How to keep radiators free of grass chaff?

[Ortimber]

I carry a small leaf blower with me when I'm doing any work that might plug up the radiator. It works great and only takes a minute or two to blow out most everything.

 

[RoyJackson]

When mowing, I carry a 2" paint brush with the bristles cut down for stiffness.
I don't see anyway to prevent the chaff building up, but frequent (meaning, whenever you think of it, or the temp gage is running high) cleanings make life easy

 

[countrybumpkin]

I carry a small leaf blower with me when I'm doing any work that might plug up the radiator. It works great and only takes a minute or two to blow out most everything.

This works great, I always keep a blower with me anytime I take the tractor someplace to bush hog, may need it every hour or once a day when I load up the tractor. During the day when I’m cutting if I see the temp starts to creep up, I’ll drive up to the trailer, leave the tractor running to cool, open the hood and blow the entire thing off, I blow off the trans and cutter too. By the time I’m finished it’s cooled back to normal temps, climb back on and go again.

 

[Williy]

If it was me needing something to; keep radiator clean would go with a fine screen it
it don't work double it and easyier to work with
than a furnace filter and not so easy to rear up.

willy

 

[Hay Dude]

What works best for me is to start mowing fields in the earliest daylight to take advantage of the dew keeping dust particles down, or cut after light rains.

That limits your mowing time, but if you don’t mow a lot, it can work.
Also, windy days kick up more radiator dust.

 

[Camofurever1]

When I brush hog, I will put the FEL bucket about 12" off the ground. This effectively does 2 things: It helps catch the tractor incase one of the front wheels drops into a hole, and it pushes the grass over in front of me, keeping the chaff well below the radiator, which minimizes the amount that gets caught on the grill screen.

 

[5030]

I've run Kubotas for years, flail mowing large fields with grass anywhere from 2-3' in height. After some hours of mowing, the temp gauge starts to creep up and will fully overheat if you were to continue. The problem is all the pollen and chaff at the top of the grass lifts as the front of the tractor touches it, and the fan draws it in. Typically the outer plastic grille will plug, along with the radiator screen behind. What I've noticed is that eventually, this chaff gets through the removable screen and into the radiators behind the screen.

Furthermore, at least Kubota is placing other coolers "ahead" of the screen, such as the HST cooler, fuel cooler, etc. These are subject to the full brunt of the chaff, with only the plastic grille providing any shielding.

I've just made a deal on a new L4060 Kubota with a cab and A/C, my first cab tractor. This adds yet another radiator (condenser). Not sure if that will be behind the screen or not, but I'm sure it will also plug up.

Any method to prevent these from getting plugged up as much or as quick, yet without restricting airflow? Best method to clean? I use water when the engine is cool, but it makes a big mess. Sometimes I use a "brush" made of a long plant stalk that can reach in between the coolers, radiator, etc.

Thanks

Do what I did and remove the OEM fan entirely as well as the spacer and replace it with a high volume reverseable 12 volt electric cooling fan with a reversing toggle switch in the cab somewhere convenient, I have mine on the dash next to the coolant temp gage. You can buy a high volume reversing 12 volt fan, the same size as the existing inner radiator shroud from Summit Racing for about 150 bucks and a few home garage made brackets, a toggle switch and some hookup wire (and an inline 20 amp fuse and you are golden. I run mine in the suck mode most of the time but when the temp gage gets over 1/2 up, I reverse the flow and blow all the crap right out. I should put together a kit and sell them on the Internet actually.

Heck, om my M9' I have the radiator with the trans oil cooler in front of that and then the air to air charge air cooler and then the AC condenser and that is a ton of heat exchangers on any tractor. best thing I ever did was go to the 12 volt cooling fan. Everything works better and the engine makes more power and is quieter too. Took me about an hour to convert everything.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

$7.99 Harbor Freight works well for me.
That and a leaf blower.

 

[Hay Dude]

I carry a small leaf blower with me when I'm doing any work that might plug up the radiator. It works great and only takes a minute or two to blow out most everything.

I do this, too. Helps to blow off not only the radiators, but the mower deck, too. I just keep a Stihl blower on the mower deck.

Massey has air brakes so I tapped into the on-board air compressor and routed an air compressor coupling to the front. Then a compressor hose & blow gun. On windy days, the hay chaff is real bad. Sometimes have to stop every 2 hours

 

[JJT]

I like to do my brush hogging before everything goes to seed, much less material in the radiator screen.

If it's dry I can get 90 minutes of cutting done before I need to blow out the radiator. It's a good reason to stretch my legs and get a drink.