New 1648 owner

TSO · Apr 15, 2014

Green Power said:
So now that you have had the tractor for 2.5 months ish how is the tractor treating you, i heard you mention in another thread that you now had reached the 50 hour mark.

Hey P ... going OK. Still getting a feel for it. It's nice, but there are some things that bug me about it (like any tractor I guess).

The HST pedals have a tendency to "creep" a bit after you let-up off of one direction or the other. With the LS, it was very "crisp" so when you let up off the pedal, it immediately stopped.
This Massey HST whines a bit more than LS (LS was super quiet) but that could get better when I change the HST filter (should be doing the 50hr service this week).
The PTO/Seat safety switch is REALLY touchy! While stump-grinding, sometimes if I just "shift" in the seat, it cuts the tractor off.
LOADER: I'm still getting used to it. It's more difficult to be "slow" and careful with it compared to the LS. However, I think it might have more power. Testing still to come ...
POWER: I'm still not decided on the power of it. Sometimes I think it has more power than the LS, sometimes I think the LS was stronger. Either way, I feel like I could use 10 more HP for some things.
CAB: I still haven't come up with storage solutions for the cab, but I NEED to.
I do really like the "auto-throttle" though ... makes the HST much nicer to use. LS needs to add that. So far Massey, Kubota, and CC-Yanmar offer it on their "Premium" CUT lines.

I guess that's it for now. Overall I'm pleased with it. But, I still need to see if I should upgrade again to gain more HP. Unfortunately, at this point, there's not many options with HST, and I NEED to keep HST for all the loader work I do.

Green Power · Apr 15, 2014

You can never have a big enough tractor!

Wobblin-Goblin · Apr 18, 2014

I hear ya on the pedal creep. That bugs me too.

BTW, we recently found out that the 1,200lb bales our 1643 was struggling with were actually 1,500-1,600lbs!

Wobblin-Goblin · Apr 18, 2014

I hear ya on the pedal creep. That bugs me too.

BTW, we recently found out that the 1,200lb bales our 1643 was struggling with were actually 1,500-1,600lbs!

TSO · Apr 18, 2014

Wobblin-Goblin said:
I hear ya on the pedal creep. That bugs me too.

BTW, we recently found out that the 1,200lb bales our 1643 was struggling with were actually 1,500-1,600lbs!

That's good to know. I'm looking forward to actually testing out the loader with measurable weight.