Grading GC1720 - Deadheading hydrostat?

[Nacademus]

Hi everyone,

I have an overgrown acre and half that I need to put drainage in and grade.

Yesterday, I started to clear some of that land with a walk-behind string trimmer. After that, I decided to use my box blade to scrape and pull some topsoil to a low spot that I think is letting water from a nearby ditch into my yard.

I had the ripper teeth down and was in low gear. I started pulling and it was doing great. I wasn't all the way down but just took a couple passes to soften the soil. On the final pass where I tried to fill the box, I pulled it and must have either hung up on something or bit too much of the ground with it. The tractor stopped and the forward pedal started to push my foot back up. The wheels weren't spinning or anything-I was in 2wd.

I stopped cold and felt the engine load up. The box was barely full. I feel like this tractor should at least be strong enough to dig in when stuck. It just stopped going and labored with no sign that the torque was going anywhere.

I was able to go backwards and take a light bite at it but whenever I tried to take a little more, it just didn't have any oomph to break loose or anything.

I am in low gear. I even try using less of the forward pedal but it didn't help-stopped cold.

Could my tractor have some sort of power loss or something? Anyone else experience this? I am wondering if this is supposed to happen or not. Maybe my PRV started diverting when it couldn't go anymore. But again, the box was not that full and couldn't have hung up on a root where I was, I checked.

Why would my foot pedal press back up? I didn't do it too long and it only happened a couple times. I am just afraid that I could have possibly caused harm to the tractor or if maybe it is out of spec. Maybe I am expecting too much from it? Who knows? My box blade is only a 4ft RK BB. The soil is dry and not particularly thick or dense. No stones. I'm somewhat worried by this performance.

 

[WranglerX]

Mine (1715) will spin all 4 wheels in low range and dig its self into holes when it is restrained from forward motion....

Dale

 

[Nacademus]

Mine (1715) will spin all 4 wheels in low range and dig its self into holes when it is restrained from forward motion....

Dale

Right. Mine used to spin the wheels and dig itself in, too while I was box blading my gravel driveway. I had a lot of hard packed stone to loosen and move, too. Something can't be right with this. Its got me worried. I have 52h on it.

 

[DMW]

If the angle of the box blade is too aggressive, it will actually compress the rear tires, effectively jamming them in position. 4WD changes the angle of the pull.

 

[oldnslo]

The pushing back of the pedal under load is a normal function of a HST. Linkage styles vary the amount of pushback that you feel.

Weæ±*e you in high range or low range? Reason for asking is that my Branson may or may not spin in high range but will always spin tired in low range.

 

[k0ua]

Any chance your wheels spun inside of the tires. This is fairly common if your rear tires are filled with rimguard and the air pressure is too low in the tire. If not the case, and likely isn't, it would seem your PRV is set too low or is defective. Of course the tires should spin, especially in 2wd. And they should spin in 4wd unless you were on some rough concrete and in high range. In high range the PRV will often open before tires spin, but Not in LO like you had it. Yes, you have a problem that needs to be investigate. Start with the PRV. But it would not hurt to look at the wheels and tires. Especially if loaded with rimguard. Rimguard is slimy.

 

[Nacademus]

I thought about them spinning in the rims but I don't think they were.

I was in LOW range and 2WD. It stopped and had so much resistance that it pushed my pedal almost all the way back up to the highest position.

Could having done this these couple times ruin my tractor? I know for a fact that my Cub Cadet 3205 would have kept going until it ripped its rear end out. This kind of let me down.

 

[Nacademus]

If the angle of the box blade is too aggressive, it will actually compress the rear tires, effectively jamming them in position. 4WD changes the angle of the pull.

The blade wasn't that aggressive. In fact, I had the rear of the blade leveled to be slightly higher than the front to let more soil out as it's pulled along.

 

[DMW]

Nacademus, what you describe IS too aggressive with scarifiers. Don't use the same angle when using just the back blade as with the scarifiers. Lengthen the top link when using the scarifiers. When they bite in, they will pull the boxblade into the dirt. There is enough pressure that it will cause the weight transfer (think of a weight distribution hitch) to clamp down on the rear wheels, stopping them dead. The angle of the scarifiers is important. The boxblade can be "tuned" so that scarfiers pull the unit into the material, so no additional weight is needed, but still not enough to bring the tractor to a stop. Been there, done that.

 

[DMW]

Could having done this these couple times ruin my tractor? I know for a fact that my Cub Cadet 3205 would have kept going until it ripped its rear end out. This kind of let me down.

Very unlikely any damage could occur. The Relief Valves are set up so that it doesn't happen. An advantage of hydraulic over gear systems.