1830 governor?

[jimmer2880]

I'm wondering if my new to me 1830 has a governor. The reason why I ask, is this. This is my first hydrostat Kubota (had a JD 318 garden tractor before), and stick MF & Yanmars. When driving around my property, going from point A to point B, I don't have the throttle very high. When I get to a hill, the tractor really slows down and the engine RPM doesn't appear to change. Since I don't have a tach (why would anyone build a tractor like these without a tach?), I don't know for sure. As soon as I increase the engine throttle by hand, the speed gets back to where it was before the hill.

I thought these tractors had governors that would compensate for that. Am I wrong?

[nh DRAGON]

I think governors are only on gas engines. I never really thought of it but the high torque of the diesel should make up for it unless you are in high with the rpm's low. Why don't you have a tac? Mine is a 50 model and it is digital. I would think that you would have a analog tacon the 30 model.

[jimmer2880]

Thanks for the reply. I am in pretty low RPM's. If that's the way it's supposed to run, than that's fine. But if it wasn't, I wanted to fix it.

From the looks of the dash, I don't see where they would have put one. Your 1850 is newer (I think) than my 1830.

I just bought this last week, and overall I'm pleased. However, there are a handful of things that I don't like. First, is the lack of a tach. 2nd, the sway links are poorly designed. Very hard to adjust without a wrench. I think I'll ditch the stock ones & swap them out for chains and turnbuckles. 3rd, is the lack of draft control. It reminds me of my 1971 Yanmar 155d. 4th - the breakout force on the bucket is weaker than I expected. 5th and the biggest, is the lack of individual brakes for the rear wheels. Over the years I have gotten very accustomed to having individual brakes. I found I was using them very often.

However, the lists of thinks I like far outweigh the things I don't. It's a tough little tractor, and the 18hp does better than I thought. I love the low, wide stance. Strong Hydrostat. Most of all, the features are easy enough, that I feel my wife will be using it soon.

Guess I was just expecting a little better design on a tractor I have been wanting to buy for many, many years.

Sorry for the rant. Can you tell I need more seat time? This complete lack of snow is driving me nuts!

[klrobert]

As far as I know, all tractor engines have a governor. It should keep the engine RPMs at about the same speed when the engine is put under load. The governor functions to give the engine more throttle when the engine speed slows to keep the RPMs relatively steady.

[dodge man]

A few weeks ago I posted several questions on how tractor engines work. It seems they do have govenors to increase the fuel to help keep the engine at the same speed. I suppose yours could be not working correctly, or your RPM's may be to low to start with.

[LBrown59]

Great traxtors.

Here are my 3 BXs.

Thanks for the reply. I am in pretty low RPM's. If that's the way it's supposed to run, than that's fine. But if it wasn't, I wanted to fix it.

From the looks of the dash, I don't see where they would have put one. Your 1850 is newer (I think) than my 1830.

I just bought this last week, and overall I'm pleased. However, there are a handful of things that I don't like. First, is the lack of a tach. 2nd, the sway links are poorly designed. Very hard to adjust without a wrench. I think I'll ditch the stock ones & swap them out for chains and turnbuckles. 3rd, is the lack of draft control. It reminds me of my 1971 Yanmar 155d. 4th - the breakout force on the bucket is weaker than I expected. 5th and the biggest, is the lack of individual brakes for the rear wheels. Over the years I have gotten very accustomed to having individual brakes. I found I was using them very often.

However, the lists of thinks I like far outweigh the things I don't. It's a tough little tractor, and the 18hp does better than I thought. I love the low, wide stance. Strong Hydrostat. Most of all, the features are easy enough, that I feel my wife will be using it soon.

Guess I was just expecting a little better design on a tractor I have been wanting to buy for many, many years.

Sorry for the rant. Can you tell I need more seat time? This complete lack of snow is driving me nuts!

[CHDinCT]

I have both a gas and diesel hydro tractors and what you describe sounds completely normal. While the governor will keep the engine RPMs stable while you climb a hill, this will translate to consistent hydraulic pressure in the tranny, not more pressure even though you're climbing a hill. The result will be reduced speed to some degree, which can be compensated for by either pressing down on the go pedal some more or upping the engine throttle. I'm surprised you don't have a tach, but I'm not familiar with the 1830 model. On the 1850 and 1860, there's a digital tach that reads hours with the engine off and RPMs with the engine on. Do you have one, and did you look at it with the engine running?

[Volfandt]

Kubota designed their BX diesel engines to turn at higher rpm than the comperable sized diesels, even when compared to the same hp of their B series engines (B7510/B7610). This is due to the BX's primary function of running high quality finish mowers. In finish mowing, the higher the blade tip speed, the better the cut. To get the higher blade tip speed and still maintain enough torque to both turn the blades through thick growth and move a heavy tractor at speed, an engine that developes it's rated torque at a higher rpm is perfered. This is part of the reason why a BX outperforms most all residential mowers as well as some commercial ones too. (when set up properly....)
In any case, if your tractor is lugging on inclines you need to up your rpm.
The stroke on the BX's 22hp engine is actually shorter than that of the B7510's 21hp engine....

Yes, your BX1830 has a governor, its built in to the fuel injection pump. But as in most diesel applications, it doesn't work exactly like a gas engine gov in that the diesel has a wider torque band so it doesn't require constant varying.
I think in your case, your running the rpm too low.
The early model BX's 00 & 30 series did not have a tach. It would have been nice if they did but again this probably goes back to their primary purpose of finish mowing. Like their gas engine counterparts, when mowing you set the throttle to max (WOT) then go at it. There are some folks that claim as good a cut with their throttle set lower. I set mine the proverbial hair below max when mowing as I find it not only cuts better but also disburses the clippings better.
For general transporting and/or most other uses, I set the throttle to where I get the best performance at the lowest setting. This is to keep the noise down as well as conserve some fuel.

The 00, 30 & 50 series BX's are also designed to make the most hydraulic power (GPM) at high rpm. Low rpm = low hydro power, high rpm = high output power. Again, these BX engines are designed to make their most power at higher rpm and the rest of the tractor's systems are designed to follow suit.
The new 60 series BX's claim to make more hydraulic power at lower rpm

In my case, when I'm doing some serious digging and/or material handling, I'm running near max to get the most speed & power the BX will give me. When I'm just turning compost or transporting I just find a workable rpm and run it there. It's not unusual to have to up the rpm when going up a hill.

In any case, don't hessitate to crank the rpm up on your BX, thats actually where it's sweet spot is.

[nh DRAGON]

Kubota designed their BX diesel engines to turn at higher rpm than the comperable sized diesels, even when compared to the same hp of their B series engines (B7510/B7610). This is due to the BX's primary function of running high quality finish mowers. In finish mowing, the higher the blade tip speed, the better the cut. To get the higher blade tip speed and still maintain enough torque to both turn the blades through thick growth and move a heavy tractor at speed, an engine that developes it's rated torque at a higher rpm is perfered. This is part of the reason why a BX outperforms most all residential mowers as well as some commercial ones too. (when set up properly....)
In any case, if your tractor is lugging on inclines you need to up your rpm.
The stroke on the BX's 22hp engine is actually shorter than that of the B7510's 21hp engine....

Yes, your BX1830 has a governor, its built in to the fuel injection pump. But as in most diesel applications, it doesn't work exactly like a gas engine gov in that the diesel has a wider torque band so it doesn't require constant varying.
I think in your case, your running the rpm too low.
The early model BX's 00 & 30 series did not have a tach. It would have been nice if they did but again this probably goes back to their primary purpose of finish mowing. Like their gas engine counterparts, when mowing you set the throttle to max (WOT) then go at it. There are some folks that claim as good a cut with their throttle set lower. I set mine the proverbial hair below max when mowing as I find it not only cuts better but also disburses the clippings better.
For general transporting and/or most other uses, I set the throttle to where I get the best performance at the lowest setting. This is to keep the noise down as well as conserve some fuel.

The 00, 30 & 50 series BX's are also designed to make the most hydraulic power (GPM) at high rpm. Low rpm = low hydro power, high rpm = high output power. Again, these BX engines are designed to make their most power at higher rpm and the rest of the tractor's systems are designed to follow suit.
The new 60 series BX's claim to make more hydraulic power at lower rpm

In my case, when I'm doing some serious digging and/or material handling, I'm running near max to get the most speed & power the BX will give me. When I'm just turning compost or transporting I just find a workable rpm and run it there. It's not unusual to have to up the rpm when going up a hill.

In any case, don't hessitate to crank the rpm up on your BX, thats actually where it's sweet spot is.

Yup, Thats what I meant to say!

[LBrown59]

I have both a gas and diesel hydro tractors and what you describe sounds completely normal. While the governor will keep the engine RPMs stable while you climb a hill, this will translate to consistent hydraulic pressure in the tranny, not more pressure even though you're climbing a hill. The result will be reduced speed to some degree, which can be compensated for by either pressing down on the go pedal some more or upping the engine throttle. I'm surprised you don't have a tach, but

***I'm not familiar with the 1830 model.

On the 1850 and 1860, there's a digital tach that reads hours with the engine off and RPMs with the engine on. Do you have one, and did you look at it with the engine running?

The BX1500 1830 23 & 2230 do not have a tach but you can put an after market one on them.