Farmall Cub

What is better to use Detergent or non? I changed the oil in my 55 today and don't beleive it has been changed for many years.

I went out and to my local farm imp. dealer and they gave me 10w30 and a new oil filter. I hesitated on if I should put it in or not. After seeing the old oil draining, I decided that just about anything would be better than this.

My thoughts was a non-detergent 20 weight.

Keep in mind this engine has never been touched and does not use or leak a drop. Runs so smooth and quiet, that I hate to do something that may cause harm to it.

Any thoughts?

John Niekamp

sounds like you put in 10/30 detergent oil. if the motor has always had non detergent in it, then substantial sludge will have built up in the crankcase and the valve spring area. changing to detergent will cause those deposits to start moving to the filter. you might have to change it again in a short time because of that cleaning action. some have said there's a chance of plugging an oil gallery with the moving sludge deposits. there's certainly no shortage of opinions, pro and con, on this topic.

I agree with artc, change the filter in a little while. I am converting mine to detergent oil, but I am doing it slowly because I have some unused Non detergent oil to use, and since the Cub or the C use almost no oil, it will take a while. Otherwise I would have just gone to a detergent oil straight away. More than likely, all will be fine.

John, before changing to detergent oil, I would pull the pan and clean it and the oil intake screen. They are probably full of sludge. if you decide to stay with non detergent (which would be my recomendation at this point), I would suggest 30 weight rather than 20 . 30 is also what the manual recomends for normal summer use.