Another question

[milkman13]

Dealer says when running the mower or another piece of equipment always have the rpm's high. Book says don't run full blast till broke in. How high should I be running my rpm's while mowing??? Also while mowing my temperate gauge went over half way. What was I doing wrong there. How long should you mow before giving it a break???When I went to leave to make the 2 mile trek back to where I'm parking it till we get the house built, It cooled off kinda like it didn't like the mower running. I hope you all will make allowances for me as I've never worked on anything like a car or a tractor or anything like thisbefore. New experience. I'll have lots of question in the future I'm sure. Also someone told me today I should remove the FEL unless I'm using it as it's easier on the engine. Should I???? Here's a picture of my baby if it goes through.

 

[chrisjbell]

Nice looking tractor. Looks a lot like mine /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

You don't run the tractor wide open, in general. But you do need to keep the revs up, like they say. You should have a little tick mark on your tachometer marked "540" or something like that. That indicates the engine RPM that turns your rear PTO at 540 RPM, which is the speed that most rear implements should run at. I'd suggest using that mark to set your mowing RPMs, even though you're running the mid PTO.

As far as the overheating... Normally you should be able to mow until you run out of fuel - it gets *hot* here in the summer (over 100) and I haven't overheated even in that (well, except for the time that something caught the drain cock on the cooling system and emptied it for me and I didn't notce /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif). What I don't know is if halfway up is a problem - it may not be.

But here are some things to keep an eye on, regardless. Keep the screen in front of the radiator clean. If you mow "fuzzy stuff" it can get clogged but fast. Don't over-rev the motor. And don't bog it down too much, either (contradictory or what? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif). If you do overheat, you can open the hood (engine running) and spray water on the radiator - but NOT the engine block (you can crack it). That'll cool it pretty quick.

So you shouldn't overheat, but I'm not sure if you are or not.

As far as taking the FEL off - sure, if you want to. But easier on the engine? I doubt it makes much difference. The extra weight is well within what your tractor can handle - the tractor was designed to operate with the bucket on and filled with heavy stuff.

 

[hayden]

Youdon't need to baby your tractor. It's made to work and to work hard. Now this doesn't mean you should abuse it, but working it hard is fine.

Assessing temp gauge positions is real hard since they are all different. In general a diesel produces much more of a swing in heat from low load to heavy load than a gas engine. Temp going up under hard work conditions is not in itself a problem. A wider than normal swing does indicate a problem, it's just real hard to say what's "normal". Other 7800 owners might be able to chime in with how thier gauges behave for comparison.

Are you cutting particularly heavy grass or is it hot outside? Have you checked the coolant level and fan belt tension? Any of these, plus the previously noted checks for debris blocking the radiator could contribute to greater heating.

Regarding RMPs, breakin, and moving - yes, you're kind of stuck. 540 RPM speed is typically around 2600 RPM, which is thespeed you should run for mowing, setting aside the break-inperiod. For thebreak-in I'd suggest running it from 1800 up to the 540 RPM speed, working it up each week over the course of the break-in period. And also go easy on the workload (contrary to what I said up front). This will work it up to full load over time.

 

[Boone]

The B7500 guys posted about operating temps last year. The general rule was that they seemed to run cool, and handled the weather heat very well. Take it easy and let it breakin a bit, I'm sure you are going to be very happy.

Dumb move last night:
Just started to pull the 5 foot rake at a 1/2 inch depth, through the mule pasture and went through a shallow dip at a 90 degree angle. The dip caused the rake to dig in deep. Raised the rake after coming to a quick stop, yeah to late. Stuck in the soft ground. Went and got the Suzuki Samurai and a snatch strap and it was out in a second. Finished raking three acres in a hour, pretty good job by the B7500.

 

[chrisjbell]

<font color="blue"> 540 RPM speed is typically around 2600 RPM, which is thespeed you should run for mowing, setting aside the break-inperiod. For thebreak-in I'd suggest running it from 1800 up to the 540 RPM speed, working it up each week over the course of the break-in period. </font>

Good advice, and I'll second it. The other thing that came to mind is that you might want to vary your engine speed somewhat during break-in. I don't have a great explaination about "why" but most of my cars suggest not keeping a steady speed while breaking in and I would think it would also apply to tractors.

But quite frankly, I doubt you can do much damage unless you overrev the engine.

 

[theboman]

My beef with the B7500HST is the darn air flow, it's backwards to the rest of the world.

Keep an eye on the temp guage, at about 1/2 way is okay when mowing, but knocking the dust off the grill and the inner screen in from of the radiator will drop the temps back to 1/4 on the guage. I keep a 2" paint brush under my seat to clean the grill with if I notice the temps a rising, or when I stop to move stuff in the way when temps are about normal.

Breaking in the tractor. Running the PTO at the proper speed is not excessive RPMs for the break in period. Just get it above the 540 RPM line on the tach. NO wide open throttle.
When driving the tractor to and fro vary the throttle speeds from trip to trip.

I love by B7500, one of these days I'll take a pic of part of the yard, the garden and the hill. If I had to do it over again, I'd buy a B7500HST.

 

[froggy]

Totally agree with the advice from hayden and chrisjbell .

 

[milkman13]

Yea I went back and mowed somemore today and it started to overheat and I had to clean the radiator screen and it cooled right down. Lessons learned

 

[chrisjbell]

Yeah, theboman is dead on. The way they set up the screens on those things stinks. Those deep, wide holes with screen at the bottom really hold in the stuff. Keeping a brush is a good idea - I usually use my gloves to brush 'em off, or hit them with the hose (I put hoses on my irrigation lines all over the property).

They clog up fast, and when they do, the temp goes up faster...

"War story": We have these really obnoxious weeds that have a big old puffball on the end - they're a cross between dandelions and artichokes. Nasty creatures. I'm making headway each season and there are fewer and fewer, but the first year that I mowed I let them go to seed /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif and there were lots of them out there. I overheated the tractor, and then after I cooled it down had to stop every 10 minutes or so and clean out those stupid grills. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif