Questions about Shibaura SD2043

[tlynch]

Hello! I recently purchased this tractor used and I was hoping someone could help with questions. The dealer primarily sells custom signs and storage rentals, with tractors on the side, so he is learning tractors also! Anyway, I was wondering about: 1) Sitting in the seat, between my feet is a gearbox shifter. On each side of the shifter is a handle that pulls up or down. The one on the left, when down, puts me into super low gearing. What is the shifter on the right for? (are they related to the PTO?)
2) Below my right heel is a lever that I can push down with my heel or pull up with my hand. What is that for? (2 or 4 wheel drive?)
3) On the left side panel below the dash, there is a knob that pulls out (or in), it is connected to a lever on the top of the engine. Is this a compression release valve? It doesn't seem to make a piffffffiiiinng sound when I pull it out when the engine is running as I would expect from a compression release.
4) When I test the 4 wheel drive by putting the nose against a big tree I only get 3 wheels turning, the two back and the right front. The left front doesn't turn. Should all 4 wheels be turning?
5) Does this tractor have a thermostat in the cooling system like a car has, something that needs replaced once in awhile if it gets stuck?
6) Behind the seat, on the top of the PTO, is a threaded hole with a big, threaded plastic screw in it. I unscrewed the cap and stuck my finger in it and my finger got cut off (no! just kidding!). My finger came back dry...should there be hydraulic fluid in this hole or is this where I add hydraulic fluid measured by the dipstick next to the shifter?
7) Should I change the hydraulic fluid from time to time? What kind of fluid? Does this fluid lube the gearbox, PTO hydraulics and rear differential all at the same time?
Thats it for questions for now...
Some info I can give regarding the hydraulic joystick. I read some posts from people with problems with this. When I bought the tractor the hydraulic joystick didn't work consistently, the box scraper would only go down, not up, then it would not go down, only up, etx. I pulled, cleaned, sprayed with electrical contact cleaner and reinserted all electrical connections, removed, cleaned, sprayed and reattached all ground connections and finally sprayed a contact cleaner into the top of the joystick, (pulled the rubber aside and sprayed down the shaft). That fixed all the problems with that joystick. It works fine and consistently now. Thanks ahead of time for any help you folks may offer and good luck with your tractor!

 

[MikeFromVA]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 4) When I test the 4 wheel drive by putting the nose against a big tree I only get 3 wheels turning, the two back and the right front. The left front doesn't turn. Should all 4 wheels be turning?)</font>

This is normal from what I've heard. On many tractors, the differential lock only applies to the rear tires.

 

[markie61]

Shibaura tractor are not sold in the US as such, so this one is a grey market. Since NH uses Shibaura for the engine/tranny subassemblies, I can extrapolate answers to some of your questions:

1. Most geared tractors have at least a hi/low range and then several gears within that range. Maybe the other is a 2 speed PTO.
4. See above
5. Watercooled engines have thermostats. If you want to make sure, pop the radiator cap (when it is cool!) and look in to make sure.
6. Sounds like the filler cap for the hydraulic fluid. My tractor has a dipstick nearby that is easily 18" long. Therefore, the proper level is probably far beyond your finger's reach (unless you are ET)
7. Yes to both questions. Recommended NH intereval is 300 hours. The first filter change is at 50 and then every 300hours after that.

Hope these answers help.
Mark

 

[tlynch]

Thanks for the info! Regarding the shifters; it has 3 shifters and 3 levers that push up or down. The shifter on the right is the main (3 fw, 1 rev), the shifter on the left has 3 choices that put me into lowest gear, medium and high that affect the main shifting. The third shifter I question, it sits center between my knees behind the other two shifters. It has four positions (H) that don't seem to increase the speed of the PTO shaft or the tractor speed. Next to this shifter are two levers, one on each side of the shifter. The one on the left seems to put me into a crawl gearing (really, really, REALLY slow...can hardly tell I am moving unless I get off and watch the ground under the wheels!). The lever on the right of this shifter I don't know about, I can't tell what it is doing down or up. The lever under my heel I now know that is the lock in, lock out for the rear wheels. This is a great tractor, reliable at this point and does the job for me with a box scraper maintaining a 1/4 mile gravel road with an 8% grade. Any ideas on what the third shifter does and the levers beside it? I looked into the radiator and it looks like the inside of any radiator. Is there a thermostat where the hose attaches to the block like a car has? With the radiator cap off, the glycol flows in the radiator immediately after starting the engine, maybe the thermostat is stuck open? I have pulled the radiator and acid cleaned it but I don't want to break the seal to the block until I know that there is a thermostat there and what temp range it requires for a diesel so I can replace it at that time for PM.