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Mobil Vactra #2 Shortage??

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Titanium
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
Location
Greendale,WI
We called our local distributor yesterday to order some Vactra #2.

They said they are out and Mobil has not made any for months.

This is very confusing as this is a pretty standard way lube. Has anybody heard similar stories?

We checked and a distributor in Rockford has some, sounds like they mix it themselves. We are going to check our other distributor here in Milwaukee.
 
We called our local distributor yesterday to order some Vactra #2.

They said they are out and Mobil has not made any for months.

Sounds like a very good way to shut down manufacturing nation wide.........Great!
 
You could do like the Amish over the hill from me. Waste motor oil. Nothing wrong with that is there? Dumber than a sack of hammers.

Ed.
 
About a year ago, we needed some high end hydraulic oil for a pressure tester that we made. Not a lot, just a gallon or two.

Couldn't find any locally, so we called the manufacturer of the pump and they told us John Deere tractor oil would suffice.

Who knew?

I guess I'll need to start looking for an equivalent oil for our shop's needs.
 
We called our local distributor yesterday to order some Vactra #2.

They said they are out and Mobil has not made any for months.

This is very confusing as this is a pretty standard way lube. Has anybody heard similar stories?

We checked and a distributor in Rockford has some, sounds like they mix it themselves. We are going to check our other distributor here in Milwaukee.

Web search shows it available from many sources. Zoro shows in stock-1 day shipping.
 
McMaster-Carr shows it as "temporarily unavailable", i.e. backorder not available, so I think your distributor is right.

You can still get it from other sources, but prices are higher than usual.
 
About a month ago I was trying to buy it local and it was higher than hell, about then MSC gad it on sale with free shipping, I prefer to buy local and not to buy from them but it was under 1/4 the price, I bought 6, you might check them
 
Seems like it maybe has to do with delayed shutdowns from 2020, maybe...I did find plenty available on line though.

There wasn't much info on a shortage though, I really only found one site that had some info. They also mentioned weather as a possible cause.

Other than that site, it's not happening according to the Google.
 
A few years ago i went into local jobber to get a 5 gal pail of ISO 68 way oil for the planer.
She said "what kind do you want?" Naturally i said "what do you have"
She quoted Vactra. 9x.xx/5 gal. so i said, ok what is the other option.

Brad Penn, made locally, for 1/2 the price ($4x.xx/5 gal).
That was an easy decision.

Just looked to see what happened to it, apparently the "Brad Penn" name is sold to a racing oil marketer.

But the (now ARG?) factory still produces way oil. #1, 2, & 3.

No idea current pricing or specs. Maybe worth a call.

ARGuard™ waylube - American Refining Group

smt
 
Cash, Inside the Springfield Grinder operators manual on the Grinder you ground for my friend Nick it tells you to mix STP with Hydraulic oil for way oil. You have friends at Bourn and Koch, give them a call and have them look it up. They may have an extra 55 gallon barrel of Vactra 2 in their warehouse too. (I don't have a copy in my back pocket. LOL Nick has 2 copies... Also MN Grinding stopped using Mobil products years ago and use a Synthetic way oil . You could call them and ask them too. I don't remember the brand, but it is as clear as water and on the barrel it says "way oil"
 
My usual helpful cross-referencer seems to have it.

Also Chevron, Sunoco, Phillips 66 alternatives.

Every one of which is lower-cost than Mobil.

Search results

I tried another brand once and got burned, bad. I know Mobil is a bit more $$, but better than tearing apart a machine. Another large machine shop in Rockford has the same feelings about different oils, I asked them if they would switch and they said no way.
 
I tried another brand once and got burned, bad. I know Mobil is a bit more $$, but better than tearing apart a machine. Another large machine shop in Rockford has the same feelings about different oils, I asked them if they would switch and they said no way.


What oils did you use, and what happened to the machines? I'd rather not repeat anything bad that happened to you.
 








 
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