Chamberlain backhoe hydro oil

Hi All,
I have a Chamberlain Champion F750 Industrial Mk 111 with front end loader and backhoe. I can't seem to find any reference to the correct hydraulic fluid. Anyone know what grade fluid I should use?
cheers

Chamberlains oil recommendation for hydraulic systems on their equipment from the late 1960's onwards, was as follows ..

"Motor oils meeting ASTM G IV MS requirements.
NOTE: Many HD oils meet MS requirements, and standardisation of engine and hydraulic systems is recommended".

"20

Thanks onetrack for such a thorough response! really appreciate the advice as I'm quite the novice and don't want to ruin my machine. It's obviously really old and won't work forever but I've got a fair bit of work to do on the property.
thanks again.
cheers

Gill - No problem, pleased to help you with what can be a perplexing problem. Most regular hydraulic oils are pretty good nowadays, but it's interesting to read the Vickers advice on page 19 of the above document, relating to multi-grade oils and viscosity.

The oil viscosity is probably the most important factor, as the viscosity affects flow rates and lubricity. Too thick an oil when cold will create pump cavitation .. and too thin an oil when hot, reduces the oil film to dangerous levels, where metal-to-metal contact happens, and damage results.

Vickers note that multigrade oils can be used, but these multigrade oils need to have high oil-shear stability. Multigrade oils contain "viscosity index improvers", up to 30% of their oil volume.
VII's are not lubricants in themselves, but are long-chain polymer chemicals, that have the curious ability to thicken when hot, and thin out when cold.
As a result, VII's play a vital part in ensuring oil viscosity stays relatively even over a wide range of operating temperatures.

Many people reckon that VII's are bad news, as they reduce the amount of oil in the system. However, if an additive is making the amount of oil in the mix, perform better .. then I don't see a major problem.

However, it appears that a number of oils use VII's that break down under extreme pressure and temperature conditions that happen in pumps working hard.
As a result, the oil film loses its effectiveness, and damage is the result.
Accordingly, Vickers advise to choose carefully when using multigrade oils, and when severe operating conditions are encountered.

Cheers - Ron.

That's great advice. Perfect. I now know which oil to buy rather than my usual practice of "jeez, I hope this is right..."
thanks heaps.

A lot of machine owners do not seem to be aware that the major oil companies have oil recommendations listed and are obtainable on the internet. They do cover a lot of the older machines, trucks as well, that have been manufactured over the years and I use them all the time. Hopefully it might help some of you here.

The Chamberlain F750 is listed in both of these examples.

Just scroll down and click the relevant boxes.

www.datateck.com.au/lube/valv_auMS/default.asp

www.datateck.com.au/lube/mobil_au/default.asp

RnR.

Back when I worked for a quid, the boss and I built a 20 ton electric arc furnace.
Bought the tricky bits from Italy and manufactured the rest in house.
Due to the obvious molten steel plus hydraulic oil safety concerns, the hydraulic system ran on water with additives to keep the gear pumps happy plus some anti foam agents.
This was a very large system, the hydraulic tank was 4mx3mx2m high, so a lot of fluid.
Of course molten steel plus water would have been just as catastrophic but I wonder why water plus additives isn't used in more conventional applications.

jeffo - The reason why water isn't used more in hydraulics is because the water separates from the additives when left stationary for lengthy periods.
As a result, rust commences to form, because the additives are inadequate to totally coat all surfaces and offer near-total protection from rust, as oil does.

This is common to find in machine tools that have used water-based cutting (and lubricating) fluids.
I have a W&B valve refacer that was left with the rocker arm grinding attachments sitting in the coolant for a lengthy period (prior to my purchasing the refacer), and those rocker arm grinding attachments have been totally destroyed by corrosion.

In fact, even components using oil for lubricant will suffer corrosion if left standing for long periods, as the oil flim slowly drains off.

I have never forgotten a story told me by a leading Wigmores Cat Field Serviceman in the 1960's. A farmer had a Cat D4 that he used sporadically for ploughing only.
This D4 sat in a shed the rest of time, and didn't move. Sometimes the Cat sat for 2 or 3 years without moving.

One time, the old farmer pulled the D4 out and hooked up the plough and went ploughing. He got halfway through the paddock, and the D4 stopped dead and the engine just revved out.
The drivetrain had ceased transferring power to the tracks somewhere. He called Wigmores in to fix it.

Alan was sent out to find the problem. He pulled to covers off the bevel gear compartment and was amazed to see that several teeth were missing from the bevel gear!
What was more amazing was that these teeth were nearly corroded right through!
Examination showed a clear line of corrosion, where the bevel gear had been out of the oil! The teeth above the oil level were badly rusted, and the ones sitting in the oil were near perfect!

Some water had apparently entered the bevel gear compartment oil at some stage .. and the sitting around had led to the condensation of this water on the exposed teeth, with resultant severe corrosion, that ended in rapid failure under load!

An extreme case, to be sure, but one that has the potential to happen to any drivetrain compartment gear, that is left un-moved for an extended period, and which compartment might also contain the right amount of water and other corrosive elements, along with the right amount of temperature variations.