ILMA Compoundings May 2018 - 31

oil was banned in 1974 and could no longer be included in
any fluid formulation. Fluids blended today contain very
different friction modifiers and base oils compared to the
original formulations.
There are several other reasons a fluid labeled solely as 303
can be misleading for consumers. JDM 303 performance
testing is no longer available. Therefore, any product that
was introduced over the last three decades that makes this
claim simply cannot be validated.
Demands for increased efficiency and maximum uptime,
as well as hardware requirements of tractors, have evolved by
leaps and bounds since 1974. As equipment manufacturers,
such as John Deere, have evolved their hardware to meet
market demands, the demands on fluids have changed as
well. With the introduction of new hardware, such as wet
brakes, John Deere developed new specifications to properly
account for performance demands on the fluid.
JDM 303's replacement, J14, was upgraded to J20A
with new requirements added such as oxidation stability,
wet-brake performance and friction. John Deere's J20A
was upgraded to the current specification, J20C, which was
introduced to include Allison seal and modern hardware
requirements. Simply stated, the JDM 303 specification
does not meet the requirements of today's tractors.
There is a small segment of the market that might argue
that older tractors are still in use and that those tractors
list 303 fluids in OEM manuals as a requirement. The
JDM 303 specification was designed to be used in tractors
produced between 1960 and 1974. Based on Lubrizol's
estimates of equipment in operation, less than 2 percent
of tractors would still require this fluid. Fortunately, fluids
that meet the current JDM J20C (high viscosity for summer)
or JDM J20D (low viscosity for winter use) specifications
are backward-compatible to obsolete specifications, such
as JDM 303, and can service the limited number of older
tractors that are still in use in fields and farms across the
country. Therefore, there should be no demand for 303
fluids in the market today.
So, why are 303 fluids still being sold? These low-quality
fluids are often sold at a fraction of the cost of fluids that
meet the J20C specification, which is attractive to costsensitive consumers. A portion of 303 fluids might even be
used in applications other than tractors, such as forestry,
construction, irrigation and mining equipment. However,
what many consumers don't realize is that there is no valid
technical specification to guide the formulation, hence, fluids are often blended with line flush, or that they are using
down-treated additive packages that have not been validated
for use in these applications.
Fluids that are blended with line flush oil may contain some
residual additives from engine oils, automatic transmission

fluids or gear oils. Some fluids can contain a mix of all of
these additives. This often results in a low viscosity index,
high pour point and extremely high Brookfield viscosities
(i.e., poor low-temperature properties). Fluids that do not
flow well over wide temperature ranges can cause premature
pump and equipment failure. Lubrizol's testing of 303 fluids
has shown an average 25 percent viscosity increase over
100 hours of measuring oxidative stability. In other words,
these fluids have been shown to thicken during extended
use, which can result in many problems, including erratic
or sluggish hydraulic response due to deposit formation and
strain on the hydraulic system.
Hydraulic pumps contain yellow metals; therefore, copper
strip performance and copper corrosion are important
measures to consider as they protect against metal fatigue.
The inferior performance that 303 fluids have exhibited
during testing is an indicator of reduced pump output and,
ultimately, hydraulic system failure.
The use of 303 fluids can also result in severe wear and
ridging of gear parts. Most 303 fluids fail the L-20 hypoid
gear test, which measures the fluid's load-carrying capacity,

ILMA Compoundings May 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings May 2018