Trade MF1547 for MF1749?

[TSO]

Congrats on the "new" machine! My 1648 cab (was) and my 1652 cab (is) an awesome machine. Sometimes I think I want to get a shiny new tractor again just for the shine, but I don't think I could let this one go. Around 1000 hours and she still runs perfect. Never had a problem with it.

 

[Hilbilly]

Congrats on the "new" machine! My 1648 cab (was) and my 1652 cab (is) an awesome machine. Sometimes I think I want to get a shiny new tractor again just for the shine, but I don't think I could let this one go. Around 1000 hours and she still runs perfect. Never had a problem with it.

Glad to hear about your problem free experience. Hope mine goes as well. Why did you go from the 48 to the 52?

 

[TSO]

Different engine. The 1648 uses the Iseki 2.2L while the 1652 uses the Iseki 3.0L, naturally aspirated. Much better torque curve. Same engine (non turbo) tuned to 60hp in the 1660. I really liked the 1648 but figured since I'd have the machine for awhile, might as well get the one with the larger engine.

 

[Hilbilly]

Different engine. The 1648 uses the Iseki 2.2L while the 1652 uses the Iseki 3.0L, naturally aspirated. Much better torque curve. Same engine (non turbo) tuned to 60hp in the 1660. I really liked the 1648 but figured since I'd have the machine for awhile, might as well get the one with the larger engine.

Makes sense. Hope you didn't get hit too hard on the trade up.

I know what you mean. My 1547 also had the 2.2L Iseki and that motor had more torque than this Mitsubishi 1.7L. I can really tell at the bottom part of my driveway with a grade of 15%. The 1547 would climb up that section with the front plow down in high range, second gear, without a struggle. With chains on the front that thing was a tank in that gear. This tractor struggles in mid range, even without chains on and only pushing a small amount of snow. If I had to do it again I would probably look for a 1758, maybe the newer ones without all the pollution crap. But I like this tractor much better for 99% of what I've done with it so far. I just have to get used to the HST and the lower torque.

This whole thing started on a whim. My wife and I were in the city and on a spur of the moment thing I said I wanted to see how much a cab tractor was. Thinking if it wasn't too much I might consider trading in the old one and getting a new one so I could have a cab. Old age is catching up to me and I would like to be more comfortable when plowing in the cold. We stopped at the Kubota dealer to check on prices to see if this was even a consideration or not. The salesman told me the cabs in the grand L series ranged from mid $50k to low $60's (plus 12% tax of course). No way I was going to spend $60,000 to $70,000 just to get a cab tractor. When I got home I looked for used cab tractors on several websites and found this tractor listed at the same Kubota dealer, for 2 different prices. On their website it was $45k and on the Marketplace website it was $36,500. That is where this journey started.

 

[TSO]

No I did decent, I found my 1652 "nearly new" a few States away and had it shipped sight unseen based on my experience with the 1648. Then I sold the 1648 to a member on here.

I think the lack of power you're feeling (like others mentioned) has much more to do with the HST vs Gear Drive issue. Even if you had the 1758, I think you'd still find that the 1547 Gear machine you had put more power to the ground. Just the nature of the difference between the two transmissions. With HST you are trading away brute power for the convenience and productivity advancements with constant direction and speed changes.

Good luck with your new machine. Oh, and make sure you check the hydraulic relief valve setting. I found mine to be low and had to adjust the relief valve to get maximum loader strength.

 

[Hilbilly]

No I did decent, I found my 1652 "nearly new" a few States away and had it shipped sight unseen based on my experience with the 1648. Then I sold the 1648 to a member on here.

I think the lack of power you're feeling (like others mentioned) has much more to do with the HST vs Gear Drive issue. Even if you had the 1758, I think you'd still find that the 1547 Gear machine you had put more power to the ground. Just the nature of the difference between the two transmissions. With HST you are trading away brute power for the convenience and productivity advancements with constant direction and speed changes.

Good luck with your new machine. Oh, and make sure you check the hydraulic relief valve setting. I found mine to be low and had to adjust the relief valve to get maximum loader strength.

You're probably right about the power being an HST issue. I've only got about 15hrs on it so far (including the testing time at the dealers) and I'm still getting the feel of it. When I'm coming up the driveway it's kind of a balancing act to get the pedal position at a point where the rpms don't drop and I get max forward speed. With the gear trans it was a totally different approach.

That's a very good point about the relief valve setting too. I know this loader doesn't lift as much as my old one did and I think it is rated to. With the old loader I could very easily get the back of the tractor off the ground if I didn't have enough counterweight. This one will not lift the back even with no counterweight. It could be that the cab and extra wide (ballasted) tires add enough weight to prevent the back from coming off the ground but I don't think that is all of the difference. I'll have to figure out where the relief valve is and how to test / set it.

 

[TSO]

I've got an old thread showing how to adjust the pressure... do a search for it if you can. Not sure if you can search through my threads or not. Obviously that's assuming that they didn't change the relief valve location and type between the models

 

[Hilbilly]

Thanks, I'll take a look later.

 

[Hilbilly]

I found it and bookmarked it. I will wait until I get the new loader valve installed and see how the loader works afterwards. One thing I seen in the owners manual for this tractor is that the main pump setting is only 2277psi. Not very much pressure. Based on the info in the owners manual this loader should lift as much as my previous loader but that loader was operating at 2500psi. If that's true then the cylinders on this loader would have to be larger or mounted differently to provide the same lift capacity. Time will tell.

 

[Hilbilly]

Not sure if I should start another thread about this or not but here goes.

I just finished changing the transmission oil and took the tractor for a run down to my daughters place, about 2 miles away. This is the first time I've had a chance to run the tractor on a long flat road and found it would not get up to top speed. According to the owners manual, top speed is 28.6 kmh but no matter what I tried I couldn't get it over 25 and it was struggling. I tried using the hand throttle and setting the engine rpms to 2500 and then applying the forward HST pedal slowly but no matter how slowly I did that it wouldn't get above about 25kmh. The rpms would start to drop so I back off the foot pedal a little to get the rpms back up and then slowly apply pressure to the pedal again to try and get the speed up but no luck.

The owners manual states that even the 1742 tractors have a top speed of around 28 kmh, so I don't understand why a smaller engine tractor could produce that top speed but this one can't. Any ideas?