Better to idle the tractor or turn it off?

[HatTrickHero11]

I live on about 3 acres and we had two huge mulch piles dumped. I take the bucket and get a scoop and haul it to the back yard to spread around the plants to prevent weeds. Now when I have to park the tractor and manually unload the stuff my hand so I can better spread it.(takes around 10 minutes) should I slow the RPMs and idle the tractor, or turn it off?

It's an older tractor. Maybe the later 80s

 

[Bigfoot62]

Conventional wisdom would say that if you're gonna be off of it for more than 2-3 minutes, shut it down.

However, fuel consumption at idle and no load on the engine is very minimal.

You will probably get opinions both ways.

 

[Bud Soda]

let it run, less wear on starter.

 

[magicheater]

Turn it off, less hours on the engine.

 

[balernbud]

Is it a gas or diesel

 

[strum456]

It takes us about 10 minutes per load when hauling manure. We would never think of letting the loader tractor idle needlessly for that long.

 

[kebo]

I would shut it off.... saves some fuel, less wear on the engine, & better for the environment. Maybe it does work the starter more to crank it up a few more times, but that's the tradeoff.

 

[Don87]

On the first load I would let it run just to get the engine warmed and such. On subsequent loads I would probably shut it off.........but not always.

Kinda depends on the mood I'm in.........sometimes the 'purr' of the diesel engine is a soothing sound.

And theres also the times when I don't want to hear the wife.......then I go to high idle:laughing::laughing:

 

[First one]

On the first load I would let it run just to get the engine warmed and such. On subsequent loads I would probably shut it off.........but not always.

Kinda depends on the mood I'm in.........sometimes the 'purr' of the diesel engine is a soothing sound.

And theres also the times when I don't want to hear the wife.......then I go to high idle:laughing::laughing:

Oh you better hope she don't find out you said that or your going to have a honey:laughing: do list a mile long

 

[DKCDKC]

All the new John Deere and, I believe, Kubota manuals have warnings about extended idling for diesels because of carbon build-up.

Personally I go with the 3 or 4 minute rule... Longer than that I shut it off. I might also look for ways to shorten wait, like pulling off mulch in large quantities and going back later to actually spread it.