looking for hill climbing tractor

[woodlandfarms]

Pictures please! Congrats on the new machine.

 

[whiskeyc]

Well, its been a full season of use, 45 hours, for the GR2120. It's our first year at a property that needed, and still needs, some work and attention. The 54" mower deck has been great and reduced mowing time significantly. What once was a 1.5 hr+ job of hanging and sliding has turned into speedy 1 hr cut. The speed of the machine, coupled with the climbing and steering control has made mowing quite enjoyable. I hit the small hillside about twice a month during the summer and the grip of the machine has significantly reduced tire damage to the turf. The mulching kit has been great. Grass clipping have rarely ever clumped in the yard. Also, it recently did a fine job when I simply put the deck around 3-3.5" to mulch the leaves. I have been very satisfied with the mower, and setting it at 2.75"-3" has been a lot more healthy for the grass.

While I feel that the machine sits a bit high, and I have been on three wheels on more than one occasion, my mowing strategy has adapted and I feel this machine is adequate for the hills pictured in prior posts. Driving straight up and reversing into another downward path allows me to go in a pattern, kinda like the shape of "NNNNN", to cover most of the hill. Side to side hill mowing is necessary in some spots due to trees, and caution is needed. The turning radius allows me to maneuver down out of squirrelly situations easily. It's absolutely great to have a riding mower with such smooth power steering. There are some tight areas, bending 35+ degree, that just have to be hit with the weed eater. Going down the hill is now without much excitement, and the weight and traction hold her steady. Mowing other areas of the yard is completely different from the old 2wd Deere and this machine moves easily.

For some negatives, I have to say that I will take my GR2120 to the dealer and have it inspected. I lose some low end grunt moving up the hill after the machine has been running for a long time. I have had it bog down and stop traveling forward at the top, almost crest, of the hill. Its pretty steep at this point and its not like I am spinning tires. The wheels just stop turning, as if its own weight is too much to pull. This has happened on more than one occasion and its not fun. I usually just reverse down and go at it again on a different path. Also, I still think this Kubota should have come with handles on the fenders so you can hold on to something on the banks. Its just my preference. Please comment If you have handle suggestions, or more importantly, ideas on the engine bogging down while going uphill.


The Johnny Bucket Jr. has made yard waste removal really simple and I leave it on all the time. It reduces some maneuverability around the house and the approach to trees, but I always have a reason to haul things around. The "caddy arms" have proven to be of great use. Tree limbs can easily be tossed on and strapped with a simple bungee cord.(see pics) I have moved massive amounts of fallen debris and its much more stable than a trailer. Using a combination 10 cu. ft. trailer for small leaves and sticks and using the caddy arms for hauling limbs has proven to make this unit a sleek tree cleanup machine. The summer storms gave me plenty of work this year and I have received compliments on the setup from neighbors. I used the JBjr and a chainsaw to clear the whole street of limbs from one massive storm. Also, the tooth bar on the JBjr cleaned up our gravel driveway going to the lower garage. I thought I needed gravel but went ahead and back-dragged the whole thing and it looked like new. You can't lift much weight with it. I have moved many heavy stones around and you really have to just make more runs and not pile up a lot of them into one scoop. Back-dragging was also an effective way of smoothing out a hillside of soil from last years garage construction. The bucket worked pretty well, but a little more machine would have benefited. Although, I doubt a bigger machine could really get back to that spot without causing other damage.

I'm a happy customer so far. The Johnny Bucket Jr. attachment should keep this machine useful this fall and winter. I have so much work to do around the property and it fits just right for the lawn, hills, and trees of our acre sitting over top a southern Ohio town.

 

[94BULLITT]

Thats a bad looking mower.:thumbsup:

Is the engine bogging down and running out of power when you go up the hill or is the hydro struggling to pull the hill?

 

[whiskeyc]

Thats a bad looking mower.:thumbsup:

Is the engine bogging down and running out of power when you go up the hill or is the hydro struggling to pull the hill?

Engine rpm's sound like they take a small hit, but the wheels just stop moving. I keep the motor at "full rabbit".
I can run up the hill, park the tractor near the top, let out the brake, hit the go pedal, and the machine might creep forward a bit, but ultimately it will stop. I can make the hill every once in a while if I don't have to slow and take a specific angle near the top. That path requires some unwanted lean.

I would say the hydrostatic transmission is the issue. What wear parts should I be concerned with? The tractor has always done this. Maybe I should change fluid type. Any suggestions?

 

[94BULLITT]

Engine rpm's sound like they take a small hit, but the wheels just stop moving. I keep the motor at "full rabbit".
I can run up the hill, park the tractor near the top, let out the brake, hit the go pedal, and the machine might creep forward a bit, but ultimately it will stop. I can make the hill every once in a while if I don't have to slow and take a specific angle near the top. That path requires some unwanted lean.

I would say the hydrostatic transmission is the issue. What wear parts should I be concerned with? The tractor has always done this. Maybe I should change fluid type. Any suggestions?

It sounds like to me something maybe going on with the hydro or maybe thats all the power those hydros have. I would only use whatever fluid Kubota specs for it. Is it full of fluid?

 

[jenkinsph]

Engine rpm's sound like they take a small hit, but the wheels just stop moving. I keep the motor at "full rabbit".
I can run up the hill, park the tractor near the top, let out the brake, hit the go pedal, and the machine might creep forward a bit, but ultimately it will stop. I can make the hill every once in a while if I don't have to slow and take a specific angle near the top. That path requires some unwanted lean.

I would say the hydrostatic transmission is the issue. What wear parts should I be concerned with? The tractor has always done this. Maybe I should change fluid type. Any suggestions?

I suspect you have hydro tranny problems, might wan't to have the dealer check it out. You should be able to climb about any hill the tires can get a grip on without stopping the machine. I know I can climb a very steep ditch bank with out any issues on my x749 and suspect that would be the normal thing for the Kubota's as well. Have you tried easing off the go pedal to increase torque and lower the speed? Pedal position by design will reduce the torque to the wheels the farther you advance the go pedal.

 

[94BULLITT]

Any updates on the hydro issue?

 

[locknut]

I forgot to check back on this thread when it was current,but I'll respond anyway.The hydro stall is normal for these tractors when aproaching 30deg slopes. They'll run up about 10-12ft and run out of juice.They may have intentionally designed these machines with this limitation to discourage operators from trying even steeper inclines.Traction is not an issue.I think oil lubrication could be a problem with prolonged steep angle runs also.The manual on my Kohler CH20 states 20 or 25 deg max,but so far no problem using Mobil 1 syn.

I always mow the big hill first,while the fluid is cool and that makes a big difference.Also add that navigating 30deg hillsides are no picnic as the tractor has to be exactly straight up or straight down with no holes in the ground for a wheel to drop into,setting up a compound angle which leads to a flip-over quicker than you can bat an eye.

 

[BKBrown]

I'll say it again for anyone who is new to the thread. If you have hills and slopes, You'll want to check out the Ventrac line of tractors. When you put the duals (8 wheels) on this tractor it is nearly unstopable and they now have one engine rated at 30 degree continuous in their 4500 series. :thumbsup:

 

[whiskeyc]

Thanks locknut. I'll try to do all of the climbing at the beginning of my mow.

I sent my tractor to the dealer to see if they had any input. They were going to do the 50hr service and sharpen my blades for the season anyway. They said they let it run for a while, then ran it up and down their test hill, which is about 25 degrees, a little longer run than my hill, and the tractor didn't have an issue. They said it didn't stop crawling. Of course this was after the service on a cold day, and they mentioned that if there is some blockage in the filter that it could possibly cause problems like the one I was experiencing. Have you ever heard of a filter causing such a problem?

 

[woodlandfarms]

Baahh to the ventrac ;-) Get a PT 45 degrees, 60HP and all the attachments you could want.

In all fairness 45 degree slopes are completely off the chart scary. And the Ventrac is a great machine. We considered one until a used PT became available. Wouldn't say no to one if I had to buy again.

 

[Grandad4]

Thanks locknut. I'll try to do all of the climbing at the beginning of my mow.

I sent my tractor to the dealer to see if they had any input. They were going to do the 50hr service and sharpen my blades for the season anyway. They said they let it run for a while, then ran it up and down their test hill, which is about 25 degrees, a little longer run than my hill, and the tractor didn't have an issue. They said it didn't stop crawling. Of course this was after the service on a cold day, and they mentioned that if there is some blockage in the filter that it could possibly cause problems like the one I was experiencing. Have you ever heard of a filter causing such a problem?

Just another suggestion that I don't think has come up in this thread, related to your hill climbing and hydrostatic transmissions. The foot pedal acts like an accelerator pedal in that the more you push on it, the faster you go. But many people don't appreciate that it does that by going to a taller gear ratio instead of increasing the engine speed. So when the tractor bogs down on a steep hill, the correct action is to back off the pedal instead of flooring it. That's the same as dropping into a lower gear and puts more torque instead of higher speed into the drivetrain.

Now I'll be the first to admit I don't know anything about your GR, and it may have some fancy hydro setup that adjusts both engine rpm and the gearing simultaneously. But if it's just a plain 'ol hydrostat drive, you might try the "back off the pedal" trick and see if it doesn't give you more pulling power on those hills.

 

[locknut]

Thanks locknut. I'll try to do all of the climbing at the beginning of my mow.

I sent my tractor to the dealer to see if they had any input. They were going to do the 50hr service and sharpen my blades for the season anyway. They said they let it run for a while, then ran it up and down their test hill, which is about 25 degrees, a little longer run than my hill, and the tractor didn't have an issue. They said it didn't stop crawling. Of course this was after the service on a cold day, and they mentioned that if there is some blockage in the filter that it could possibly cause problems like the one I was experiencing. Have you ever heard of a filter causing such a problem?

Sounds like it's ok,but you could change the fluid out to Super UDT and a new filter.Couldn't hurt. As mentioned,good idea to back off the hydro pedal,it will help.Don't know if this link is allowable to mtf.It's a thread I had on making wheel spacers and they do help quite a bit on side slopes.Kubota said no problem with one inch spacers. http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=220342&highlight=

 

[locknut]

Oh,on the fender handles I put one on the left side.The right side is really tight with the gas tank.They were oem for the BX1500.