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>
Richard wrote,
>The use
>of anything other than _mineral_ hydraulic oil will lead to seal failure
>within 24 hrs. Keep ATF and Dextron well away from it...........
>..........Officially OM13. This is a MoD qualified ISO15 hydraulic oil
>(i.e. The same
>as domestic stuff but with gobs of inspection and batch test paperwork with
>an appropriate price tag)...........
>
>Fuch's Lubricants, Silkolene 779 is a direct equivalent in price also but
>commonly available, as used in every excavator, back-hoe, grab-truck etc.,
>ISO 32 will be quite alright, Shell Tellus R 10, Shell Clavus 15, Fina
>Cirkan 15 or their current replacements are all virtual equivalents........
Yes,Yes.......these fluids are said to be replacements..........
ONLY ONE PROBLEM...........
YOU CANNOT BUY THEM IN THE US.............
Ed Berkery (Saladin/Abbott owner from PA.) and I have for over a year
tried, and tried, and tried to obtain these fluids in the US.
The mineral oil known as OM-13 has a small percentage of Steric Acid
added to it. This is necessary for anti-foaming or flowability (depending
on which company reps we are talking to). Ed has spent over $200.00 just
in phone calls trying to obtain these oils.
YES, YES.......We know......try Royal Lubricants.......they have it
(everyone says). Well, no they don't, or they can't provide it here.
OK you say. Shell should be able to get you Tellus or Clavus. After
all, their UK company sells it in the UK. Simple right?
Yeah, only you don't know about "Catch 22".......Remember the move
line? You have to be crazy to get out of the Army, only..... if you want
to get out of the Army you're not crazy............
So.......We contact Shell UK and say "We want to buy
Clavus/Tellus". Ok they say, where do you want to pick it up? "Got anyone
near Pennsylvania, in the US?" Oh no, they say, we can't sell to
customers in the US. We have an agreement with Shell US not to sell in
their areas. You must buy from Shell US.
OK........We call Shell US and say we want to buy Tellus/Clavus. They say,
we don't have this fluid here in the US nor do we have anything that is
equivalent. But, we say, Shell UK has barrels of it.
Sorry, says Shell US, we can't sell you any UK products because we have
an agreement with Shell UK not to sell their products in our areas !! You
will have to get it from Shell UK !!!
Now, with our minds reeling from this, we again contact Shell UK and
tell them Shell US won't/can't sell us Tellus/Clavus. Shell UK is very
sorry but..........They cannot, no matter how much they would like to, sell
to anyone in the US. We have a brainstorm, and say, ... just ship a drum
or two to Shell US and then we can buy it from them. They say, we have to
arrange this with Shell US........
OK..........Back to Shell US we go and ask them if we can have a drum
shipped to them and then buy it from them in the US. Oh no, Shell US
says, we are not allowed by our agreement with Shell UK to market/sell UK
fluids in the US........Catch 22.........
Arrrgh !!!!!!!!! Now with little hair left on our heads from pulling
it out in exasperation.......a plan is devised.......Keep calling Shell
US/UK and talking to different people until we find someone who doesn't
know they can't sell to us or they get so sick of talking to us that they
sell us some just to shut us up.
Well, it worked........sort of. Yes, if we would just leave them
alone they would agree to sell some. Just one problem.......we have to
order a minimum of four drums that are equivalent to a 55 gallon US drum.
Cost at about $1,000.00 per drum........plus shipping to the US. So
that's were it sits right now. All we have to do is get about $5,000.00
together and we can get the thirty gallons or so that we really
need......with a lifetime supply left over.
What's that? It's a NATO spec oil and wouldn't/couldn't it be found
at a DRMO? Well, in a perfect world this would be so, after all, it has
the NATO designation of 0.134 and should be found in the DRMS
computer. Been there, tried that. I have a very good rapport with my
local DRMO and had the HazMat guy there check all the inventories for any
sign of this fluid. He even went so far as to email all the DRMO sites
with a request for it. No luck, the US military does not use/have any of
this fluid.
We're going to check out that fork oil that Alan Wise posted about
and see if that will do the job. Might be expensive but we won't have to
buy a hundred or so extra gallons!
Humm.......maybe if I could fit a couple of Jerry cans into my
luggage and take them to Beltring.......I wonder how that would show up in
the x-ray machine when I come home?
Jim Gilmore MVPA # 5843
Member Ist Michigan AOD Chapter MVPA
Great Lakes Chapter MVPA
Ohio Motor Pool Chapter MVPA
Red Ball Chapter MVPA
Ontario Military Vehicle Association
Midwest Military Vehicle Assocation
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