Generalized Questions

[Barryh]

Always have something I would like to get a second opinion on. This may help some of the newer Power Trac owners also.


1 .... I have 647 hours on my Kohler command -25. Was wondering if any of you have ever changed over to Synthetic oil with this many hours on your machine. I have no leaks and wondering if I would be pushing the envelope by doing so now. Another consideration for my circumstance is my PT has low hours but is physically old a 1996.

2.... Other question I know these modern Battery tenders are designed to safely charge a battery then cut off after it reaches full charge. How many of you feel safe leaving them charging while you are at work away from home or overnight in an enclosed garage ..

 

[ponytug]

I can't speak for others, but feeling safe around gasoline and AC power- never.
I always worry about fuel vapors, and the potential to transfer energy from electricity to fuel to cause ignition.

If it were me, I would be thinking more along the lines of how to make it intrinsically safe. (e.g. If the charger melts down, and the box catches fire, where can it be located not to set fire to anything else? Could I charge it once a week while I was in the garage?...)

Where I worked once had the wiring in the wall short out and set fire to a flammable liquid overnight. The room had automatic fire sensors in it and the fire department was a block away. It still destroyed the room from about 30" upwards. (Think mushroom shaped fuel cloud.) I think that they had fire hoses on it in under three minutes.

I don't live that close to the fire department, so I try to make sure that they won't ever have to come. Just me...

All the best,

Peter

 

[Soundguy]

One thing I like to do, even for battery trickle/maintainers, is plug them into a timer.

Set the timer to come on say.. half an hour twice a week. should be plenty to keep a healthy charged battery, topped off.

for the oil?

I don't see an issue changing to synthetic oil on a used machine. When I bought my used f350 diesel, I immediately started it on syn oil, even though it was at 175,000 miles, and 11 ys old.

Never has leaked a drop of engine oil, nor does it use any appreciable amount in 3000-5000m intervals. ( holds just shy of 4g, so yeah, technically it is using some.. but just not enough to make a difference... )

 

[joshlee]

I switched to synthetic oil when my car was at 100k. After telling a local mechanic what I done, he said,"That engine will start using oil", and he was right. This Ford Taurus didn't use any oil prior to the synthetic change, but afterwards it did. He told me (then I heard it from many) that synthetic oil has detergents that clean the inside of the engine much more than conventional oil, and what happens is it cleans dirt out of areas that are keeping things tight, basically. Haha, who ever thought dirt can be a friend at times:laughing:

 

[Barryh]

Sound guy ... Great idea on the timer as a good fail safe I might have to try that ..

Joshlee I've heard the same thing with high millage cars when changing out to synthetic cleans out the dirt and pushes past old seals.

Just not sure with 647 hours, if I should push my luck. Fairly low hours but being a 96 physically the engine and seals are old. Just wondering if anyone else has done this with a Robin or Kohler with this amount of hours.

 

[Raw Dodge]

It's not too late to change to synthetic oil,I would do it immediately. ..those air cooled Kohler Commands only hold 2.1 quarts ,IMO they should have synthetic from the factory, and require it for warranty like most cars now,especially GM with there Dexos grade oil..

 

[MossRoad]

Always have something I would like to get a second opinion on. This may help some of the newer Power Trac owners also.


1 .... I have 647 hours on my Kohler command -25. Was wondering if any of you have ever changed over to Synthetic oil with this many hours on your machine. I have no leaks and wondering if I would be pushing the envelope by doing so now. Another consideration for my circumstance is my PT has low hours but is physically old a 1996.

2.... Other question I know these modern Battery tenders are designed to safely charge a battery then cut off after it reaches full charge. How many of you feel safe leaving them charging while you are at work away from home or overnight in an enclosed garage ..

I've got a trickle charger/maintainer that I keep plugged in 24/7 in the winter to my PT425. The charger itself has a 6' cord from wall to charger and 6' cord from charger to tractor. The charger sits on the floor with nothing flammable around it. One thing I never do is fuel the thing inside the garage, or connect or disconnect any electrical items directly after fueling as I'm concerned about fumes building up in the tub, even though its well ventilated. With that said, my PT is in an unattached garage from the house, as is our car. I'm kinda leery about attached garages, cars, fuel, fire, death, etc...

 

[Soundguy]

I'd grease them battery terminals to keep out oxy and prevent corrosion.

 

[woodlandfarms]

There are so many things that could possibly short / fail. Battery tender IMO is no worse than your phone plugged in. Adding a timer only ads another element to fail / catch fire. Not saying it can't happen, probably a higher chance of you getting hit in the head with a rock from your mower, but you don't wear a helmet mowing, do you? As I travel a lot and can be gone for up to a year, my machines all sit on tenders. All of them that have a battery. didn't have tenders to begin with, learned an expensive lesson.

For me, I like Synthetic because I do not have to change it as much, and I believe it makes my engine run cooler. The PT temp gauge dropped 7 degrees when switching from normal oil to synthetic. I could have bumped something for sure, I have no official proof of a temp drop other than my crappy guage, but living in a fantasy land that high dollars only mean improvements has kept me loyal to Synthetic oil.

 

[BigBoyToys]

With 647 hours and no engine issues...why "FIX what ain't BROKE"???
If you started with conventional oil then stick with it or use a synthetic blend like Castrol GTX MAGNATEC.
Start with synthetic...stay with synthetic.

I've been using the Deltran Battery Tenders for over 25 years on multiple vehicles and have never had a problem. I have them plugged into ground fault outlets and have the leads permanently mounted to the batteries with the included polarized lead/plugs. The charging lines also have an inline fuse as well.

 

[ponytug]

Old engines with old seals can dry out with synthetic oils- then they leak. Mechanics generally are talking about pre-unleaded gas. Your vintage engine isn't that old. It should be fine. There is lots of literature out there on the issue.

Getting crud off a seal can cause it to leak after you change the oil, but that is true of any clean oil, synthetic or otherwise.

It is the same issue with fuel. Changing to ethanol from non-ethanol gasoline can dissolve crud, same with switching to biodiesel (even if it is clean). The solvation power of these liquids are all a little different, and older engines / fuel lines / hydraulic lines will have more crud in them to get loosened up.

For air cooled gasoline engines, the fuel is an important part of the cooling and switch from a non-ethanol blend to an ethanol blend will change the cooling power, and you may need to adjust the octane ratio to compensate. Again, lots of literature out there, if you look for it.

And, yes WoodlandFarms, I do mow with a chainsaw hard hat and mesh face shield. I won't tell you how often debris has pinged off it. (And ear plugs, with over the ear hearing protection, the 72" brush cutter is not quiet when it takes out big items of brush.)

Live long and prosper.

All the best,

Peter

P.S. Spell checkers are amusing in their own right. Mine changed solvation to salvation, which may have been an indication for the quasi religious tone to some fuel / lubrication discussions.

 

[k0ua]

My little JD mower sits 24/7 (when it is not mowing) with a solar charger on it. The line to the battery is fused at the battery The solar charger is 6 foot away in the window. I suppose anything is possible, but I think it is pretty safe.

 

[Soundguy]

There are so many things that could possibly short / fail. Battery tender IMO is no worse than your phone plugged in. Adding a timer only ads another element to fail / catch fire. .

Looking at the current handling duties of a timer powering a trickle charger, and the charger itself... My vote is on the timer outlasting the charger.

The charger has to do a voltage and current conversion, and the fault possibilities on the low voltage side are numerous and varried depending on the battery and the cable clamp connections. IMHO.. battery tenders are not extremely fault tolerant.. or not as much as they should be.

In my lifetime I've seen LOTS of dead chargers.. can't say I've seen many dead timers... and the few dead ones I saw were line generated failures that also caused down stream failures. IE. voltage spike from a lightning strike that toop out timer and effected equipment, and heck.. just about everything on the circuit.

The ac load on a timer is minscule. Likely in the .1 amp range for a tender that has up to an amp output.

That load range on the timer is compariable to it's own control circuit draw... IE.. nearly quiescent. The load on the low voltage side of the tender on the other hand could be an issue. Take a battery with a cell that fails while you are gone... charge current would want to go up to maintain charge voltage...

I know some electronics are designed to run at loads near or at 0 ohms, for 'x' specified time.. but in practice... I see those fail more often than devices run at theor correct load.

The timer gives you other options too.

if yuo live in a cold area, you could have your timer coming on to charge the battery and run a block eater, etc.. so the machine could be prepped and ready to run .

 

[Barryh]

Wanted second opinions looks like I got a few here and one by private message thanks.

Will be doing the first oil change since I bought my used PT.. The previous owner said he used Castrol 10w30. I'll take a chance and switch over to synthetic oil want to get as many hours as I can out of this old machine.

Since my garage is attached to the house I'm a little Leary of leaving the Battery tender on 24 / 7 will use the timer idea.

Per the advice from Woodland Farms .. Going to invest in a helmet ... JK

 

[MossRoad]

And don't forget your protective steel cup....

 

[4570Man]

I have never used a battery tender, but my equipment doesn't sit for long periods.

 

[Barryh]

And don't forget your protective steel cup....

Always ..:laughing:

 

[woodlandfarms]

In vietnam the grunts and the gunners in slicks (transport helicopters) would take their helmets off and sit on them. not to get a higher view but to protect the valuables.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Not to get off beam on this conversation but I never get hit with debris on my mower, and even when I throw a blade it never travels far.

I wonder Peter if my experiences is just different from your because of what we mow. I know roughly where you live at and while not desert, it is more arid ( I assume rocky as well). My part of town I am seldom not mowing grass that is at least a foot high.

And in all honesty, I always wear ear protection and eye protection. Eye protection is not for the mowing, though, it is for the constant B - Slaps I get from tree branches.

 

[ponytug]

WoodlandFarms is right; we mow different things. Mowing grass or thistles is never an issue for either of us.

Brush cutting is a different story for me. When I'm brush cutting, nothing is small - 8' high poison oak, oak trees, coyote brush, much of it with 3-4" stems and branches. So, when the brush gets cut, there are sometimes some big chunks, and no matter how slowly I try to go to mulch it, the occasional branch/trunk goes flying. I've thought about having a roll bar on the front of the brush cutter to help push the brush over to better cut and chop it, but it hasn't made it to the top of my welding do list.

On the subject of the Power-trac brush cutter, it is awesome. You can see what you are going to cut, you drive over cleared land, and you aren't going to get swept off of your tractor into your brush cutter. WAY, WAY, safer than standard 3Pt brush cutters in my opinion.

As always, YMMV...

All the best,

Peter

Not to get off beam on this conversation but I never get hit with debris on my mower, and even when I throw a blade it never travels far.

I wonder Peter if my experiences is just different from your because of what we mow. I know roughly where you live at and while not desert, it is more arid ( I assume rocky as well). My part of town I am seldom not mowing grass that is at least a foot high.

And in all honesty, I always wear ear protection and eye protection. Eye protection is not for the mowing, though, it is for the constant B - Slaps I get from tree branches.