MAX 25/24 questions

[Binford]

I'm back in the tractor market after 5 years. In my past life I had a TC40d and 200 acres to play on. Fast forward to present day: new wife, 11 acre lot and new house, and a tight budget. I am looking for a sub-compact that will do everything for me. Loader work, york rake work, bush hogging, lawn mowing and snow removal. I live in Vermont, and my driveway is 600+ feet, flat, and wind swept.

-Anyone have time bush hogging with these?
-How about snow removal on gravel driveway?
-Mowing the lawn?

The only way I can sell this to my wife would be to have it do everything. I understand it will be 'Jack of all trades, master of none' tractor. My city raised wife thinks it's a toy for me! Once the tractor is on property and improving things, she'll see the light...

 

[Shift4200]

I have the Max25 tractor.

I cannot give you any feedback on brush hogging... never tried, and dont have a hog.

I have a 1600ft driveway that's 3/4 gravel. Last season i used the FEL and a back blade to clear. It was time consuming but did a good job. I found the biggest issue to be the fact that I would struggle with snow deeper than 10in. Anything more than that I would do a pass mid storm to keep the totals down. Eventually the snowbanks took over and the game became more "collect and move" than it was "plow" in the beginning. This year I stepped up the game with a WOODS SB54s blower. This should not only fix my snowbank issue, but should also speed up the project by not requiring me to clear mid storm.

I also have the MMMower for my max. Works well. I find I take the mower off after each cut simply to have more ground clearance when using the FEL. I can do this swap in under 10m now that I've done it a few times.

-J

 

[Binford]

Shift, does your Max have R4's? Good news on the MMM. I will have 2+ acres of lawn to tackle.

 

[BlackOps]

I just received my max 25 with loader and mid mower deck - trying to figure a few things out and also rain around here so cannot really get into stuff but it seems like a rather sweeeet machine.

 

[Pitch1]

They will do a bunch more work than you think. Somethings I do not love. It is stupid to have to raise the hood and remove the side panel just to check the oil. Mine operates just fine with the panel hanging in the shed. I have 150 hours on mine just snow and mowing duty. Yesterday I cleaned a barn. Seven hours of hard bucket work in packed manure and bedding. I am singing the praises, there is a real tractor under this suburban lawn mower.

 

[Shift4200]

Shift, does your Max have R4's? Good news on the MMM. I will have 2+ acres of lawn to tackle.

Binford,

Love the name by the way... surprised it wasn't taken.

I have the r4 industrial tires on mine. I find they have exceptional grip in most every condition. I had one issue when pulling snow up my driveway (7% grade) but down was no problem. Shortly after I put a set of cheap chains on and the difference was amazing... note that putting chains too tight made my traction worse as it caked snow into the valleys of the tire. This season i will skip the chains as i doubt i will have any issues with the new snowblower.

The tires don't eat up the lawn either (be sure to disengage 4wd)... which is a good thing. I"m at about 3/4 of an acre of grass for now. The 60in belly mower is a bit overkill, but better to over kill than under.

I've had really good luck withe every project I've done with mine. Anything too heavy for the loader was easily dragged behind. I've pulled people out of the gully on snowy roads, moved boulders, endless firewood work. I'm out there grading the driveway every other rain storm.... the list goes on.

Seems the longer i have it, the more i find i can do with it. It's like having someone around to help with every chore.

Wife and I rent a house at Killington every year.... Pittsfield to be specific. About an hour south of you according to the maps. Beautiful country up there.

-J

 

[Shift4200]

They will do a bunch more work than you think. Somethings I do not love. It is stupid to have to raise the hood and remove the side panel just to check the oil. Mine operates just fine with the panel hanging in the shed. I have 150 hours on mine just snow and mowing duty. Yesterday I cleaned a barn. Seven hours of hard bucket work in packed manure and bedding. I am singing the praises, there is a real tractor under this suburban lawn mower.

I find the easy remove panels make working on things much much easier than other units I've worked on. I prefer this setup. Only takes a few seconds to take the sides off... and just as easy back on.

Just my opinion.

-J

 

[Pitch1]

I find the easy remove panels make working on things much much easier than other units I've worked on. I prefer this setup. Only takes a few seconds to take the sides off... and just as easy back on.

Just my opinion.

-J

I just figure that for a few cents more per copy Mahindra could have specced a longer dipstick and a port in the panel. Just my opinion.

 

[Shift4200]

I just figure that for a few cents more per copy Mahindra could have specced a longer dipstick and a port in the panel. Just my opinion.

I can't argue that... i guess i missed the original point. It seems it was more distaste toward the dipstick rather than the side panels.... in which, I agree. First time checking the oil took me a while simply because I could not find the dam thing...

-J

 

[DavesTractor]

I just figure that for a few cents more per copy Mahindra could have specced a longer dipstick and a port in the panel. Just my opinion.

I agree. An extension tube that came up top would be a great thing. And since a ton of models over the years used the same basic engine, a retrofit tube and stick would have a big market among the Mahindra owners.

 

[roughcut]

Binford, I have the max 28 hst, mmm, FEL, 6 foot back blade and 5" brush hog. The tractor mows great. We have about 6 acres to finish mow and you can mow as fast as your kidneys can handle and it still looks great. We also brush hog about 10 acres and it handles the 5 foot brush hog with ease. My driveway is about 250 yards long with a slight grade. NW PA gets a bunch of wet snow and we don't typically have much problem plowing. It does struggle on the uphill grade but only because I do not have chains. A couple issues I have experienced so far. There is not a guard on the front pulley of the mmm. I ran over an ant hill with mine and the deck lifted and flattened out the top pulley of the MMM on the support bracket for the FEL and then smoked the belt. Not knowing the pulley was damaged I put on another expensive Mahindra belt and ruined it as well. I now have stops on the deck to prevent this. Have also had trouble with moisture in the injection solenoid. Always seems to happens at the worst time!. Tractor will start but then just shuts down. Dealer cleaned it the 1st time and 2nd time it happened they replaced the solenoid. Also, it does not like to start in the winter. Other than that we are very pleased with our purchase.
Dave

 

[BlackOps]

can you please expand about the deck issues and the belt issues. This is the 2nd time recently i have heard about this - I have a deck - have not tried it out yet but would hate to trash it all up. Cost me some $ and want to take care of it. Thank you.

 

[Pitch1]

Roughcut, not meaning to be rude,but your deck problems seem to be born of careless operation rather than a design problem. I mow about 3 acres with my mmm and maneuver around more than a hundred trees. Some with roots that are 5inches or so proud of the ground. I take it slow and I pay attention. Do not buy a belt from Mahindra, I replaced mine with a gates for less than half the price. I posted in another thread which number it is.

 

[roughcut]

Pitch 1, I don't consider your comment rude at all. The damage was most definitely my fault but I consider the Max 28 a tractor and I use it as such. I was only letting those that are interested in what could happen know so that they can avoid costly repairs. Took me about an hour of time and maybe $5.00 of supplies to add a bracket to the front of the mower deck so that the pulley cannot make contact with the cross brace for the FEL. Now I don't have to worry about it.
Dave

 

[Shift4200]

Hey Guys,

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure that the MMM on the 25 is setup slightly different than the 28s. I've read of this problem several times and it's always been on the 28 series tractor. I inspected mine and found that i had plenty of clearance over the problem pully/belt.

The brackets on my MMM for the scalp wheels are different than those i see in pics on the 28. Not sure if that's related to the model year, or the tractors themselves, so take it for what it's worth.

Either way, this issue does not effect all Mahindra MMMs from what i can tell.

Just my 0.02$

-J

 

[roughcut]

BlackOps, I am not sure if the Max 25 is the same as the 28. I do know that the 28 uses only the 3 point hitch hydraulics to control the height of the deck and I believe the 25 has a mechanical set in the back. Actually the wheels on the deck also help on the 28. Anyway on the max 28 there is a bracket on the back of the mower deck to keep it from going up to high and contacting various things under the tractor but on the front there isn't anything. The bracket in the back works fine but in my case I was mowing an area that was a bit high. The front of the deck (skid plate) hit an ant hill forcing the front of the deck up. With no guard covering the front pulley it came into contact with the brace for the FEL that goes from one side of the tractor to the other. When this happened it flattened out the top angle of the pulley and stopped the blades. Not knowing what was happening it took me a couple seconds to hit the clutch and stop the PTO. During that time the belt continued to turn around the stopped pulley and it was ruined. Blue smoke everywhere! I will look for the post that Pitch1 mentions for the gates part number for the next time it needs replaced and save some money.

 

[DavesTractor]

roughcut, so what I understand is that under normal conditions on a Max26/28 you can't raise the mower high enough to damage itself, but if the mower climbs over an obstacle and gets shoved up higher than designed, the pulley can contact the loader brace under the tractor. Perhaps the designers did not factor in that scenario, but is seems like that is a condition that can happen to a user occasionally if you are mowing areas that are not just normal lawn. I think an additional stop on the front of the mower is a great idea.

I believe on the 22/24/25 the lower loader cross brace has a crescent shape cut into the rearward part of it, allowing clearance. BTW, that 22/24/25 brace can install with the crescent shape forward (wrong) or rearward (correct). It makes no difference if you do not have a MMM, but can cause clearance issues if you have a MMM on a 22/24/25 and the brace is flipped backwards. Max 22/24/25 users with a MMM should take a look under and make sure theirs are correct. Rarely are they wrong, but it has happened. If so, just remove the bolts and turn it. Easy.

 

[Shift4200]

roughcut, so what I understand is that under normal conditions on a Max26/28 you can't raise the mower high enough to damage itself, but if the mower climbs over an obstacle and gets shoved up higher than designed, the pulley can contact the loader brace under the tractor. Perhaps the designers did not factor in that scenario, but is seems like that is a condition that can happen to a user occasionally if you are mowing areas that are not just normal lawn. I think an additional stop on the front of the mower is a great idea.

I believe on the 22/24/25 the lower loader cross brace has a crescent shape cut into the rearward part of it, allowing clearance. BTW, that 22/24/25 brace can install with the crescent shape forward (wrong) or rearward (correct). It makes no difference if you do not have a MMM, but can cause clearance issues if you have a MMM on a 22/24/25 and the brace is flipped backwards. Max 22/24/25 users with a MMM should take a look under and make sure theirs are correct. Rarely are they wrong, but it has happened. If so, just remove the bolts and turn it. Easy.

I'll be looking into this tonight... thanks Dave.

-J

 

[roughcut]

Daves Tractor, thanks for the explanation. I actually thought about taking that brace off and cutting a half moon out of it so the pulley would have clearance but did not want to void any warranties. I believe it would still be plenty strong enough though. In actuality there just isn't enough height adjustment for the MMM on the max 28 anyway! Still a great tractor for most jobs.
Dave

 

[BlackOps]

Thanks! I am a bit concerned now. Not sure I have all of the skill that many of you have re: tweaking and fixing various aspects of this new tractor. I do not want to mess it up in any way.