specifications why bother.? Draw your own conclusions from that.......

3. In the Typical Properties table for the no-name oil every specified value listed (apart from one) fails to include the relevant ASTM Standard to which that parameter should be tested. Compare that to the Mobil datasheet for which I include an image below. One is clear and unequivocal, the other one isn't worth the paper it's written on IMHO, because if the manufacturer was ever challenged they could simply point to their "general characteristics" caveat (see above) and deny anything & everything.

Reading and interpreting lubricant manufacturers' data sheets is something akin to an art form.

 

[63 caveman]

I’m not a Case expert. I would defer to someone else’s knowledge on what would be the preferred oil for your transmission. Based on what you mentioned above both the Shell & Mobil options would still appear to be on the table.

In my mind you can do what ever you want to with you equipment but; If you hire me to repair or rebuild something on it, if you want to use some fluid that I am not comfortable with you will have to supply it and I will not warranty my work. And yes I have seen failures from wrong fluids.

 

[Mcrafty1]

https://buysinopec.com/

Type in Hydraulic oil in the search box, if you can't find an HY-TRAN equivalent oil for far less than Deere is going to charge you....delivered to your door, I'll be shocked.
Disclaimer: I've no affiliation with this company I just by oil from them, they list several locations around the country, you may have one near you.

If it turns out not to be so, you're not out nothing, it's cheap to look.

 

[Mcrafty1]

I agree with Nige, it would take a petroleum scientist to cipher out the differences in a Spec Chart....but us surfs can get a reasonable assumption as to the quality of products if we look hard enough.

 

[Coaldust]

Or a tribologist. Most distributors have one on the payroll you can talk with.