new '19 Max 26XLT - an "upgrade" from my 2415 (both HST)

[keen99]

On Tuesday I finally sealed the deal on a new Max 26 XLT - it took an extra week to pick up an "in stock" tractor at a nearby dealer because apparently Mahindra was borrowing it to film a commercial in St Augustine.... 3.0 hours on it at pickup.


Haven't had a chance to do anything with it except unload it from the trailer and get rained on a lot - but wanted to pass on what I've discovered so far, since I couldn't find a lot about the 18 to 19 updates.

I've had a 2415 since 2008 - so super familiar with the general chassis. Traded that one in to get this.

One big surprise found today:

The new loader control valve doesn't have float or fast dump. I have no idea if the '18 back did it not, but the old vertical LCV from Cross most definitely did.

Massive disappointment there.

The new LCV is cable operated from the right side fender, so no hyd runs to the fender - LCV is tucked in between the hood and the loader arms. The cables, however, are not really well routed nor well protected - they just hang in an arc about 4 inches below the foot board. Won't be long before they get ripped right out, unless I find a way to protect them.


The LCV DOES have fine control ability, though. the old Cross was almost an on-off valve, with very little fine control. This one I can, so far and without a load on it, easily feather the movement. Up's a bit rougher than down (similar with curl), but it's definitely promising.


Another surprising, and maybe possibly deal breaking discovery: Engine on this is neither smooth nor smoke and smell free. Idle's a bit lumpy, when a load kicks on (above idle or at idle) like curling an empty bucket, the engine spits and smokes for a second. Similarly when just moving the HST treadle.

I spent some time shuffling implements around tuesday afternoon, and after standing around it idling for a cumulative maybe 20-30 minutes, I ended up with a pretty bad fume headache and my clothes stunk.

Today I moved it from one shop to the other - about a 15 second ride - and there was plenty of smell to go around for the ride.

(keep in mind we're talking above 70 degree weather down here, sorry for you guys who are snow bound...but it's not "it's just cold" smoke...)


The only time I ever got my 2415 to smoke was when I was almost stalling with the brush hog and too much right foot on the treadle.


On and the newly updated treadle (HST pedal) - hate it. It's too big to rest your foot on and rocker forward/backward (at least with a size 12 boot) - and now it sits an extra few inches higher off the floorboard for that extra amount of uncomfortable. Not to mention awkward and foot-catching.



The new seat - similar disappointment in general. Softer foam, an apparently replaceable vinyl seat cover, and "bolsters" that are so soft they don't really do anything. I removed the armrests immediately - at least it's possible (3 screws on each side remove the entire arm rest from that side) - they pretty much interfere with anything you use your arms for - loader, 3pt control, etc. Seat sits a bit higher (helps with the new treadle), and vs my '08 anyway they did add a pair of springs on the seat base..... Somewhere on one of the spec sheet PDFs they have the audacity call it "air suspension" (yes, for the max). Of course, it's not. Unless by air you mean hot air.


One piece hood - So far I like the easy access to the battery (vs reaching down in the hole). A bit awkward in general, and doesn't really fit like you'd expect - it leaves gaps all over the place vs the old design that tried to keep the dust out.

Tires are USA made Carlines vs the Titan's on my '08. They probably switched to that a while ago, though.



Well, I guess I'm off in search of an LCV upgrade..

 

[AchingBack]

Did you test out the Max before trading the 2415? If so, why did you buy the Max you now hate. If you didn't test drive before trading, why didn't you? Makes no sense. I don't see any advantage the Max has over the 2415 except for HP which is kind of marginal. Maybe more lift capacity, but....still.

 

[keen99]

Did you test out the Max before trading the 2415? If so, why did you buy the Max you now hate.

Because I broke the 2415 (didn't mention that to avoid a thread detour). And no, it wasn't available to be tested within a 4 hour radius. Yes, I could have waited for this one (that was supposed to be in stock...) to arrive back, but honestly it's highly likely I wouldn't have noticed these specifics during a "test" around a paved parking lot. I certainly didn't notice them while I was on the lot driving it around (and using it to help unload my broken 2415).

I could have driven 2.5 hours to demo an '18, but honestly the last time I tested the pre-facelift version of the max the LCV position was a deal breaker (at least, when I didn't have broken tractor) because it made right side on/off access impossible.

I did sit on and/or drive a few orange tractors, and a few LS tractors and was -not- impressed by their fit or quality - but the options in a ~54 inch wide tractor are very very very few. (the subcompacts are too small, and a 67 wide is too big for my property)

I just didn't expect to lose features on what was, in appearance and listed specs, the same tractor I had with more hp and more loader lift....

that said - the goal of this was more of a review of a tractor model variation that has had very little discussion and very little information out there (there's one XL vs XLT side by side video on youtube). if it turned out that there's just something funky with -my- tractor, I figured other XLT owners might chime in.

I do notice that the LCV hydraulic valve does have a float and regen spool - and there's at least one other post on tbn where an xlt owner mentions he used his float..... so perhaps there's something installed wrong. (not a surprise after reading about the guy who's mid PTO safety and seat safety were wired wrong..).

 

[1st Tractor]

Hello 99, I just posted my about my 2018 MAX 26's float mode on the other thread.
As far as good & bad comments about the tractor I really can't say as this is my first one so it seems fine to me. Only thing I've found was trying to torque the engine & FEL mounting bolts to spec was a real chore as some of the bolts were nearly impossible to get too.

 

[keen99]

Spent some time on the loader control valve - thanks to 1st Tractor for the hints. Got both float and fast dump working by adjusting the cables

There are two adjustment points - one below the control, and one where they attach to the valve body.

You can see how the cables just hang below the floor board here:

The adjustment under the handle just moved the center of the stick left/right forward/rearward. I wasn't able to regain the float or fast dump with these. You'll need a 24mm and a 12mm wrench for this.


The adjustment at the valve body did a lot better - I rotated the black section (you'll need two 24mm for this, one for the black section and one for the nut) while holding the cable end with a plier. The direct that worked for me was to "shorten" the visible threaded part of the cable. Everything is updownside here, so that was the easiest way to describe it. The front cable (front is front) was the up/down control, and the rear was the curl control. A few turns in and I started to feel the float click into place - a few more and I got full engagement and it would stay. Similar with the fast dump - I went from not feeling the extra spring (curl down, handle to the right) at the full movement to starting to feel it, then full travel.

Adjusting these -also- moved the control handle center point. Neither of these tightened up the "loose" center feeling. I ended up adjusting the center off-center a bit to put it in a better position for my hand and for ease of in/out on the right side. I had to make a guess about correct adjustment - I suspect it's definitely possible to over adjust this and not get complete travel..... obviously there's nothing mentioned in the owners manual for the loader.

I also adjusted the floor stops for the HST treadle - both of them were adjusted to max height, which limited the stroke of the pedal a good bit. (explains why it felt "slow" compared to my 2415...). I adjusted them to just before max stroke (the rear was limited by the treadle hitting the floor mat, the front I adjusted till it was just before the valve stopped moving).


I also moved the flasher lights to the inboard mounting holes - these were going to be the first thing I removed since they lasted about 2 days on the old tractor....but my wife pointed out the inboard holes, and they're less likely to get taken off by a branch this way.

Ditched the factory tool box with the bent-plastic hinge that will fail ASAP (and the latch that was already popping open just driving around the yard), and mounted a cheap plastic ammo box behind the seat. We'll see how long that holds up - I never did get around to doing it on the old tractor.

 

[bridge4]

glad you got some things adjusted and can enjoy it more now!

 

[duffer]

On your smoke/smell issue, you might ask your dealer to do a tune to the ECB on the engine. I had my 2538 done, and the difference in engine smoothness and performance was amazing. I could hear a completely different idle tone the minute the tech started to adjust it.

 

[keen99]

On your smoke/smell issue, you might ask your dealer to do a tune to the ECB on the engine. I had my 2538 done, and the difference in engine smoothness and performance was amazing. I could hear a completely different idle tone the minute the tech started to adjust it.

thanks - I just discovered the right side tires are slashed (with matching wheel damage and rust), presumably from shipping - so I'll see how they handle -that- tomorrow when they wake up from the holidays. Appreciate the heads up on the tuning possibility.

 

[keen99]

Made an improvement to the HST treadle today. I'd mentioned before that it takes a fair amount of pressure to move the pedal. A few hours in, I'm also realizing that when you pull your foot off the pedal, it returns to center slowly. Like it's got a gas spring attached slowing it's movement. Crawled under - and sure enough, there's a gas spring attached. Removed that, and the treadle is really functional now. I can just sit my foot on top and shift the pedal fore/rear as needed with just enough force. Returns to center quickly.

Downside is that it's a bit harsh when it does that - particularly from reverse (probably because the mechanism travels less in reverse..). A little jolty. There's a pack of springs under there, I might try adjusting the return spring tension after I've given it a few more hours of testing.


This doesn't entirely solve one of my big drivability complaints compared to my 2415 - center on the HST treadle is NOT -STOPPED- like it was before. The only times I ever ever ever used the brake pedal on the 2415 was when I was on a hill and needed to clutch (pto or high/low change). Even pointed down hill with a few thousand pounds of dump trailer behind me, center would hold stopped.

On the new version - center is more like neutral. if I'm facing downhill, it'll just keep rolling.

I'm hoping there's another adjustment somewhere to fix that, though it wouldn't surprise me if this was an intentional change (like the gas spring) aimed at softening the coming-to-a-stop jolt of just pulling your foot of the pedal.


On the smell-and-smoke and sputtering issue, the dealer's response was "that's probably normal. we won't do anything. give it 50 hours or so and lets see if it goes away". Disappointing. Still waiting on what they're doing to do with the damaged tire/wheel. I might get annoyed enough to drive it a few hours to another dealer (who's not so new at this) to see what thay say.



(backing up one of my trailers today really