Back in the day farmers bot oil from their bulk distributors that delivered gas and diesel to the farm. I remember Standard, Mobil, and Coop and there may have been others. Coop's used to do big business but not so much anymore. A lot of farmers used Coop oil and today it would be considered off brand like TSC and Orscheln by a bunch of guys here. I knew the Mobil dealer and he stocked a lot of drums of oil in his warehouse. I remember the Standard dealer had lost a finger. He was standing on the side of a wheat truck holding on to the top. Jumped down and his wedding ring caught on the top edge of the bed. His weight and momentum left his ring finger stuck to the top edge.
Had been studying breakin oils. Saw where you can buy a 5 gallon bucket of Lucas breakin oil for 94 bux on Amazing. The deal is that engines with flat tappets need a high amount of zinc phosphate additive (around 1600 ppm) for breakin oil so you don't wear the cam lobes flat and also without all the other slick additives to get the rings to wear into and seat in the cylinders so they don't glaze over (not a problem with aluminum engines). Read a few studies, some with Richard Childress racing and Joe Gibbs racing, where they say you still need at least 1200 ppm of zinc phosphate for the life of the engine to avoid wear on the cam, etc. Gibbs says zinc phosphate works best for long running engines.
They came out with Molybdenum disulfide years ago as a lube additive for engines but it didn't stay in suspension with the oil as it came out in the filter. Then they came up with Molybdenum carbamate which does stay in suspension. Gibbs says this stuff works better for stop and start engines.
Today's modern car engine oils don't have the zinc phosphate additive because it cooks the catalytic converters and it isn't needed with hydraulic lifters. The moly carbamate has all the slickems to get better mileage and lower wear.
Regarding Rotella T4. Here is something I found in a response from shell regarding zinc, phosphorus, and the API car oil standard SN:
Thank You for reaching out the Shell Technical team. You are right that the Rotella T4 Triple Protection 10W-30 does not carry the API SN anymore. Previously heavy duty engine oil manufacturers can claim that they meet the API SN provided that their product meets the CJ-4, however that is not the case with the API anymore. The push rod engine is a very special case as it requires a high zinc and high phosphorus type of lubricant for added wear protection to prevent premature wear on your flat tappet cams. For API SN however, one of it's requirements is a low phosphorus motor oil because newer engines have catalytic converters and high phosphorus may shorten the life of catalytic converters. Since push rod engines are relatively old, they don't have catalytic converters that newer gasoline engines have. In conclusion, the Rotella T4 Triple Protection 10W-30 doesn't have API SN because of the low phosphorus requirement of the API SN standard, but since the requirement of Push Rod Engines is a high phosphorus motor oil, you can use the Rotella T4 Triple Protection 10W-30 on your 4.9L push rod gasoline engine provided that it does not have a catalytic converter.
Bottom line that I read from my research is that after breakin of a tractor engine you want at least 1200 ppm of zinc and phosphorus along with some moly carbamate in the oil. Not all Rotellas are the same and not all modern oils are the same. Specifically the oils rated for automobiles have additives adjusted for catalytic converters. Diesel oils don't have to worry about catalytic converters so they would be good for old flat tappet tractor engines with the caveat that you check the content to make sure they have enough zinc and phosphorus in them as diesel oils are being continually changed to meet EPA and new engine and turbocharger standards. I think synthetic is a better base oil but it still needs the proper additives to run in an old tractor.
My 2 cents worth, fwiw. Now to go research the data sheets on diesel oil.
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