MT160D

[Capricious]

Saturday I found time to install water temp. and oil pressure gauges on the Mitsubishi tractor:



"Hot rodders" would not call this a "sanitary" installation.

Considered trying to keep the warning lights but decided to simplify things and installed the senders in the "idiot" light sender locations

Also have a voltage gauge but did not have the time to deal with it. Also, did not and probably will not install the gauge lights. Taped up the openings for the lights to try to keep dust out of the gauges.


Sunday I went brush hogging:



I off-loaded in a ravine- did not even have to use the ramps.


Cutting 10-months of growth:







Highest temp I saw was about 170 degrees; lowest oil pressure was about 43 lbs or so, with a hot engine @ idle:




For some reason the engine will not idle down to below about 1250 when hot, whereas it should idle down to 900, which it will do when cold.


Used the differential lock a lot. The pedal is pretty rusted and won't release- have to reach down and pull it up, but not a big hassle. Used 4WD a few times just to get out of holes, but could have easily gotten by without it. Didn't really even need the diff. lock, but if you have a toy you play with it.

Used #1/ high most of the time (3 speed with high/low). In some really thick areas had to drop down to #3/ low. Got pretty good at shifting back and forth fast enough so that the cutter would not spool-down. By the way, I don't know how it is supposed to be done, but in starting from a dead stop I would go to neutral, engage the PTO, engage the clutch and hit the foot throttle to "spool-up" the cutter, then disengage the clutch, shift into gear, engage the clutch and advance the hand throtttle to get proper PTO rpm's. Thought that would be easier on the machine than to try to start the cutter and the tractor moving all at once.

There is too much of a ratio difference between #3/low and #1/high; manual says about 1.8 mph vs about 3.1 mph.

Didn't get it all cut, but got a lot done:












Need to look into the idle rpm issue, and the valves are noisy.

 

[oliver28472]

Where did you put the temp sender?

 

[Capricious]

Where did you put the temp sender?

Same hole the "idiot" light sender came out of.

Did the same with the oil gauge.

 

[techwrtr2]

I probably ought to install a set of similar gauges on my old Beaver, particularly since the idiot lights died a long time ago.

 

[Capricious]

It was a pretty simple job, since I obviously did not care what the installation looked like.

The oil hole threads would have caused me issues, but Oliver28472 had already posted the part number of the correct adapter.

I was worried about hooking up the oil pressure gauge- I was afraid that I would see something i did not want to see, like real low pressure. I get about 43 lbs @ a real fast idle of about 1250, so I'm guessing I will have about 38 to 40 @ the 900 it should idle at. Get about 60 to 65 @ about 2500, which is PTO speed. Not real great but could be a lot worse.

 

[techwrtr2]

It's an older tractor with a dubious maintenance history. I'd say the oil pressure is pretty darn good. That gauge set looks to be around $30 or so, not a bad investment.

 

[Capricious]

Was looking to see if I had "before" & "after" photos. These two, while not exactly aligned, show pretty-much the same area:

 

[skylarkguy]

That gage installation looks good. I have been contemplating something similar. It kind of slid down the to do list, and I find gages often ludicrously expensive for what they are.

Looks like your machine will mow that property out really well. You might even have more fun doing it The biggest hassle will be trailering it back and forth. Any chance you could have a 20 foot inter-modal truck box dropped there to use as a garage? It might be stout enough to keep out the tweakers.

 

[Capricious]

techwrtr2 hit the gauge price on the nose: 30 bucks on Amazon, plus about 8 bucks for the oil sender adapter.

Trailering is a hassle, and I have seriously considered a shipping container for storage, but another issue is maint. & repairs, which I can do at home when I have a little free time. If the tractor is 200 miles away, then I have to devote some of the limited amount of time I can spend "on site" to working *on* the tractor, and not working *the* tractor.

Have also considered a shipping container for a lockable, secure cabin. One can find some pretty interesting adaptations on the internet.

Since the land joins a lot of public property (Corp of Engineers) I get a lot of people roaming around out there, especially during hunting seasons. Fencing would help, but that is yet another project, and at the moment I am having a hard time just keeping the weeds & brush cut!

 

[techwrtr2]

If you had a cabin there, you could make a weekend of the visit. And plan to bring the tractor home during the winter maybe etc. I think having to drive 200 miles to mow the grass would be a serious hassle regardless of how I cut it. But that's me. I'm not exactly fond of long drives.

 

[techwrtr2]

Was looking to see if I had "before" & "after" photos. These two, while not exactly aligned, show pretty-much the same area:

View attachment 390695





View attachment 390696

Those bushes it looks like you mowed around center of picture, they aren't bush honeysuckle are they?

 

[Capricious]

If you had a cabin there, you could make a weekend of the visit. And plan to bring the tractor home during the winter maybe etc. I think having to drive 200 miles to mow the grass would be a serious hassle regardless of how I cut it. But that's me. I'm not exactly fond of long drives.

Oh, it is a hassle. No doubt. I had been making weekend trips, spending Saturday nights camped out in the back of the truck, although to do that I have to unload all my gear (chainsaws, shovel, axe, tools, cooler, etc.) and tarp it on the ground. In 2012 I made 14 trips down there, all but one were 2-day trips. 27 days working on site- almost a month. But back then I was re-clearing several years of growth. I'm now pretty much at the point where I just need to "hold what I got."

With the rotary cutter I really only need to cut it once a year (although twice would be better) vs. mowing it several times when I was cutting with the Sears garden tractor, so that will cut down on the driving quite a bit, which was the goal. I don't really care for long drives, either. Plus it costs money to make a 400 mile round trip. I am hoping the reduced number of trips will more-or-less pay for this old tractor & cutter over the next few years.

I considered trying to hire someone to cut it, but then I would still need to go down and make sure they did what they were supposed to do.

 

[Capricious]

Those bushes it looks like you mowed around center of picture, they aren't bush honeysuckle are they?

I wouldn't know how to identify them.

But what that is, is a big pile of half-burned logs/debris from the bulldozing a decade ago.

I have several such debris piles, and have been slowing dismantling them, as well as slowing picking up and piling the rocks.
That smaller growth in lower center is a rock pile.

Yea, I know how to have a good time.

 

[Capricious]

Those bushes it looks like you mowed around center of picture, they aren't bush honeysuckle are they?

You know, 90% (or more) of the stuff I am dealing with I can not identify. I have just learned what stuff to stay away from, such as trees with big thorns (maybe locust, maybe something else, I don't know.)

 

[oliver28472]

I came through St. Louis a week ago yesterday. If I had been thinking I would have brought my spare (used but OK) ignition switch for you. I was in Boonville for the Steam Engine show. Have friends in Fulton.

 

[Capricious]

I came through St. Louis a week ago yesterday. If I had been thinking I would have brought my spare (used but OK) ignition switch for you. I was in Boonville for the Steam Engine show. Have friends in Fulton.

A long way from NC.

I used to go to swap meets of a different type, but have not had the time in recent years. Missed one this past weekend:

Quincy Classic Boat & Outboard Show - Home

I need to run the tractor about another 4 hrs to finish my cutting for the year, and then I have all winter to play with it, and will probably replace the switch. It works, but it takes two hands to start the engine. With both hands on the switch i can't see the pre-heat indicator light, but i can feel it heating-up.

So far the thing is running pretty well, other than the fast idle when hot, but I still have this feeling that this thing is gonna bite me on the butt at some point.

Time will tell.

 

[techwrtr2]

You know, 90% (or more) of the stuff I am dealing with I can not identify. I have just learned what stuff to stay away from, such as trees with big thorns (maybe locust, maybe something else, I don't know.)

I mentioned bush honeysuckle because it's invasive. Anywhere you have open ground around here, there's a really good chance that stuff will pop up. If you have it growing, it's best to do whatever you can to remove it.

I spent most of a week running an excavator to rip it out of the ground on my family's property.

 

[Capricious]

I mentioned bush honeysuckle because it's invasive. Anywhere you have open ground around here, there's a really good chance that stuff will pop up. If you have it growing, it's best to do whatever you can to remove it.

I spent most of a week running an excavator to rip it out of the ground on my family's property.

One "invasive species" I know I have is the Ozarks Cedar, or what everyone around here calls cedar, but is really some type of juniper, as I understand it. It's takes over everywhere the ground has been cleared around here, but is not native. I have cut and burned several hundred of the things.

I have not noticed anything that seems to resemble bush honeysuckle, as pictured here:
Invasive Species in the Field Guide | Missouri Department of Conservation

...but I'm sure I have others from the list.

 

[techwrtr2]

Invasive stuff is a royal pain to say the least. I have more than one of the plants mentioned on that site, plus others not mentioned.

 

[Capricious]

Stayed at home this weekend. Mowed about 1.5 to 2 acres for the non-profit, but used the old Sears garden tractor.


Decided to check valve lash on the Mitsubishi- it sounded a bit clattery.

Valve cover off;






Really really sludgy:





Clearances were not bad all all. Tightened-up two, loosened two, and left two alone:






Tried to clean out some of the sludge laying on the head:






The drawbar only has two of its four bolts; pulled one bolt and took it to the hardware store to match-up, but
this bolt is something different. I'ts not metric fine thread or coarse thrread. It's close to 1/2 by 20, but it's not 1/2 by 20.

I will need to stop by a fastener store to try to match the thing.