Is anyone else having lots of problems with an 1850?

[Bob999]

Dear list,

Charlie/Bob/others -- how much maintainence time does it require to clean your various filter contraptions?

Thanks

I presently have fiberglass window screen on the outside of the engine cover. Cleaning the window screen is very minimal time--simply blow it off after mowing when blowing off the chaff from the mower and tractor generally--total time for the entire job is about 5 minutes. The time consuming part is removing the air deflector over the oil cooler and carefully blowing out the oil cooler radiator--that takes around 30 minutes.

 

[Bob999]

Exactly, BR !
Exchange hydro filter every 25 hours instead of 50.

I have been following this thread fairly closely and am not sure what problem you are trying to solve with this increase in maintenance.

 

[Sedgewood]

Dear list,

What seems to "dirty" up the oil filter. Is it dirt or mowing chaff or what?
Would the 1430 or 1445 be expected to have the same difficulty.

Charlie, what is that contraption and what is the title of the post where you discussed manufacture/assemby?

Charlie/Bob/others -- how much maintainence time does it require to clean your various filter contraptions?

Thanks

It's mowing chaff - the fine dry stuff in particular. Yes, all the diesels would share the same difficulty. I think at this time the 1850 is the only model represented to be a rough cut mower, a mower one would expect to take into the weeds. Cutting green grass is no problem - it's the dry crumbly dusty stuff that is the problem.

It takes me 15-20 minutes to do a decent cleaning but the rub is that one needs a good supply of air or water handy. That's kind of hard to find in the middle of the day off in the bushes at some customers place. I'm lucky that my few customers are within a stone's throw so I just tram home and clean the filters and cooler as needed. If I were trailering off somewhere to work it would get a wee bit more complicated. That said, I think that I've refined my Rube Goldberg screening and filtering and sealing bits to the point where I could probably get through a full days work without a cleaning, maybe two days if the chaff weren't too bad.

Sedgewood

 

[Sedgewood]

This is another area where PT original equipment simply isn't up to the use that the machine is sold for.

Boy, I'll second that one!! My solution to the 2 ply tractor tire problem, which was no solution at all, was to buy four mounted tires from Ed DiMaria. So far I've punctured the sidewalls on two so I'm down to six plug filled pieces of junk. Some day I'll bite the bullet and go the 8-ply route.

On the roughcut mower I finally got so exasperated I put heavy duty solid phenolic caster wheels on the back and solid rubber ZTR wheels on the front (Exmark, I think they are). A HUGE improvement.

http://www.coxontool.com/index.php/PowerTrac/RoughCutMower

Sedgewood

 

[AltavistaLawn]

I have been following this thread fairly closely and am not sure what problem you are trying to solve with this increase in maintenance.

The hydro system seems to be hyper semsitive to trash, and maybe the excess heat.

I've had prolems with valves sticking, losing oil, losing steering, recharging valve??, seat leaning out of control, and hoses blowing.

I scetched out the air intake box today, it shouldn't be hard to fabricate.

 

[Bob999]

The hydro system seems to be hyper semsitive to trash, and maybe the excess heat.

I've had prolems with valves sticking, losing oil, losing steering, recharging valve??, seat leaning out of control, and hoses blowing.

I scetched out the air intake box today, it shouldn't be hard to fabricate.

My understanding is that changing the filter more frequently won't increase the cleanliness of the hydraulic oil. The 50 hour change interval recommended by PT is very frequent (very conservative) and is done to assure that the filter is changed before it loads up and begins to restrict flow--the variable displacement pump is sensitive to cavitation if there is any significant restriction in the supply line which is where the filter is located.

If you are concerned about the cleanliness of oil going to either the steering, lift, or pto circuits, which are not directly filtered, you might want to consider and external filter that can be used to filter the oil in the reservoir periodically. Units can be purchased that include a filter and pump. An alternative approach would be to fit a filter on the return of the pto circuit so that the large flow returning from this circuit is filtered before being returned to the reservoir.

Several of the problems you mention (hoses blowing, seat leaning out of control, losing oil) are not, in my opinion related to the cleanliness of the hydraulic oil. The seat "leaning out of control" sounds like what I have experienced and is the result of an inadequately sized cylinder for the pressure available on the tilt seat--it simply doesn't have enought power to keep the seat upright with a 200 lb man in the seat when operating on a steep slope.

Some of the problems you mention might be related to dirt in the hydraulic oil--but as I mentioned earlier simply changing the filter more frequently is unlikely to improve that--filters actually become somewhat more effecient as they load up--up to the point of bypass. If you are concerned that the filter is loading up and bypassing you might want to put a vacuum guage on the filter to see what is happening. I did install a guage and have seen no evidence that the filter is loading up with 50 hour changes.

I hope you will post pictures and or diagrams of the air intake box you plan to install.

 

[IrTxRx]

It's mowing chaff - the fine dry stuff in particular. Yes, all the diesels would share the same difficulty. I think at this time the 1850 is the only model represented to be a rough cut mower, a mower one would expect to take into the weeds. Cutting green grass is no problem - it's the dry crumbly dusty stuff that is the problem.

It takes me 15-20 minutes to do a decent cleaning but the rub is that one needs a good supply of air or water handy. That's kind of hard to find in the middle of the day off in the bushes at some customers place. I'm lucky that my few customers are within a stone's throw so I just tram home and clean the filters and cooler as needed. If I were trailering off somewhere to work it would get a wee bit more complicated. That said, I think that I've refined my Rube Goldberg screening and filtering and sealing bits to the point where I could probably get through a full days work without a cleaning, maybe two days if the chaff weren't too bad.

Sedgewood

What kind of oil cooler filter system have you atatched (if any)?
All I will plan on mowing with this is pastures and brush. Can the 1430/1445 do this without unreasonable maintainance?

Thanks

 

[Sedgewood]

What kind of oil cooler filter system have you atatched (if any)?
All I will plan on mowing with this is pastures and brush. Can the 1430/1445 do this without unreasonable maintainance?

Attached are a couple pictures of what I've done, screening on both sides of the engine house, sealing the house to tub gap, and adding 3 inches of filter material to the back of the engine house. I put a longer description on my web page at:

http://www.coxontool.com/index.php/PowerTrac/Cooling

A crude filtering and screening system like mine should work ok for pastures and brush. The 3 inches of filter material is MUCH better than just the screening I originally had on the back. It filters better and keeps the inlet air velocity low enough that I no longer get the dense chaff circle that blocks the airflow so completely with just a screen.

Sedgewood

 

[RegL]

What kind of oil cooler filter system have you atatched (if any)?
All I will plan on mowing with this is pastures and brush. Can the 1430/1445 do this without unreasonable maintainance?

Thanks

I mow with the 1430 and have not had much problem with engine overheating. Not sure why because engine design is the same. It could be that I'm mowing with the 5' brush hog where I think the other guys with 18xx tractors are using rough cut mowers. Maybe they cause more turbulance and throw out more chaff. I have only cleand out my oil cooler once this summer and the highest eng. temp.I have registered was about 205 deg. I have never gotten an alarm.
It would be interesting for someone with an 1845 to try the brush hog and see if it still heats up.

 

[BobRip]

I mow with the 1430 and have not had much problem with engine overheating. Not sure why because engine design is the same. It could be that I'm mowing with the 5' brush hog where I think the other guys with 18xx tractors are using rough cut mowers. Maybe they cause more turbulance and throw out more chaff. I have only cleand out my oil cooler once this summer and the highest eng. temp.I have registered was about 205 deg. I have never gotten an alarm.
It would be interesting for someone with an 1845 to try the brush hog and see if it still heats up.

I thought the brush hog and rough cut mower were the same.

 

[RegL]

I thought the brush hog and rough cut mower were the same.

The brush hog has one set of blades like a one for a regular tractor. I think the rough cut mowers have 3 sets of blades.

 

[Bob999]

I mow with the 1430 and have not had much problem with engine overheating. Not sure why because engine design is the same. It could be that I'm mowing with the 5' brush hog where I think the other guys with 18xx tractors are using rough cut mowers. Maybe they cause more turbulance and throw out more chaff. I have only cleand out my oil cooler once this summer and the highest eng. temp.I have registered was about 205 deg. I have never gotten an alarm.
It would be interesting for someone with an 1845 to try the brush hog and see if it still heats up.

I use a finish mower with my 1845. It will overheat when the oil cooler radiator get dirty.

 

[IrTxRx]

Sedgewood,

Thanks for the links to you site. Very informative!!!

 

[AltavistaLawn]

Sedgewood,

Thanks for the links to you site. Very informative!!!

Absolutely, there are some great ideas there, I'll have to steal.
I bookmarked it, thank Sedge.

BTW, how hard is it to drill out those big holes for the blades.

 

[BobRip]

The brush hog has one set of blades like a one for a regular tractor. I think the rough cut mowers have 3 sets of blades.

I thought the mower with three blades was their finished mower.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

The rough-cut mower has three spindles with stump jumpers and 2 hinged blades per spindle. There are two additional holes in which you could mount additional blades or stops. It is the same deck, I believe, as the finish mower. When I got my rough-cut mower, I also bought a set of finish blades. They consisted of a ring with four blades welded to it, for each spindle. The cloud of chaff from those blades gave me my first experience with overheating. It was vastly more than the stock rough-cut blades, which only lad modest lift bends on their trailing edge.
Sedgewood and I experimented with thinner, higher lift blades for better quality cut. Those throw a larger cloud of chaff than the stock rough-cut blades, but leave fewer stripes.
The factory finish blades for mine went on the shelf when I hit a high spot--- in my lawn -- and tore a blade off the ring. It only flew about 10 feet, but got my attention. PT sent a new blade, and we welded it on, but I've not used those blades since. The hinged ones work too well.

 

[BobRip]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

 

[Sedgewood]

The cloud of chaff from those blades gave me my first experience with overheating.

I experimented with putting 4 blades on each spindle and got the same results. It takes more power to spin 4 than 2 hence more heat.

Sedgewood and I experimented with thinner, higher lift blades for better quality cut. Those throw a larger cloud of chaff than the stock rough-cut blades, but leave fewer stripes.

Charlie, did you see the blades I finally settled on? Cheap. Easy to fabricate. Hard and strong. Moderate lift. A set lasts me two years.

PT-1845 Rough cut mower

BTW, how hard is it to drill out those big holes for the blades.

Those blades are hardened so I soften them up with a propane torch directed at the spot where the hole goes then drill them with a 1 inch hole saw. It take me about an hour to make the six blades.

Sedgewood

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Charlie, did you see the blades I finally settled on? Cheap. Easy to fabricate. Hard and strong. Moderate lift. A set lasts me two years.
John: I did see those, but I'm still using the first 2 sets I made from Gravely blades, by similar process to yours. Yours do a little nicer cut than mine, but so far the horses haven't complained. When mine wear out, I'll do a set like yours.

 

[AltavistaLawn]

10/25/06.
Well the saga continues. The Alternator is now burnt up. The PT will sut off after a few minutes.

We were able to get it on the trailer and home.

This machine will bankrupt me yet.