TC40D Seems to be Slowing Down

Anonymous Poster · Jun 22, 2003

Hi All,

We'll I've got about 24 hours on my TC40D now and this weekend it was acting a bit strange. After bush hogging for about an hour I started back to the house. As I was working my way back the tractor died on me. I had dropped the throttle down PTO/cutter still engaged to pickup some debris, and it died. It started up fine, but as I continued cutting, the tractor seemed "slower". I mean I really had to stomp on the HST pedal to get any speed up. One time, I started to backup with the cutter and the tractor wouldn't move backward. I had pressed the reverse pedal all the way down and there was just a whine. Of course, with no speedo it really is a subjective thing but after being on a tractor for many hours you can "feel" your typical speed.

I jacked with the rabbit/turtle switch, played with the throttle, but there is no doubt that the tractor moves slower at all RPMs now.

Have any of you guys experienced this as your tractor gets some hours on it? Should I worry about it? It's rather subjective without a true sympton - like when it wouldn't even move in reverse. Any ideas? I checked the hydralic fluid level and it was fine. Is there an adustment on the hydro pedals?

Thanks,

jinman · Jun 22, 2003

I mowed for about 6 hours with my TC45D today. In High range and turtle, I could stall the hydro tranny by doing hard differential braking to swing the mower in a tight circle. I shifted to Lo range and rabbit and there was no problem. I've never noticed the slowing problem you speak of, but I have so many trees, hills, and gullys that I tend to go rather slowly most of the time. What gear were you in when the hydro stalled? If you were in Hi range, I think your problem might be normal. On a gear tractor you kill the engine; on a hydro, you stall the tranny. Or at least that's my experience.

tc35dforme · Jun 23, 2003

This is a stab in the dark, but is the hydro oil cooler ( in front of the radiator ) clean ?? Could the oil have been too hot ( lost viscosity )???. Is it okay after it sits for a while ??

markie61 · Jun 23, 2003

The only time I remember my TC40D "refusing" to move was backing up a hill once after dumping brush. My front tires were at the edge a 20ft ditch on a 25 degree slope and the darn thing wouldn't move - it just sat there and whined. I looked at my rabbit/turtle switch, realized it was in rabbit, then switched to turtle. Still sat and whined. I then realized I had mistakenly shifted the range into II. After shifting to I, it moved like nothing was going to stop her. Maybe the backing thing was similar - large load (weight and powering bushhog) + hill + high ranges + small obstacle(?) = going nowhere.

Also, the "default" for the rabbit/turtle switch is turtle - if it shuts off, it will go to turtle on start-up. I know this has altered my perception of speed before I realize that it changed. When you restarted after stalling, maybe it moved to turtle, which is noticeably slower after acclimating at rabbit for an hour. Perhaps a good night's sleep and a new day of mowing will make everything "feel" more familiar.

I would climb under and make sure there is not a branch on your linkage or any other obvious damage.

If it is anything other than the above, a service call sounds in order. If your dealer is too far or you don't want to pay a service call, drop in and drive one of his demo tractors around the lot to analyze whether there are differences between your unit and a new one - it's a good diagnostic tool.

Hope all goes well. Please keep us updated. I am obviously very interested.

Mark

Anonymous Poster · Jun 23, 2003

Thanks all for the replies.

I had been mowing in turtle (low range) and I realize that it always starts in "turtle" mode. I've only had the tractor in high range (II) once just to see how fast it was. The whole 24 hours have been in low turtle/rabbit so I think I'm pretty accurate with my "feeling" as to it slowing down. There was a lot of debris around the front housing that I had to brush off so it could have been that the fluid was hot. I'll be out again on Wed. and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

JimI, you may recall that I'm the one that had the issue with my new Rhino SE5 where the first time the shear bolt sheared it drove the yoke back and it "stuck." We'll, one reason I'm a bit worried is because I'm still mowing with this "homemade" slip clutch. I've hit a rock and a mini-bike frame while mowing so far and the yoke hasn't loosened at all so I'm worried that I've damaged the tractor.

I'm at the point now that I'm going to work with the dealer to see what he can do (on the Rhino). I emailed Rhino about the issue and they said "talk to the dealer". Also, I'm really interested in getting a 6' cutter as the 5' doesn't cover the rear wheels, so I may just buy a 6' KK.

Thanks,

jinman · Jun 23, 2003

It sounds to me like you've given that mower enough time to break loose. You could cut the yoke off and have a new one welded on your drive shaft (they sell the parts at Tractor Supply). Also, you could spend about $150 and buy a complete drive shaft assembly after cutting your old one off. This weekend I popped two shear bolts and once my collar went back to the gearbox, but it was loose when I went to replace the shear bolt. I slid the collar forward and it just happened to be perfectly aligned with the shear bolt and with a light tap the old one dropped right out. How lucky can you get? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Also, you haven't had your 50 hr service yet, have you? That will be a good time to get all the little "bugs" checked and/or fixed with your hydro tranny. Remember the Lo/Hi range shift is a gear change and the Rabbit/Turtle shift is the changing of the ratio in your hydraulic motor. About the only thing that can go wrong without fluid flying everywhere is a misadjusted relief valve. Those things tend to happen slowly over time rather than all at once. I'm just thinking out loud here, but I'd check the pedal under the operator's platform and if everything looks okay, I wouldn't worry about it until the 50 hr service check.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 29, 2003

JimI, Thanks for the thoughts. I agree that the cutter has had time to loosen up and so I'm working with the dealer now to see what they'll do.

We had thunderstorms on Wed. and I couldn't get out to mow until yesterday. I mowed about an acre and definitely feel that the tractor has slowed down. In fact, I can now only mow in rabbit wherease I used to mow only in turtle. Turtle just creeps along at 2500 RPM.

I checked the linkage and it looks fine. My plan now is to wait until my 50 hour service unless it gets so bad that it can't be ignored.

Thanks,