When am I pushing my little tractor too hard?

cowboydoc · Jul 11, 2003

You can damage the tractor from repeatedly overstressing it. As a general rule you should be able to pull the load without bogging the tractor down. It does wear on the drivetrain. If you're on level ground with good traction you will stop a tractor before it spins the tires. If you are constantly bogging the tractor down you are either in too high of a gear or you are doing too much for the tractor. The hardest wear on the tractors is the shearing effect from too much stress on the pto.

As far as idling goes it is hard on any diesel engine to idle at the same speed for an extended period of time. All of the trucks and even most pickups now come with an auxillary idle controller. What this does is vary the rpms so you are not constantly idling at the same rpm's.

As far as rpms you aren't going to do anymore damage on a tractor at the pto speed or at a lower rpm. The tractors will not redline. They are governed from the factory in most cases to not exceed the max rpms. That's why on tractors you don't see a red area like you do on cars and pickups on the tach. What you will get with the lower rpms is increased fuel savings. That's why deere came out with the e-pto. It lets the pto operate a lower rpm to conserve fuel. But as far as running at pto speed or lower rpms your engine will last the same.

GSS · Jul 11, 2003

I do the same. Hate to run wide open if I'm just tooling around with the loader. If I hear some strain, then I'll gas it a little.

Wouldn't the engine temp going up higher than normal mean the engine's working harder? I know mine was running hotter when I was brushhogging, but then again it was on a dang hot day with minimal wind...

- Gerald

sewells · Jul 11, 2003

Thanks to everyone for all the info. Naively, I figure it can't be good for the tractor to bog it down by trying to pull too deep with the ripper teeth on the box blade. I guess what I'll do is to take very shallow passes with the ripper teeth to minimize the amount of strain on the drive train and just plan to go over it several times, each time getting a little deeper. I've got plenty to time to convert the field to pasture and I don't have to be in a big hurry. Besides I get more seat time that way.

I wonder why I like driving the tractor more than I like sitting in front of my computer all day. Maybe because I've been doing the computer thing for 30 years now.

Steve Wells

frank_f15 · Jul 11, 2003

anybody SMART enough to ask the question and be concerned about it, is NOT going to be dumb enough to to overtax the machine to any great extent on a regular basis. just use your common sense and the tractor will be fine.

BillyP · Jul 11, 2003

OK Richard. Explain to me what this e-pto is and when this came about?

JRP · Jul 26, 2003

e-pto is a second pto setting that gives rated pto rpm at alower engine rpm. This lets you run a light pto load, such as a spray rig, at a lower engine rpm.

You might get full 580 pto rpm and hp at 2200 engine rpm,

or in e-pto get 580 pto rpm, less pto hp, but at only 1400 engine rpm.

It saves fuel and also is easier on the operator (less noise).

chrisjbell · Jul 27, 2003

<font color="blue"> I wonder why I like driving the tractor more than I like sitting in front of my computer all day. Maybe because I've been doing the computer thing for 30 years now.
</font>

You poor thing. I was a computer programmer type for over 20 years and nearly lost it. Then I lost my job (laid off in one of the big merger deals) - best thing that has happened to me professionally in a long time. Don't quite know what I'm going to do next, but I'll flip burgers rather than go back into the "cube farm" again.

Sorry about the off topic post, but couldn't help it...

And someone may have mentioned it already (think they did) that when you get lots of black exhaust you're pushing your engine pretty hard (hadda pretend to reply to the topic /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif).

milkman · Jul 30, 2003

Is this what you mean by smoke?

milkman · Jul 30, 2003

Or maybe this?

Henro · Jul 30, 2003

<font color="blue"> When am I pushing my little tractor too hard? </font>

Everytime I see the title of this thread I can't help but think the answer is obvious:

It's when you're breathng heavy and sweating a lot!

At least that's how it used to be for me...before I got a real, dependable, doesn't-get-stuck tractor... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif