Rear PTO RPM Question

MikeFLA · Mar 5, 2002

I just bought a B7500 and use a 5' finish mower to "maintain" about 3.5 acres. (yes we are cutting the grass down here) The specs say the engine RPM should be at 2600. It seems like the engine is screaming.

I mow often, the grass is never very long and there is very little load on the machine. My question is, can I adjust my engine RPM down, say like 2300 or do I have to be at 2600 when operating rear PTO equipment.

CSAW · Mar 5, 2002

Mike, My thought on this is as long as it is cutting the grass without lugging the engine it is fine. I don't see killing the equipment for no reason. But it won't hurt it to run at the recomended rpm. I also live in Florida and cut my grass last weekend. If it stays like today (38 degrees) we won't have to again for a while.

Bird · Mar 5, 2002

Like CSAW said, it won't hurt anything either way if you're not lugging the engine and the mower is doing as nice a job as you want.

MikeFLA · Mar 5, 2002

Thats what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure. No sense in taking chances when we have knowledgeable people like you guys on the board to provide opinions.

Thanks,

CSAW - what a shocker this morning - I was getting ready to put the boat in the water. It will have to wait a day or two.

CSAW · Mar 5, 2002

Just out of curiosity where are you in Florida? I am in New Smyrna Beach. If you don't want to answer I will understand.

MikeFLA · Mar 5, 2002

No Problem...We are just south of Leesburg in Lake County.

GlueGuy · Mar 6, 2002

Another option would be to run your rear PTO in "high". To get the correct RPM, you should be running a tad under 1500 RPM. That may be too low though, & I wouldn't recommend running the engine higher with the PTO in high, as that would overspeed the mower.

snowman · Mar 6, 2002

I run my MMM around 2300rpm, mainly because if I don't, I get a lousy cut. There's been times when I've had it around 1500 or so while I'm driving over to where I want to mow, and I forget to rev it up when I engage the MMM; after a few passes and seeing a rough cut, I remember to increase the rpm.

RobertN · Mar 6, 2002

If you run lower rpm's, the blade speed will also be lower. You won't get as good, clean cut. The blade will tear more than cut.

It mostly depends on the quality of cut you want....

MDNick · Mar 6, 2002

CSAW,

New Smyrna, dang that brings back memories. I went to College at Embry-Riddle in Daytona. Passed through New Smyrna many times on my way to goofing off/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

Nick