New GC2410 Questions re: Diff lock and Hydraulics

[Mark1705]

I just received a new GC2410 on Friday and have a couple of questions regarding the differential lock and the FEL lift capacity

The owners manual states that to engage the differential lock that the tractor must be stopped. When I engage the foot pedal when the tractor is stopped the pedal hardly moves. If i try to move the tractor slightly forward or backward the pedal still does not move. It seems that the tractor has to be moved quite a distance before the pedal will move all the way down. Is this normal? I am trying this on a grass surface and wanted to get familiar with this feature before trying in more slippery conditions.

My next question is regarding the lift capacity of the FEL loader. I noticed when trying to take a full bucket load of top soil that it had great difficulty lifting it. Then i tried simply lifting the front end of the tractor. It can hardly lift the front wheels of the tractor off the ground. When the dealer was demoing this tractor he had the front wheels several inches off the ground. My question is why would the tractor appear to have less lifting capacity?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

BTW - I am very happy with its overal performance, even with only a few hours on it. It's not as heavy duty as my Massey 135 but I didn't purchase it for the same reasons. It sure does mow grass well. I replaced my Kubota G4200 lawn tractor with this little Massey - it cuts grass just as well and the power difference is amazing especially in wet long grass. Very happy.


Mark

 

[mpegg]

I do believe the the differental lock is made for when one of the tires is spinning. When ever I am spinnig this is what I due. I stop the tractor, push down and hold pressure on the differental pedal and then push the pedal to move forward, when one of the tires start spining the differental pedel slides in. I think the key for locking both back tires is one has to slip a little bit to align up the gears to mesh properly.

 

[buckwheat]

I engage it while moving and gently turning. If you are already stuck and need the differential lock, the spinning wheel should be turning as slowly as you can possibly turn it. If you manage to lock it in with one wheel spinning wildly, you will likely damage something.

I seldom manage to get the differential to lock in while stationary, unless the stars and the moon are aligned just right.

 

[jaybrad]

I engage it while moving and gently turning. If you are already stuck and need the differential lock, the spinning wheel should be turning as slowly as you can possibly turn it. If you manage to lock it in with one wheel spinning wildly, you will likely damage something.

I seldom manage to get the differential to lock in while stationary, unless the stars and the moon are aligned just right.

Ditto here. I just apply steady gentle pressure while stopped and slowly move forward, it then slips right into place and locks.

 

[Mark1705]

Thanks for the responses.

That seems to work. I tried it in slippery conditions. Stopped the wheels from turning, engeged the lock and slowly applied the forward accelerator, it spun a bit then the differential lock pedal moved to the floor and both back wheels engaged.


Nice to know that it works and hot to use it. I can see this will come in handy.

 

[Gone Fishin']

Hey Mark,

In my experience, the loader will not lift the tractor off the ground. Tilting the bucket, on the other hand, will.

Have fun!

 

[Paystar]

I went to a dealer that sells Massey and Kubota, and that was his sales pitch for the Massey. Had a GC 2410 and it picked itself up off the ground at a dead idle with the front bucket and the BH.

 

[bmarian]

I assume your lift question about the loader is in regards to filling the bucket? There is a big difference between lift capacity and filling the bucket with material. I will talk about filling the bucket below.

The hydraulic power at low RPM was the biggest selling factor for me on the Massey. My GC2410 would lift the whole tractor off the ground at idle and the backhoe digs very nicely at 1500 RPM. In fact I think the manual suggests 1500 RPM for the first time you use the backhoe. The tilt is the key to the loader lifting the tractor off the ground or just tip the bucket down in the air then lower the loader and the tractor will easily lift itself up.

I was lifting full buckets of wood chips with my 2410 and even though they are fairly light you needed to use the correct amount of forward motion, lift of the bucket and tilt of the bucket to smoothly pickup a bucket full. A friend of mine wanted to try the loader and he could not get the tractor to lift up a full bucket. He did not understand that the tractor would not pickup the entire pile at once! I needed to tell him to move forward, lift and curl the bucket at the same time to get the bucket full. My loader will lift a full bucket of topsoil, pea gravel or wood chips easily. But it is all about the filling of the bucket and using the pile. You can't just plow straight in and expect the loader to lift the bucket up, no tractor (or loader) will work like that.

The hydraulics on my GC2410 operate much smoother and at a lower engine RPM than the Kubota or Deere. I would have paid more for my Massey than the Deere, in fact my dealer handles both Deere and Massey. My dealer says he would rather sell the Deere because they make more money on it but the Massey is so a much better tractor. The Kubota would not even move the backhoe or loader faster than a slow creep at idle, you needed to run the engine over 2000 RPM to get the power that the Massey had at idle!

I would suggest confirming that your hydraulics are able to pickup the tractor at about 1500 RPM. At that speed you should be able to lift the wheels off the ground on both ends. If the tractor does not I would talk to your dealer there might be something wrong. A hydraulic filter or something simple might cause the problem but I would bet that you just need to get accustomed to the tractor.

Bruce

 

[jaybrad]

I'll echo what Bruce said about the hydraulic power at idle. The only times I have used my tractor over 2,000 RPMs is when snow blowing or running the wood chipper. For the FEL & BH, I usually run it in the 1,800 +/- range.

I lifted some pretty good loads of crushed rock with my 2310 and some impressive rocks, too. I don't remember the specs on lift capacity - and don't really care. This tractor has done everything I had hoped for when I bought it, and more.

Then there is the fun factor, too, which is significant.

Enjoy!

Jay

 

[Mark1705]

Thanks for the feedback. The dealer demonstrated the tractor in similar fashion with the RPM's barely above idle he could lift the tractor off the ground with the FEL and backhoe. The issue is intermittent as sometime it will lift the front tires off the ground and other times it will not. I checked the fluid levels and they are up and no leaks that I can find. The tractor has 6 hours on it. I called the dealer and they weren't sure either but recommended to bring it in for them to have a look. I think that will be my next step.

I will post there findings.


Thanks for the responses!

Mark