Bullwinkle123
Platinum Member
First the power question.
I notice that when I go up-hill with my new MX5400HST (with loaded rears) that it seems to struggle. I didn't think that I was really asking that much of it, but perhaps I was, you tell me.
While climbing a short incline with a 745 lb rotary cutter raised on the rear, and a 400lb L2296 bucket full of exceedingly dry (therefore relatively light) firewood in the bucket, in Low speed, the tractor clearly seems to be working hard. I don't have a basis for comparison, I'm just a bit surprised.
On my first foray into my field with the rotary cutter engaged, all was fine downhill. I tried driving, forward, back up the hill and that's where I had problems. I'm in low speed, PTO was engaged, engine speed was at PTO optimal and sounds fine. But the wheels basically came to a stop. No spinning. ***maybe*** I was just leaning forward in the seat too far and triggered the disengage? I was seated but definitely leaning forward (probably irrationally) because the pucker factor was high and I need to develop a feel for the tractor.
Note that there was almost nothing to cut, so there was no vegetation load to speak of, this was something of a dry run to get used to my equipment.
I'm aware that I must _not_ push hard on the HST pedal, that by doing so I'm putting it in higher gear. I will try some more, I guess I'm just curious if there is more I should now about uphill travel with my tractor. Should I have engaged 4WD? There was no slippage, and downhill travel was peachy. (4wd handle was in down position, I think that's "off").
I might not even have asked about this except that the tractor also seemed to struggle on the smaller hill/incline when I was hauling wood too, and there I was both seated normally and aware of the HST pedal use.
I also had a bucket on the front, kept low, just for extra ballast on that uphill stuff. Rear tires are filled. I did not try going backward (yet), which seems to be a common suggestion.
Maybe I just need practice. I just read about people whose much smaller tractors seem to have no problem with hills. Or, maybe this is life with an HST. Need clues.
Now the safety question for two scenarios:
1. When I'm brush hogging on my hilly field, should I keep the bucket on, maybe even fill it with some material, for ballast? Or leave it empty or even off?
2. When I'm using the loader to haul heavy stuff with the grapple or bucket, again across this hilly field (which is the nexus of my property and needs to be crossed often), is there anything I should do aside from what rear ballast I can attach? (Rotary cutter is too awkward, will probably just use my blade).
I suppose the only real tools I have are whether to mount attachments on the front or back for a given scenario (and whether to load them if I can), and whether to use 4WD. Other than that, I avoid sideways travel on the steep parts, and need to figure out how to get _up_ the steep parts where the tractor slowed to a stop the other day, possibly through user error.
The Kubota operators manual seems to offer little in the way of answers and tips.
I notice that when I go up-hill with my new MX5400HST (with loaded rears) that it seems to struggle. I didn't think that I was really asking that much of it, but perhaps I was, you tell me.
While climbing a short incline with a 745 lb rotary cutter raised on the rear, and a 400lb L2296 bucket full of exceedingly dry (therefore relatively light) firewood in the bucket, in Low speed, the tractor clearly seems to be working hard. I don't have a basis for comparison, I'm just a bit surprised.
On my first foray into my field with the rotary cutter engaged, all was fine downhill. I tried driving, forward, back up the hill and that's where I had problems. I'm in low speed, PTO was engaged, engine speed was at PTO optimal and sounds fine. But the wheels basically came to a stop. No spinning. ***maybe*** I was just leaning forward in the seat too far and triggered the disengage? I was seated but definitely leaning forward (probably irrationally) because the pucker factor was high and I need to develop a feel for the tractor.
Note that there was almost nothing to cut, so there was no vegetation load to speak of, this was something of a dry run to get used to my equipment.
I'm aware that I must _not_ push hard on the HST pedal, that by doing so I'm putting it in higher gear. I will try some more, I guess I'm just curious if there is more I should now about uphill travel with my tractor. Should I have engaged 4WD? There was no slippage, and downhill travel was peachy. (4wd handle was in down position, I think that's "off").
I might not even have asked about this except that the tractor also seemed to struggle on the smaller hill/incline when I was hauling wood too, and there I was both seated normally and aware of the HST pedal use.
I also had a bucket on the front, kept low, just for extra ballast on that uphill stuff. Rear tires are filled. I did not try going backward (yet), which seems to be a common suggestion.
Maybe I just need practice. I just read about people whose much smaller tractors seem to have no problem with hills. Or, maybe this is life with an HST. Need clues.
Now the safety question for two scenarios:
1. When I'm brush hogging on my hilly field, should I keep the bucket on, maybe even fill it with some material, for ballast? Or leave it empty or even off?
2. When I'm using the loader to haul heavy stuff with the grapple or bucket, again across this hilly field (which is the nexus of my property and needs to be crossed often), is there anything I should do aside from what rear ballast I can attach? (Rotary cutter is too awkward, will probably just use my blade).
I suppose the only real tools I have are whether to mount attachments on the front or back for a given scenario (and whether to load them if I can), and whether to use 4WD. Other than that, I avoid sideways travel on the steep parts, and need to figure out how to get _up_ the steep parts where the tractor slowed to a stop the other day, possibly through user error.
The Kubota operators manual seems to offer little in the way of answers and tips.
thereby rendering the tractor stationary. You should take a look at some of those discussions. Good luck.
