Can I run my FM in 2nd PTO at low RPM's...YM2000

[larhan31031]

I never exceed 1500 RPM's on my YM2000 and I have been wandering if I can use my 5' finishing mower in 2nd PTO at or below those engine RPM's to get close to the 540 needed.I know most people run these beasts at 2200 RPM's,but I just dont like reving anything close to redline...

 

[284 International]

Believe it or not, on these machines you will do more damage and cause more wear by operating at lower RPM with the same load as you will if you operate it at the recommended PTO speed. Lugging the engine is hard on bearings, and higher engine speeds circulate more cooling air, coolant, and keep the implement running where it is intended.

That isn't to say the higher PTO speeds are useless or harmful when properly used, but go ahead and run the engine at 22-2400 RPM. You're not going to hurt anything except everybody's ears.

 

[California]

I sometimes do that for powering the backhoe. It is labelled 800 rpm maximum and I can maintain below 540 at about 1200 tach rpm. It's nicer to work with a gentle purr. But that only needs about 5 horsepower.

IMHO you could do that only if the finish mower doesn't put a noticeable load on the engine. If it needs some horsepower to run it, then like 284 said stay at the intended rpm so it works without strain. The tractor is designed for it, they just didn't consider how hard that racket is on the operator. So put on good hearing protection. You won't feel a thing and you can be sure you are doing the best thing for the tractor.

 

[winston1]

I am probably wrong but I do run mine in 2nd pto at about 15-1600 rpm with my mowers when cutting is not heavy. I do pay attention to the load I am putting on the engine. I can tell you this much, my Woods RD60 finish mower with the high lift blades will just about load it. I have flattened the lift on a set of blades and it is amazing how much it lessens the load. I'm not saying the blades will cut as clean as the high lift although I can tell very little difference. I am not recommending everybody go out and do this. Just sharing what I have experienced. Another tidbit, in dusty conditions the low lift blades are great. And noise level is much less.

I got way off your subject matter but just trying to shed a little light on why I am able to run in 2nd pto range. Definitely don't want to lug your tractor.

 

[larhan31031]

Yeah 284 these boogers are loud enough at 1200,and the neighbors already hear me when I fire it up,so I gotta keep the noise down,and I mainly use it for light stuff around my yard so I never needed that much power to start with but I could'nt say no to a good deal.I figured that around 1200rpms in 2nd Pto was around 540rpms since I tried it briefly yesterday,and it sounded about right,and without straining the motor at all(mainly maintaining thin grass),but I wanted to make shure about it before using it continuously.Thanks Yall...

 

[clemsonfor]

When i use the 6ft bushhog FM i could never run it at 1500rpm, the slightes thick clump or taller stuff will stall it out or pull the rpms down way low which is not good for a deisel engine. I do only cut a few times a year in the yard at the farm property so its not my weekly or biweekly yard cutting. I will usually bushhog the fields at around 2000-2200rpms, anything less and you just cant produce the power to turn the blades through the thick stuff, not everything but if i change rpm just for thick stuff it will be constant. Fields will be ankle tall one spot and waist deep another.

I think you may have a serious carbon problem never exceding 1500 honestly.

I think the manual calls 1200 a fast idle but i cant remember now?

 

[California]

The manual for these (YM240) doesn't use English the same way we do. I think it says 'fast idle' is 2600. And minimum idle somewhere down around 600~700.

They specify working rpm (I assume they mean significant load) 1800 to 2400. I take that to mean don't let it attain full load, where it can lose rpm, below 1800.

But I don't see anything wrong with driving around unloaded etc as low as 1200 rpm so long as it runs effortlessly.

 

[clemsonfor]

The manual for these (YM240) doesn't use English the same way we do. I think it says 'fast idle' is 2600. And minimum idle somewhere down around 600~700.

They specify working rpm (I assume they mean significant load) 1800 to 2400. I take that to mean don't let it attain full load, where it can lose rpm, below 1800.

But I don't see anything wrong with driving around unloaded etc as low as 1200 rpm so long as it runs effortlessly.

Id agree with the last state ment as well as the middle. You dont want to be bushhogging at 2200rpm and then get in thick stuff and run it down to 1400 rpm, this is supposedly really hard on the bearings and can "hammer" them out from what i have heard deisel guys say.

Anyway if your not laboring at 1200 or 1300 id say your ok. For Hydro work like your doing with a back hoe i dont think this is a problem, but if your citting grass i find it really hard to think that at 1200 your not laboring the engine, unless you cut grass every 4 days around here? If i put the tractor in say high 3 it will drop rpms at that level just going up a decent hill let alone turning a finishmower cutting grass.

This is all im saying. I really dont think running equiptment in its designed range in this case say 2000rpm that your doing anyharm to it vs running at 1200.

 

[nazbom2]

I bush hog about 1800-2000 RPM's and mostly never bogs down, maybe only occaisionaly when hit a thick patch after a long interval between mows. However, I have a question, back in the day I used to help the neighbors by bush hogging fields for them. I was bush hogging a friend's dad's old cattle fields one year and hit several areas where it would bog. I would throttle up to keep RPM's up and the tractor would really be working. Black smoke would come out of the exhaust for a moment untill I got through the thick patch. How bad is it to momentarily have that black exhaust? It wasn't a common or regular event but it sure did impress me and my friend as to how awesome the Yanmar was!

 

[clemsonfor]

I bush hog about 1800-2000 RPM's and mostly never bogs down, maybe only occaisionaly when hit a thick patch after a long interval between mows. However, I have a question, back in the day I used to help the neighbors by bush hogging fields for them. I was bush hogging a friend's dad's old cattle fields one year and hit several areas where it would bog. I would throttle up to keep RPM's up and the tractor would really be working. Black smoke would come out of the exhaust for a moment untill I got through the thick patch. How bad is it to momentarily have that black exhaust? It wasn't a common or regular event but it sure did impress me and my friend as to how awesome the Yanmar was!

Black smoke means that your really laboring and making power. Its not bad but i would not want to be blowing black smoke the entire time say an hour of two but for periods even balck for say 20 mins while pulling a plow hard is not bad, your working it.

Have you ever seen a buldozer or any kind of heavy equiptment, when they load up they blow darker smoke.

A side note as long as your rpms are kept up while the black is coming out your fine, if you drop to say 1300rpms from 2000rpms that is very bad and hard on the engine. But as long as you have more throttle to give it more fuel or your govener has more gitty up to give to it and you relitivly maintain your rpms your not hurting anything.