jd 855 overheating

[abcdefg]

does anyone have a cure for a jd855 tractor with a mid
mount mowe getting the radiator clogged and overheating.
Have i damageg my tractor by this overheating. When
mowing with the mid mount in a tall field the radiator gets
clogged pretty quick.
thanks

 

[KiotiJohn]

Not sure of your setup, but if it has a prescreen that is removable as on my Kioti, just pull that screen off now and then and brush off the debris. You might carry a small soft brush to brush out the radiator with or a small battery operated vacuum. Be very careful no to bend the fragile fins. Some say not to blow out your radiator, but if you don't use high pressure, you could carry a small air tank, or get cans of compressed air used for computers and clean it frequently. If you are truly overheating the tractor, yes, you can do damage that will be very costly. John

 

[BigAl]

You can use compressed air to blow out your radiator fins. Just make sure it is under 60 psi or so . Blow the radiator from the fan side ,not the grill side ! Blowing from the grill side will just drive the crud deeper into the radiator fins /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Blow straight at the fins and not on a angle . That's what bends the fins down /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif! Also get in a habit of washing off the radiator with water the same way, when you wash your tractor . And as already mentioned ,keep your pre screen cleaned out . /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif If you still have problems after all this , take the radiator off and have a radiator shop check it for gallons per minute of flow . Better radiator shops will have a flow machine that can do this . It is usually a free charge . That will tell you if it needs to be rodded out . IF it checks out ok, then you know to keep looking else where . They are also making new types of cores where you can now get more rows of tubes in the same amount of "header tank" space . I had this done to my old Kubota tractor and it was amazing the cooling difference . If you go this way PM me and I will give you the core style and "fins per inch count" that you need for a tractor of this size .
Big Al

 

[RoyJackson]

"does anyone have a cure for a jd855 tractor with a mid
mount mowe getting the radiator clogged and overheating.
"

This is a common problem I've been lucky enough not to experience (yet).
A buddy of mine who had an 855 just says you've got to stop occasionally and clean the grill and screen off. Just do it before you start overheating.
When I was going through some really thick brush last year, I cleaned it every 20 minutes to ½ an hour. Never even let it get hot...

As far as damage...you really don't want to warp the head.

 

[JasonMac]

I used to have the JD 855 before I got the JD 4200. That used to happen to me too. And it used to only really happen in tall dry grass only. I guess the only thing you can do is just keep stoppin to clean it once in awhile. I used to clean the outside grilling of debris, and pull the screen out from under the hood and bang that off every now and then. Then of course I would empty the filter cup. It really only took about 5 minutes to do all of this each time, and maybe only 4 times a day, a long day of mowing that is. And of course the other thing that used to help too is use low range instead of High range for you transmission selection, especially on hills with tall grass etc. Low range really does relieve the engine of a lot of work.

 

[phirman]

I use a gas powered leaf blower to clear debris from between
the radiator fins on my JD455.

 

[DaveNay]

I have the same problem with my 855, and what I find odd is that it only happens when mowing with the MMM. I have all lawn grass, and I still get the overheating. However, I have had days of long use at high RPM with the tractor, and it never overheats. I have actually considered that it may be the trans that is overheating, and not the engine /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. To me, it seems to be closely related with the use of the mid PTO.

Dave

 

[abcdefg]

When using the mid mount mower on my tractor
it throws debris from the front which is close to the air
intake for the radiator. Inside the front cover the
radiator will be caked with fine debris. There is a screen
that should be removed in front of the radiator but it slides
out of the top and for this I have to remove the air intake
hose. This is woriesome cause of possible contamination
of the air intake hose or exposed air filter outlet. A very
bad design in that instance.
The only solution i fear is to start collecting nickles for a
rear mount finishing mower.

 

[BigEddy]

How do you know it is overheating? My 855 has a warning light, but not a guage - Is the light coming on?

If so - is the warning light coming on at the right temperature?

I find that the outer grill picks up most of the fluff, rather than the rad - but it may be the dandelions I have versus the grass you all have.

Mowing tends to be a high effort activity. Just because the tractor is at full RPM doesn't mean it is working as hard. I know that mowing consumes a lot more fuel per hour than backhoe work, even at the same RPM. Hence I would expect it to run hotter mowing as well. (Snowblowing is hard work, but overheating isn't usually an issue)

When you say empty the cup - what cup - am I missing something I should be doing?

 

[DennisY]

I have the same problem with my 850 when mowing tall grass with my 3ph mounted rotary cutter. I use the compressed air to blow out the radiator fins also.