Which oils to use in 853, Need some direction

[Greg19]

i inherited an 853 when I bought a business in Montana and the oil and fuel filter have written on them 2014 along with the hour meter number. There is nothing written on the Hydraulic filters. The hour meter now shows an additional 500 hours so I am thinking of just replacing all the filters to get off to a good start. I found two gallons of unopened Chevron Delo 400 Mutligrade 15w-40 in the storage room, can I use this oil for the engine? The Hydraulic tank reservoir dip stick is not showing any oil, I bought 2.5 gallons of Bobcat all season Hydraulic/hydrostatic fluid at the dealer, but cost me $39.00. Then while at Costco the other day I saw they have 5 gallons of Chevron Hydraulic oil AW-46 for $38.00. Can I use the Chevron AW-46 in the Hydraulic tank reservoir? Is it ok to mix it with bobcat brand? I am also going to remove the access cover for the chain case and completely clean it. What oil should I use, can I use the same oil as the hydraulic tank reservoir? Thank you for the help Greg

 

[reaperman]

Good idea to change fluids and filters. Oil first, you can use the 15w-40 for the engine. You could also run 10w-30 engine oil instead of 15-40 for winter use. The bobcat engine oil filter number is 6665603, which can easily be crossed to another brand. Hydraulic oil is an on-going debate. From the factory your machine model most likely came with 10w-30 engine oil in the hydraulics along with all bobcat models from that era. Using 10w-30 engine oil in the hydraulics is about as expensive as bobcat brand hydraulic oil compared to the AW-46. I've read that "tractor fluid" a good substitute for hydraulic fluid also. Its used for hydro static drive machines which use the same fluid for hydraulics plus drive motors. I havent used it. As far as mixing the hydro fluids. Since its almost impossible to drain the hydro system on a machine, fluids do get mixed when adding new fluid to existing fluids of different weights. Since your machine came with 10w-30 and now your adding bobcat brand, you may not want to add a third fluid to the system. Instead add more bobcat fluid or 10w-30 to fill. And as your chain case goes, use that cheaper AW-46, the chain case holds about 8 gallons total. Fluid weight isnt that important overall. Just think of a bathtub for the chains and sprockets to get lubrication, just about anything will work in there. Keeping the fluid from collecting water is more important. So seal the chain case cover up good when your finished. Bobcat makes a special "caulk" just for this. It comes in a regular caulk tube. Be sure to seal the bolts too.