Lowering attachments to the ground

[k0ua]

Haha I thought I was the only one. Box blade is noisey!

Ballast barrel leave quite a drag mark on the ground.:shocked:

 

[mapper]

Rototiller leaves interesting little divots in the lawn.:laughing:
I always lower bucket and implement to the ground when parking the tractor, at my age it takes too long to heal and I can't afford higher insurance premiums if someone else gets injured.

 

[D7E]

Combine headers are not made very strong freezing to the ground can bend them when lifted .

 

[kevin37b]

They also rust and get dirt or mud stuck or froze to them . Not good on a sickle bar head . They also have a strut you lock on the cylinders to prevent it dropping .

 

[Mace Canute]

Was told by my Pa that if a cylinder is all the way extended there is no room for thermal expansion and plays havoc on the seals. Dunno who told him or if true but my stuff is always on the ground with levers jiggled after engine is off.
I drive by a Farmall M with a F11 that sits for months with the loader as high as it can go. I never could understand why. Not in a confined space either.

I wouldn't think that typical thermal expansion pressures in a cylinder would exceed the operating pressure which in many cases could be 2,000 psi. Pa's theory would be the same if the cylinder was all the way retracted too. Maybe he meant that a cylinder should be stored somewhere mid stroke to avoid issues but I still contend that hydraulic pressure due to normal atmospheric temperature changes would not exceed the operating pressure rating of the cylinder.

At any rate, it's cheaper to fix a leaky seal than a crushed or impaled body part.

On page 7 of 21 in this PDF they address thermal expansion in a closed hydraulic system.

https://www.roemheld-gruppe.de/file...n/Wissenswertes_Hydraulikzylinder_en_0212.pdf

I'm surprised there aren't more reports of damage cause to hydraulic cylinders and/or the hoses by thermal expansion of the hydraulic oil. While connected to the tractor there's the possibility of pressure bleeding down through the valve body but when unconnected there's no such possibility. It would be interesting to do some measurements on a disconnected cylinder to see how high the pressure actually goes and what increase in diameter and length occurs with a maximum temperature change.

 

[Gary Fowler]

They also rust and get dirt or mud stuck or froze to them . Not good on a sickle bar head . They also have a strut you lock on the cylinders to prevent it dropping .

Not completely sure why, but we always left the combine header raised. I think it was so water wouldn't stand in the belly of the header, with it raised, it could drain out thru the back seam. It was also handy to be able to work on the sickle bar to replace blades when it was raised. This was always one of the first inspection point before cranking up the machine, check for worn blades or loose rivets then look for loose belts, engine oil level, clean the radiator screen and blow out the air filter before turning a key.
I wish our tractors had as good valves and cylinders as our combines had. They could stay up all year and never leak down.

 

[Mace Canute]

Not completely sure why, but we always left the combine header raised. I think it was so water wouldn't stand in the belly of the header, with it raised, it could drain out thru the back seam. It was also handy to be able to work on the sickle bar to replace blades when it was raised. This was always one of the first inspection point before cranking up the machine, check for worn blades or loose rivets then look for loose belts, engine oil level, clean the radiator screen and blow out the air filter before turning a key.
I wish our tractors had as good valves and cylinders as our combines had. They could stay up all year and never leak down.

I've seen a combine where the owner left the table over winter at maximum height. Next year both cylinders were buckled presumably from the heavy snow load on the table.

 

[nybirdman]

I lower everything;winter time with my front and rear blades I lower on blocks so they don't freeze in.

 

[big bubba]

always think just how dumb it is leaving a fel hay spike @ eye level when tractor is at rest. like most things in life, it's the operator who is most at risk w/things like that around equipment. thermal expansion or juveniles aside but not to be overlooked. best regards

 

[rd_macgregor]

always think just how dumb it is leaving a fel hay spike @ eye level when tractor is at rest.

...and if you lower the FEL to the ground, the spike is no longer at head height, but, even if your reproductive years are over, you still don't want to accidentally encounter the spike. The few times I've parked my tractor with the bale spear mounted, I've rolled the FEL so the spear points down to the ground.