Correct Fluids

[cdunn]

My local Tractor Supply sells an oil called ACCEL 303 Tractor Hydraulic Transmission Fluid. Does anyone know if this is comparable to the John Deere Type 303 Special Purpose Oil that the manual for my 350 (Straight) calls for in basically everything except the engine? (hydraulics, reverser, transmission, finals, power steering) The manual also mentions SAE 80 Mulitpurpose lubricant as an alternative. Seems to me that SAE 80 would have a much higher viscosity than hydraulic fluid. My JD dealer sells HYGUARD that is the newer alternative, but at fifteen dollars a gallon, its more than twice the price of the ACCEL 303 in my area.

Any helpful information greatly appreciated.

[Lavoy]

Do NOT use gear lube in hyd system, not a good thing to do.
As a far as the 303 fluid, look on the pail for equivalencies or "replaces" such and such fluid. From what I have seen of them, they are a common systems fluid just like the old 303 or modern day Hygard.
Lavoy

[cdunn]

Thanks for the reply, kinda what I was thinking, however needed some reassurance.

[JWB Contracting]

We use regular hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic system with the weight corresponding to weather, THG (Transmission, Hydraulic, Gear) in the transmission, THG or ATF in the reverser and gear oil in the final drives. I don't think i have every seen a pail of John Deere oil on the premises.

My dad has gotten so cheap that he buys most of his oil at Walmart. We have never had a component failure because of low quality oil. We have had most of our deere equipment in service since the late 70's, including 350C and 450C widepad crawlers with backhoes, 440 and 540 skidders, plus trenchers, cable plows, directional drills.

[KenP]

deleted

[Lavoy]

Good points, I should have spelled out what I meant by compatibility better, but Ken hit it on the head.
Lavoy

[digitup2]

The point is some times the old stuff can run on other oils but if you don't know what you are putin in the hole don't put it in and if it needs some oil figure out what kind of oil is needed or you can be in the repair shop .As a rule of thumb for John Deere though they are fairly straight forward with the oils and lubes they use .Unlike some manufacturers Deere has kept specialty lubes to a minimum .I find Deeres lubes and oils are top quality and they aren't the most expensive out there for shure .I will not use any of Deere's greeses as they don't stick around in plain berrings such as excavators and backhoes .We also have a specialty greese for track adjusters .I dont like cheep oils that is a sign of wrong additives or no additives .I have several late model dozers that are at the 8 and 10 thousand hour marks and are fussy about what is put in them .The old Deeres will run on darnd near anything but reading lube lables isn't a scince comon sense will tell you if oil is equivilant in viscosity and right for the job .Check first pour later I guess .Digitup.