My good neighbor came over to see what I was up to, while changing the oil and transaxle fluid in my JD 425. He noticed I was putting regular dino ST oil in it, but that I was using JD brand Low Vis HyGard for the hydrostat. It immediately launched him into his "days of yore" when he worked for AutoZone, probably 20 years ago. He proceeded ton inform me that you can't mix syn and dino oil, and that once you switch to syn, you can never go back, not to mention syn will cause leaks in gaskets. He then seemed surprised that I wasn't using JD brand oil in the engine, when I WAS using JD hydro fluid. Don't you hate it when someone decides to share their knowledge with you when you didn't solicit it. I mean I know he thinks he's being helpful, but geesh!
I guess I just wanted to rant a bit, but could we all put one thing to bed for good. I told him that in a push mower, you could probably run the oil for 50K miles in your car, drain it out and run it for life in your mower, they're that tough, and not picky. I have in the past switched oil brands and from syn to dino with no problems for over 730 on this tractor, and many, many more hours on several other tractors. I mow 5+ acres a week, and so far so good. Now obviously, for the best care, any decent oil of almost any viscosity, would do just fine. Change it once in a while and you'll be miles ahead of 95% of the mowers cutting grass right now.
I use decent oil, usually ST 15w40 in my tractor, (or 5w40 syn in really cold weather), and have been very satisfied. As to the hydrostat, there is only one recommendation and that is to use Low Vis Hygard, now I don't doubt there's some equivalent out there, but I have only heard of one really good one, and it's hard to get and expensive, BUT HyGard is readily available and fairly cheap, and there is no evidence that JD engineers are fools, so I use it. At $10K a tractor, and a hydro costing a couple of grand easy, I can yield to their knowledge and use it.
After explaining all this to my neighbor, he walked off like I was crazy and my mower would be blowing up soon, this from a guy with a normal lot size yard, he push mows, and I'm guessing he's never owned a tractor in his life.
Ok I feel better I've got this off my chest, I just can't abide all the old wives tales and myths about taking care of cars and OPE. It makes me cringe whenever I go into AZ or one of the other auto parts stores, if this is any indication of the advice they're spewing to their customers.
Oh well, this isn't new and won't ever stop.
I guess I just wanted to rant a bit, but could we all put one thing to bed for good. I told him that in a push mower, you could probably run the oil for 50K miles in your car, drain it out and run it for life in your mower, they're that tough, and not picky. I have in the past switched oil brands and from syn to dino with no problems for over 730 on this tractor, and many, many more hours on several other tractors. I mow 5+ acres a week, and so far so good. Now obviously, for the best care, any decent oil of almost any viscosity, would do just fine. Change it once in a while and you'll be miles ahead of 95% of the mowers cutting grass right now.
I use decent oil, usually ST 15w40 in my tractor, (or 5w40 syn in really cold weather), and have been very satisfied. As to the hydrostat, there is only one recommendation and that is to use Low Vis Hygard, now I don't doubt there's some equivalent out there, but I have only heard of one really good one, and it's hard to get and expensive, BUT HyGard is readily available and fairly cheap, and there is no evidence that JD engineers are fools, so I use it. At $10K a tractor, and a hydro costing a couple of grand easy, I can yield to their knowledge and use it.
After explaining all this to my neighbor, he walked off like I was crazy and my mower would be blowing up soon, this from a guy with a normal lot size yard, he push mows, and I'm guessing he's never owned a tractor in his life.
Ok I feel better I've got this off my chest, I just can't abide all the old wives tales and myths about taking care of cars and OPE. It makes me cringe whenever I go into AZ or one of the other auto parts stores, if this is any indication of the advice they're spewing to their customers.
Oh well, this isn't new and won't ever stop.