My NX6010

[MinnesotaEric]

I hope they take care of it. You are doing one heck of a job!

In other news, I did add more ferrites with a loop in each downstream from the China LED flood lights in an attempt to cut down on the EMF radio interference. I also carefully looked at my JVC radio and the stock radio. There is a bunch of extra wire to pull into the cab if a zip tie is cut. Swapping and soldering wires is straight forward, but the actual mounting of the radio (and I'm not a radio guy) looks different. I need to find a face cover that snaps onto the JVC radio and allows screws so I can secure the new radio to the stock mounts.

That or screw around fabbing up yet another custom bracket.

 

[94BULLITT]

By not opening until the engine is nearly all the way warmed up, thereby building pressure sooner and faster warm-ups. Once open, there is no difference in performance. The stock T-stat starts opening at 160 degrees F and is fully open at 185 degrees F. In other words, unless the engine is under load, in the cold the engine cannot warm up. This is an issue for an HST machine that revs only so much as how fast the operator wishes to travel, in other words, it drives like an automatic car.

In my case, I'd like to try out a 180 degree T-stat.

I don't think changing the t-stat is going to make it warm up quicker. You either need a block heater, give it a fast idle or cover part of the radiator with something like cardboard.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I don't think changing the t-stat is going to make it warm up quicker. You either need a block heater, give it a fast idle or cover part of the radiator with something like cardboard.

For sake of discussion let us consider two extremes: the first extreme is 100 degree thermostat. With a 100 degree thermostat, long before the engine warms up or builds pressure, the thermostat opens. But as soon as the 100 degree thermostat opens, cooler fluid overwhelms the trend of rising temperatures within the mass of water held circling inside the water jacket and as a result the engine never warms up because the cooling capacity is greater than the warming capacity.

Now let us consider a 220 degree thermostat: in this case, the engine builds pressure and becomes hot long before opening up to the cooling system and the hot slug of coolant overwhelms the systems ability to keep the engine cool and the engine overheats.

The issue is that a warmer thermostat allows the mass of coolant circulating within an engine's water jacket the ability to pressurize and warm before opening, thereby shortening the overall time to warm up the entire system because of the higher the temperature and correlated greater influence, the mass of water held within the water jacket has upon the rest of the cooling system.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

My dealer is now waiting to hear back from Kioti and likely the shipper about the cab top which meant that I finally knocked out all but the front axle 50 hour service. I called my dealer for clarity on what drains i should pull since my owner's manual didn't explain well, and there is nothing in the service manual about fluid changes that I could find. Three drain plugs for the HST: one big, 30mm plug on the left side of the mid PTO housing and a 15/16" drain plug on the inboard bottom of each bull gear housing. I had to rotate the hydo filter two or three times with a chain wrench before it spun freely by hand. The HST and engine oil filters were easy.

My new 15 gallon with hand pump oil pan worked well for this but next time, i think I'll drive the tractor up a couple of stacked 2x6 to gain some additional clearance.

With thanks to the folks at my local dealer, Elite Lift Truck, I was supplied with an expanded list of compatible oils to help find local sources.

The full list is attached as a PDF.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Today is the day to bolt on my underbelly up-armor. The paint on the one sheet that did fit in my oven is way, way stronger than the paint on the two that I could not fit into my oven.

The guards are unsupported in the middle where they join. If that becomes a problem, I can improve these guards by building stand-offs in the middle as well as by riviting on angle iron on the backside to stiffen each guard. Since that is a lot of work, I'll find out if what I have is sufficient, or if I need to improve my design.

Considering my lack of proper metal-working tools, I think these guards turned out pretty good—especially locating all the holes and indexing the nutplates so they cannot fall off.

 

[oldpilgrim]

Back in the days of the earliest Model T Fords, from 1908 thru 1914, Henry put drip pans on both sides of the engine, between the engine and the frame. This effectively closed off all the air flow thru the radiator and under the hood, as the hood had no louvers in the sides either. So, the hood could not let the cooling air out and the pans blocked the ability of the air to exit downward. It was like blowing air thru a radiator into a closed box. That made for hot running engines and boiling over radiators.

In 1915 Henry learned his lesson and put louvers in the hood and removed the drip pans so there was all kinds of air flowing in thru the radiator and out again...out the sides and the bottom.

I say all this because I wonder if you'll have a similar problem. I can't understand by your description how far forward the new 'armor' goes. Are you restricting airflow from around the engine?

 

[semntrails]

Looks nice - one question - does the overlap 'face forward'? Anyway to switch the order you installed the plates so a stick running along the bottom doesn't hit that edge then pry it apart? Could happen going either direction but it would seem with the brush mower in the back the taller stuff would be cut down before it gets to there vs pushing into it with your grapple.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I can't understand by your description how far forward the new 'armor' goes. Are you restricting airflow from around the engine?

Nope.

The guard begins at the rear of the engine block and extends to the cover the mid-PTO extension. The hood allows a shedload of air through perforated panels and is open on the sides to the rear. I could make the bottom as flat as my SL55 and I wouldn't have trouble with cooling.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Looks nice - one question - does the overlap 'face forward'? Anyway to switch the order you installed the plates so a stick running along the bottom doesn't hit that edge then pry it apart? Could happen going either direction but it would seem with the brush mower in the back the taller stuff would be cut down before it gets to there vs pushing into it with your grapple.

Due to the size of the material I'm processing, I mow in reverse only. I would have liked to make this stuff out of 1/8" plate, but I'm limited to what I can bend in my garage. The new grill inserts I'm thinking about fabbing will require an air brake using V-block dies to make the eight, weird bends and neither the northern tinkerage or the southern tinkerage has a collection of the right dies, and so I think I may be forced to chase over to my sister's shop and beg.

That said, NX owners, be aware that our owners manual is wrong on maintenance procedures for the front axle service. It shows the right photos but the text must be from some other tractor. We have one drain plug in the center. My front axle drained maybe 2 quarts, maybe. I filled it back up with about 6 quarts of 80W-90--which is to say, you may want to check your front axle fluid level.

 

[Threepoint]

[snip] NX owners, be aware that our owners manual is wrong on maintenance procedures for the front axle service. It shows the right photos but the text must be from some other tractor. We have one drain plug in the center. My front axle drained maybe 2 quarts, maybe. I filled it back up with about 6 quarts of 80W-90--which is to say, you may want to check your front axle fluid level.

Wow. :shocked: What do you suspect happened to cause the four-quart shortfall? That's pretty serious. You surely would have noticed that much of a leak in 50 hrs., so probably inattention en route to you. I don't know if the tractors ship from Korea with the axle filled. Maybe it's done in Wendell, NC. It might even be a prep item at the dealer at the time the wheels are mounted.