Pop Goes The Kubota!!

[chim]

Frank, that's my experience. The Kubota is my third tractor. The first was a Cub 154 LoBoy. It had turfs and a MMM. Decided I didn't want either turfs or MMM on the next tractor. Ride was OK, but not exceptional. Next tractor was a Ford 1210 w/ RFM and R1's. It rode better, but to be honest, the rear tires look underinflated when I pick a mower.

Now the Kubota w/ RFM and R4's. When it was delivered, the ride was so stiff it was like having wooden tires. I don't remember what the pressure was when the tractor was delivered, but the R4's have a certain stiffness or sidewall strength that the R1's don't. Airing down to 10# in all 4 tires when I added 15 gallons of antifreeze to the rears really improved the ride. I posted a pic a while back (see attachment) taken with a load of topsoil in the FEL. Tractor was on blacktop, and there was a fair but not excessive deflection of the sidewalls. As you can see, there is a lot of wheel and not much sidewall on the front tires.

As I mentioned, I'd like to go down further with the rear tires, but need to stop and pick up a gage to see where I am with the pressure. There's more pressure in them than needed at this point. My plan is to see what the pressure is when the rear tires show more sidewall flex than they do now with the mower picked up. Comfort is acceptable most places I travel now, but there are a couple bumps I slow down for. One in particular is where a truck with a load of sand travelled across the lawn and made some depressions.

The R4's are a bit more "lawn friendly" than my R1's, and if they do the job in the snow it will be the icing on the cake. So far they worked out fine in grass - wet and dry , mud, dirt and rough stuff. I accidentally crushed a beer bottle with a rear tire along a road with no ill effects....................chim

 

[chim]

Frank, yesterday on the way home, I stopped at Western Auto and picked up a 1-20# tire gage. I lowered the pressure in the rear tires to 7#. These tires each have 15 gallons of liquid in them, and I don't know what effect that has when combined with the pressures used in them.

There wasn't much mowing that needed done. Our lawn is a little like my head - only some areas have viable vegetation at present. Anyway, with the reduced pressure, I was tooling around the lawn at a faster pace than before. To quantify the speed, I ran with the hydro pedal fully depressed and varied the speed with the throttle. At 2000 RPM it was fairly comfortable. The ruts left by the sand truck were far less noticeable, and the ride was definitely better with 7# than with 10#.

It looks like 7# is still more than needed if you note the sidewalls of the tires. The attached photo is the right rear tire last night with 7# and the (rather beefy) Landpride RFM is hoisted to apply weight. I may drop to 5# just to see if the sidewalls start to flex, but the 7# gives me acceptable comfort...............chim

 

[RFischer]

Well, my dealer brought the Big Orange Machine home Monday morning repaired and cleaned. Turns out the big black top cap on the MMM gear box poped off. That was the pop and woosh I heard. Dealer says the factory probably overfilled and it popped off because of too much pressure. Dealer cleaned the MMM up but, I still would like to know will the gear box fluid that spilled out on the deck have any adverse effect on the belts or plastic parts on the MMM?

 

[Von]

I don't understand how this would happen even if overfilled? There is a vent on these gearboxes, so any extra oil should have come out of the vent. At least that is what happened to mine when I slightly overfilled it. If you are worried about the oil, just wash the deck off using a degreaser like PURPLE POWER. That will remove any left over oil.

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>still would like to know will the gear box fluid that spilled out on the deck have any adverse effect on the belts or plastic parts on the MMM?</font color=blue>

No scientific knowledge at all, but if it were me, I sure wouldn't worry about it; don't see how it would hurt a thing. And like Von, I wonder if there isn't a vent that was stopped up.

 

[Kodiak]

Actually I would be more worried about using a degreaser/solvent on or near plastic and or belts .

 

[dgood1]

Kodiak,

We have been using engine degreaser on car engines for years with no ill effect on the plastics or belts on the cars. The key would be to follow direction and ensure that you rinse with water.

I know that reading instructions are an allmost illegal activity for some people.

Don

 

[Kodiak]

<font color=blue>Directions, huh, what ?????</font color=blue>

 

[Turfman]

Directions are what my wife looks at when I am lost or frustrated. Darned if she can't find the answer for me.

 

[RFischer]

Thanks for the advise. I'll double check for a blocked vent and get some degreaser.