MF 1643 Thinking of Trading for a MF1749 or MF 1754

DeereRack · Mar 22, 2017

I went from a 1643 HST open station to a 1749 power shuttle cab when the 1700 series came out 2 1/2 years ago. Way more power! Cannot say enough good things about my 49. Love it. STRONG loader compared to the 1643 I had. I've lifted nearly 2000 lbs with it. Love the power shuttle over the hydro. Mine came with a nice big heavy bucket too not the little ones that come on them now.

dallen1580 · Jul 4, 2017

Have a 1758 MF with Hydro. What is your experience with Using loader or pulling heavier loads in mid range hydro? Mine seams to have limited torque and will not load engine in mid range. Will not slip tires in 2 wheel drive on grass in mid range, Hydro just slips. Have to shift to low range then and limited to 3.5 MPH.
Have a 58 HP tractor that can't Pull/push loads anything faster than 3.5 MPH.
Does your 1758 hydro have any torque in Mid range?

onionfmr · Jul 4, 2017

dallen1580 said:
Have a 1758 MF with Hydro. What is your experience with Using loader or pulling heavier loads in mid range hydro? Mine seams to have limited torque and will not load engine in mid range. Will not slip tires in 2 wheel drive on grass in mid range, Hydro just slips. Have to shift to low range then and limited to 3.5 MPH.
Have a 58 HP tractor that can't Pull/push loads anything faster than 3.5 MPH.
Does your 1758 hydro have any torque in Mid range?

To answer your question, as I've said before, I have a MF 1754 HST cab tractor. I was in a hurry the other day to move some dirt. Using mid range, the hydro just slipped. Tires never spun! Now, I know what you are talking about! I had to work the pile down by pulling dirt down from the top of the pile, backing up and then scooping it with the bucket. Couldn't just grab a bucket load of dirt and go. Not really impressed with a 54 hp tractor that works like that. I really want to love this tractor, and I think I would, if it just worked like a 54 hp tractor.

Over the weekend, after consulting with my dealer, I changed the hydo fluid to Massey's new semi synthetic 821XL, replaced the hydro filter and cleaned the suction pleated filter and screen. Well, I think that made my problem worse! Three times today while sickle bar mowing, I went to go in reverse and all the tractor did was buck. Also, at idle, I now have a high pitched whistle. Really! I'm not getting a lot of ideas from my dealer on this. I'm thinking of having them send a tech out and check pump pressures. My concern right along has been that it is some type of cavitation with the pump or pump failure. After talking to several dealers, apparently this will mean splitting the tractor.

Looking for some feedback from others with Massey HST tractors. When you first start your tractor, after it reaches temperature, have you ever just pushed the forward hydro pedal to the floor and run it. I always keep my speed dial set the same. For example, when I do this the digital speedometer will show 6.6 to 6.7 MPH. When I do this an hour later, tractor will be a 6.0 to 6.2 MPH. All setting the same. Dealer thinks that this is heat affecting the reader for the speedo or the computer. I think it is the pump. Anybody else ever tried this or noticed this? So, tractor gets slower the more that it is run?

TSO · Jul 9, 2017

Here's a couple vids i made last year with my 1652. In Med range, pushing into a pile of dirt and loading the bucket as full as possible. That's an aftermarket 72" skid steer bucket, and close to a yard when fully heaped like this (close to 2000 lbs). The other vid is going up a 15 ft hill with a fairly steep incline, with that loaded bucket... In Med range, and then in Low range, for comparison.

Point is... The 16xx series seems to have more power. Likely that has to do with computer settings with the new 17xx series, as the 16xx series are mechanical, not computer driven. I can't imagine that they changed to a lesser pump in the new series tractors, so it's got to be something related to programming and should be able to be fixed fairly easily.

HST into pile - YouTube
HST hill demo - YouTube

onionfmr · Jul 20, 2017

UPDATE - I've posted when I've had issues. Thought that I would post with a good day of work. I ran the MF1754 for six hours today sickle bar mowing up and down berms, ditches and some field work. Nary a hiccup! This is all I was asking of the tractor in the first place! Sure feels good to be able to do a job w/o the tractor crapping out! If this tractor would just run like today, I could really like this tractor! Got to be careful, don't want to jinx myself! I did find another problem with the fuel line (kinked again) into the primary filter. Repositioned the fuel line before today's work.

onionfmr · Jul 22, 2017

onionfmr said:
UPDATE - I've posted when I've had issues. Thought that I would post with a good day of work. I ran the MF1754 for six hours today sickle bar mowing up and down berms, ditches and some field work. Nary a hiccup! This is all I was asking of the tractor in the first place! Sure feels good to be able to do a job w/o the tractor crapping out! If this tractor would just run like today, I could really like this tractor! Got to be careful, don't want to jinx myself! I did find another problem with the fuel line (kinked again) into the primary filter. Repositioned the fuel line before today's work.

2nd UPDATE - ran the tractor for 7 hours yesterday bush hogging. Again, nary a problem. Yippee! Don't want to jinx myself in anyway! If this continues, I could really start liking this tractor! As a note, this is the first time in 106 hours and approximately 10 months of operation that two days in a row the tractor ran without issue.

woolyAcres · Jul 22, 2017

Glad to hear this is working like it should. Do you attribute this to the kinked fuel lines? Fluid change? Change in lifestyle?

onionfmr · Jul 22, 2017

woolyAcres said:
Glad to hear this is working like it should. Do you attribute this to the kinked fuel lines? Fluid change? Change in lifestyle?

Change in lifestyle, I don't understand? I only run it now when the wind is blowing out of the south! LOL. Really, I'm guessing it is a combination of things. Changed the appropriate hydro filters twice. Cleaned all suction screens and pleated filters twice. Switched to Massey semi-synthetic hydraulic oil and fixed the fuel line that was kinked in two different places. I think that the kinks in the fuel line would get worse with heat and heat soak which caused the kinks to collapse and shut off fuel. Only a guess. If I ran for only an hour or so. Tractor was fine. If I ran for 4 or 5 hours straight, I would end up sitting in a field with a stalled engine. Tractor wouldn't restart. The other main issue was loss of reverse. Run for a couple of hours, tractor would not want to go in reverse. It acted like parking brake was set. There have been other safety issues, like bad hydo pedal switch. Tractor would intermittently move in forward or reverse on it'so own without touching the pedals. There have been other issues like jumping out of gear and freewheeling on hills. I think that I may have sorted it out now, hopefully! KNOCK WOOD! This tractor has been extremely annoying at best! For me, when I buy what I'm told by dealers/manufacturer is a premium tractor, I expect it to work right out of the box! I don't mind a minor blip here or there, which there were several that I never mentioned. But, when I get comments that they all do that (stall and won't restart) or you need more RPMs for reverse (2400 RPMs) isn't enough, seriously! I also find it annoying that a tractor is delivered with 1 1/2 gallons overfilled hydraulics and several zerk fittings bone dry! Living where I live, doing what we do, I need this tractor to work! It isn't a toy or a nice to have thing on the property or something to play around with because I have nothing else to do! For the quality control to be this bad on a new tractor is beyond ridiculous! It is great when it works and I just hope that it keeps working!

I will say that the Massey semi-synthetic hydraulic oil sure seems to make loader bucket hydraulics and remote hydraulics run a lot smoother as compared to Massey conventional oil.

As a side note, I wasn't intending to just post threads to complain about this tractor. I was looking for some input/ideas as to what other people thought might be wrong or similar problems/issues with possible solutions. Having a brand new tractor that I can't count on to run or will be sitting at a dealership for repairs for an indefinite time period isn't what I would consideration a premium tractor!