I use my tractor year round here in the north woods. I looked at my filter the other day it was marked 4/21/16- 196 hrs, my tractor now the 1st of March has 252 hrs on it. So 56 hrs since I changed my oil last April. I bought a Kubota filter at the dealer and Rotella oil at tractor supply when I changed it in April. So by April 21 I might put on another 5-6 hours maybe. My stupid question because I live here in the north and we've had -20*f below and 65*f one day in January , hot, cold , condensation ect, would I be smart to just change my oil yearly ? I'm not Trump but it wouldn't break me. I also thought about changing just the filter with low hours on the oil. The guy who works for me has a chevy 2500 that he uses Mobil 1 in, he puts on like 6k miles a year. at 3k , he pulls the filter and tops off the oil.
Your thoughts ??
WFM,
I have studied oil for a long time seen loooottts of technical data on the synthetic oils vs standard oil and the like.
Synthetic oil have a lower viscosity (pours better at lower temps) than the same weight oil of others - but here is the best point about synthetic oils - it holds the protection lonnnnger than conventional oil OVER the life span of the oil itself. Looking at a typical linear chart - a conv oil starts off at "x" and slowly (as the oil wears) gets to lower protective point "y" over time and heat and cold cycles.......synthetic start on the chart a little lower than "x" and holds onto the protective points longer and higher than point "y" over the same amount of time.
Now all this did not answer your question - so I will go ahead and do so.
IF I was gonna change the filter - cause that is the hardest part of the entire job (on a bx) I would go ahead and change the oil too. Why? - because I can and despite the cost, the $25 is cheap insurance to keep the machine living another year or 30!
The old oil has not been ruined - there is life in it still, lots of life! But, from a cost per life span view, I think I would go ahead and do it! Changing the filter is fine too, I have done that in the past, I run Mobil 1 in all my cars, and would change a filter at 6k and run it to 15k then change the oil, again - the oil is dirty but still works as it should.
Last thought - I would change it to satisfy the "what if scenario" as opposed to the not changing it and that 1% crazy something happening.
I have two B7100 - one has new oil from the old owner .....bet it aint diesel oil...and a fram oil filter......It has only been started and run around the yard about 1 hours since last year this time.....I am gonna change the filter and the oil cause I DO NOT KNOW what's in it...........the other B has maybe 75 hours of grass cutting, it too will get a change, for no other reason because I want to do it rather than it needs to be done!
