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Tranny fluid question


huffy

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I want to change the transaxle fluid in my SS. The manual says to use Type F transmission fluid. At Napa, I see ATF+, Mercon, and a bunch of other varieties, but none say they're Type F or it's equivalent. What does Type F mean?

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in my day it stood for ford, ford and gm had there own trans fluid, but now i think that one works on both of them.

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as Yukon said, Type F was Ford, the original Type A/suffix A was used by GM and others.

GM then formulated its own ATF and called it Dexron.

Ford recently reformulated their specs and call that Mercon.

One of the things GM did, was add red dye to their product, soz knuckle-draggers like me who worked in gas stations could tell what we were adding...

"Back in the days", the two were not compatible. That is, depending on application, they not only didn't mix, one might not behave well with the different friction materials inside the drive unit.

But there's more: Type F has a higher shear stability than Dexron. We have milling machines in the shop that MUST use Type F, because Dexron's lower shear causes breakdown.

Type F has NO friction modifiers, Mercon and Dexron III DO.

Dexron VI is thinner than Dexron III, but also has higher shear stability.

Type F and Dexron III are still both widely available...

I have read and been told many times that the latest Mercon and Dexron VI are fully compatible and can be intermixed "FOR CURRENT APPLICATIONS".

I don't have that kind of confidence when working on my 40 year old Simplicity, so I stick with the "old stuff".

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My personal machines, sundstrand and vickers, have been getting Dexron III since I've owned them, never had an issue.

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I don't believe the Dextron would be a problem. But I would stick with one type and only change that type when I did a complete empty/refill with a new filter.

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quote:Originally posted by John_in_Oxford

I have read and been told many times that the latest Mercon and Dexron VI are fully compatible and can be intermixed "FOR CURRENT APPLICATIONS".


id="quote">
id="quote">***Meaning that they are not necessarily backwards compatible. Dexron VI is backwards compatible for all GM car products, but maybe not so for the rest of the auto industry.***** Allison Transmission have to develop their own formula, "Transynd", as Dexron VI was was causing sealing problems to their hiway products. Most of the older tractor hydros were out of production when VI was introduced. I use 10W-30 oil as it is close enough and backwards compatible.
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Gravely has a fully synthetic "hydraulic" fluid. In my simple mind I would think that might be a viable substitute. ExMark also had a "hydro oil" specially formulated for their hydrostats. ExMark used to use Mobil 1 15W50. You can still use it but the change interval is reduced from 500 hours to 250 because all the "good stuff" has been taken out or reduced to low levels for emissions reasons.

Ken

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I use Dexron III in one of my 7116H and the other has Massey hydraulic fluid cause it's what I had on hand. Haven't had any problems with either one.

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quote:Originally posted by BLT

***Meaning that they are not necessarily backwards compatible. Dexron VI is backwards compatible for all GM car products, but maybe not so for the rest of the auto industry.*****

Allison Transmission have to develop their own formula, "Transynd", as Dexron VI was was causing sealing problems to their hiway products. Most of the older tractor hydros were out of production when VI was introduced. I use 10W-30 oil as it is close enough and backwards compatible.


id="quote">
id="quote">

EXACTLY. I just went though both my Vickers and Sundstrand Service books, specific to the models that Simplicity uses: Vickers T66, and Sundstrand 15.

They both actually spec 10w30 MS (and don't forget, that MS rating goes clear back to 1953!). In addition, the Vickers Calls for straight 30w if above 114F.

It might help to consider how hydrostatic drives differ from Automobile transmissions - they have no clutches or bands - so no friction materials.

And they differ from engines in that they never see combustion by-products - hence no sump sludge from contaminants.

The one thing they really, REALLY need, is CLEAN.

The working pressure inside a hydro is 4000 psi or higher - a tiny bit of grit at pressure acts just like a diamond cutting bit OUCH!

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