More on the Massey for those looking at the 1700 series,,
I now have 23 hours on the tractor, at 20 hours the soot level bar graph went to 2. If every 10 hours I gain a bar then regen will take place around 50-60 or 5-6 bars.
I drove the machine 20 miles today for wood. 10 miles each way and It was a good way to get some time in it. We are muddy and soft with temps around 50 after a low of 30. Can still get in the woods on my federal wood permit early when things are still firm early. Don't think the loggers will get all their piled wood out though.
A couple of things I have noticed is that the Massey has no valve stem protection on the wheels like the Kioti and Bobcat does. I could maintain about 20 mph with empty trailer on the flat if I wanted to but the tractor seems to ride rough and I slow down to about 14-15 at around 2200 rpm. The seat feels; after sitting in it quite awhile today; as though it is slightly tilted forward. I never noticed this before and have adjusted the seat for my 6'3" height. I could have used a tad more cab room. Side windows when open/ one needs to be careful in the woods. You could bust one on a tree as they clear the fenders by some. Fuel consumption today is hard to judge but this unit has a 15 gallon tank and I would venture I used more than the Massey 2615 or the Case IH 55a would have. Roading a heavy load on the flats the HST in high pulled better than I thought. I slowed down some since my loader was full of wood. I did maybe 10-12 mph loaded and the only decent hill I had the tractor would not make the grade at 2500 RPM in high. The geared variants I have owned would have gone up no problem. HST trans still doesn't shift like I want it too. I need to tap pedals and fiddle faddle around sometimes to get a range from neutral. When I am in a hurry this bothers me. I had issues last night getting my 3rd function hoses connected for my Bobcat snow blade. There is no pressure relief valve on the system. Try as I might with the joystick to relieve pressure and turning the engine off and dumping the valves I still had to break the fittings lose on the snow blade in order to get the implement attached. I feel this is more a tractor issue than the snow blade issue since two different skid steers never required this procedure ever.
Windshield wiper at top of its coverage arc is right at my eye level. Maybe midgets were supposed to drive these things. Ran the A/C a little as I was overheating from wood cutting. Very nice and very cool.
HST trans in the woods and cut over super nice to creep and crawl around roots and sharp saplings cut off from the logging equipment. Despite the few limitations compared to a gears trans, the advantages for at least me give it the nod of approval.
The sheet metal on the lower part of the hood closest to the glass on the cab can vibrate and jiggle some when going over a series of bumps or having a specific harmonic with a RPM setting. Not a big deal just thought it could have been more rigid or reinforced at that location.
I ran most of the day in 2WD and I am certain that if the tires were not loaded I would have been required to lock it in for the work I did. Roading on the snow with my load I was in 2WD..
The steps up into cab are strong and stout. I weight #230,. The Kubotas I have looked at flexed at this location on every model I observed.
Overall happy with it and the few squawk will be discussed with dealer.
Wood Dump, digging this loader and the feel of the joystick/location