My First Real Tractor!

Neat 1500 · Oct 23, 2017

^^^ What he said ^^^ could just be a bit of seepage as the hog bounces around that's all.

clemsonfor · Oct 23, 2017

Kustrud said:
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 leakView attachment 525806

Run BH at say 2200, level a little bit for reserve. Bouncing is normal. Sometimes you can tighten the cable and it helps some.

That stuff your cutting would be hard on any tractor that's a lot of stuff. And that white fluff does that to all our tractors. That's why I said get some window screen on the front and even of its that bad the sides. This is normal, I stop every 15 mins to an hour to clear mine depending on how bad It is. Do you have the yanmar original screen that goes in front of the radiator that is suppose to catch 90% of that crud that can easily be pulled out and dumped? You need to get one of those if noalso...where are the leaks?

clemsonfor · Oct 23, 2017

winston1 said:
#8 in attached is the vent for the transmission/hydraulics. Might want to check and make sure it is open. #s46 & 47 are the seals for the rockshaft but I doubt you would want to change them. HYDRAULIC_LIFT: Yanmar Tractor Parts

"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." Either way, just engage slowly.

"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?" Best cut at higher rpm. Whatever works best for you as long as not lugging your engine will be ok. Needle jumping is not unusual from my experiences.

Definitely check the vent.

But those are the orings on the shaft. I just did those this summer as mine would leak but not that bad. They do it when the fluid gets hot and thins. Get those O rings from Hoye you will never find them local, I tried. There easy. Unbolt the arm it pulls right off behind a washer that orings just sits in there. One of the easiest ones to replace. It stopped all of that leak on mine...but again mine was not near that bad.

I have a post where I described it..not sure in how mch detail or if I posted pics? It's literally nothing, 5 mins a side. I did it when I did brake shaft seal and resurfaced on of my drums this year.

careyo63 · Oct 23, 2017

A dirt dobber clogged mine again. When it sat over the season. Just unscrew it. The Radiator from Hoyes should have the clips to mount the screen back like the factory setup. Since you don't have it and I'm not sure what is or get the equivalent to the Yanmar screen. And regular house screen is way to small of holes. Call Spalding he has a 1700 parts tractor for sale. May still have it on it and other things or another screen for that matter. I'm sure this isn't the first time dealing with this. Steve will give you some Excellent advice in how to deal with it I'm sure. That's the way to go. I"ve only had to remove mine and clean it a few times in 10 Yrs.. Now the dust is a whole different story. I've light sprayed water with it running after I just started it countless of times though. Did you get that 4 BH. off CL. I noticed it was gone...?? Weird my Tach doesn't or never has Bounced. No matter what I'm doing or Rpm's I'm running at...

California · Oct 23, 2017

I think a bouncing tach is caused by friction in the cable or tach head. You can loosen the cable at one end (I forget which end), take out the core, inspect it, and grease it before re-assembly.

I went one step farther on the prior YM186D. It's tach was screechy when it hadn't run for a few days. I took out the tach, turned it face down, and poured in a few drops of 'lock fluid' (graphite in solvent) around the edge of the socket that the cable turns. Then let it sit overnight for the solvent to dry. That solved the problem, the tach was then steady and silent like new.

Kustrud · Oct 23, 2017

Thanks guys! Well my vent tube looks like it is broken off, just a little hole left in the housing haha - so it is nt clogged but is this something to worry about?

Also noticed, there seems to be a vent tube for each brake - both of these are clogged. I'm afraid to mess with them though as they seem very brittle due to age.

Kustrud · Oct 23, 2017

careyo63 said:
A dirt dobber clogged mine again. When it sat over the season. Just unscrew it. The Radiator from Hoyes should have the clips to mount the screen back like the factory setup. Since you don't have it and I'm not sure what is or get the equivalent to the Yanmar screen. And regular house screen is way to small of holes. Call Spalding he has a 1700 parts tractor for sale. May still have it on it and other things or another screen for that matter. I'm sure this isn't the first time dealing with this. Steve will give you some Excellent advice in how to deal with it I'm sure. That's the way to go. I"ve only had to remove mine and clean it a few times in 10 Yrs.. Now the dust is a whole different story. I've light sprayed water with it running after I just started it countless of times though. Did you get that 4 BH. off CL. I noticed it was gone...?? Weird my Tach doesn't or never has Bounced. No matter what I'm doing or Rpm's I'm running at...

I found the 4 footer due to a CL add I made wanting to trade. Someone EM me with that one and we traded straight up.