TC45D Gutless Wonder

[Anonymous Poster]

Troy, when it pops the relief, do you have the pedal depressed all the way or even close to full forward? I've had the same symtoms as you described going into a pile of dirt, now, I just lift my foot a little more off the pedal and the tractor normally goes until the bucket is heaped up or the tires break loose and dig in.

My steering is sluggish also, but only when the bucket is full and the front tires are bulging out on the sides. I'm going to experiment with the front tire pressures. Right now I think they are to low. What's everyone else running in the front tires? I have loaded R4 and I think they are right around 25psi.

 

[dieselpwr]

I really appreciate all the responses. I went down to the dealership & they put me on a low hour rental 45D to play with to see how it responded. It wasn't much different. My power steering actually was better by comparison. These things just aren't designed to be maxed out I guess. The tractor there did dig in & build pressure quite a bit faster than mine. I went home & played with mine again & have come to the conclusion that it will build pressure, however it takes a while longer with the pedal depressed before it starts to drag the engine down. (I would have never thought to wait that long) Longer than I would think to be normal. At any rate, after talking to the service dept. I am going to continue to use it & monitor it since I have over a year left on the warranty. Since it seems to build pressure over time - just slower - I have a funny feeling it isn't just my high pressure reliefe valves involved. I think I got the parking brake working better now so there is some good happing. Oh well, they say compacts hold their value... & since I bought it so my yard could always be under reconstruction - not my tractor I may just use it & dump it before it depreciates too much. I don't have time to be dealing with stupid hassels like this. The dealership is being pretty good about everything, I just don't want to deal with it. I am a not a believer in band-aid solutions. I would rather get rid of the problem. (so far about 6 or seven different problems already & I still haven't hit 100 hrs yet) On the up side I will probably have new toy shopping to look forward to in the forseeable future. That can be fun too. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Troy

 

[dieselpwr]

Ok. Most of you seem to agree that my unit is not right. I am just wondering how long it should take on average for the engine to start to really lug down once the wheels stop moving. Do any of you have any times or feel for how long it is before the engine starts really lugging down? I am wondering what to have (or give the dealership) for expectations if I send it back to the shop. Also - should it lug down in reverse too? I tried that with the brakes locked on & I only lost 200-300 RPM.

Thanks again for all of the feedback you've provided so far. It has been most helpful.

Troy

 

[JohnT]

Troy,

My TC45D will bog immediately regardless of RPM in the following configuration:4WD; low/low gear range; whenever I aggresively attack a large pile of gravel/dirt with the FEL - and don't break out. I have R4's and 700 pounds of box scraper hanging off the back. The ground I'm working is very firm and provides high traction. If I choose, I can bog the engine to the point of stall every time. I have 150 hours on mine and I'm very pleased with it's performance. In my opinion I get incredible power transfer to the ground. Based on your experience we have very different machines.

I have not tried your reverse lug test.

JohnT

 

[dieselpwr]

JohnT - Just wondering is yours a 2000 or 2001 machine?

I took my dealers advise & kept using it... maybe even abusing it this weekend. I decided now was as good a time as any to plow over some land that needs to be worked on. We have heavy clay soil & its been hot with no rain for a while so it was pretty much like plowing concrete. I ended up puting about a forth of a bucket of dirt in the loader & keeping the diff-lock on all the time to give me enough traction to pull throurgh. My problem actually seemed to get better the more I worked it. It would stall the wheels occasionally in low-turtle but the engine would also lug down pretty good. It would actually loose about a thousand RPMs while pulling with everything still moving / spinning. (I was running wide open) Maybe it just needs a little more hard work to break it in??? I can certainly give it that. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Troy

 

[JATO_RaT]

Troy, I can certainly empathize or is it sympathize with your situation. I had a New Holland 2120 that had some of the same characteristics you are experiencing. It just never seemed that the engine power matched the size of their largest compact. After being part of this board for a couple of years now, my experience tells me that peoples opinions here while certainly valid, have to be understood. What I mean is that if you take a guy with a pick and shovel digging a trench and then give him a backhoe, hes going to think that backhoe is ten times better then sliced bread. On the other hand, give an industrial tractor operator a compact and hes going to have a very different opinion about the compact tractor. I hope your tractor has a problem rather then it being a case of being oversold on a belief that a compact can do most anything. You sound like me in the way you use a tractor. I use them hard, don't name them, don't get so involved in the oil that goes in them, talk adnauseum about all the little details, I'll leave that to the bridge ladies. I was hoping you might get on here and say you tried another TC45 and it was night and day compared to yours. I would continue to run your tractor hard, really bear down on it. If you feel that the power transfer to the wheels is whimpy and the engine fluffy, I would want to have a hard talk with the dealer. Best of wishes and luck with your wonderful or is it wonderless tractor, Rat...

 

[JohnT]

Troy,

I bought it new in 2000 and will have owned it a yeat this coming October. I have about 160 hours on it and I work it very hard. Your most recent post got me thinking about my own experiences. While not new to AG or construction equipment, this is my first experience with Hydrostatic drive on this scale. I can honestly say that I have become much more adept at using and applying the power of my TC45D these past 6 months. Furthermore, I notice a number of changes in how it ran, shifted, and generally performed at the 90 hour mark. I am very pleased with mine, but I did have a few problems - including the transmission recall - to work through with my dealer.

All that said, it sounds as if you are progressing in the right direction. Make your tractor work and don't be afraid of brakin it.... that what the warranty is for.

Good Luck,

John

 

[farmacist]

This may seem basic but it took me a while to get used to the fact that the forward pedal works just the opposite to a "gas pedal". The more we push down on the forward pedal the higher gear we have selected. When we go into a pile we MUST let up on the pedal so we have MORE power. If I push my pedal to to floor when I am in a pile I can duplicate Troys condition. Let up a little and your tires shoud spin, push down while under load and the HST gets VERY confused. Try it, you'll like it Frank

 

[JATO_RaT]

Thats a great point farm-a-sist Frank. You are quite correct to that it does take some familiarizing. I know that when I first used Bobcat skid steers I had the same problem. When your going at it, you need high RPM's to keep things going, Rat...

 

[jinman]

Great Point! I think an earlier post of mine where I talked about lugging down my engine and stalling my tractor is a prime example of what you describe. By pressing my foot down, I am not gaining more power, but by movement of the wobble plate in the hydro, I'm actually choosing a higher gear. After all, on our New Hollands the electric switch which changes from turtle to rabbit just changes the hydro output motor angle between 15º and 9º. I guess the trick to learn is to depress the pedal only enough to gain the highest torque to the wheels. Wow! Sometimes the obvious, ain't./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

JimI