Hydro-Gear ZT-2800s - What oil & what filter?

[SOHCman]

I had this VOA run few years ago I do like the Fash point. Amsoil AHF more responsive than OEM fill in my ZT2800 unit View attachment 53508

That is quite the flashpoint! Wonder if this an identical VOA to their other 20w-50s?

 

[passgas55]

In my set up the Kaw engine gets 15/40 Delo while the tranny gets M1 15/50 . It is the winning combo for me. I use hydraulic filters on tranny and MC 910S on Kaw, Zero turn is 10 years old and going strong. I would love a new ZeroTurn but can't justify it.

 

[OilMagnate]

So my gut said to try the 5W-50, but the wallet said to buy the 5 quart jug of 15W-50. Figured it was the safer bet anyway. I also grabbed 2 WIX WL10102 filters and probably did the most elaborate oil change any hydro has ever seen. See this link for the details. I'm VERY pleased with the results. The hydros are almost completely silent, even while mowing and under stress.

 

[WillB]

When I do the Service on my Big Dog Stout, will be running the Amsoil 20w50 and the hydrogear filters.

 

[raburn2906]

I did not know this particular oil existed. Admittedly, I'm not fluent at all in Amsoil. I would think this is the ultimate oil for this application, however, the cheapest price I see is >$12 per quart. I understand that in comparison to Hydro-Gear's kit, this is still peanuts. My real question is this:

If I choose this Amsoil product over the products I originally listed, will I *really* see enough benefit to justify the cost difference? I can get both Mobil products for $5.49 per quart at NAPA right now, and they usually have their 15W-50 on sale several times a year for well under $4 per quart.

Also, this Amsoil product claims to go double the OEM recommendation for service interval. I don't know if I'd actually trust it, so there's another reason I'm leaning toward the other offerings. It sounds like I'm convincimg myself to not buy Amsoil, but I promise I'm actually intrigued by it. Just thinking out loud. Thoughts?

The benefit in using a high quality oil in your hydrostatic transmission is offset by the cost to replace it. Check the price of replacement and then decide if a few extra $$$ is worth it. It is!
I've used the Amsoil for hydrostatic trans and it works great. I currently have the RP HPS 20W50 in mine and it works great as well. Whatever oil you choose, you want one with a good dose of zinc.

 

[coder]

The current recommendation by the Hydrogear is actually "synthetic 15w50", with minimum 9 cSt @110c. In this use case, there is no combustion related contamination and cat converter to worry about, so IMO we do not need a detergent oil, and high anti-wear additive levels such as ZDDP are OK. So why not max the anti wear additives out? The M1 15w50 with its 1200 ppm Phosphorus level sounds like a pretty good choice to me.

Since the OCI is so long, I think money is probably no object, so: how do folks feel about something exotic such as an ester based RedLine 15W50 racing oil? The main disadvantage would be that these are non detergent, but in this case I think that is OK.

 

[coder]

It turns out that Gravely's synthetic 15W50 ( Part #00057100) hydro fluid is actually M-1 15W50 extended synthetic.
So that is another vote for the M1 15w50. That is what I am going with. But I will put Redline in my Kawi engine.
The Gravely rebadged lubricant bottle says something about doubling the service interval. So I think the originally recommended
400 hours should be safe with the mobile.

Racing oils are typically changed out pretty fast, so they may not have enough acid neutralizers. Also, there is such thing apparently as too much zinc. Some of the redline and M-1 racing oils feature a warning about street use and long OCI-s. so given the long OCI here, those probably are
not a good choice.

 

[coder]

About the Amsoil claim of doubling the service interval: It is not just them. For example. Gravely is making a similar claim on the back label of their synthetic hydro fluid. (Which is relabeled M1 15W50) . And Triax is making a 3x claim on their back label of their Hydro oil.

I think this claim is just typical difference between the "standard" dyno 20w50 which the recommended service schedule is based on,
and the "full synthetic" fluids.