Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Mac
My service manual says to use Hy-Tran or SAE 30 engine oil in the creeper. But it is a pretty plastic bottle.  |
It
*IS* a pretty bottle, and you can't argue that in 50 years guys will be holding knives to each others throats to get at it, but I'm going to debate the manual here a little.
HyTran, despite all its miraculous accomplishments and legendary following appears in "eyeball" viscosity to be very similar to Dextron-3 ATF (which I have said more than a couple of times that my Dad ran, incorrectly, in my 149 for about 2000 hours without issue), which is
very much different than 30W motor oil...
I realize that no one can get in their time machine and roll back to the 1960s and ask the IH engineer what their design intent was, but those two options sure don't seem like straight forward substitutes. I will also confess that my eyeball isn't a calibrated instrument for measuring the physical properties of oils. My observation is just that, but I think if most mechanics (professionals) dumped their hand in a tube of Dextron-3 and the other hand in a tub of HyTran, they wouldn't be able to tell a difference.
Given my limited exposure to creepers (an entire experience of a single creeper pulled from a 1200 that appeared to have gear oil in it, right or wrong, when I drained it), in addition to my professional background on the topic, I'd run gear oil in it, change it at ~50 hours or annually (which ever comes first) and sleep well with that maintenance routine. For most of us 1 change a year is more like 20 hours... I'd bet you $50 that low grade olive oil would work with that maintenance cycle for at least the next 20 years (creepers cost $150+, so one of us is losing that bet no matter what). Should you choose not to use common cooking oil, I previously mentioned that I prefer Mobil 1.
@John: Cub Cadet branded oil, no matter the grade, is not required. That's simply handing MTD extra money for no reason. I assure you that "Cub Cadet" doesn't make their own lubricants... My suspicion is that the same company making that gear lube is probably also making "Valuecraft" oil at Autozone and "Super 2000" oil at Walmart.
I know you weren't soliciting opinions, but I'd run that same weight, in a quality oil like Mobil 1 or Lucas, if that were my creeper and I wanted to keep it nice.
Disclaimer: All of the above is my only my opinion and is complete conjecture. I would do exactly as I described if it were my own equipment though.