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Message: <blockquote data-quote="adamjedgar" data-source="post: 102670" data-attributes="member: 15973"><p>I think the following quotes from that thread and other forums need consideration... -------------------------------------------- quote from this forum you mentioned... "Like it was stated before Bobcat doesn't publish what grade their branded oil is. But since they only have one grade that they sell we can assume that it's an all weather multi-grade oil. Very few oil manufacturers make a multi-grade hydraulic oil and most are branded by one of the farm equipment manufacturers, John Deere Hy-Gard, Kubota Super UDT and Amsoil Synthetic Tractor Hydraulic are the couple I found." a quote on another forum says... "if the Bobcat tractor is anything like their other equipment they use proprietary Bobcat hydraulic fluid in their machines. Standary hydraulic fluid will DAMAGE Bobcat pumps and seals. I have read on other forums where the skidsteers can either run on the recommended Bobcat brand hydraulic fluid or 10w 30 motor oil will suffice once they are out of warranty. That might sound odd but that is what is posted be reliable sources." and this... "Because of the differences between "hydraulic" fluid and "hydrostatic" fluids, wouldn't it be good to have a separate thread for "hydrostatic" fluids to emphasize that difference? Isn't it true that running "hydraulic" fluid where "hydrostatic" fluid is required can have disastrous results to a machine?" --------------------------------------------------- I did a bit of searching around looking at other machines such as ride on mowers and tractors etc, and it seems that hydrostatic systems should not use ISO 68 oils...the viscosity is wrong. Most seem to say the same thing...use 15W 30 engine oils when the proprietry hydrostatic oils are not sourced. I have used ISO 46 in the past and whilst my excavator does track around with it, and the bobcat seemed ok, however on the excavator, the two speed travel controller engaged in "rabbit" speed sees the machine struggle to make headway on flat ground in this mode. Clearly, even ISO 46 clearly isnt good enough for it. I am going to try to get Bobcat to spill the beams on their oil specifications today, however, i suspect that my best option is to simply change everything over to a decent synthetic engine oil and use that instead...from what i can see on bobcats website these days, they are using synthetic oils now for hydraulics and engines (although there is still a premium grade engine oil in their list).</p></blockquote><p></p>

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