2013 John Deere X738 Engine Oil with Kawasaki FD750D Engine

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

I recently acquired this John Deere X738 “tractor”(?). As best I can tell it is a 2013 model with 88 hours of run time. It came with a snowblower, snow plow, and 48” mower deck. I will use it about 10 hours per year in winter at temps from -20 to 30F mostly with the snow blower attachment to clear a 400x30 ft driveway. In summer I have about 3/4 acre of grass to mow in temps from 40 to 70F. I will probably use it 10 hours per year for the mowing.

I did an oil and filter change already with Mobil 1 EP 5W-30 plus the John Deere filter and it is running nicely.

Moving forward is there any harm in using Valvoline Restore and Protect 5W-30 or HPL Plus PCMO 0W-30? I use those in my cars/Generator and the tractor only takes 2 quarts. I’m thinking once a year will be enough since I doubt I will put more than 20 hours on it annually.

The owners manual is pretty daunting, but are there any critical maintenance items that I should investigate immediately not knowing the status of its history? The only problem I’ve had is the mower deck would not lower without some Kroil on the joints and control knobs, but works now.

Should this greased shaft with splines have some kind of cover on it when not in use?

 

[walterjay]

I have a similar X series with the water cooled Kawasaki. I use either 0-40 or 5-40 since it gets used in both deep winter and all summer. About 1,500 hours on the engine and runs like new. Enjoy the machine.

BTW JD specs out 5-30 for my engine but the manufacturer (Kawasaki) specs 10-40.

 

[MurkyAsparagus]

I’ve thought about running R&P in my OPE, I even did for a short period in my mower before tearing the engine down to repair it.

IMO, R&P is too volatile for OPE. The oil runs quite hot in comparison to car engines. I would be worried if R&P could handle the heat without breaking down or becoming too volatile.

However, I don’t know how being water cooled would effect oil temperature in this engine, I’ve never dealt with one in the past.

With most OPE, people on BITOG seem to run a 40wt oil, often times a dual rated diesel oil, or some type of Euro oil. There’s a lot of Castrol, Supertech, and Rotella on oil changes on OPE. There’s also a good bit of Valvoline Maxlife for those with small oil leaks.

I would probably step up to a 5w40 or 15w40 during the summer. Personally, I would run Rotella T6 or Supertech 15w40 Diesel. During the winter, I would probably go down to a 0w40 or a 0w30, or keep a 5w40. There’s multiple good options here, I would probably pick some Euro oil.

Lastly, you cannot go wrong with any HPL oil in the mower.

 

[14Accent]

JD tech here - beautiful machine!

Being water cooled, you won't have any issue running a 5w30 in that Kawi, however we recommend sticking to a 40 weight. A high quality Euro 0w40 would probably be most appropriate for your year-round use.

You're going to want to service the hydraulics/transmission, it's not difficult just a bit messy. The front axle needs to be drained to get everything out of the system, the hydraulics are shared by all the systems.

Make sure to keep the radiator screen clear, it just pulls out the top and can be blown out with air.

You don't have to cover the PTO input shaft, but you certainly can if you'd like for peace of mind.

Make sure to check the gear oil level in both the plow gearbox and the deck gearbox. Probably wouldn't hurt to drain them out and get something better in them, for longevity.

As a final tip: if you want an actual engine speed readout instead of just the bar graph, turn the ignition key "on" without starting the engine and press the RIO button 5 times in succession. The hour meter display will change to "r0000", which is your actual engine RPM. Now start the engine. The engine RPM will display until the key is cycled, at which point the hour meter will return. This works on ALL Deere mowers with digital displays.

 

[2.7ecoboostFordBronco]

JD tech here - beautiful machine!

Being water cooled, you won't have any issue running a 5w30 in that Kawi, however we recommend sticking to a 40 weight. A high quality Euro 0w40 would probably be most appropriate for your year-round use.

You're going to want to service the hydraulics/transmission, it's not difficult just a bit messy. The front axle needs to be drained to get everything out of the system, the hydraulics are shared by all the systems.

Make sure to keep the radiator screen clear, it just pulls out the top and can be blown out with air.

You don't have to cover the PTO input shaft, but you certainly can if you'd like for peace of mind.

Make sure to check the gear oil level in both the plow gearbox and the deck gearbox. Probably wouldn't hurt to drain them out and get something better in them, for longevity.

As a final tip: if you want an actual engine speed readout instead of just the bar graph, turn the ignition key "on" without starting the engine and press the RIO button 5 times in succession. The hour meter display will change to "r0000", which is your actual engine RPM. Now start the engine. The engine RPM will display until the key is cycled, at which point the hour meter will return. This works on ALL Deere mowers with digital displays.

Wow, thank you! Great response and much appreciated!

 

[Mike_dup1]

I have an X738. I run AMSOIL Small Engine Oil 5W-30 (WIX 51394 Filter) and change every 2 yrs (maybe). Its just used for snow blowing in winter, no grass to mow. My neighbor has same and uses same oil. Mine is 7 yrs old, his about 12 yrs old. Never any issues with the tractor, all problems are with the blower as ours came with chain drive augers and they fail frequently. Mine 2x and his 3. Both have been converted to gear drive. Mine has 160 hrs and I recall his are somewhere over 200+ last time we talked hours.