4035 HST gutless!!

DavesTractor · Jul 31, 2013

All HST units, to work their best, need to have quite a bit of RPM. It's a pump, it puts out a certain amount per revolution. Take a Bobcat skid-steer, they are dogs if you try to idle up to a pile of dirt and take a big scoop, they are designed to be at or near rated HP RPM, and they rock and roll at those speeds. An HST tractor is similar. A gear tractor is an entirely different animal, if you have low enough gears you can pull a house down at idle.

I still say lets take the mystery out of this and get some hard numbers on a dyno. If it dynos strong, we look for dragging brakes or some other power robbing issue. If it dynos weak, we fix the problem.

I'm not against taking another similar unit out to the customer and hooking onto his mower and trying it, that is a good solution if a dyno isn't available.

IronHorsePilot · Aug 21, 2013

Ok, sorry its taken so long to get this posted but life has been crazy busy lately. I agreed to take the tractor up to the dealer so they could run it on the dyno. They ran it for 15-20 minutes and it was a steady 31.5-32 PTO HP which is exactly what the tractor is rated for. 40 engine and 31.5 PTO. Surprised the **** out of me to be honest. Next the service tech drove it over to a loading dock and put the FEL against the concrete wall and went through a test of force. At first it kind of made me nervous but the manager said dont worry, if he breaks it well fix it. He went through H-M & L gears trying to spin the tires on concrete. After a little hopping etc he was done with his test and came back and said it runs just like it should. Theres no HP problem or hydraulic drive problem.. So, last resort was to take some of the RimGuard out of the tires. Had to take it to a commercial RimGuard until the it was left at the base with the valve stem at he bottom of the wheel. Tire guy said that should be about 20 gal per tire left. I will say the tire shop bought the RimGuard back. They are cutting me a check for the RimGuard they removed.

Well, I got the tractor home and ran it up and down the hills on my property without my mower (to hot outside to hook it up) and I have to say, it does a bit better. It will still bog down but I guess thats the Hydro.

I guess I will just have to get used to feathering the Hydro pedal to go up and down the hills. Ive tried altering my mowing to go across the hill but thats not always possible

Thanks for all the suggestions. Ultimately Im satisfied with the dealer and what they went through to make me happy.

IronHorsePilot · Aug 21, 2013

Ok, sorry its taken so long to get this posted but life has been crazy busy lately. I agreed to take the tractor up to the dealer so they could run it on the dyno. They ran it for 15-20 minutes and it was a steady 31.5-32 PTO HP which is exactly what the tractor is rated for. 40 engine and 31.5 PTO. Surprised the **** out of me to be honest. Next the service tech drove it over to a loading dock and put the FEL against the concrete wall and went through a test of force. At first it kind of made me nervous but the manager said dont worry, if he breaks it well fix it. He went through H-M & L gears trying to spin the tires on concrete. After a little hopping etc he was done with his test and came back and said it runs just like it should. Theres no HP problem or hydraulic drive problem.. So, last resort was to take some of the RimGuard out of the tires. Had to take it to a commercial RimGuard until the it was left at the base with the valve stem at he bottom of the wheel. Tire guy said that should be about 20 gal per tire left. I will say the tire shop bought the RimGuard back. They are cutting me a check for the RimGuard they removed.

Well, I got the tractor home and ran it up and down the hills on my property without my mower (to hot outside to hook it up) and I have to say, it does a bit better. It will still bog down but I guess thats the Hydro.

I guess I will just have to get used to feathering the Hydro pedal to go up and down the hills. Ive tried altering my mowing to go across the hill but thats not always possible

Thanks for all the suggestions. Ultimately Im satisfied with the dealer and what they went through to make me happy.

Sysop · Aug 21, 2013

It does take some getting used to the "ease off the foot to climb better" operation of HST when used to geared tractors, but in many instances the positive points of HST outweigh the slight loss of power versus gear drive.

Good to hear your dealer made ya happy!

DavesTractor · Aug 22, 2013

I remember on one of the first HST tractors I ever sold, I delivered it to a guy with a very steep long driveway. I had to park the delivery truck at the bottom of the hill and drive the tractor up to his place. The steeper it got, the more I pressed on the pedal and the worse the power became. Took me a while to realize that pressing the pedal further was similar to grabbing a higher gear. It does take some getting used to for sure.

Sounds like the dealer did a proper inspection and took good care of you.