G'day Tyler,
Agreed, that it's not easy to find SAE30 at a discount - Autobarn sometimes has weekend 'storewide x% off' sales, and I picked up a 5L of the Penrite SAE30 for somewhere in the $20s there, a while back. Lasts me a long time, as I only have two 4-stroke mowers.
They haven't had it for a while, but Autobarn also used to have specials on Valvoline 20W-50 mineral @ $12/5L or less.
My Big Bob is currently waiting on reassembly, after a partial teardown to install some chassis bits from a donor machine. Like you, that machine is my go-to for heavy growth - the 4hp Briggs chugs on through it. Fitting the extra pair of blades seemed to help with that, too.
