Tractor Trans Fluid instead of ATF
 

I know you guys will probably laugh at me or roll your eyes but is anyone else running Tractor Transmission/Hydrostatic fluid in their transmission? I have about 20k miles on my 47RE that has a 30/70 mix of ATF+4 and John Deere HyGuard and it is doing awesome, it plowed all winter without a single hickup as well as towing some crazy heavy loads this spring, and after doing some searching there are alot of people using it in high power race cars with slush boxes. the only reason it is in mine is because it was all I had on the truck when I blew a cooler line and lost almost all the fluid so I spliced the line and filled it with what I had, and that was the HyGuard for the brushhog tractor. there is a long thread on the topic on the turbo forums aswell if anyone wants a good read Tractor fluid instead of ATF????? opinions? am I a idiot? it seems to be holding up good and it "helped" with my converter lockup shudder and slipping under spirited driving.:humm:

:humm: Very interesting read for sure....

I started using the wrong type of ATF about 5 years ago,intentionally to reduce slippage and shudder on E4OD and it has worked fine for me. In my small understanding of fluid principles, the less slippage (friction) the less heat is created. In a loaded environment, it would appear to me to be best to get in next gear and quit fooling(slipping) around. The old original TYPE F fluid I now use helps overcome weak clutch and bands. I know that someday it will fail but continue to pull considerable loads. I also run a trans cooler the size that concrete trucks run on front bumper to cool their hydraulics. The newer fluids seem to differ little from old style except for anti-foaming agents and more slippage built in by decreasing viscosity. In other words, thinner fluid. (I now have forgotten exact term here.)
Now concerning your question, some of hydraulic fluids are made with peculiar additives for specific usage. And some I noticed have slightly acidic smell! Am not so sure they would be good for alloys such as aluminum.
Conversely, found ATF fluid in an older Yanmar diesel tractor hydraulic system I bought. And did continue to use it until cut a flex line and did not notice fluid loss until lift started to malfunction. At that time drained remaining and changed to a "more proper" fluid. The only difference I noticed was the lifts "range of motion" seemed to operate slightly smoother than before.

I think I will give this a try also in a few days on my 48RE. I am trying to get another 20k miles or so out of it, currently at 75k with 50k of that with the diablo predator set on extreme RKL! Tranny and converter are getting noticably weeker.

OK, just droped my pan, changed filter, installed a drain plug from napa, and refilled with 5 quarts of Ambra G 134 tractor hydraulic transmission fluid ( New Holland brand ). Didn't really improve my WOT shifts, guess the damage is too extensive to the cluctch packs. Did notice the tranny and torque converter to tighter at lower rpms and at idle. Plan drain the pan again a couple more times in the next couple thousand miles to try and get all the burnt material and fluid out. Will let u know how things go!

It WILL destroy a transmission and cause increased wear!
I assure you , Any transmission you purchase that may have a warranty will not have a warranty running any fluid besides ATF+4. It may help for a while, but in the end it destroys a transmission.

And it can't be that much cheaper. :humm:


IDK, I worked for a drilling outfit, and they used Dexron-Mercon III in an Alison. Never had any problems. Though I believe they were suppose to use Shell Donax TD.

I guess time will tell now:w2:

would someone tell me how to post a new question. have hard shift issue with 04 48re.

1guntoofew, those tranny's got problems all around. hook a scanner to it and see if there's a tranny code, most likely a shift solenoid.