15-40 by the barrel

[Shadetreemechanic]

Do any of you buy oil by the barrel? With a whole fleet of diesels in the drive it seems like I am always buying oil. If I could save a couple of dollars a gallon I would just buy a drum of it and keep it in the shop.

 

[ah1988ford]

I actually saw a 55gal drum of rotella at my local sams club, I am sure there are other plcaes.

Edit $584 for the barrel it a few dollars cheaper per gal. that way
Bottle $13 gal
Drum $10.6 gal

 

[91idi]

Our co-op sells it in big drums.

 

[stumiister]

Do any of you buy oil by the barrel? With a whole fleet of diesels in the drive it seems like I am always buying oil. If I could save a couple of dollars a gallon I would just buy a drum of it and keep it in the shop.

My boss buys about 200 gals at a time but he also owns a fleet of about 60 Freightliner trucks.
The best way to get it by the drum is to get it from a lubricant supplier, when get our oil it comes from a vendor that sells Chevron Delo oil.

 

[icanfixall]

Saving money is what we all are attempting to do with our rigs. So when we think of ways to save a buck with oil used why not install a bypass filter system. I think RLDSL has an Amsoil bypass system on his rig. Even a simple Frantz toilet paper bypass oil filter installed may make our oil last longer. A few weeks ago while I was driving thru my neighborhood with the wifey. She saw a huge mirror someone had put out as trash. She wanted it so I stopped to load it up feeling a little funny doing said thing. I saw a Frantz bypass filter sitting next to the mirror. Kinda oily looking thing and I did not want to put it in the Accord trunk. So We went on with what we were doing. Got home and went back with the truck but damn... The filter was gone. I can by a new Frantz bypass filter on ebay for $125.00 usually but just don't want to spend that much... Shoulda.. Woulda Coulda is how it goes sometimes. I think a bypass filter idea will end up cheaper in the long run than buying a drum of oil. You sure would not be changing the oil as much so that keeps you out from under the trucks...

 

[CDX825]

We buy oil by the 30 gallon drum at the farm I work at. We buy it from one of the local tractor dealers when they have their spring sale so its way cheaper that way. Shop around and check your local oil distributors and places like tractor dealers.

Id also recommend a bypass filter and oil analysis for anyone wanting to save money and promote longer engine life. Seems we still have allot of people stuck on 3000 mile oil changes and its just a waste. I didn't believe it myself until I did my first oil analysis then I seen the light. The oil in my truck at 3000 miles was still almost new! Even without a bypass filter you can run longer on the oil but it will let you go significantly longer.

 

[Keeway]

we have a tank in our garage that one of the local oil companies comes and fills up for our fleet of trucks

 

[RLDSL]

Yup, ALL over the road semi trucks have been running bypass filters for decades. It is what allows them to go 12-18k miles between changes on dino oil. They would have to drop the oil every trip if they didnt have the bypass filters and they've been running those kind of change intervals on dino since the APA change interval for dino diesel oil without bypass was 1500 miles

if you put a pen to it, you'll save a fortune over time.

On mine, I'm running Amsoil 15w40 diesel and marine with a bypass and it's been in there about 75k miles now, last test was at 70k and it was still just fine The amount I have to top off every 5000 miles is the equivilant of most folks who never have to add any between changes get down to, so in the roughly 5 years that oil has been in there, aside from changing a few filters and adding a bit, I've saved a minor fortune, not to mention the added protection and how much cleaner teh engine stays.

 

[icanfixall]

I think the above really proves my point. Great oil... A bypass oil filter and testing before you change the oil. I have been changing my oil and sending a sample to Blackstone for information on what going on in my engine. I will be changing that. I wil be sending a oil sample and then waiting for the results plus... I wil be installing a bypass Frantz filter.... Toilet paper is cheaper than any kind of bypass filter on the market thats for sure... And keeping a roll or two behind the rear seat can work two ways for me too...

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Is there a good rule of thumb about how long you can go between changes on a bypass filter? I currently do 5K after having oil tested a couple of times.
Very good point, at 20K a year I spend $120 on oil @ $12 per gallon and $100 at $10, but if I can change my interval to 10K my costs drop to $60 at $12.
Must now start to research bypass filters.
Thanks

 

[chris142]

I still buy it by the gallon when I see it on sale. I'm not picky about brands. As far as I'm concerned the currant crop of 15w40's are plenty good for my old truck.

O'Riley had a sale on Delvac a couple years ago. It was $6 a gallon. When they ran out of Delvac they started substituting Delo. I bought about 60 gallons and still have 40 or so left.

 

[idiabuse]

lubricant storage and handling

If ya gotta buy a few hundred gallons a year to maintain equiptment, stop wasting time wrestling with drums and pumps Keep lubricant's dry and contaminate free with this module made to simplify equiptment lubrication and handling time, Mainly to control contamination and cross contaminating lubricant's

 

[idiabuse]

Yup, ALL over the road semi trucks have been running bypass filters for decades. It is what allows them to go 12-18k miles between changes on dino oil. They would have to drop the oil every trip if they didnt have the bypass filters and they've been running those kind of change intervals on dino since the APA change interval for dino diesel oil without bypass was 1500 miles

if you put a pen to it, you'll save a fortune over time.

On mine, I'm running Amsoil 15w40 diesel and marine with a bypass and it's been in there about 75k miles now, last test was at 70k and it was still just fine The amount I have to top off every 5000 miles is the equivilant of most folks who never have to add any between changes get down to, so in the roughly 5 years that oil has been in there, aside from changing a few filters and adding a bit, I've saved a minor fortune, not to mention the added protection and how much cleaner teh engine stays.

poor guy cant retire cause his truck wont quit, even after 1.6 million miles and 100,000 mile drain intervals...

 

[cbarm]

I can say ffrom experience as a highway tractor fleet owner that not ALL OTR trucks have bypass filters, actually few of them do. I change the oil in mine every 20K miles and most of the time it stays pretty clean right up to about 10-12K miles. The trucks that have the bypass filters on em and who are doing regular testing are seeing 200K + miles out of their oil. The important things to watch are soot and TBN. I will be installing these on all my trucks in the near future as the system is about $700 for a big capacity engine, but at $250 per oil change it will pay for itself in under 6 months. For me it doesnt make financial sense to put one on my pickup because I only do about 15K miles a year...

 

[RLDSL]

I can say ffrom experience as a highway tractor fleet owner that not ALL OTR trucks have bypass filters, actually few of them do. I change the oil in mine every 20K miles and most of the time it stays pretty clean right up to about 10-12K miles. The trucks that have the bypass filters on em and who are doing regular testing are seeing 200K + miles out of their oil. The important things to watch are soot and TBN. I will be installing these on all my trucks in the near future as the system is about $700 for a big capacity engine, but at $250 per oil change it will pay for itself in under 6 months. For me it doesnt make financial sense to put one on my pickup because I only do about 15K miles a year...

Most of the trucks went to secondary spin on filters a number of years ago, because it is much more convient and a lot quicker at change time, plus shops dont have to carry spare canister gaskets in case there's a leak, and you dont have to wipe out the dirty canister, etc, etc, etc, so you don't see the big canister lubrifiners as often as you used to, but some trucks are still speced out with the big side canisters, partially for the extra capacity,( it's kind of hard to beat dual lubrifiners on a long nose pete , stretches oil changes even with dino to insane ranges , although they add a lot of weight ) and some are just old fashioned and like the look

And then there are a few new cummins engines ( and maybe more now ) that have a single filter that is modeled after the old Mercedes Diesel filters and it is a 2 stage filter where it has a full flow filter in teh top and a bypass section built right into the bottom section so part of the oil flow is diverted into bypass filtration at all times. Mercedes figured this design out in the late 50's early 60s which is why their diesel engines have had such a reputation for lasting so long.
The single filter bit is done to cut down on stock numbers needed to be kept on hand and cut down on confusion on filter change intervals with inexperienced shop personel.