AMSOIL formulates a hydraulic oil for just about any operating condition.
Mike Caruso of AMSOIL
Although easy to miss, hydraulic systems are everywhere; without them life would become very difficult. Hydraulic systems may be as simple the floor jack in your garage or as complex as a crane. From machines and earth movers helping Sioux Falls to expand as a city to high dollar or vintage farm equipment out on the range. Systems can be mobile, travel many miles to worksites, or others which spend their entire service life in one spot on a factory floor. Regardless of the type of system, they all operate in a similar fashion using the same types of parts. The hydraulic oil plays an important role in the health of each of these components and the overall smoothness and efficiency of the system.
Reservoir – The reservoir is simply the tank that holds the oil. On its way through the system the oil will spend a short period of time here. In that time, the oil has a quick opportunity to release air that’s gotten into the system so it doesn’t contribute to sluggish operation. All AMSOIL hydraulic oils have excellent air-release characteristics, maximizing this important benefit of the reservoir. Another important function is to allow water to separate from the oil, allowing it to be drained. This is obviously most important for systems with larger reservoirs where draining can be accomplished easily.
Pump – The oil can’t be too thick when the machine starts in cold conditions. If it is, there’s a chance the pump will be damaged. On the flip side the oil can’t get too thin when the machine hits its highest operating temperature or excessive wear and poor performance can be expected. To ensure the viscosity remains within the system’s limits you can do one of two things. First, you could change to lighter or heavier oil depending on the conditions or, second, you could use a multi-viscosity oil to cover all the bases. The easiest way to identify oils that resist thinning and thickening is the viscosity index (VI). Oils with high viscosity indices resist viscosity changes with temperature far better than those with low VI. This fact can often save customers the expense and hassle of changing from lighter to heavier oil to meet the conditions. Most oil companies provide the VI number on their product data sheets.
Hoses and seals – Hydraulic oil must not chemically damage seal or hose material and should condition these materials to extend their service life.
Valves – Hydraulic valves are very close-tolerance items and even the smallest amount of varnish or dirt can cause them to bring a key piece of equipment to a halt. Keeping dirt out is simply a matter of good maintenance practices, but preventing varnish is pretty much up to the oil. Varnish occurs when oil breaks down under high-heat conditions. Just being synthetic helps AMSOIL hydraulic oils resist this breakdown, but we go beyond that with our HV Series Hydraulic Oil. These products are high-VI, multi-viscosity oils built with the ability to combat varnish formation. The product data page includes a graphic example of some high-temperature testing we’ve done against conventional oil.
Actuator – The actuator is the component that does the work. Everything else in the system is there to power and control it. As stated before, the common actuators are cylinders or hydraulic motors. How well they do their work often depends on the proper viscosity of the oil, so the same benefits that a mulit-viscosity provides for pumps are true for actuators. Now that I’ve covered the very basics of common components we’ll spend a little time on two of the most popular hydraulic oils we offer.
AMSOIL Synthetic Tractor Hydraulic/ Transmission Oil (ATH) serves two functions simultaneously. It’s designed to provide correct frictional characteristics for transmissions and wet brakes while performing as a premium synthetic hydraulic oil. It is used in many types of popular mobile machinery and provides excellent all-weather capability. That means the equipment that operates smoothly moving gravel around the farm in the summer will perform just as well removing snow in the winter without changing the hydraulic oil. This, coupled with premium wear protection, adds up to savings for the customer.
AMSOIL Synthetic Multi-Viscosity Hydraulic Oil has a solid track record of success. It exhibits high performance near the Arctic Circle as well as the hottest parts of the Deep South. Our Dealers have found a home for it in oil rigs, on ships, in mobile equipment and in large industrial applications throughout the U.S. and Canada. Not only does it provide all the benefits of multi viscosity oil, its unique ability to fight varnish formation has made customers happy by protecting high-value, critical systems.
As always, if you ever need technical recommendations, contact our Tech Services Department at 715-399-TECH or tech@amsoil.com. Or just call the OMAHA AMSOIL store at 402-933-3902
Upgrade your conventional oil to AMSOIL to see and feel the difference! More work using less energy at all temperature extremes. Measurable wear and reduction in deposits as well as a reduction in downtime will save you money.
Call 800-579-0580 for wholesale pricing or to order via phone.
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5-Gallon Pail
Drums in 30, and 275 gallon.
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