ponytug
Super Member
I agree with RegL. Hill climbing technique is about a light treadle action, but flooring it will definitely bog the engine. I tend to think of Terry's advice the other way around; if the engine rpms start to drop on a hill, back off on the treadle until the rpms pick up again.
On the land around here, with the standard tires, either I lose traction (in which case, backing off on the treadle, and then easing it on again usually cures it). I haven't experienced wheel motor stall, but that may be the effect of the 45 horses.
I'm still trying to work out the wheel motor plumbing, but it looks to me like mine is plumbed with both front motors and both rear motors together, teed off the same port on the pump. Each pair is cross connected to easily allow for a pseudo differential circuit to facilitate turning.
Regardless, having only diagonal wheels on the ground leaves one effectively without power. If during a steep hill climb, diagonal wheels start to lose traction together, the tractor loses (all?) ability to climb, as the low traction wheels spin and drain the flow.
I am sure that there is a hydraulic motor like gizmo that would more or less lock the flow so that the front and the rear wheel motors would get 50% of the flow. This would shred ground in a turn (akin to centrally locking all three differentials in a 4x4), but it would facilitate movement under low traction conditions.
I will say that on steep hills, when the tractor has an issue, I tend to hit the brake first, and then get the motor, and the treadle sorted out before releasing the brake.
RegL: I have to admit to passing on the 1430 because I had concerns about the limits of 30HP on our 25-30 degree hills. That said, except for trying to run draft control on the brush cutter up a hill after a couple hours of cutting, the 1445 has powered straight up my brush slopes, which hit 25-27 degrees for 150 feet or so in a couple of places. It makes it up, but traction is always an issue. I have thought about going back to the turf tires just for the traction.
All the best,
Peter
On the land around here, with the standard tires, either I lose traction (in which case, backing off on the treadle, and then easing it on again usually cures it). I haven't experienced wheel motor stall, but that may be the effect of the 45 horses.
I'm still trying to work out the wheel motor plumbing, but it looks to me like mine is plumbed with both front motors and both rear motors together, teed off the same port on the pump. Each pair is cross connected to easily allow for a pseudo differential circuit to facilitate turning.
Regardless, having only diagonal wheels on the ground leaves one effectively without power. If during a steep hill climb, diagonal wheels start to lose traction together, the tractor loses (all?) ability to climb, as the low traction wheels spin and drain the flow.
I am sure that there is a hydraulic motor like gizmo that would more or less lock the flow so that the front and the rear wheel motors would get 50% of the flow. This would shred ground in a turn (akin to centrally locking all three differentials in a 4x4), but it would facilitate movement under low traction conditions.
I will say that on steep hills, when the tractor has an issue, I tend to hit the brake first, and then get the motor, and the treadle sorted out before releasing the brake.
RegL: I have to admit to passing on the 1430 because I had concerns about the limits of 30HP on our 25-30 degree hills. That said, except for trying to run draft control on the brush cutter up a hill after a couple hours of cutting, the 1445 has powered straight up my brush slopes, which hit 25-27 degrees for 150 feet or so in a couple of places. It makes it up, but traction is always an issue. I have thought about going back to the turf tires just for the traction.
All the best,
Peter
RegL said:This analogy has been used a lot here but after climbing many hills, or trying, I can only say sort of. Here's what I observe.
I can be climbing a progressively steeper hill with the treadle at, say, 1/4 max. At some point, if traction is adequate, the wheel motors will stall. It appears that a wheel motor stalls when the load is enough that the amount of oil entering the motor can leak through and not cause the motor to rotate. It's obvious that the oil can leak through or bypass because with two motors in series you can have one stalled and the other spinning. Now here's where the most torque at low oil flow theory gets a little shaky in my opinion. And let me state that I don't know what I'm talking about, only my experience. If I now increase the flow to the wheel motors,( mash the treadle ) The wheel motors will start rotating again but now the load is being transferred to the engine and it wants to stall. So climbing will be best with maximum amount of treadle that can be applied without stalling the engine.
I think a better hp to weight ratio would give the PT's much better performance on hills, even with the same hydraulics. I'm waiting for someone to drop off a nice 45hp Deutz to put in my 1430.