Went down to Tazwel yesterday

[joshlee]

Oh, about the oil. It might be in the Deutz manual, but I couldn't find where it said anything about an early break in oil change. At the Deutz shop the guy told me that I would want to keep an eye on the engine oil, because it would use it until the rings were seated, and mine did use oil for a while. Terry said that they put a heavy weight oil in the engine; he said either Shell Rotella 20W 50 or 20W 40, so I put a lighter oil in it because of how cold it gets here in the winter ( Shell Rotella 10W 30.) The first time I changed the oil I had it all through the tub, so I made this funnel to put under the engine.

I couldn't read the what was written on those glow plugs.

 

[m5040]

Roger that, good to know on the funnel. I would like to keep it clean for as long as possible.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Your funnel mid is identical to mine. Almost works. So my seat switch I turned into a aux 12 volt circuit. I have a 30 gallon sprayer with boom arms that I mount on my pallet forks. The aux circuit turns the pump on and off as needed

 

[joshlee]

Your funnel mid is identical to mine. Almost works. So my seat switch I turned into a aux 12 volt circuit. I have a 30 gallon sprayer with boom arms that I mount on my pallet forks. The aux circuit turns the pump on and off as needed

You have no need for the tilt seat? Do you have the aux electrical plug connected on the FEL? It sure does sound handy!

 

[m5040]

Now that I have been using mine, I think the tilt seat might be nice at times as I found that on side hills I am always sliding to the low side of the seat into the arm rest bolt. I actually pulled out the seat belt to use for the first time in as long as I can remember on a tractor. It was getting a little tough with wet leaves, a dead rotted log that was crushing under the weight of the tractor which seemed to be sliding sideways as I was going back and forth with a tree puller attachment and then there was the 1' drop off, good time for a seat belt. But no problems, I have to get used to its capabilities. I do wonder if the tilt seat would make you loose that feeling of "danger"?

 

[MossRoad]

I always use my seatbelt, even on flat land while just mowing our tabletop flat yard. If, for some freak reason, you'd tip, or get jolted hard, like hitting a frozen ice chunk or hidden rock with the bucket, you're gonna stay in the seat and under the ROPS and canopy. Just remember to hang onto the steering wheel and don't instinctively reach with your arm to break the fall.

I've been up on two front wheels hundreds of times on the 425. That doesn't bother me in the least. I've been up on two side wheels twice, and it scared the bajeezers out of me. Once, I thought it would be interesting to see how fast I could mow and how hard I could turn while maintaining that speed. I got up to full speed, 8mph, and cranked the wheel to one side a bit and kept repeating with further and further cranks. Things were going well. It was increasingly uncomfortable the tighter I turned at 8mph. Finally, on one try, the right tires came off the ground and I thought I was going over. I popped the mower out of float as I cranked the wheel back and it came down. But that was enough. It can be tipped over on flat ground if you go fast enough and turn hard enough. Had I not had the 60" mower on the FEL arms, I'm fairly certain I could have rolled it onto it's side with little effort.

The other time I had it on two wheels I was plowing snow and went out in the street and started doing donuts. Of course, you can't do real donuts because you can't break the rear end free because of the 4 wheel motors. But you can make stupid tight turns. Well, I caught some pavement on the outside tires and the machine lurched to the left and the right tires hopped off the ground. Had I kept on the forward pedal, I'm pretty sure I could have driven it over onto it's side. But I let off and down it came.

I know these things were intentional, however, one could easily get into a situation unintended and the seatbelt could keep you less injured. Up to you, of course. I just make it a habit to click it every time I get on so that I don't have to think about it. I put my pants on in the morning and put my wallet, pocket knife, fit bit and cell phone in my pockets. I put my seat belts on in the car and truck and tractor. Good habits. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Speaking of breaking the rear end free....

When I plow snow and want to reverse direction AND turn at the same time, like say I'm going forward to the left, but want to go backwards to the right, I often just slam the reverse pedal and crank the steering wheel to the right. The rear end breaks traction and turns to the right before the unit starts moving backwards as the rear half just slides to the right before the tires gain traction. This is handy for turning around in the width of the driveway without having to do a 3pt turn. You can literally just flip the machine around in it's own length as long as there's snow on the ground and you don't have excessive traction.

I learned this articulated trick back in the early 80's operating an articulated aircraft mover called an Air Horse. It was a wheelhorse garden tractor with no front axle. Off the back of the unit hung a large steel fork with tires and the unit was articulated in the rear. You sat on the hood with the steering wheel between your legs. You could get going backwards (as the driver sat) and when you forced it forward quickly, weight would shift to the front, weight would come off the fork wheels, and you could slip them off the ground and change direction while the tires where in the air. I had about 6 years on those machines and that's where I became familiar with articulation. I was very comfortable on the PowerTrac when I got it in 2001 because of those past articulated experiences.

Here's a couple pictures of what I'm talking about. These are very similar to what I operated.

 

[joshlee]

Did you ever get the armrests working right? A 3/8 ratchet with an Allen socket for tightening those set screws worked out for me.

 

[woodlandfarms]

My tilt seat is full time. Just bypassed the switch

 

[m5040]

I am going easy on the arm rest, trying not to push down on them when I get off the tractor.

Boy that Wheel horse is strange looking where are the foot pedals? I have seen L series Kubota tractors (overseas models) it was a reversed one where you sat where my dash is and the foot pedals were up where the traditional seat was and you faced the 3pt hitch.
All my experience on articulated machines where operated from the rear half, like a 2430 which I thought was nicer to operate but too high to get on and off easily. I do a lot of short moves with forks, lift chains/slings and really like how low the traditional PT is.
The seat belt is always a good idea. I need to cut about 2' off of mine that hangs down and I worry about it getting caught on something.
Never had any tractor up on two side wheels. Two front are fine, it will only go to the bucket or load touches the ground, the rears aren't bad if you have something to limit how high it will go up. Crazy if you don't, going over backward without a rollbar might be the worse thing you can do.