DigitalCowboy
Member
Brand new 3535 with my old snowblower attached. So far I'm pretty happy with a couple minor issues.
#1
seems to take forever for the hydraulics to warm up. Dealer says this is likely due to a combination of it being a new tractor and having air still working it's way out of the system and summer oil from a southern climate being in the trans. They suggested when I service it that I go to a lighter synthetic oil and I probably will. I would say for darn near 5 minutes of idling nothing will move, then I rev it up to 2000 and try it, something feels like it comes free and it all starts moving albeit slowly. My theory is the cold oil finally gets pushed through the filter by some warmer oil and starts to open stuff up but what do I know.
#2
3 point hitch doesn't lift the snowblower up very high. I guess I can adjust the top link to be shorter but I want it to have a little bit of a down angle to scrape up snow instead of riding over it. Not huge, but a consideration.
#3
This is 100% operator error... but after doing the same snowblowing pattern for years which involves pulling into the garage and backing out to clear a hole for the car and having my head being the highest point on the tractor, I completely forgot there was a ROPS hoop over my head. So, I need to go to the lumber yard and pick out a new piece of trim for the garage door now. If only it was 1/2" shorter... fortunately it's collapsible so that won't happen again. Made me feel pretty stupid though.
I'm pretty happy with the traction in the snow. In some spots it's about even with my TO-30... it had trouble in the same areas where I've always tended to spin. However, it also busted right through an old snow pile that was as far as I could go with the old tractor and had built up after multiple snows and kept on going. Keep in mind, the TO-30 had chains, the Mahindra currently does not and I probably won't add them if it keeps doing this well.
Power steering, the ability to go slow and have the PTO at full snowblowing RPM, the ability to lift the snowblower while it's turned off, and the ability to do either of those things with the clutch pressed in is witchcraft.. just plain witchcraft.
Why are there 3 cupholders? I mean I'll probably use them for tools/hitch pins/etc... but seriously why 3 cupholders? Speaking of which though... I had pulled out my hammer and long screwdriver for the task of swapping the snowblower onto the new tractor. I HAD SOMEWHERE TO PUT MY TOOLS ON THE NEW TRACTOR WHERE THEY WOULDN'T FALL OFF. That... just... wow... what a concept.
My old trick of using the loader to push the front end of the tractor up slightly, thereby shifting more weight to the back wheels and giving more traction to push snow now has the opposite effect.
It's a good thing there's a diff lock, cause now I can get places I couldn't go before and find neat new ways to nearly get stuck.
