Grass cutting and rpm question tc40

THARN · Sep 11, 2003

Hi everyone- Iv'e had my tc 40 for over a week now and am very happy with it- I have used it mostly for moving gravel and digging with the FEL- but for practice i hooked up the 72Inch finish mower and started cutting-
I read in the manual not to run the engine high-Believe it or not I did most of the digging and gravel work in the lowest throttle, So i am not quite sure what gear and throttle is safe and works best for the rear deck.
thanks ahead of time.
THARN

buckeye · Sep 11, 2003

THARN:

I have a TC40 with a similar setup. The gear you are going to use will naturally depend upon the terrain you wish to mow. I have some hill and some flat. I typically use Mid Range 4th gear for all of my mowing -- it really cuts the time off the job. When I have alot of turning of some more difficult terrain, I'll go down to Mid Range 3rd. When I am around ditches or other such animals, I use Mid Range 2nd - other gears are too fast and a ditch can grab you quickly. I usually keep the RPMs at the PTO speed or just a little under.

I have a 72" Bush Hog Finish mower and it does well at all the gears mentioned above. Just keep your blades sharp and you will do fine. Good luck. Give yourself about 30-40 hours on the TC40 and I believe you'll find you made an excellent buy.

jinman · Sep 11, 2003

Tharn, most rear PTO implements are recommended to be run at 540 rpm. That equates to an engine speed (throttle) of about 2600 to 2700 rpm. You would choose the gear for the speed that works best. Most new users (including me) tend to not want to run their tractor at a high enough rpm for the 540 light to come on in the lower right of the instrument panel, but that is what NH recommends and that is where I run mine all the time. I won't tell you that you may overstress your tractor at lower rpm, but your mower will not be running at its rated speed. Give it a try; you may find it works even better. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

jcollins · Sep 11, 2003

The engines in all tractors are designed to run at a speed high enough to turn the PTO shaft at 540 rpm 80 - 90 percent of the time. Which in your case would equate to 2500 + rpms. This part of the reason you do not want to run regular automotive oil these engines. Car engines are designed to run at 40% of available horsepower while tractor engines are designed to run at 90% of available horsepower. Just a plug for NH branded fluids. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

DavidJ · Sep 12, 2003

<font color="blue"> I read in the manual not to run the engine high </font>

If this is the same statement that's in my manual. I read that statement several times before I read it correctly. According to my manual under break-in procedures it states "Avoid prolonged operation at either high or low engine speeds without a load on the engine". I kept reading it and mentally leaving off the "without a load on the engine" part.

As for what speed to rune the mower. I would suggest running the engine at whatever speed required to achieve 540 rpm at the PTO.

EagleEye · Sep 12, 2003

Jim, I have the TC35 with the 16LA.... reading your post was like describing how I use mine as well... Thanks for the sanity check /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

THARN · Sep 13, 2003

Thanks everyone for the replies:
Jinman- I think I'm feeling the same way you did at first- I have'nt had the throttle but to half way to the 540 pto range yet- I was just testing the mower for a bit- next year when season comes in I'll put it up to 540 range...man thats some serious power_ I think I bought a bigger tractor than i need.lol But every one on my road is drooling /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Today I took it out to the road and pushed my mailbox post back into place...so many uses..so little time..
I'll try and get the pic format to work and post a couple...
Thanks again all.
THARN