allison 4060 oil , filter change

[sledhead]

I have been looking into oils for alliaon trans and I can get some tes 389 trans oil at a good price . a lot less then tes 295 and I have no problem changing it every 2 years as I would rather do that then waiting longer between changes
has any one used this and how good is my idea ?

thanks   dave

[luvrbus]

Lot of operators use the 389 spec in their world transmissions I plan on using it in my B500.I don't mind the 2 year change I don't drive enough miles to justify the 295 spec oil  

[sledhead]

after 16 years and 121,000 miles with dexron 3.  I guess the use of a synthetic blend transmission oil will be a real treat   
  http://lubricants.petro-canada.com/documents/HD_Synthetic_Blend_ATF_OEM-E.pdf

dave

[luvrbus]

Owning Cat engines for years I would worry more about the antifreeze than the transmission fluid 

[sledhead]

ok I will bite

what do I need to know about cat anti freeze

thanks   dave

[luvrbus]

You need to keep the antifreeze up to date on a Cat engine or it will pit the liners,I always purchased the Cat brand it was good for 10 to 12,000 hrs or a 1/2 million miles

[sledhead]

ok    it was replaced in 2014 with this stuff

http://prestone.com/command/products/heavy-duty-extended-life.php

it sure costs a lot of money to run these things down the road for the miles we put on them 

dave

[luvrbus]

ok    it was replaced in 2014 with this stuff

http://prestone.com/command/products/heavy-duty-extended-life.php

it sure costs a lot of money to run these things down the road for the miles we put on them 

dave

That is good antifreeze hard to find in some areas though 

[blue_goose]

Why change from dexron, been good enough so far.  No more than we use our MH not worth the price.  My B-500 came out of a Greyhound and they were running dexton so am I.
Jack

[belfert]

Why change from dexron, been good enough so far.  No more than we use our MH not worth the price.  My B-500 came out of a Greyhound and they were running dexton so am I.
Jack

For Greyhound it is probably a numbers game.  They figure they can save enough money by not using Transynd to pay for a few early B500 replacements.  Any bus Greyhound gets new today will most likely come from the factory with Transynd in it if the bus has an Allison.

I use a TES 295 fluid because I will run into the time limit on transmission fluid long before hitting the mileage limit.

[sledhead]

I can get this stuff for $ 150.00 a 18.9 ltr pail ( 5 us gal. ) = $ 30.00 a gal. so it is more then dexron 3 but a lot less then a new transmission . the changing of the filters is the pain in th as$ , it sure would be easer if they were remote filters .

dave 

[luvrbus]

The World transmissions were in production for several years before Transyd,my 1996 manual calls for Dexron in a B500 .There is VanHool here in the valley with 800,000 miles on the original B500 and has nothing but Dexron used in it  

[sledhead]

I think the change to synthetic oil is because of retarders and more heat caused by more hp engines

no retarder on mine so  I think the heat should be a non issue ( I hope ) I have not logged very many miles on it yet

dave

[belfert]

If you keep up on fluid changes then any fluid should be fine.  I went to TES 295 fluid simply to extend the drain interval.  It is a messy job so I would like to avoid it as long as possible.

[brmax]

Long time ago when Allison changed fluids in newer transmissions, I recall they changed the filter media, so this played a part of their longer maintenance cycle package. 

Floyd