Shell Rotella?

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I went shopping at Menards today. I bought another mower battery that is on sale and 10w30 oil. I need to change the oil in my 1950 Farmall C.
I bought the cheapest Valvoline Menard sells. Now I'm wondering why can't I use 10w30 Shell Rotella in an old tractor? It is cheaper.
What would zinc hurt an old Farmall without a cadillac converter. The Farmall rides like a Cadillac.
Can I use Shell Rotella in my Kubota? Currently I use Kubota oil from the Kubota dealer.
 
In the old Famall, there is no issue. In the Kubota there may be. Warranty issues may be involved. Jim
What kind of warranty problems with ROT-T? Probably a billion miles of OTR 1 million mile engines have been running it for decades. I used it for decades. It has the star burst rating for the current C class???
 
I went shopping at Menards today. I bought another mower battery that is on sale and 10w30 oil. I need to change the oil in my 1950 Farmall C.
I bought the cheapest Valvoline Menard sells. Now I'm wondering why can't I use 10w30 Shell Rotella in an old tractor? It is cheaper.
What would zinc hurt an old Farmall without a cadillac converter. The Farmall rides like a Cadillac.
Can I use Shell Rotella in my Kubota? Currently I use Kubota oil from the Kubota dealer.
actually you probably want some zine in the old pup
 
The Rotella will be better for the farmall than the Valvoline.

I use 5W40 T6 Rotella in my Kubota, but t is also small enough to not have any emissions on it.
 
I went shopping at Menards today. I bought another mower battery that is on sale and 10w30 oil. I need to change the oil in my 1950 Farmall C.
I bought the cheapest Valvoline Menard sells. Now I'm wondering why can't I use 10w30 Shell Rotella in an old tractor? It is cheaper.
What would zinc hurt an old Farmall without a cadillac converter. The Farmall rides like a Cadillac.
Can I use Shell Rotella in my Kubota? Currently I use Kubota oil from the Kubota dealer.
I've run Shell Rotella in every diesel/gasoline engine I've ever owned, many different grades, sae30, 10w30, 15w40, 5w40, sae50. I've never had an oil related engine failure in any engine I have owned or own currently. There's no reason not to run Shell Rotella in anything that requires oil. imho
 
I'd be surprised if your 'bota doesn't specify a diesel-rated (CJ/CK) oil. If it doesn't there must be a good reason. I'd stick to the manufacturer's recommendation. The 'C', on the otherhand, was built long before modern oils and pretty much anything you can buy at Wally World today is far better than what was available back then. I tried 15W-40 diesel oil in my old Ford, but found it was a bit too stiff to crank over when it got down to -20F, so I now use 10W-30 whatever. It may have 5W-30 Rotella T6 in it now, but I'm not sure.

Just saying 'Rotella' doesn't mean much, as there are several different versions of Rotella with different specs. A little-known fact is that Rotella T6 carries the JASO MA spec, which means it's perfectly fine to use in motorcycles with wet clutches. Rotella T4 and T5 are NOT JASO MA rated.
 
I have been told by a very seasoned tractor mechanic NOT to use it in any flat tappet engines. Especially the old fords. He has seen it wear out the cam and tappets because Rotella doesn't have good wearing properties for those types of engines. Just passing it on ,if it helps you. Don't know what the farmall engines have.
 
I'd be surprised if your 'bota doesn't specify a diesel-rated (CJ/CK) oil. If it doesn't there must be a good reason. I'd stick to the manufacturer's recommendation. The 'C', on the otherhand, was built long before modern oils and pretty much anything you can buy at Wally World today is far better than what was available back then. I tried 15W-40 diesel oil in my old Ford, but found it was a bit too stiff to crank over when it got down to -20F, so I now use 10W-30 whatever. It may have 5W-30 Rotella T6 in it now, but I'm not sure.

Just saying 'Rotella' doesn't mean much, as there are several different versions of Rotella with different specs. A little-known fact is that Rotella T6 carries the JASO MA spec, which means it's perfectly fine to use in motorcycles with wet clutches. Rotella T4 and T5 are NOT JASO MA rated.
Just about anything with a 10w-30 weight will be fine for the C. Heck my super c has what was left after a couple oil changes of a 0w40 synthetic Caterpillar diesel engine oil in it. Doesn’t ever leak and the 0w is great when it’s super cold there was a winter it was about the only vehicle that started when I first got married it was 30 below for 3 weeks straight and I had to jump both my pickup and my wife’s car with the tractor it spun over just fine and apparently it was time for batteries in the road vehicles.

Reminds me it’s probably time to change the oil been a couple years
 
Again the horse is dead and has been for years on this. any oil made is fine for the old Ih. As for the Kubota only issue would be the warranty if any left now.
 
I'd be surprised if your 'bota doesn't specify a diesel-rated (CJ/CK) oil. If it doesn't there must be a good reason. I'd stick to the manufacturer's recommendation. The 'C', on the otherhand, was built long before modern oils and pretty much anything you can buy at Wally World today is far better than what was available back then. I tried 15W-40 diesel oil in my old Ford, but found it was a bit too stiff to crank over when it got down to -20F, so I now use 10W-30 whatever. It may have 5W-30 Rotella T6 in it now, but I'm not sure.

Just saying 'Rotella' doesn't mean much, as there are several different versions of Rotella with different specs. A little-known fact is that Rotella T6 carries the JASO MA spec,
IMG_3411.jpeg
IMG_3412.jpeg

T4 has been spec. JASO MA for years. I use it in my wet clutch ATVs and it seems to shift better.
 
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I went shopping at Menards today. I bought another mower battery that is on sale and 10w30 oil. I need to change the oil in my 1950 Farmall C.
I bought the cheapest Valvoline Menard sells. Now I'm wondering why can't I use 10w30 Shell Rotella in an old tractor? It is cheaper.
What would zinc hurt an old Farmall without a cadillac converter. The Farmall rides like a Cadillac.
Can I use Shell Rotella in my Kubota? Currently I use Kubota oil from the Kubota dealer.
Geo, this is asked and answered here every other week. You are on here regularly aren't you?
 
Geo, this is asked and answered here every other week. You are on here regularly aren't you?
showcrop
It may be asked her daily, but I only read post of interest to me.
I never considered using oil for diesel engines in my Old Farmall until I noticed was cheaper.
Go figure, add something to an oil , zinc, and charge less. LOL.
I remember SNL making a joke out of Lead free gas and it was more expensive. Take lead out of gas and it costs more. :D
 
What exactly do you gain my using T6 vs T5 or T4? What is the benefit of synthetic? I use T4 for my diesels but am considering T6 for my new Mahindra.
 
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