am I hurting my tractor?

[patrick_g]

Ah, yes, a variation on the Woody Allen comment about ************ causing blindness. He quipped, "How about if I quit when I'm nearsighted?"

Pat

 

[Spiveyman]

I appreciate that. Seriously tho, suppose the 10th dentist said; "If its important to you to eat candy a lot you should rinse your mouth afterward and brush your teeth more often in order to keep the sugar from feeding tooth rot. Thatwill keep your teeth ok, but Id also recommend that you monitor pancreas function, blood sugar, and insulin resistance for indications that you may have to modify your habit." ?
larry

Ha! Funny. I don't really know much about the function of the HST tractors. I only have experience with old gear tractors, so I really don't know what things could mess up in there, but it sure seems wiser to work in a lower gear.

 

[john_bud]

I don't really know much about the function of the HST tractors. I only have experience with old gear tractors, so I really don't know what things could mess up in there, but it sure seems wiser to work in a lower gear.

Actually, the gear chosen is a response to the soil being worked. For economy sake, the highest gear that allows the task to be completed with control is one that should be used. In real soft soils, high gear is fine. That's not the problem, the action of backing up and hammering into an obstacle is the heart of the problem. The hammering is a tremendous shock load to the system and will surely crack one or more expensive parts.

Just my $0.02 adjusted for inflation.

jb

 

[SPYDERLK]

jb, The HST relief prevents shock load to the internal parts. You just see something akin to punching the pedal to the floor when the engine is reved up. The tires either spin or the relief pops. Maybe both. Likewise with hitting a stop or popping the clutch on gear -the tires spin or the clutch slips. Too much traction or clutch, with a low pullpoint to prevent it moving to rear up and somethings gotta give. Tires can wind up a little, but the HST relief wins out hands down in protecting the internal system. Doesnt protect the load points on the frame tho when you hammer an obstacle as you say.
larry

 

[jbrumberg]

BarneyZ's operational technique as originlly posted could not have been a good thing for his tractor's frame . Hammering your tractor is not a good thing . I learned the hard way about hammering your tractor . In my case it was trying to push back my plowed and frozen snow banks during the winter with my old tractor. I broke the welds on my front blade's piston. Unfortunately I may be wading in the shallow end of the human gene pool ; I had to try this exercise twice over time before I truly learned the "lesson" . Jay

 

[Soundguy]

Spyder.. this guy isn't slowly lugging down till his hst stalls.. It's pretty apparrent he's getting a running start with speed and 'ramming the pile' so to speak. As -everybody- else in this thread is concluding.. that behavior is likely to wear the machine out faster than more conventional usage techniques.. not to mention.. he's likely to break something that might not otherwise break if he were not using the 'derby' antics.. etc.

I like using my tractor.. I like using it at full potential.. however...My tractor costs WAY to much to abuse it.

Soundguy

jb, The HST relief prevents shock load to the internal parts. You just see something akin to punching the pedal to the floor when the engine is reved up. The tires either spin or the relief pops. Maybe both. Likewise with hitting a stop or popping the clutch on gear -the tires spin or the clutch slips. Too much traction or clutch, with a low pullpoint to prevent it moving to rear up and somethings gotta give. Tires can wind up a little, but the HST relief wins out hands down in protecting the internal system. Doesnt protect the load points on the frame tho when you hammer an obstacle as you say.
larry

 

[barneyZ]

...snip...
Let us know how it goes?

Good LUCK!

well, I got the job done. Low range, 4 wheel drive, locked transaxle, and the wheels still spun pretty easily. I played with the toplink and discovered a less aggressive angle which seemed to help. I still needed 4-6 passes to get about 12" deep.

A couple problems that I wasn't able to overcome very easily:

1) when the tires spun, they dug in pretty quick through the loose dirt on top. this caused a low spot. On subsequent passes, the tractor would dip into and catch again. I had to be very quick to try and adjust the depth before the tires spun.

2) when trenching around a bend, it was very difficult for subsequent passes to stay in the same line. It seems, when pulling, the tractor tried to straigten itself out, constantly trimming the inside radius of the corner. On particularly hardpacked corners, 5 passes would cause the trench to drift a good 2'.

Anyway, thanks for the advise. The longer I worked at it, the more finesse I discovered and less brute force I needed. I'm saving the rest of the job for next spring when the soil will be softer.

Barney

 

[ToadHill]

Rather than damage the Tractor, I'd take a trip to the rental stor and rent a trencher for about $100 a day. You can easily do 500' in a day.

 

[john_bud]

The longer I worked at it, the more finesse I discovered and less brute force I needed.

Barney

BarneyZ,

Of all the advice given, I think your's in the above line is the most important.


jb

 

[barneyZ]

Rather than damage the Tractor, I'd take a trip to the rental stor and rent a trencher for about $100 a day. You can easily do 500' in a day.

I did that 2 years ago for the front yard sprinklers. I learned that trenchers don't like rocks, and I've got lots of rocks. I also spent $12k on a tractor so renting equipment depresses me. I'd rather take that c-note and put it towards a new attachment. Now, I just have to decide on a field mower, snow plow, tiller, rock rake...