Farmall Cub

What oil filter and what's the best oil to run in my '47 and '48 cubs?

Whatever oil you use in your other vehicles will serve you well in your cubs.
For filters:
AC P-321,
Fram C-235
NAPA 1153,
Wix 51153
Purolator L2008 or L2009
Fleetguard LF-672

Do a search for oil. You'll find enough to keep you busy reading for a week or two or three.

Bigdog wrote:Whatever oil you use in your other vehicles will serve you well in your cubs.
For filters:
AC P-321,
Fram C-235
NAPA 1153,
Wix 51153
Purolator L2008 or L2009
Fleetguard LF-672

Nicely done BD Informative yet discreetly side stepping the oil controversy

I recommend new oil and a new filter, that it. This may sound a bit odd however, so many cubs get run forever without an oil change. The fact that you're changing it is a good thing. If you know what has been run in it in the past, continue to do so. If not, do what you believe is best. This topic has been beat to death numerous times. Again, that fact that the oil is actually being changed is the best thing you can do for your tractor. And if you're changing the oil, ALWAYS change the filter!

As an OE manufacture's rep in the truck part business for many years, I've seen a lot of filter testing and price should be the last thing to look at. If you are dedicated to tracking how many engine hours you run between oil changes and you just play around a bit with the tractor, the filter will not be that critical. However, if you work your tractor and tend to go a bit long between oil changes, the quality of the filter can have a huge effect of the amount of engine wear you have. Not that the quality of you oil does not come into play here, but some of these filters have half the amount of filter media that the oil runs though verses others which again can have a major affect on engine wear. From what I've seen in testing, I've decided to run Baldwin filters on all my equipment, including my cubs. The Baldwin filter for a cub is PT135

Don't forget caseIH filters.....

Al

If you can find out what the previews owner used in it that is frequently the best until you eventually need to rebuild, and after that it is whatever you prefer. If it had had detergent type oil in it, you can pretty much go with what you want, but if one has always run non detergent oil, I personally am hesitant to go with the detergent type until the engine is torn down and cleaned out good.

John *.?-!.* cub owner wrote:If you can find out what the previews owner used in it that is frequently the best until you eventually need to rebuild, and after that it is whatever you prefer. If it had had detergent type oil in it, you can pretty much go with what you want, but if one has always run non detergent oil, I personally am hesitant to go with the detergent type until the engine is torn down and cleaned out good.

I'm curious as to why you say you're hesitant to switch up with the non-detergent to detergent oil? Does it have something to do with seals, bearing or just sludge? I know you said "I personally" and I don't know enough to even have my own opinion on it. Just curious is all. Thnaks!

Steve H wrote:

John *.?-!.* cub owner wrote:If you can find out what the previews owner used in it that is frequently the best until you eventually need to rebuild, and after that it is whatever you prefer. If it had had detergent type oil in it, you can pretty much go with what you want, but if one has always run non detergent oil, I personally am hesitant to go with the detergent type until the engine is torn down and cleaned out good.

I'm curious as to why you say you're hesitant to switch up with the non-detergent to detergent oil? Does it have something to do with seals, bearing or just sludge? I know you said "I personally" and I don't know enough to even have my own opinion on it. Just curious is all. Thnaks!

Yes using detergent in a previously NON-detergent engine can cause leaks to worsen, sludge to fall into crankcase and cause oil starvation (block up oil pick-up or filter ) etc... So its better to use what has been used or check and see if any sludge has built up before running detergent oils... And this isn't even getting into the zinc content of the different oils (I'll let people above my pay grade tackle that one)

Thank you for explaining!

Not all filters come with new gasket. Be sure to check

Interesting point about changing from non detergent to detergent oil.

I have no ability to rate a particular brand of oil or filter, but what I can tell you is that I've had much better luck with the thick fiber IH gasket than the rubber ones that I've gotten with some aftermarket filters. Since I don" t often work my Cub hard, I'm worried that it doesn't get hot enough long enough to cook off all of the condensation that builds up in the crankcase, so I change my oil pretty often.

Ed

A cub uses a bypass filter as opposed to a full flow filter, which means that only part of the oil goes through it, so I doubt that the maker or even quality makes a great amount of difference.