ASTM International’s petroleum products, liquid fuels and lubricants committee recently proposed a new standard that would set minimum performance requirements for tractor hydraulic fluids (THF). The new specification aims to provide a verifiable level of protection for farm tractors and other equipment that use THF.
The proposed standard (WK68882), which was driven by state regulators and the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA), could prove useful to producers, regulatory bodies, original equipment manufacturers, farmers and others.
“Currently, a number of companies market low-quality THF, often claiming to meet an obsolete specification, that can cause serious harm to equipment,” said Lauren Huffman, technical services and development manager for lubricants and specialty fluids at the Dow Chemical Co.
According to Huffman, this “obsolete” specification was created for tractors manufactured between 1960 and 1974, but only 2 percent of tractors in use today are from that period.
“In order to remove poor-quality fluids from the marketplace and to ensure that customers purchase fluids that really work, a minimum performance specification is necessary,” Huffman added.
ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. For this proposed standard, the committee is requesting more participation from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), THF manufacturers and suppliers of additive packages.
For more information, visit www.astm.org.