The Griff
New member
Hi all! I just received my first tractor - a New Holland 1920 with a backhoe. Today I drove it for the first time. I do want to make sure there isn't anything I should know before driving it again.
There are so many levers and such and I don't understand their positions. Before I spend more time on it, are there any levers that shouldn't be engaged (except when needed)? For example, I know that 4 wheel drive shouldn't be turned on except when needed. Anything else?
On a side note, I'm not at all used to how a tractor feels but it feels to me very slow unless I switch it up to the higher gears (which seems pretty obvious). I was told to work in the lower gears mostly but the lowest gear (Low range in 1st gear) seem SUPER slow. Is this normal? What range do most people keep their tractor in when just doing light duty moving and driving?
One last thing: When I am in forward, there sounds like a knocking in the rear tires which gets faster as the tractor moves faster. The sound goes away when it's in reverse. That coupled with the sluggishness, made me think maybe there is some type or parking brake that's on that I can't find or something. Does this sound normal? As soon as I bought it last week, I had a mechanic take it to his shop to service it and inspect for any issues and he didn't say anything about that so I assume there isn't a problem, but maybe something is on that shouldn't be?
There are so many levers and such and I don't understand their positions. Before I spend more time on it, are there any levers that shouldn't be engaged (except when needed)? For example, I know that 4 wheel drive shouldn't be turned on except when needed. Anything else?
On a side note, I'm not at all used to how a tractor feels but it feels to me very slow unless I switch it up to the higher gears (which seems pretty obvious). I was told to work in the lower gears mostly but the lowest gear (Low range in 1st gear) seem SUPER slow. Is this normal? What range do most people keep their tractor in when just doing light duty moving and driving?
One last thing: When I am in forward, there sounds like a knocking in the rear tires which gets faster as the tractor moves faster. The sound goes away when it's in reverse. That coupled with the sluggishness, made me think maybe there is some type or parking brake that's on that I can't find or something. Does this sound normal? As soon as I bought it last week, I had a mechanic take it to his shop to service it and inspect for any issues and he didn't say anything about that so I assume there isn't a problem, but maybe something is on that shouldn't be?
