Tractor Supply Co. Is Sneakily A Great Place For Car Enthusiasts

Home » Tractor Supply Co. Is Sneakily A Great Place For Car Enthusiasts

ByMatt Hardigree
April 25, 2024
3:41 pm
156 Comments

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If you live in a city or a reasonably-sized suburb, you’re probably sleeping on Tractor Supply Company. The retailer may be known for its gardening supplies, equine feed, and other more agricultural items, but the stores also feature a well-stocked automotive section with some hard-to-beat prices. A place where you can get Purina Goat Chow feed and cheap motor oil? Where do I sign?

This came up this week because my daughter has decided that, given her allergies to anything with fur, she wants a tortoise. Specifically, she wants a Russian tortoise. It’s a fairly cute animal that likes a drier environment of the kind I think we can provide, but it also requires a huge amount of space (approximately 6-8 square feet to walk around). My idea, informed by various forum posts, was to get a metal or Rubbermaid stock tank, fill it with a layer of sand and peat moss topped by animal-friendly mulch, and make that my tortoise enclosure.

If you’re not aware, a stock tank is a big tank used primarily to provide water for livestock, though they have a nice secondary use as a home for baby chicks or turtles:

Because I live within a short jog from the border of New York City, there are no Tractor Supply Co.’s nearby, which meant that I needed to schlep about an hour upstate. I mentioned to David I was going to be taking a couple of hours to complete this task and he pointed out that Tractor Supply had cheap oil and other affordable automotive stuff.

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It’s been a while since I’ve gone into one of the company’s stores, so I figured I’d check out the automotive section in between trying to figure out what kind of stock tanks might fit into my apartment/my Subaru.

Tractor Supply knows its customers, so it is definitely a little more truck-centric than your average auto supply store. Do you need a trailer coupler? You’ll definitely be able to find whatever you need here for towing, including an assortment of actual trailers. Do you have an ATV or a riding lawnmower you want to put in the bed of your Ram? You’ll also be well served here.

Tractor Supply Co’s in-house brand for automotive stuff is Traveller and there are some fairly decent-looking winches:

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Those are specifically for ATV/UTV applications, but there are also ones for trucks, as well as other off-road support gear like tow/recovery straps and LED light bars:

And, of course, if you’re a big truck owner you might have a diesel, in which case you probably need a lot of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF):

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That’s a really good price. Two-and-a-half gallons of NAPA-branded DEF is $16.99 online! This is nearly half the price. In my experience, most DEF in stores is between $11-13 if you’re a shopper who pays attention, so this is a great price. There are a bunch of other truck accessories like toolboxes and tie-downs.

But what if you don’t have a truck? Most of us will need a battery for our car at some point:

The prices were decent and the warranties seemed on par with everyone else. I didn’t notice every single size available in the story, so if you have a specific vehicle they may not have exactly what you need, but what was there seemed to cover the most popular sizes.

The Really Good Stuff

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Awww yeah. With my E39 over 236,000 miles when I checked this morning, I need to top him off with a little oil from time to time. And by “from time to time” I mean every other time I get a full tank of fuel. Clive takes premium so I’m already spending a decent amount of money keeping him going, so I’m always looking for ways to save money.

Tractor Supply has, in stock, exactly the oil I use in my BMW (Mobile 1 High Mileage 5W-30) in both 1- and 5-quart sizes. The single quart (what I usually get for ease of keeping track how much I’m putting in) was only $8.99, which is a couple of bucks cheaper than what I usually see at AutoZone or other parts starts. That’s real money.

If you’re more adventurous, there’s also Traveller-brand motor oil and the venerable Bob Is The Oil Guy forum seems to think the stuff is fine for your average store-brand oil. If they’re cool with it then I’m cool with it.

At the end of the day, I was able to grab some cheap oil, a giant livestock tank, some play sand, some peat moss, and a few random containers all for a low cost. The stock tank even fit in the back of the Subaru Forester.

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Of course, after all of that work, it turns out my wife extremely dislikes the setup (seen here in progress). So back to TSC I’ll go this weekend to return the tank and get the metal one she said would work better.

More cheap oil!

Cheap Motor Oil, Featured, Tractor Supply, Tractor Supply Company

Matt Hardigree

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Gary Lynch

1 day ago

Probably 99% of their inventory is made in China.

Definitely a great place when needing nuts, bolts and the like for a household project.

Scott Ross

1 day ago

They’re solid little stores but I think of them as more secret pet supply stores. I get my cat litter and food from them. Plus they do dog grooming

Bassracerx

1 day ago

Reply to Scott Ross

I got my XXL dog crate from Tractor supply. under $100

Tom T

1 day ago

Princess Auto in Canada is a similar place. Stuff for livestock, tools, trailer axles, trailer wheels, trailer everything, electric livestock fencing, welders, jacks, specialty auto tools (pullers, separators, etc), transfer pumps, fuel pumps. never ending.

Myk El

1 day ago

We got a TSC near me, which seems a little late as I’m at the border between the suburbs and horse/ranchland. It’s now my go-to for dog food. Plus they carry blue raspberry vine candy.

MiniDave

1 day ago

Wall Mart often has the 5 quart containers of Mobil One for about $25……$5 a quart. I’ve even seen and bought it as low as $22/5 quart there…..just FYI

Twobox Designgineer

1 day ago

Reply to MiniDave

I just checked — BJ’s has several varieties of Mobil 1 5W-30. The variety that Matt uses, High Mileage, is just a bit higher than that, at 6 qt./$32 in 1-qt containers

George Wilson

1 day ago

You don’t have to go upstate… there’s one out here in Suffolk County on Long Island on Rt 112. I went there once when they first opened a few years ago… I think I should go back. I don’t remember this much automotive stuff but it could be because they were just getting that location rolling.

Taargus Taargus

1 day ago

Reply to George Wilson

God I’ve got to imagine it’s easier for him to drive up to Putnam Co. than it is to drive out to…oh God, Medford? It’ll take him forever to get out there, even on a weekend. Not to mention the cost of the Throgs Neck.

George Wilson

1 day ago

Reply to Taargus Taargus

Medford indeed… I didn’t realize he was on the other side of the bridge already. Haha whenever someone says they’re a stone’s throw from the city I assume Brooklyn or Queens.

Taargus Taargus

1 day ago

Tractor Supply Co. Is Sneakily A Great Place For Car Enthusiasts - The Autopian (2024)

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