PT 1850 Running Hot !

AltavistaLawn · Jun 25, 2006

We do a lot of bush hogging, and usually within 2 hours, the 1850 is overheating.

This seems excessive. Anyone else having heat problems? We're also having many break-downs, I think due to the over heating. It has 250 hours on it.

We started carrying a air tank fitted with a blow gun to clean out the oil cooler, but the hydraulics and engine still seem to run too hot.

Any ideas of how to cool it off?

Thanks,
-Billy

J_J · Jun 25, 2006

AltavistaLawn said:
We do a lot of bush hogging, and usually within 2 hours, the 1850 is overheating.

This seems excessive. Anyone else having heat problems? We're also having many break-downs, I think due to the over heating. It has 250 hours on it.

We started carrying a air tank fitted with a blow gun to clean out the oil cooler, but the hydraulics and engine still seem to run too hot.

Any ideas of how to cool it off?

Thanks,
-Billy

Billy,
A second hydraulic radiator with fan could be added to the hydraulic circuit.
You might also take some temp readings in the hydraulic tank, and keep some records of which implement might be causing the rise in temp.. On my Kubota, they use a removable screen in front of the radiator to capture the chaff , and I just pull it out and shake often. An air bowser is a good thing to have while you are out working, to blow the dust, chaff and stuff off every now and then.

The radiator and fan should not cost more than $100.

MikeOConnor · Jun 25, 2006

The "start the day" routine for me and my 1850 is to use the air-hose to clean both the oil radiator AND the air-cooling fins in the engine. About every 10 hours I give the air-cleaner a squirt too.

I've attached a couple photos to show you those engine air-cooling fins. Pay no attention to all the tools up on top -- they're not standard equipment, unless you're rebuilding your accumulator pump like I am.

My experience is that on a cool day, I can go all day without overheating. But on a hot day (80+) in the season when the dreaded Little Fluffy Seeds are flying about, I'm only good for a couple hours. Then, out comes the 13mm wrench (yep, gotta have metric AND US wrenches to work on your German-engined, American-made 1850), off comes the cover plate and lots and lots of crud comes off of those fins. I got me one of those right-angled air-squirting heads so i could get in between the top of the fins and the cover that sits above them. It's really hard to get in there with a straight head. If you haven't been cleaning those, I bet that'll help.

I keep thinking I'm going to put window screen over the whole engine cover to see if I can cut down the LFS, but I haven't gotten a round tuit.

If you have, you may be coming to the same realization that I am. I'm finding that the 1850 is great for smaller mowing projects, especially on hills. But when I've got a LOT of field mowing to do, I like my Kubota 6800 a lot better. My 1850's been down for a couple weeks while I get that pesky pump rebuilt. So I fired up the 'Bota and in one day ripped through 38 acres of mowing in glorious air-conditioned comfort. Even the 'Bota needs to have the dreaded Little Fluffy Seeds cleaned out, but he can go all day before he needs it where the 1850 is a lot more finicky.

Remember, these tractors are really mining machines that have been repurposed as tractors for nut-cases like us. I think they're great, but they aren't as robust as a machine that's designed to bash along outside all day long.

AltavistaLawn · Jun 25, 2006

JJ,
Thanks. I was thinking about that too. A tranny cooler would work and I could plumb in a tranny temp. gauge. I'm also considering reversing their fan to pull outside air in, instead of pulling from engine compartment.

The bush hog seems to be the one that causes problems.

I'll probably paint the hood white too, that should help a little.

AltavistaLawn · Jun 25, 2006

MikeOConnor said:
The "start the day" routine for me and my 1850 is to use the air-hose to clean both the oil radiator AND the air-cooling fins in the engine. About every 10 hours I give the air-cleaner a squirt too.

I've attached a couple photos to show you those engine air-cooling fins. Pay no attention to all the tools up on top -- they're not standard equipment, unless you're rebuilding your accumulator pump like I am.

My experience is that on a cool day, I can go all day without overheating. But on a hot day (80+) in the season when the dreaded Little Fluffy Seeds are flying about, I'm only good for a couple hours. Then, out comes the 13mm wrench (yep, gotta have metric AND US wrenches to work on your German-engined, American-made 1850), off comes the cover plate and lots and lots of crud comes off of those fins. If you haven't been cleaning those, I bet that'll help.

If you have, you may be coming to the same realization that I am. I'm finding that the 1850 is great for smaller mowing projects, especially on hills. But when I've got a LOT of field mowing to do, I like my Kubota 6800 a lot better. My 1850's been down for a couple weeks while I get that pesky pump rebuilt. So I fired up the 'Bota and in one day ripped through 38 acres of mowing in glorious air-conditioned comfort. Even the 'Bota needs to have the dreaded Little Fluffy Seeds cleaned out, but he can go all day before he needs it where the 1850 is a lot more finicky.

Remember, these tractors are really mining machines that have been repurposed as tractors for nut-cases like us. I think they're great, but they aren't as robust as a machine that's designed to bash along outside all day long.

Mike, I couldn't agree more. I bush hogged today with my JD 4115, with 4' bush hog....seemed like slow motion!

I wish I had the money to get a bigger tractor for all the flats, and slight slopes....maybe dual rears and a cab and AC.

BTW,
I'm stuck using the 4115, 'cause the starter is fried after 250 hours on the PT. And th temp gauge quit working.

J_J · Jun 25, 2006

Mike, In your bio, I saw that you have a tree shear. What kind of tree shear do you have, and do you have any pictures?

AltavistaLawn · Jun 25, 2006

Also,
I'm getting ready to switch out the bolts on those covers with wing nuts....we have to pull it down soo often.

It just doesn't seem to have enough cooling. I know the JD will only overheat when u really neglect the rad. cooling screen, and it gets clogged up.

With just a little dust, the 1850 pegs 300 degrees!

J_J · Jun 25, 2006

Billy, Perhaps you could run the return line from the PTO through the second cooler. I have even seen two coolers stacked with one fan pulling. The fans are DC, and therefore can be reversed. The efficiency will be better in one direction than the other, depends on the shape of the shroud.

MikeOConnor · Jun 25, 2006

Well, to answer your first question, I don't think your experience is unusual. On a hot day, 2 hours is about what I expect to get out of the machine. It doesn't peg 300, but once it starts to lift off of 240 I head for the barn 'cause it won't be long before it's heading seriously north.

I started a thread about engine temp a while back and Charlie Iliff is the guy that educated me about cleaning the fins. here's the thread;

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55755&highlight=overheating

and here's Charlies' post

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showpost.php?p=627463&postcount=3

Hey Charlie, can you shoot us a picture of your window-screen modification? I'd forgotten that you're doing the same thing -- I'd like to take a look at your version.

Oh... I read the rest of the thread -- there's lots of goodies in there I'd forgotten about. Like this shot of John Coxon (Sedgewood's) screening system;

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=37712&d=1114712854

But overheating's only partly due to things getting plugged up, it's also because there isn't enough cooling capacity. JJ's saying that we should put another radiator in the hydraulic system. I think that in addition to that, we need some way to cool the engine itself, since that's really the problem child. That Deutz is air cooled, so we need more heat-sink. I wonder if there's a Deutz engine hacker out there who's figured out a way...

AltavistaLawn · Jun 26, 2006

MikeOConnor said:
...........
But overheating's only partly due to things getting plugged up, it's also because there isn't enough cooling capacity. JJ's saying that we should put another radiator in the hydraulic system. I think that in addition to that, we need some way to cool the engine itself, since that's really the problem child. That Deutz is air cooled, so we need more heat-sink. I wonder if there's a Deutz engine hacker out there who's figured out a way...

Thanks for those links, Mike.
I talked to a Deutz mechanic about adding a cooler to the engine, but he said an additional cooler on the engine would mess up the oil pressure. I don't think those engines are designed for agricultural / construction use...too much dust, its probably perfect for powering big generators, or boats where thers little to no dust.