50 hour regen won't finish?

[jethroish]

Yesterday while using my 55, it hit the magical 50 hour mark. When I got it back to the barn, it had 50.3 hours and dash symbol showed in an automatic regen. I left it run for about 20 minutes. The regen icon never went away. Called the local RK tech, he said to bring RPM up to 1500 and it should finish up quickly. Automatic regen occurs on the 55s during use, unlike the 37s, or so I am told. After 45 minutes at 1500 rpm, was still indicating a regen. The DPF and exhaust pipe were not overly hot. Called the tech again. He was baffled. At his agreement, I put the engine back to idle for about 5 minutes then shut it down for the night. RK tech is getting me on the books to come hook up his laptop.

This morning, I turned the key on to see if a regen icon came up, but it did not. HOWEVER, on the display screen was "START CHECK." I have never seen that before either.
Don't know if anyone else has experienced any of the above. If so, what did you do next?

 

[markie61]

he said to bring RPM up to 1500 and it should finish up quickly. Automatic regen occurs on the 55s during use, unlike the 37s, or so I am told. After 45 minutes at 1500 rpm, was still indicating a regen. The DPF and exhaust pipe were not overly hot...
"START CHECK." I have never seen that before either.
Don't know if anyone else has experienced any of the above. If so, what did you do next?

I have had the auto-regen come on during low-speed use, but I bump the revs to 2000 (so it gets good and hot) and keep working; it always goes out after 20-30 minutes in the 4-5 times it's happened over 107hrs of use. Kinda smells different than normal operation too. I've not see "start check" yet and it's not in the manual that I see. Once the tech gives you insight, would you please share here?

 

[jethroish]

Talked to the tech again this morning. The START CHECK is supposed to come up if the the pre-start settings are not noticed per 4-2 of manual. Did nothing different today than any other.
Did start the tractor. There was NO regen symbol. Tech thinks the computer caught up and reset things but he is still going come hook up the computer.

 

[jeff9366]

Yesterday while using my 55, it hit the magical 50 hour mark. When I got it back to the barn, it had 50.3 hours and dash symbol showed in an automatic regen. I left it run for about 20 minutes. The regen icon never went away.

My 37-horsepower, three cylinder Kubota engine requires 2,200 rpm to reach DPF regeneration temperature when stationary/parked. Throttle advance to 2,200 rpm is "coached" by an upward arrow flashing on the tach. Once hot, stationary regeneration @ 2,200 rpm requires a consistent 16 minutes to complete.

Next stationary regeneration, experiment with higher engine rpms. Stationary regeneration fuel cost is only ~~$1.00

Does RK55 manual suggest engine rpms during stationary regeneration?

It seems to me a DPF temperature readout on electronic instrument panels would address many DPF complaints, as would more descriptive technical writing.

 

[Peter 315]

My 37-horsepower, three cylinder Kubota engine requires 2,200 rpm to reach DPF regeneration temperature when stationary/parked. Once hot, regeneration @ 2,200 rpm requires a consistent 16 minutes to complete.

Next stationary regeneration, experiment with higher engine rpms.

Same here and the brakes have to be on when doing a stationary regen..

 

[jethroish]

Peter 315,

This was not a "stationary" regen. The RK55 will do an automatic regen while in use. Just happened that it started the regen while I was using it but did not finish before I was ready to park the tractor. All the "wonderful" manual says is to not turn off tractor while in regen as indicated by the High Temp icon on the panel.

For a stationary regen, the tractor will self adjust the RPM. Appearrantly, it will not transition from Automatic (in use) regen to Stationary regen.

 

[jeff9366]

Peter 315,

This was not a "stationary" regen. The RK55 will do an automatic regen while in use. Just happened that it started the regen while I was using it but did not finish before I was ready to park the tractor. All the "wonderful" manual says is to not turn off tractor while in regen as indicated by the High Temp icon on the panel.

For a stationary regen, the tractor will self adjust the RPM. Apparrantly, it will not transition from Automatic (in use) regen to Stationary regen.

I speculate tractor DPF cooled down during final moments of regeneration period, while your tractor was parked.

 

[Gator6x4]

I have a neighbor who had the Service People out three time because of trying to do a re-gen at idle. The last time they told him the next time it would cost him $150.00. He suddenly remembered the magic number for re-gen is in the 2200 rpm range not idle.

 

[gunny0628]

I ran into similar issues about 50 hours, in now at 70. My first was a regen that was occurring while the tractor was running and I wasn’t sure because the symbols were confusing as per the manual versus what I was seeing on the dash. What it was telling me is that everything was hot enough while I was running the finish mower. I was told to park and run it at full rpms. When in fact all I needed to do was park and turn it off because it was actually hot enough to be complete the regen while I was operating it.

The second time the symbol actually indicated that I needed to complete a regen. I parked and hit the regen button and it completed about 20 minutes later.

Not sure if this will help but there is a post about this a few months back.

 

[jethroish]

Things finally dried up enough that I could give the tractor a proper workout. While working up the riding arena, as soon as I brought the RPM above 1800, the REGEN (hot exhaust) symbol came on. And yea, I could smell it. After about 25 minutes, the symbol disappeared from the dash display and all was good.
Looking back to the original REGEN that got me started on this post, it had not finished when I was done working. At the advisement of the RK tech, I tried to let it finish at 1500 RPM. I am guessing if I would have had it at 2000 RPM, all would have been good.
Lesson learned for all.

 

[Peter 315]

Things finally dried up enough that I could give the tractor a proper workout. While working up the riding arena, as soon as I brought the RPM above 1800, the REGEN (hot exhaust) symbol came on. And yea, I could smell it. After about 25 minutes, the symbol disappeared from the dash display and all was good.
Looking back to the original REGEN that got me started on this post, it had not finished when I was done working. At the advisement of the RK tech, I tried to let it finish at 1500 RPM. I am guessing if I would have had it at 2000 RPM, all would have been good.
Lesson learned for all.

Good luck with the tractor.......:thumbsup:

 

[Pecan Farming]

Good luck with the tractor.......:thumbsup:

I have a little over 300 hours on my RK 55 and it has done a regen I believe 4 or 5 times. I have been "lucky" enough to be in the middle of what ever I was doing and not ready to put up for the day. If I am using the grapple and doing burn piles then I like to run the throttle around 1500. I don't need all the power for grapple work, the hydraulics are responsive at that rpm and the hydro movement forward/reverse is more controllable. However when I see it calling for a regen then I crank the throttle wide up and keep working. It usually takes about 15 minutes it seems like but I have not timed it. I work a little more careful since the tractor is way more responsive (too much for my liking), but it finishes and all has been good. If I am mowing then I am already at PTO RPM so not much different there. It does have the smell that was mentioned earlier. Sometimes I think I smell it before I notice it on the dash.

 

[markie61]

I work a little more careful since the tractor is way more responsive (too much for my liking)

Do you ever mess with the 3-position sensitivity switch? I do depending on what I'm doing - like at the edge of a ditch, want it to stop on a dime when I remove my foot; other times I like coasting to a stop.

Sometimes I think I smell it before I notice it on the dash.

Yup - the nose tells the story!

 

[gunny0628]

Man I completely forgot about that sensitivity switch. I’ll have to try it tomorrow.

Does anyone else use the Auto switch/button?

I find it easier to drive the tractor but the “gas pedal” is very sensitive when I use the auto mode. When auto is off and I use the throttle control, the forward/reverse pedals aren’t as sensitive.

Just curious.

Gunny

 

[Pecan Farming]

Man I completely forgot about that sensitivity switch. I値l have to try it tomorrow.

Does anyone else use the Auto switch/button?

I find it easier to drive the tractor but the å*µas pedal is very sensitive when I use the auto mode. When auto is off and I use the throttle control, the forward/reverse pedals aren稚 as sensitive.

Just curious.

Gunny

If I am close to a ditch I will use the top setting (stops abruptly) and I am usually in low gear, otherwise I run in the middle setting with the transmission in mid gear most of the time, it just feels right to me. I do not like the bottom setting it coasts way too much and has a lag in starting once I press the pedals. On the Auto throttle setting I do not like it at all. I have read several folks like it but it is like the top setting on the response switch to me, way to abrupt for my liking. I just set the rpm for loader work (usually 1500 to 1700 rpm) and I can control the speed and direction smoother with the foot pedals.
What I meant by running it in the middle response setting with full rpm being too abrupt is that at that rpm you have so much power and hydraulic power available that everything gets a bit more responsive and it could just me used to a nice happy medium. I don't like to run my gear tractor (Kubota M4800 50hp) at full rpm when I am changing direction a lot. It sort of does the same thing only worse with the clutch, everything is abrupt when you let off the clutch with all that power available.
It is nice that the RK55 has all those features but maybe I am just a simple guy and the biggest thing I like is the hydro for everything. When I mow around my pecan trees I find that being able to back off the hydro pedal just a bit to slow down I can steer in and around the trees better and then speed up in the open areas. And backing up and going back forward at the corners to get all the grass is the bomb with the hydro and the cab with radio and ac... well that is a different topic all together.

 

[Btown]

Regen needs a hot exhaust, rpm’s need to be over 2000. The manual will probably state that you need to be over 2000 rpms to use the tractor for anything. The tech should have known this. 1500 rpm is way to low.

 

[jethroish]

Regen needs a hot exhaust, rpm’s need to be over 2000. The manual will probably state that you need to be over 2000 rpms to use the tractor for anything. The tech should have known this. 1500 rpm is way to low.

Tha manual only states to not turn off the engine while the regen symbol is displayed.