newbie,jd 2520 not enough power?

[spikeland]

hello everyone im glad to be a part of this.i was a spectator for awhile this is a great site.my question is im new to tractors i bought a jd 2520.and i love it.though i was going up my driveway which goes up hill.and while in low gear i have the pedal floored.and even though there is snow and ice,the tires (r4,s) spin and in one spot not real steep i step on the gas and the tires wont turn at all. the tractor makes a loud whinning noise but doesnt seem to have power to turn the wheels.this cant be,can it?i even locked rear diff.
tires just spin or they dont at all.couldnt get up driveway.but could easily with my atv in 2 wheel drive.please help thank you /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[keerym]

I saw your other post, and here you mention that you are using low range. First, check to make sure you are in low range, make sure your engine is at the rated RPM (speed), and try to go up the hill slowly. One thing I learned while training new customers is the foot control concept is new to most people. Your foot controlled hydro transmission does not work like the accelerator pedal in a car. Yes, the further you push down the faster it goes - with no load. Remember that in a car the foot pedal is controling the engine, on your tractor its controlling the transmission. So, on your tractor, the further you push down on the pedal, the higher the "gear" ratio your using. Just imagine trying to climb this hill in your car with it in its highest gear, your car would do the same thing - barely move because it lacked power.

Now, if you put your car in first gear - success. Same thing with your tractor. Just try to slowly go up the hill, with the foot pedal pushed down only a little. You might have different results. Same goes for loader operation or anything putting a large load on the tractor. This concept is why Deere came out with LoadMatch on their larger units.

If I'm offending anyone by over simplifying tractor operation, I appologize. I've just seen several customers go down this path, and think their new baby was underpowered. Let us know if you have better results.

 

[RogerH]

The situations you describe may be normal. First it is not unusual for a tractor to lose traction on snow and ice. You don't state whether you had the front wheel drive engaged, but make sure that you do. Also do you have ballast on the tractor using either fluid filled tires, wheel weights, a ballast box or attachment. Weight also can help, but with ice there may not be a lot you can do.

In high gear it is not unusual for tractors with hydrostatic transmissions to not be able to pull themselves up real steep hills. The HST has a relief valve to limit the internal pressure and it is very common to exceed that pressure in high gear. When that happens, shift back to low and you should be able to climb the hill.

 

[Deere_parts]

Another point to consider aside from the power issue is that when you spin or slide a tire on ice it creates water on top of the ice which is just like driving in freezing rain...you go nowhere just like when professional drivers train on a wet skid pad.

Also the axle that is slipping or locked up is the one that will lead in your direction of travel. You can test this with a toy car, truck or truck and trailer. Put tape on different axles, then push it across a desk or the kitchen floor. This experiment was a real eye opener when I was training student truck drivers many years ago. The wildest spin is a vehicle with trailer brakes locked up. The trailer whips around 180 degrees and yanks the tow vehicle around 180 degrees or more wildly. Once a trailer goes past 15 degrees in a slide it's all over but the crying and a jack knife is unavoidable at that point.

Same goes for spinning and sliding tires on dry pavement. This creates little rubber ball bearings under your tires which is why you can control, accelerate or stop your car faster if it is not spinning or sliding the tires.

I'm originally from Michigan and you know that living in New York it's time for you to hang iron and get the chains out. That white stuff isn't going to get better over the next 3 months.

Stay safe this always and ya'll keep that white stuff /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif up yonder. I don't need it any more.

 

[jcmseven]

There are some other possibilities I think. First, I had a 4310 that just never seemed to have enough power to climb steeper hills without really feathering the hydro pedal or using loadmatch. It was much worse when I first bought the tractor than later, but two things that helped were: first, the tranmission fluid level was not correct and second, my dealer had to adjust the parking brake. Apparently (and I am no expert on this) some tractors have a hang up in the parking brake (wet disc) that causes them to "drag" or impede progress. I do not know how the small framed JD's are set up, but worth a question. Also, some folks do not like the dual range on the hydro tractors of that size, it seems to put gaps in the forward power. That said, 26.5 hp should be plenty to move that machine easier than it sounds like it will currently. The 4310 I owned had 32.5 Hp and weighed nearly twice as much, and did better than that. I would ask your dealer to review the machine.

John M

 

[spikeland]

thanks all i love this site /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifi didnt realize the theory behind hst and its functions .i will retyry the hill and im also in the process of getting chains.thanks again

 

[NewJDGuy]

I'm a recent 2520 owner in the Cincinnati area and new to HST as well (previously used gears...). That said, when I figured out how to really work the pedal, as stated in this thread, it fixed my "problems" with hills. In fact, just pulled a UPS truck up a steep hill due to snow and ice. I should have used my 3/4 YukonXL but wanted to see what the 2520 would do. With 500lbs of ballast in the 3 pt ballast box (sand and an elevator weight) and a load of snow in the fel, the sucker pulled the truck as dead weight up a fairly steep grade of a 1/4 mile. I was impressed and will never assume my tractor is under powered. Even more impressed when I discovered that the fel would eventually roll the snow in front of it. I had to stop when the roll of snow was over 8ft high and I couldn't see where I was going. Enjoy your machine and practice with the pedal.