Earthforce EF-500/I-R BL575 update

MossRoad · Jun 9, 2003

the EF-500 with a 56hp Kubota turbo-diesel is averaging .536 over the 290 hours I've got on it so far. 

That's amazing fuel economy!

Schultz · Jun 9, 2003

My 18hp Ingersoll gulps more gas than that. Mowing for an hour & half will use around 2 gallons.

JATO_RaT · Jun 9, 2003

Beats everything I have including my little L3830 HST. I'm not exactly sure what it gets within a 1/10th of a gallon much less too the 1/1000th. I'd say anything under a gallon an hour though is doing pretty good. Rat...

MChalkley · Jun 19, 2003

Well, as I said, I can't figure it out, either. After all the tweaking done to it a few weeks ago, I put 35.5 hours on it last week, including quite a bit of very hard digging. The fuel consumption for that tank was 17.8 gal, for an average of .501 gph. Amazin', ain't it? Just imagine how well it would do if it didn't have one of those inefficient hydrostatic transmissions. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

_RaT_ · Jun 19, 2003

It probably would be making fuel for you! Man Chalkey, I saw your tractor at our local Bobcat dealer, it's quite the setup. Those stinkin HST transmissions, man are they ever stinkin nice. I cannot understand why everyone but the few farmer types would not go that way. Out here in my area, my local JD/Kubota dealer pretty much only sells HST tractors. I think were ahead of our times out here. Your EF5is2Cool. Rat...

How are those cheesy Michelins holding up?

Bird · Jun 19, 2003

I think one of your neighbors is putting fuel in it at night; now wait until he starts taking some out at night. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Glad to hear from you again, Mark.

MChalkley · Jun 20, 2003

RaT - The "cheesy" Michelins are doing just fine. It's monsoon season here in VA (we never used to have a monsoon season, but that's the only thing that makes any sense, the way the weather is these days) so I got to test them out in 6"+ deep mud last week. They did extremely well.

It's weird how much a part perception plays in running equipment, though. I was beginning to think the tweaks I'd made to the hydrostatic had compromised the power a bit, because it wasn't digging holes with all four wheels when I dug into a big packed topsoil pile and the traction was good. Then I realized I wasn't dealing with the same tires. Those radials are a bit harder to spin!

Having differentials front and rear, it will get stuck if you lose traction completely on opposite sides of both axles at the same time. I've got a rear locker kit for it, but I haven't installed it yet.

Which model did you see at a Bobcat dealer? Was it a used one?

MChalkley · Jun 20, 2003

( I think one of your neighbors is putting fuel in it at night; now wait until he starts taking some out at night.)

It's definitely beginning to look that way, isn't it? What worries me is: that means he's figured out the combination to the fuel tank lock and it's the same as my ATM PIN code! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Seriously, though, I can't understand it. The thing will lift three times what the L4310 would, even with the bigger lift cylinders. It weighs a couple thousand more pounds, even though I had those monster tires on the L4310 filled with liquid ballast. They were both hydrostatic. It's using an engine with 13 more horsepower and burning a third less fuel. It's almost got to have something to do with the turbo.

_RaT_ · Jun 20, 2003

I think it was the new version of yours, new and sitting out front enjoying our 80 degree days of sun. Next time I'll try to write down the number, had it said EF XXX I would have remembered. It was way more tractor then I could use right now. Rat...

MossRoad · Jun 20, 2003

Hey Mark,
How about a quick refresher as to what the engine is in that unit(manufacturer, displacment, cylinders, etc...). Not too long, of course /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif