Hydraulic oil recommendations

[mjeselskis]

I need 40-50 gallons of hydraulic fluid for a new piece of equipment. I think ISO 32 is the right viscosity. I'm interested in everyone's experience if it's best just to run the fluid from tractor supply or if a name brand oil is worth the money, and what brands are best. I only run JD oil in my new tractor, but all my other equipment has always been so worn out that I just used cheap oil since it leaked out as fast as I put it in.

[chevytaHOE5674]

What kind of equipment?

If its something simple with a gear pump the "cheap" oil is probably ok. If its something with a high dollar piston pump then generally the more expensive oil has better additive packages to help with heat breakdown, water retention, etc.

Having said that all of my personal equipment be it old or new gets quality oil dumped into it. After looking in the bottoms of many different buckets of cheap oil and seeing the sediment and junk left over I decided that a few bucks more for oil was cheaper than a new pump, valve, etc.

[mjeselskis]

It's a firewood processor with 2 gear pumps and one piston pump. Saw motor is a gear motor and the rest is cylinders

[mike_belben]

Clean fluid with good filtration and changes performed prior to the additives being consumed is pretty much the primary requirement of a good service life for any system.  I personally am at a point where ive seen the manufacturers spec everything from motor oil, to atf to their own magic sauce, and ive run 303 in all of them without issues yet. 

If its under warranty ill dance to the beat of their drum, but otherwise i go for cheap and clean.  You should be pumping out of the barrel through a filter. As was mentioned new flood doesnt mean clean, theyre full of sediment.

[snowstorm]

i would not buy the cheap oil. 32 is winter grade 46 and 68 are summer grade

[treeslayer2003]

i don't like TS or wally world oils. my local napa beats their price and it is really valvoline products. both my loaders and the bell machine spec 32 so thats what i run in them.

[mjeselskis]

Thanks, I'll check out Napa. As far as winter vs summer grade, I can't change the oil twice a year since this will only get minor use. Can I use 32 year round?

[allaboutsawdust]

I would be careful on that cheap oil, I have seen some pretty bad sediment at the bottom of some of those TSC containers. 32 is really a winter oil, I would imagine this time of year you would have a lot of hydraulic overheating issues. 46 is about as good as you will get for an all year oil.

[Jamie_C]

We run straight 30 wt oil in our Cord King firewood processor year round with no problems

[North River Energy]

I'm using 32 in my processor, though not in winter.
Seems to work fine. Do you have a cooler on your machine?

[mjeselskis]

We do have a cooler with an adjustable bypass loop and a thermometer on the tank to keep track of the oil temp.

[1270d]

We use 46 wt hydraulic oil year round.   It takes a little bit to warm up in the cold season but we don't have to change it every spring and fall.  PetroCanada Hydrex XV.