cold weather noise

[flatius]

howdy gang. i left my tc25 out all night in the 10 degree michigan cold. when i started it up in the morning, i heard a very loud "whine" coming from the engine compt. it grew louder as i operated the fel. do the hydraulic systems of these tractors need to "warm up" before attempting to use them? any feedback on "cold weather" operation would be alot of help. thanks, bob from michigan

 

[Thomas]

I like to plug in the engine heater for a while before starting the tractor when it gets darn cold.

Once the tractor starts I do give it enough time to warm..good 15mins or so,than I exercise the fel arms plus the bucket which help the warm hyd fluid travel thru the unit,also start out if a low gear until the transmisson warm.

 

[Trev]

Even with my JD4300, plugged in all night and all of the previous day, with both oil and hydraulic heaters, I noticed small whine from the engine compartment. Let it warm up a few more minutes, and the whine disappeared. Not sure what causes it.. and it didn't seem to be related to hydraulic use.. it was only when I was moving. Don't know if this helps. Note that it was a small whine.. nothing anyone would notice if they weren't intimately familiar with the tractor.

 

[Spencer]

flatius, welcome back! I have been wondering where you have been. Don't forget to update your webpage to read "Kiss my a$$ Govenor Granholm instead of Govenor Engler".

 

[Egon]

I do it exactly the same way Thomas.

Egon

 

[flatius]

hey spencer........thank for the reminder. i shall update my webpage soon....as soon as i remeber how............hahaha.
regarding the "whine" from the tractor, i guess i'll just have to let the tc25 warm up a little longer.

 

[Spencer]

flatius, Let us know if letting it warm up longer helps the noise or not. I let my TC33D warm up for at least 5 minutes before I lift the FEL or 3-point and then another 3 to 5 minutes before I move the tractor itself.

 

[djradz]

I'm not necessarily disagreeing, since it sounds like this has worked for you, but it's hard for me to believe anything in the tranny warms up in 5 minutes. There's almost 10 gallons of fluid in there and 5 minutes of running just couldn't make much difference. The engine may start to warm during that time, but not the tranny. If problems continue, I'd suggest switching to the F200 trans fluid or one of the equivalent synthetics.

 

[Spencer]

djradz, If you re-read my post you will see that I don't move the tractor for at least 8 to 10 minutes. I said that I lift the fel or the 3-point after 5 minutes. Believe me a lot of times I let it warm up even more but these are the minimum times I wait.

 

[jtn]

My TC45D makes a similar noise when cold. Once the engine has warmed up I cycle the FEL boom and bucket several times. Usually it takes some driving to get the oil warm enough for the whining to stop.

JT