Hydraulic fluid spec I ignored for years finally bit me hard

Been running my Terex RT345 for about 8 years now. Always just grabbed whatever hydraulic oil was cheapest at the local Napa in Akron. Last month the swing motor started making this awful grinding noise. Tore it down and the pump was full of sludge. My buddy Mark who runs a shop in Canton told me to check the manual - turns out that machine needs a specific anti-wear additive that cheap oil doesnt have. $2400 in parts later I finally learned my lesson. Anyone else find out the hard way that skipping the right fluid specs costs way more in the long run?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade55810d ago

Man oh man, do I feel your pain. I did the same thing with my old Bobcat a few years back (actually the exact same mistake with cheap hydraulic oil). I was trying to save $40 a barrel and ended up with a $1,800 repair bill for a new pump and valve body. What finally worked for me was paying the extra $15 a gallon for the name brand stuff with the right anti-wear spec (AW-32 in my case). I even started keeping a logbook in the cab just for fluid changes, which sounds dumb but helps me remember the right stuff. Now I spend the money up front and sleep better knowing my equipment won't eat itself alive from the inside. It's a hard lesson but once you learn it, you don't forget.

rowan66610d ago

Had a buddy who did the logbook thing but only wrote down his coffee breaks and lunch orders... kept wondering why his tractor kept blowing seals.