F215 Gearing for mowing

[nevis]

Does anyone else find the F series gearing unsuited to mowing?
I have an F215 which generally I like a lot.
It has 3 ranges and 3 gears in each range. In 2nd range top, ie 6th gear, at PTO revs ground speed is only about 2.6 mph which is too slow. In 3dr range bottom, ie 7th, @ PTO revs speed is about 4.5mph which is too fast on my bumpy ground.
So to get a decent speed I end up using 2nd PTO gear and running at 1900 to 2000 rpm in 7th gear (ie about 3.5 mph).
It seems that the step between the 2nd and 3rd ranges is very big.
Are YM series Yanmars geared in the same way, ie would I be better off looking for a YM series, as I've not seen this issue mentioned.

 

[winston1]

I find 2nd range, 3rd gear good for my ym2002d running at 2000 to 2200rpm. Don't know whether this will help you or not but here is the speeds for a ym240, I believe the same as the ym2000.

 

[nevis]

Thanks for posting that attachement - interesting information.
It would seem that you mow quite a bit faster than I do.

 

[Neat 1500]

I find 2nd range, 3rd gear good for my ym2002d running at 2000 to 2200rpm. Don't know whether this will help you or not but here is the speeds for a ym240, I believe the same as the ym2000.

i also slash at this speed and find it spot on.

 

[winston1]

Thanks for posting that attachement - interesting information.
It would seem that you mow quite a bit faster than I do.

Not sure I do mow faster. I don't know the ground speeds on my 2002. I have 4 range gears and 3 transmission gears. I do move pretty good with the finish mower. When shredding I sometimes reduce throttle some, all depends on what and where I am shredding.

I just found this ground speed chart in my 1802/2002 parts manual. I guess I must be flying. I am assuming I am actually running in #9 if I understand the chart right. I also notice the biggest jump is when you shift into high range.

 

[Ginormous]

I am still getting used to mowing with my YM2210. It has 5 gear ranges (includes a crawler gear) and 3 forward Powershift gears for each range, i.e., 15 forward gears. I'm slowly adjusting after being used to 8 forward gears on my YM1700. The manuals give speeds in km/hr, but we can divide by 1.6 to get miles/hr if wanted. Here are the speeds I typically use with my 5' finish mower:

YM1700 (at about 2500 rpm)
gears 6 or 7 which translate to 5.5 and 8.3 km/hr

YM2210 (at about 2200 rpm)
gears 13 or 14 which translate to 7.5 and 9.8 km/hr


I use the lower speeds when I'm mowing near something or turning and the higher speeds when I'm going straight.

Note that I'm not sure what engine speed corresponds to ground speeds that the manuals are quoting, but I suspect the actual speeds are a bit lower.

 

[clemsonfor]

I try and mow in my 7th gear on my 2000. wi mow about 2000-2200rpm so it would be between 4.5-5mph. If its really bumpy or thick grass i drop to 6th gear and thats about 3mph. If its just bumpy and low grass i just reduce throttle in 7th.

But i was thinking that 5th gear is on the low side and 4th is on the high side? Meaning the top gear on the low side of a 2000 is faster than the lowest on the high range? getting my service manual

 

[clemsonfor]

I was right your chart does not show it but the service manual does. 4ths gear is actually 1 on the gearshift but in the High range and 5th is actually 4th on the gear shift but on the high range. I will try and expalin better if this does not make sense but if you have lookedat the gear 3' son a 2000 it makes sense as they have the stick numbered funny for this reason.

 

[Pete Judd]

I mowed today with the 5 ft finish mower. Some grass was knee high, used the transfer case in 2, and used all 3 gears of the powershift depending on the height of the grass. That translates to 4-6 gear. My manual says that that is between 1.28 - 2.64 mph at 2400 rpm. Seems faster than that. The 6th gear mowing seems to be fast enough for me, I mow over 5 acres of lawn, and it only takes me 2 hrs to do everything. But it is hilly and bumpy and I have to keep the tractor in 4wd all the time otherwise I will slide down the hills.

 

[California]

I will try and explain better

.. or described another way, the lowest gear in High Range is *lower* than the top gear in Low Range.

So if you really need to go up through the gears in sequence, then the next gear after Low 3rd is Hi 1st, followed by Low 4th.

No I don't know why they did it that way. Maybe they made 4th in each range far higher than 3rd, so the top gear would be a good high speed road gear. I can't think of any other reason to do it that way.