50 Hr Review: LS XR4150HC and 50 hr service

[Dr Gas]

Overall we are extremely pleased with the LS. Our dealer, Hobby Time Equipment in Blackfoot ID has been great. I would use Shawn Stimpson again for sure. I'm glad we bought the 50hp with turbocharger because we live at 6600' elevation in the mountains. No regrets there. We have done heavy snow removal with the rear LS snowblower and loader work with deep snow. Even 2' drifts can be done in a single pass if you go slow. 4' drifts or more take multiple passes. The LS 78" rear blower is a beast and performed very well. I would like to have hydraulic chute tilt as well as rotation but rotation is very nice. We have used the weld on bucket hooks and chains to pull stuck vehicles and turn over trailers for repair. The heater warms the cab up quickly. I did reverse the mid vents so that I can blow warm air on the side and rear windows. This worked fine. I mostly used HST low for snow blowing but medium range is fine for flat areas with dry snow. We had no problem starting on cold days (used block heater). The R4 tires did better than expected in the deep snow and I was able to run the snowblower while backing up a 10 degree grade. Trying to pull out a truck was a no go as the R4 tires spun.
There is a lot of noise from the HST drive especially when the pedals are not fully depressed. I believe this is normal. We kept the rpm above 2000 for all work and have yet (49.8 hrs) to have a regen. The engine burned no oil in the first 50 hours. HST oil dropped by about 1-2 quarts. I used the cruise control for any length of travel. I wish the tilt wheel would tilt down one more notch. The seat is very comfortable even when driving backwards while snow blowing. The engine and HST drive are very smooth. Every function and switch works fine after 50 hours. We did have to tighten one loader hydraulic fitting to fix a leak. Took 2 minutes. The loader is smooth and strong. Only one function at a time but it's not a big deal unless you are production mode.

Today we did the 50 hour service without difficulty. I purchased the oil (Shell Rotella T6 5W40 synthetic) and 3 WIX filters (oil, hydraulic, HST) from Amazon for $102. We used a jumbo channel lock to remove all filters.

 

[GSVette]

Generally echoes my experience with my XR4155HC-I’m not at near the same altitude (3200’) and don’t have to deal with much more than 1-2’ of snow over the winter.

Interested as to which Wix filters you used-I arranged for 2 sets of LS filters (less the HST filter I later learned) so I’m still using LS branded filters. Did my 50 hour about 10 hours back-did end up sourcing a New Holland P/N HST filter as I couldn’t seem to locate the LS P/N version at the time-hence the Wix P/N question.

Glad to hear you’re still happy with yours-continued good experiences to come, I expect (and hope).

 

[Avenger]

Awesome! Thanks for the review! :thumbsup:

 

[neverfailyou]

Generally echoes my experience with my XR4155HC-I’m not at near the same altitude (3200’) and don’t have to deal with much more than 1-2’ of snow over the winter.

Interested as to which Wix filters you used-I arranged for 2 sets of LS filters (less the HST filter I later learned) so I’m still using LS branded filters. Did my 50 hour about 10 hours back-did end up sourcing a New Holland P/N HST filter as I couldn’t seem to locate the LS P/N version at the time-hence the Wix P/N question.

Glad to hear you’re still happy with yours-continued good experiences to come, I expect (and hope).

XR4140H 2017 model with 700+ plus hours here. I’m sharing a ‘lesson learned’ about HST filter.

I had changed filters previously and was planning on doing major maintenance again at 800 hours ahead of heavy use during spring and summer. I had purchased all filters from my dealer as his price is ‘reasonable’.
The other day, just before a rain shower I noticed an oil puddle under the HST filter area. (As a senior citizen, crawling under the tractor is an effort especially with the backhoe still on). The the HST filter had a few small dents and there was lots of fresh hydro oil everywhere. I assumed I had damaged the unprotected filter during use.

After rain stopped and everything dried out, I gathered tools and supplies to replaced ‘damaged’ filter. Applying filter strap wrench to filter, the wrench spun with almost zero effort. The filter was completely loose.

End of a long post, I tightened filter properly (not my first time changing oil filters in my lifetime), checked hydro fluid and started her up. No leaks. Operated her at working RPMs for several minutes while lubing bucket and backhoe. Still no leaks so I called it good.
Lesson... check tightness of HST filter periodically.

 

[Scottybdiving]

Only one function at a time but it's not a big deal unless you are production mode.

Thank you for the review. I have a LS dealer about 10 min from my home and this is the tractor that I am going to look at. Can you explain the "one function at a time"? Are you saying that you can't raise and tilt the bucket at the same time?

 

[Avenger]

Can you explain the "one function at a time"? Are you saying that you can't raise and tilt the bucket at the same time?

I believe that is exactly what he is referring to. With my tractor, which is almost identical, you cannot raise and lower the FEL while dumping or curling the bucket... but yet you can. Let me explain. You can 'feather' the joystick and get a slower response from the fel, a kind of in-between-the-functions as it were. This was a slight issue for me when I first got my tractor, and I believe I address it in one of my earlier videos. But after using the tractor for a few hours, I got used to it. It's slower, to do repetitive scoop and dump tasks, but definitely not a deal breaker for me. I am very happy with my tractor.

 

[Scottybdiving]

I believe that is exactly what he is referring to. With my tractor, which is almost identical, you cannot raise and lower the FEL while dumping or curling the bucket... but yet you can. Let me explain. You can 'feather' the joystick and get a slower response from the fel, a kind of in-between-the-functions as it were. This was a slight issue for me when I first got my tractor, and I believe I address it in one of my earlier videos. But after using the tractor for a few hours, I got used to it. It's slower, to do repetitive scoop and dump tasks, but definitely not a deal breaker for me. I am very happy with my tractor.

Thank you. I knew exactly what you meant by "feathering". I stopped by the dealer and test drove a XR4155. It's really no different than the larger construction FEL's with a joystick bucket control. I was able to raise and dump the bucket at the same time as if I was loading a dump truck or something. I found it acceptable for my needs on my small acreage.