General tractor use questions

Mudhen · Sep 17, 2006

I was using my new box blade yesterday ripping up the ground around my house to get my lawn in...and had a few questions about how I should be running my 2015.

1. I was running it at about 1600rpm (tried slower, tried faster). It seemed to bang around a lot as it caught rocks/logs that were buried in the ground...sometimes the tractor would grab something and slide sideways, a few times it stopped dead. Twice it stalled out. Does that mean I should have been running it slower? Faster? I would only put the scarifiers in the ground a little for the first pass...then all the way down on the second (well, the blade was all the way down, I only had the scarifiers on the second setting), but still it felt like I was really beating on the poor thing. I kept thinking I wanted the revs higher but the tractor speed slower...

2. I had to jump off the tractor a lot to go back and get the big stuff out before I'd push the blade back - since it was just a minute or two off the tractor, I'd just put the brake on. Should I cut the throttle? Put it in neutral? Both? My thought was it's related to the amount of time I'll be off - if I'm using the backhoe for something I assume I leave the throttle up but but the tractor in nuetral?

3. Sometimes when it was really working I'd see some smoke out of it - normal? I noticed it most when I was moving loam and I'd bury the bucket in the pile and try to lift...my technique isn't quite there, so sometimes I'd try to scoop too much and have to back off some.

4. Related to my lawn...after box blading I york raked it...which seemed to strip away a lot of the soil I'd just worked so hard to loosen up. Should I not have done that? And when going around to drop the new loam it now seems like the tractor has hardened the ground all up again - so should I not have used it?

So many questions, I know. I have no clue, and I want to maximize my time working productively and not undoing what I've just done (or breaking my tractor!!). Wait till I try out the old mowing deck I just bought...you guys are in for it

Thanks,

Pat

AchingBack · Sep 17, 2006

Mudhen, are your rear tires filled? How deep is your topsoil? Will it support an 8-10 inch deep root system? Are you incorporating organic matter into it? Just scratching up the first few inches won't yield good results. You will never have a good looking, long lived lawn without abundant humus in the root zone. You saw how the tractor re-compacted the soil. That is because there is no airspace in the soil, and probably poor drainage.

Now, as to your techinique. First, you have the wrong implement for the job. Your really need a rototiller. The boxblade can never go deep enough, nor is it designed to work up a lawn area. However, once the tilling is done, the box blade can be used for leveling - if you are proficient enough. Try back blading with the front end loader full of soil, floating, and set in the curled up position, and forget the boxblade. Or, drag some chainlink fence over your lawn area, or even an extension ladder works very well.

The problem you are describing tells me the tractor is definitely being overtaxed. I don't think you should see smoke coming out of it. That is not normal. Also, two minutes out of the seat with the engine running would not be recommended. See your owners manual.

Mudhen · Sep 20, 2006

The owners manual says to shut the tractor off when you get off it. Unfortunately, I don't live in the courtroom that was written for. It's such a pain to get to the backhoe seat without getting off the tractor...I keep banging my head on the ROPS.

Isn't it better to let diesels idle than shut them off/turn them back on all the time? And when it's running it's cooling, too, right? Which is probably better than shutting it down when it's hot? Just throwing that out there...probably way off base...

Thanks

dieselsmoke1 · Sep 23, 2006

Mudhen,

Here's my thoughts on your questions:

1. 1600 rpm is pretty low on the power curve. Your tractor develops peak HP at 2500 rpm. Drop down a gear and tach it up.

2. I'd suggest you always drop the throttle, set the brake and put in neutral when dismounting. Personally I don't ever leave the engine tached up when I dismount unless I'm powering a stationary atachment. A few minutes of idling vs wear on the starter is the lesser evil in my opinion.

3. Not unusual or bad to see black diesel smoke when the engine is under a heavy load. Watch about any diesel truck and you'll see some. I'd be more concerned if I didn't ever see any black smoke under intermittant maximum loads.

4: I agree with the earlier poster. Sounds like a rototiller would be a good move. 540 rpm PTO and the lowest gear. May take more than one pass to get the tiller down to it's max depth.

My opinion, and you know what they say about opinions

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Good luck and Happy Tractoring