Finally got to really work it hard for the first time. Ran the bush hog for about 4 hours today. Cuts great, works great! Couple of things I need some advice on:
1. The temp started climbing to around 215-220 after running for about 45 minutes. The stuff I am cutting is chest high and some places head high and very thick. Tractor is not bogging or lacking of power, but it is work. I shut it down and checked the radiator - FULL of crap from cutting. Put some mesh over the grill and I also forgot my "driver" side engine cover which will help next time. I brought a blower and cleaned and blew it out the best I could every 30 min or so but the little white things in the air literally kept caking on the radiator. I would shut it down for a minute, clean off what I could, then let it run around 1800 RPM for around 5 min and temp would drop down to about 175 and I'd go again. Kind of annoying, but I noticed the water in my radiator still needs to be flushed a few more times along with the radiator clogging up is probably the reason as it is obviously cooling correctly once clean again. Cleaned radiator with compressed air when I got back home and drained the dirty water. The block must just be full of all kinds of crud. Again, no oil at all - literally just muddy ditch water.
2. I developed a leak here on both sides. What would cause this, just old seals? Easy fix? It's odd, it seems like it almost stopped leaking as it's not getting any worse and I don't think it leaked anymore after the initial time....? Is there a vent or something that could be plugged possibly and made it "squirt" out there temporarily?
3. I only shifted the PTO from neutral to first gear at low RPM, everything is smooth. Can I engage the clutch (let it out) at any RPM with the PTO engaged? Or are you supposed to engage clutch at low RPM and then throttle up? Seems to work fine both ways just curious.
4. What RPM should I run at while bush hogging? I was around 2200-2400. The needle jumps around quite a bit - is this normal?
5. I did notice, the white smoke seems to be DECREASING after running it hard all day!
Here's pic of the leak
