Plowing & pushing HST to the limit

[dieselpwr]

It is getting close to that time of year again & it will be the first spring I get to try using my 45D to plow with. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif What I am wondering is if anyone has used there HST Boomers to pull a plow with. It seem most of the posts I have read dealt with people using tillers; but for us old fashion poor folks I am just wondering if there are any tips on using a hydro powered machine to pull a plow. What range can I expect to spin all four wheels in? Should my machine be capable of doing that in the high (rabbit) of low range or just low (turtle) low range. Will it increase in speed if I get things rolling in low & hit the higher range button or will things actually slow down? I have good heavy clay to turn over so I am expecting the tractor to have to work fairly hard to pull the little 2 bottom plow. Just wondering what is "normal" for these hydro trans. units before I expect too much from it. Should they always be able to spin all four wheels no matter what the traction or will the reliefe valve pop & the tires not spin if thing are too heavy & tractionable? If thy do stop spinning at some point, what is too tractionable a situation/terrain? What ranges should I be able to bury myself in while running in 4WD. (that sounds almost like it could be a fun experiment /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif) I'm sure some have you have pushed your machines to the stopping point & I am wondering what that point normally is. I'm sure this could bring out some pretty good stories.

Troy

 

[SteveV]

Are those hi-speed bottoms or standard? With or without front weights? Cup holder? I won't be turning the corn patch until the rest of the snow melts. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif SteveV

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Its going to be up to you to experiment with because your ground may be wetter than others and dealing with clay is a lot of fun. You sound like you have plowed before with other tractors so you should know limits to plowing so my advice would be to start out slow and see how things react and adjust gears according to what the tractor tells you. I have a TN-65 with a 3 bottom and the ground is too wet here still, I tried one field in our pen and the tractor will just spin because of how wet it is, just trying to get the pen turned over and reseeded before we move the critters in, but it is still too early here maybe in a week or two. Good luck

 

[dieselpwr]

Steve - I will use the loader & what ever is in the cup holder for front weights. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

I guess the real question for me is: What is "normal" for these hydro trans. units before I expect too much from it. Should they always be able to spin all four wheels no matter what the traction or will the reliefe valve pop & the tires not spin if thing are too heavy & tractionable? If thy do stop spinning at some point, what is too tractionable a situation/terrain?

Troy

 

[Rowski]

Troy

If I remember right Mark C talked about the pressure relief poping with his new radial tires he got. But it was under really extreme conditions that it happened. I'm sure there must be some safety factor like engine stalling or as you mentioned pressure relief valve opening.
You should try searching for some of Mark C posts, he got a tons and tons of info on everything. There was also a post on to much traction you might try searching for.

Does anybody know where about Mark C is. I've got some hydraulic questions for him. An e-mail address would be nice but send it private please.

Derek

 

[Bird]

There has been one time, and one time only, that I could neither go nor spin a wheel. And that was when I was trying to get a little stump out of some hard ground. I set the ripper teeth as deep as possible on the box blade, pulled it into the stump, but only spun my wheels, so I tried again but that time pulled up on the 3-point simultaneously, with the points of the ripper teeth stuck into the stump. That applied lots of downward pressure on the rear tires and got enough traction that it couldn't spin the wheels, and I didn't budge that stump either; it's still there./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[paccorti]

Troy,

You might find this link interesting. In the link we discussed HST's and relief valves.

Hst and Relief Valves

Peter

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I pull a 2 bottom plow (12" bottoms) with my TC29D with little trouble. In sod I have to use low range because 29HP just isn't enough in a higher range. I tried it in mid range and stalled the engine. In low range it will spin the tires with rear diff lock on if I hit hard ground, a root, or a rock, or if I try to go too deep. Some more weight up front would probably help quite a bit. I have cut through 2" dia roots and my ground is clay and it still does pretty well. The only time I've had the hydro relief valve kick in was when I was on dry ground with a 30" rear scoop going in reverse. I had the scoop angled down so it would dig down and I was in mid range with diff lock on. The tractor just stopped moving, but no tires were spinning and the engine didn't stall (but it almost did). I shifted to low range and was able to move back a little more before both rear tires and one front tire started to spin. The scoop was as full of dirt as I have ever had it and the front end wanted to come up when I lifted the scoop, partly because it was still stuck in the ground. I pulled ahead a little and was able to lift it. Fun stuff! There doesn't seem to be any damage to the hydro after doing that, so I assume it was doing what it was designed to do.

 

[tonkawilly]

dieselpwr,
I don't see any reason why your tractor wouldn't pull 3x14"
plows at a decent speed,but if you have any doubts,your
NH dealer should be able to help.

tonkawilly

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by tonkawilly on 05/07/01 10:15 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[djradz]

Troy, I hit the dirt bigtime this last weekend and plowed my fields plus a neighbors garden plot. This was my first experience using the hydro on anything major. Previously my 1720 could plow the same in about a mid to low range. My 40D stopped dead in its tracks with a two-bottom 14" plow in I and rabbit. The engine only slowed a bit and then the wheels stopped turning. I tried to only depress the pedal a little but that didn't help. I had to shift to turtle (and I) and everything worked fine. Just seemed to me that it should have been able to plow in a higher range without stopping. Maybe I should have tried II and turtle?