Farmers & Harvesting Contractors

Max Christie – Shepherd Valley Farming, Mossman, Far North Queensland.  Tel: 07 4098 1295

   I've been using PM Lubricants for 15 years, not only in my own machinery, but I also sell them to other farmers and contractors in the Mossman area. At first PM may appear expensive compared to the price of other lubricants. But when consideration is given to the longer life of the oil, the fact that there is very little oil burning, and the maintenance saving it gives you, I would say without hesitation that it is very cost effective in today’s economic climate.

   In the 15 years I’ve been selling it, I’ve never lost a customer because of the price. They just keep coming back for more because it saves them so much time and money. PM Lubricants are high quality oils that do a high quality job. I thoroughly recommend it.

   Greatest benefits we find are the long distances between changes, the way the oils reduce temperatures and wear and costs. PM Truck and Tractor is extremely popular up here because it holds up so well under our extreme heat, and doesn’t burn like other oils.

   PM’s Multi-Gearlife is very popular for the same reason, especially in final drives of cane harvesters and excavators. It drops temperatures quite a lot, which means less wear and longer life, and less oil changes are required. Gearboxes in rotary hoes run a lot cooler and last far longer on PM.

   One customer with a big excavator has already passed two pull down periods on his final drives since using Multi-Gearlife in the machine since almost new, because the drives just don’t wear out like they used to on standard oil. The final drives are very expensive to replace, so it has saved him a lot of money, and time of course, because he hasn’t had to pull it down.

   The same contractor has used PM’s VTL hydraulic fluid in that excavator as well since the machine was almost new. He’s had two other machines the same, so he’s had a good comparison. The life of his hydraulic system using PM is very much enhanced. The hydraulic operating temperatures are much lower, so he’s able to keep working. Previously, in his other machines with standard type hydraulic lubricants, he’d have to stop, because they always had a problem with the oil overheating and losing hydraulic pressure.

   The PM800 fuel system conditioner is also excellent. We put it in our bulk supply tanks. Because of the humidity up here in North Queensland, moisture and fungus in the diesel fuel is always a problem. Using PM800 at the recommended rate of 1:1000, it emulsifies any moisture that gets into the tanks, and eliminates the fungus problem.

   Another unexpected benefit was the considerable power increase we noticed in the machinery. Hard to ascertain in the bigger diesel’s, but in the smaller diesel’s the power increase is quite obvious, because you can get a gear higher performance. We are very happy with it as a fuel additive in both petrol and diesel motors.

   We use a lot of PM700 grease too. On a backhoe boom, using normal grease, they end up squeaking after a couple of hours and you need to regrease them. With the PM700, we don’t have to touch them for a couple of days before there is any evidence that the bushes are dry. It is very good for bearings and universals, and we have solved a lot of wear problems since using it.

Steve Dinsdale – Farmer and Cane Harvesting Contractor, Mackay, Queensland.  Tel: 07 4954 3726

   I’ve been using PM Lubricants for several years now. We started off slowly, trying it in different vehicles and machines one step at a time, getting the results. We slowly tried the different oils, the fuel additive, progressing on to the gear oils, and basically finding that every machine and vehicle we tried it in, we were gaining the results that Keith Kelley said we would, which is pretty impressive really. We use it in all our vehicles, tractors and harvester now.

   Everything Keith Kelley told us, like we’d get more power, things would run quieter, and we’d improve fuel economy, are all true. Since we changed our Hi Ace van to PM oil, plus used the fuel additive as well, we get an extra 70 kilometres per tank.

   We put PM 85W140 Diff/Gearlife in the backends of some 4480 Chamberlain tractors. The backends used to be so noisy you couldn’t hear the radio in the tractor, but after putting PM oil in, the boys were happy because they could hear the radios again. So we knew it was working, and the gear-changes were much smoother.

   I bought a Lubri-Sensor Oil Quality Analyser, which has saved me a lot of time and money. I used to send a lot of oil away for lab analysis, but now we can check it anytime with the Lubri-Sensor, which I find is very important. We only send oil to a lab now if the Lubri-Sensor shows up a problem. We easily get a 1,000 hours out of an oil change on all our equipment, which is good during the cane harvest.

   We do a 1,000 hours cane harvesting a year for the crushing plant, so that means we don’t have to stop the machines to do oil changes. We just check them regularly with the Lubri-Sensor, which we find is very accurate, and change the oil once a year just to give the machines a Christmas present.

   We also use the PM800 fuel conditioner in our diesel fuel. A big difference we’ve found is that the Franz Fuel Filters don’t have anywhere near as much garbage sitting on the top of them as they used to before we used the fuel additive. The PM800 keeps the fuel system and injectors very clean, and it is a must, particularly in all our diesel operated machines.

Glen and Steve Fasamo, Farmers and Contractors, Mossman, Far North Queensland.

   We’ve been using PM Oils now for 5 or 6 years and I’m very happy with their products. It doesn’t cook like other oil I’ve used in the past.

Peter Tibaldi, Farmer and Contractor, Mossman, Far North Queensland.

   We use PM’s gear oils in rotary hoes, harvesting gearboxes and final drives. I have found them to reduce the temperatures a lot in comparison to previous products we’ve used, and I’m very happy with the results. They also last a lot longer than other oils as well. I changed to PM gear oil in a 120 inch rotary hoe which always had a heating and temperature problem in the gear box. Since switching to PM, the temperature has dropped to a very acceptable level. The rotary hoe now performs very well, and I’m happy with all their products.

   I also have a Massey Ferguson tractor with a 180 horsepower, V8 Perkins motor which had problems from new, due, it seems to a design fault, and the engine didn’t last too long before we had to rebuild it. After it was rebuilt, we inquired about PM’s motor oils and decided it was a suitable product. That oil has been in it now for about 4,000 hours, and the tractor is performing very well, so the PM oil appears to have done the job. We don’t have a problem with oil consumption either.