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See many use the 15w-50, & many use the 20w-50 for my 2800 Hydros, my book calls for 20w-50, & I still have almost 4 years left under warranty..

Appreciate any input..

OIL THREAD!

Thanks..

5/8 of SFA
The 15 will leak more when cold but heat up faster
The 20 will run for longer , warm up slower
All depends upon what you use the mower for
JD use 10W 40 in their 100 series which is good for 500 to 1000 hrs
Toro use 20w 50 in their base model tractors that seem to last at least 1500 hrs

Thanks Bert, personal use on my less than 1 acre. Hydro-gear won't sell to public, buy other places that do sell service kits, can NOT confirm what weight oil is in the box.
One goofball even said I have to remove each hydro to do oil & filter service.. Scary out there............

Hydro-Gear recommends a 20w-50 with a SL rating....

The Hydro-gear recommended oil and the oil that is used to fill the factory units is 20w50. Hydro-gear says to use that oil or what is recommended by the OEM. OEM oil can be 5w20 10w30 10w40 15w40 15w50 20w50 or 20w20 or they may use their own branded fluid like Hy-gard or Hy-tran.

Thanks ILENGINE- that's the problem, no sellers can say for sure what weight oil is in the box from H-G.
I'd like to stay with my books specs @ 20w-50... with an API SL rating.

I think buying one of those service kits, if not for me. Since I can't get definitive answers.

I'll just order 2 Hydro-gear oil filters part # HG 52114, & get my own 20w50 full syn oil that meets the specs.

7394 said:

Thanks Bert, personal use on my less than 1 acre. Hydro-gear won't sell to public, buy other places that do sell service kits, can NOT confirm what weight oil is in the box.
One goofball even said I have to remove each hydro to do oil & filter service.. Scary out there............

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I think Hydro-gear actually tells you tgey need to be removed from the machine to change it, and the reason is that there are sections inside the box that dont fully drain unless you lay it flat and then tilt it to allow it to drain fully. I suppose you could just add a couple of quarts of cheapy cheapy oil and run it for a bit then drain it again and put the new filter and good fluid it. I do that on my engines occasionally instead of paying for an engine flush. How do YOU drain it fully?

Combat_Pyro said:

How do YOU drain it fully?

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By removing the oil filters, that drains each fully. According to Hydro-Gear info. That's what I did, & measured what I got out too. So I'm good with that.

7394 said:

By removing the oil filters, that drains each fully. According to Hydro-Gear info. That's what I did, & measured what I got out too. So I'm good with that.

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Okay. Just wondering. I just did mine. I had to take the right one out to replace a fan blade anyway. So I drained not on the mower since it was already out. I drained the other in the method you use. When I moved the removed hydro around into different positions I got more and more fluid out, so I felt like the removal did successfully drain more old fluid. I didn’t measure the output, so it’s speculative, but it seemed a significant amount to me. That said, I still opted to drain and fill the other one still on board. Turns out that, at least to me, because of the inaccessibility of the fill hole on my mower specifically it’s easier to remove it and then service it. Thanks for your response!

Combat_Pyro said:

I didn’t measure the output, so it’s speculative, but it seemed a significant amount to me. That said, I still opted to drain and fill the other one still on board. Turns out that, at least to me, because of the inaccessibility of the fill hole on my mower specifically it’s easier to remove it and then service it. T

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Ur Welcome.
Well it's just a guess then.. Hydro-Gear is very specific in how much oil is needed. (Depending if you have external expansion tanks, or Internal). So when I drain & get about precisely what is spec. That is what Hydro-Gear had put in it.. I doubt there was anymore hidden in there. If you measured, you would know for sure.

If you couldn't access the "Fill hole" you can always use the "oil level hole" & do it from underneath. It's very easy to do.