New guy question about unhooking implements.

[YVS]

Most of my seat time is spent pulling a cutter to keep the grass down. Can I just keep my cutter attached to the tractor between cuts. I always keep my tractor stored indoors and I always keep the cutter all the way down to the floor. Is there some reason why I should remove the cutter when not in use. Does it stress 3PH too much.
Thanks

 

[RalphVa]

Heck. On my 1025 with its adjustable bottom out point with a stop, I leave it parked at the bottom out point, which is mowing height. Otherwise, I'd have to loosen the nut holding the stop, etc.

Doubt it affects your 3ph to leave implements even all the way up. They just stay there. The FEL, however, always tends to leak down. You're probably better off leaving it down to discourage the leak down leakage.

Ralph

 

[jeff9366]

If you have the rotary cutter down it is OK to leave it attached to the tractor most of the time.

Dirt and lawn particles will gradually work in to PTO connection to the tractor, gumming it up. You need to separate the connection occasionally to clean and lube the male tractor splines and female PTO coupling. I use spray PB Blaster as a solvent, wire brush, wipe clean with a rag, then lube with Eureka Fluid Film.

Otherwise, over time, the tractor/implement joint will become impossible to separate with less than heroic effort. Much better to perform preventative maintenance.

How often? I do not know your conditions nor frequency of use.

LINK: Search Results | PTO stuck

 

[YVS]

Ralph, thanks for the reply. My next question was about the FEL, but you answered it. I tend to keep the loader off most of the time. The loader arms I keep about an inch off the ground. It seems to me dropping those front arms all the way down, lifts the tractor up just a hair and puts undue stress on that pivot point. Does this make sense to any of you?

Jeff9366, thanks for the info about the PTO maintenance. It's those little nuggets of wisdom I need to acquire. As for how often, with as much rain we are getting in this part of Texas, about 3-4 hours of cutting a week keeps things from getting out of hand.

 

[mddorange]

I always leave something attached but always keep everything down when parked.

 

[KennyG]

I assume your loader has float. Just put it in float position for a moment after you shut it down.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I always lower the loader when parking mostly because it will leak down over time anyway and it makes a good parking brake. As for 3 PH, it isn't going to hurt anything mechanical to leave it up, down or in between.
It is safer to drop the load for people safety, but leaving the 3 PH raised isn't going to hurt your tractor at all. However, removing all the excess weight from the tractors tires when parking is probably the best thing to do anyway.

For getting the FEL fully down, I put it down where it looks down, kill the engine and then wiggle the joystick till all settles in place and all pressure on the lines is removed.

 

[aeblank]

if you go past the down position, the loader will be in "float", which won't lift the tractor.

 

[TripleR]

We have tractors the cutter may not be removed once or twice a year, on my L5740, it stays on all summer. I don't disconnect to do regular maintenance, but it's probably a good idea as you need to grease the shaft occasionally anyway. On the loader, I just use float then disengage.

 

[GManBart]

As far as the loader, leaving it in the air keeps pressure on the seals which isn't necessarily a good thing. I lower the loader until it's just off the ground, shut down the engine, and then lower the bucket, and wiggle the control in all directions to relieve any pressure.

 

[Ford850]

If you drop the loader down after shutting the tractor off, the weight comes off the tractor and the tractor rises up a bit. That might be what you are seeing, but it's not lifting the tractor. It's relaxing everything, removing any stress. Sometimes I think I hear my tractor 'sigh' when I drop that loader weight to the ground after a hard day or working it.

 

[YVS]

Thanks for the help. I'll play around with the float on the FEL and I'll also have to get smart about greasing and maintaining all the moving parts of my cutter.

 

[jeff9366]

Do not grease the PTO connection. Grease is too thick. It will bunch up when you try to push female coupler on tractor splines and prevent you from completing connection. Use Eureka Fluid Film if you have it. WD-40 is second choice.

 

[k0ua]

Do not grease the PTO connection. Grease is too thick. It will bunch up when you try to push female coupler on tractor splines and prevent you from completing connection. Use Eureka Fluid Film if you have it. WD-40 is second choice.

Another vote for the Fluid Film on the PTO shaft. Best thing I have found for this.

 

[boggen]

typical shut down procedures on all equipment...

---turn engine off.
---move all joysticks / levers and like for all hydraulics in all directions a couple times to let pressure out of the hydraulic system. and make sure everything is setting on ground and not up in air.
---set parking break.

if you do not need anything on rear end / 3pt hitch. for counter weight (say using FEL (front end loader). then would be suggestion is to unhook stuff from 3pt hitch.

with that said. many folks leave stuff attached to 3pt hitch. for just that counter weight. for FEL work. it could be a rear blade, box blade, weight box, etc...

rotatory cutter ( laman term bush hog,bush hog = brand name) due to overall weight and more so how far they stick out behind the tractor, you generally need some sort of "front weights" or FEL (front end loader) to counter balance the rotatory cutter and keep the front wheels on the ground.

===========
to above NEVER trust hydraulics to keep something up in the air. it is way to easy for something to happen. and have everything come crashing down in an instant trapping you or someone else. it does not matter if tractor is on or off. just don't trust hydraulics. ya there man lifts, etc.. but they generally have extra "saftey" devices in place. tractors on other hand = cheap, quick hydraulics, with min safety.

 

[PA hayseed]

Do not grease the PTO connection. Grease is too thick. It will bunch up when you try to push female coupler on tractor splines and prevent you from completing connection. Use Eureka Fluid Film if you have it. WD-40 is second choice.

so true. When my tractor was new i was a grease monkey, everything got greased including me. Now I know better and the PTO connector gets a regular spraying of wd40. I'll have to look into this Eureka Fluid Film, well , after I go through the many cans of wd40 i have laying around. Thanks.

That fine floating stuff (grass/weeds/dirt/dust)while mowing, will find it's way into and onto everything greased and it won't leave it no matter how nicely you ask it to.

 

[k0ua]

so true. When my tractor was new i was a grease monkey, everything got greased including me. Now I know better and the PTO connector gets a regular spraying of wd40. I'll have to look into this Eureka Fluid Film, well , after I go through the many cans of wd40 i have laying around. Thanks.

That fine floating stuff (grass/weeds/dirt/dust)while mowing, will find it's way into and onto everything greased and it won't leave it no matter how nicely you ask it to.

Try some Fluid Film. I think you will be pleased. It don't attract crap as bad as the grease. Just why I don't know. I am pretty happy with it overall.

 

[GManBart]

Try some Fluid Film. I think you will be pleased. It don't attract crap as bad as the grease. Just why I don't know. I am pretty happy with it overall.

True, and it's easy to wipe off if necessary.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Fluid Film is great stuff and I use it all the time, but it does smell a little funky to me. The little balls inside the female PTO coupler on my Woods RFM didn't want to retract when I pulled back on the collar, which made attaching the PTO to the tractor an exercise in frustration. A couple of applications of Fluid Film on the balls, and rolling them around to make sure they were completed lubricated, did the trick.

So, the end result is that I used Fluid Film on my balls and now they work great but smell funky.

 

[TSO]

Fluid Film is great stuff and I use it all the time, but it does smell a little funky to me. The little balls inside the female PTO coupler on my Woods RFM didn't want to retract when I pulled back on the collar, which made attaching the PTO to the tractor an exercise in frustration. A couple of applications of Fluid Film on the balls, and rolling them around to make sure they were completed lubricated, did the trick.

So, the end result is that I used Fluid Film on my balls and now they work great but smell funky.

That's funny... Me and KenB2920 were just talking the other day about how much we like the smell of FluidFilm! TomAto TomAHto right? I use both the spray can for lubricating, as well as the concentrate for undercoating. Love the stuff.