Dirt Moving Did I kill my tractor?

[frann]

I used a tiller to break up some very lumpy clay like soil before planting bahia. This supposed to be a horse pasture some day. Anyway now it seems my little 28 horse power Massey Ferguson does not have as much pick up and go as it used to have. I used to mow the pasture, another one with a finishing mower at around 25 rpm's. Now I seem to be at full power at 20 rpm's when I mow with the finishing mower. What happened and can it be fixed?

 

[MikeInEburg]

Are you saying that you can't get engine to turn faster than 2000RPM? If so, I'd check fuel and air filters as they're easy and likely candidates.

 

[frann]

It would not go faster than 20 rpm's with the pto going with the mower attached to it. Right after I finished tilling the pasture, I had all filters and fluids replaced on the tractor.

 

[frann]

I just checked the paperwork. The oil, air and fuel filters were changed and the antifreeze was changed.

 

[frann]

The oil was changed

 

[aczlan]

It would not go faster than 20 rpm's with the pto going with the mower attached to it. Right after I finished tilling the pasture, I had all filters and fluids replaced on the tractor.

Is that engine RPM, or PTO RPM?
I can see 2000 PTO RPM max better than 2000 engine RPM.


Aaron Z

 

[MikeInEburg]

Is that engine RPM, or PTO RPM?
I can see 2000 PTO RPM max better than 2000 engine RPM.


Aaron Z

The rear PTO RPM is generally 540, so I imagine that is engine RPM.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Compression check.

 

[aczlan]

The rear PTO RPM is generally 540, so I imagine that is engine RPM.

True, however if he's talking about a mid-PTO for a mid-mount mower deck, those are generally around 2000 RPM.

Aaron Z

 

[Agvg]

If you can't get engine power or rpm on a old fashion diesel the normal problem is fuel or air. You can have bad fuel, so check the fuel flow. Does it smoke different?

 

[frann]

My tractor is an 04. The tachometer shows 20 but means 20 x 100 revolutions per minute. There is an index to show 540 rpm per minute at engine speed of 2300 rpm. So the engine is not getting up to the speed it needs to get to for the pto to turn at 540 rpm's. I did not have this problem before using the tiller. I am going to go check something on the tractor.

 

[bspeedy]

Could be your throttle cable. Will it rev over 2000 just sitting there?

 

[aczlan]

Thanks for the clarification.
Will it rev over 2000RPM with the PTO off?
Does it smoke, or sound like it's straining when you try to rev it up higher?
Does the throttle lever move back as far as it used to?
Aaron Z

 

[Gary Fowler]

Not getting correct RPM is either air, fuel or linkage issue. Check throttle linkage first to see if it is moving the lever on the injection pump all the way. I would unhook the linkage and see if I could manually move the throttle linkage at the injection pump to get full RPM. If not just adjust the linkage so that it moved the lever fully. Don't forget to check the linkage for something blocking free movement. Perhaps a rock flew up and wedged somewhere in the linkage.
If that doesn't solve the problem, then check air filter for cleanliness, lastly bleed fuel filters, pump and injectors as a last resort. If all that fails, I have no other suggestions.

 

[ericm979]

It sounds like the problem started right after the filters were replaced and the oil changed (tilling->filter+oil change->mowing at 2k rpms). If that's the case the work that was done is the first thing to suspect. Check that the air and fuel filters are correct and installed correctly. Perhaps during the maintenance a part was dislodged and is in the throttle linkage.

 

[kebo]

I used a tiller to break up some very lumpy clay like soil before planting bahia. This supposed to be a horse pasture some day. Anyway now it seems my little 28 horse power Massey Ferguson does not have as much pick up and go as it used to have. I used to mow the pasture, another one with a finishing mower at around 25 rpm's. Now I seem to be at full power at 20 rpm's when I mow with the finishing mower. What happened and can it be fixed?

Just curious, but was this a rototiller, or a disc tiller? If it was a rototiller, how wide? If it was a disc tiller, how many discs and what size are they? How many hours did you pull it for? Did it seem like you were lugging the engine the entire time?

 

[Sysop]

I just checked the paperwork. The oil, air and fuel filters were changed and the antifreeze was changed.

Paperwork means little at this point, that is in the past and this is something new. Just because something was changed recently doesn't rule out some sort of clog occurring since. Change the filters. If your's has a hydrostatic transmission, do a transmission service on it as well.

 

[jabelding]

I would try removing your airfilter and run it up without it and see what you get for rpm.

 

[Sysop]

Also, if you have a water separation filter, make sure it's not full of water.

 

[frann]

How do you do a compression check? How do you know if you have bad fuel? The air filter looks clean.The hoses around the air filter seem open and basically clean.
The fuel filter looks clean from the outside. I do not see any fluid in it.