Mobil DTE equivalent? Tractor Supply? (2024)

Heading out to a Tractor Supply this weekend and was
wondering if they have an equivalent to Mobil DTE Medium.

DTE Medium is called for the headstock of my Warner Swasey M1200 (#3).

Thanks in advance.

Chuck

DTE Medium is ISO46 viscosity. Get an ISO 46, rust&oxidation controlled (R&O), non-detergent, circulating oil. If you see something that says "turbine oil", that would probably be a good choice. ("Turbine" is a much-less exotic class/category than you might think.)

The Mobil DTE™ Oil Named Series of lubricants are premium performance circulating lubricants designed for applications including steam and hydro turbine sets and other systems where long lubricant service life is required. Mobil DTE Oil Named Series lubricants are formulated from highly refined base stocks and an additive system which provide an extremely high level of chemical and thermal stability, rapid and complete separation from water and a high resistance to emulsification. They provide excellent protection against rust and corrosion, including resistance to salt water, and good antiwear properties. They have a high viscosity index which ensures minimum variation of film thickness with temperature and minimum power loss during the warm up period. These grades have excellent air release properties which allow entrained air to separate, thus avoiding pump cavitation and erratic operation.

Mobil DTE Oil Named are the lubricants of choice for many users because of their reputation for long life, excellent equipment protection and outstanding versatility in the wide variety of industrial applications. DTE Oil Named lubricants are used widely in steam turbines and hydroturbines with splash, bath and ring-oiling arrangements, and all other continuous circulation methods involving pumps, valves and ancillary equipment. This product series is recommended for continous service in the lubrication of plain and rolling bearings and parallel shaft gearing. They have also been used successfully in rotary air compressor applications and reciprocating natural gas compressors as well as vacuum pumps. Their reputation is based on many decades of successful service and satisfied users.

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technocrat said:

DTE is first and foremost a hydraulic oil.

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You wanna check my two paragraph quote direct from Mobil's own literature on the DTE named series above?
You can use Mobil DTE as a hydraulic oil without issues, but they are first and foremost lubricating oils intended for applications with a lot of churn, like gearboxes, splash oiling systems, and forced/pumped lubrication.

sfriedberg has it.

Base stock oil will be the same for same viscosity in both named and numbered series. Its the additive pack, an possibly a bit of processing, that is different to suit the different jobs.

I guess the problem is fundamentally historical. Back in the day when the DTE designation first came out viscosity was pretty much the only differentiator between oils. Dumping a bunch of tackifiers in to make way oil was about as complicated as it got.

Then they got clever about tuning oils to do different jobs and marketing got lumbered with figuring out how to name the varieties so folk could ask for an appropriate one. It really didn't help that there is a huge crossover range for relatively undemanding duties where, in general, near enough viscosity will do well enough. Folk who needed cutting edge speciality oils don't shop retail or small business distributor.

In principle splitting the numbered and named series designations for different duties made sense but they made a piss poor hash of telling folk. Seem to assume that everyone who needs to know knows what is which. But out in the real world "everybody" (in our world at least) knows which was what around 1950 and doesn't realise things have changed.

Which is why getting the right oil for older kit can be traumatic. Of course modern oils vastly out perform the old stuff so there is a decent band where good enough new stuff is better than dead right old stuff. Which doesn't help.

Shell bit the bullet by dumping Tellus and the other named breeds but made a similar piss poor effort at telling folk what the new equivalent for such duties was. For what I use Castrol seem to have made the best fist of handling the name, property and duty divergences. But it still aint pretty.

Clive

When I need single gallons I just go to Zoro. The 5 gallon buckets can usually be sourced locally at industrial lubricant suppliers. Trying to find something that can be used at Tractor Supply is way more work than it is worth. Dave

EDIT I see one gallon containers are very hard to find right now so everything is work in the current supply chain world.

Guys,

Learning a lot here. Thanks for all the responses.

So, my Warner Swasey #3 has a clutch and
brake, that would point to a hydraulic oil.

I can't be certain that DTE Medium is correct at this point.

Original Warner Swasey description:

W&S H-10 is oxidation and corosion inhibited turbine quality hydraulic oil with 180 - 220 S.U.S. viscosity @100 degrees.

Chuck

beckerkumm said:

The 5 gallon buckets can usually be sourced locally at industrial lubricant suppliers. Trying to find something that can be used at Tractor Supply is way more work than it is worth.

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The closest thing to an Industrial Lubricant Supplier in my town is CAL Ranch, pretty much the same as a Tractor Supply.

The selection of hydraulic oils in Texas was mainly R&O types, but out in BFE its all AW oils, not sure if its a regional thing or what. Currently running AW68 in both my lathes, between dry climate and the fact my shop changes temps as fast as 90 weight gear oil runs at -20F, I think it will be ok.

Chuck Evans said:

hydraulic oil with 180 - 220 S.U.S. viscosity @100 degrees.

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That viscosity is equivalent to ISO 46. So get yourself DTE 25 (hydraulic) or DTE Medium (gearbox) or a good quality competitor's oil and be done with it.