New Discovery

[Momboy007]

Hello All,
I made a discovery today that everyone else probably already know, but I thought I would share it anyway.
I was using my tractor and Front Bucket in 2 Wheel drive (was told this was best and easiest on tractor) and noticed that when I put on the brakes going down a hill the two back tires would lock up and the tractor would go for a ways before finally stopping. I then decided to put it in 4 wheel drive and discovered this baby will stop on a dime and give you change. After thinking about this for a while i remembered that all the axles are as 1 in 4 wheel drive. Sure stops good too!
Rick

 

[RonMar]

i remembered that all the axles are as 1 in 4 wheel drive. Sure stops good too!
Rick

Well not quite, in a 4 wheel drivetrain with two differentials, 4X4 is actually only 4X2(4X2 is really only 4X1 as one wheel can slip on each axle. I have had my tractor diagonally across ruts with two opposite corners in the air and there she sets two wheels solid on the ground and the other diagonal pair spinning away. The difflock gets her out of these situations easilly as would applying the brake to the rear wheel that is spinning which would force the wheel still on the ground to rotate.

When braking, since you are applying brakes to both rear wheels, they will both help to stop the tractor. If in 4X4, the braking force applied thru the driveshaft from back to front will only really effect one wheel. One front wheel will still be able to freewheel as the front differential can't tell the difference between wheel speed differences from left to right caused by traction loss and the difference in wheel speed caused by driving around a turn. This still gives you 50% more braking force than you had with just the rear axle alone. Also since you are going down hill, the weight is shifted forward onto the front axle, particularly with a load in the bucket, making that front wheel very effective. This also makes the rear wheels less effective by reducing their available traction and making them more likely to lock up under heavy brakeing, similar to a motorcycle under heavy braking. You also have to be carefull as if you lock both rear wheels while still in gear/clutch engaged, you can/will stall the engine. I rarely use my brakes when going down hill and I have a few steep ones on my property. I select a low gear and let the engine and drivetrain provide the braking. I only ever really use the brakes when I am maneuvering around such as scooping and dumping with the loader to get the tractor halted quicker or to hold it on a slope so I can shift from forward to reverse.

 

[bluechip]

Actually, with the brakes locked and 4wd engaged, one front wheel would have to roll backward if the other rolls forward. The pinion gear will be holding the ring gear still so the only way one wheel can free wheel during braking, is through the spider gears which will cause rotation in the oposite direction. You do get braking force up front in 4wd. Now thsoe reading this with 200 series JInma, be careful because with a loaded bucket you could get breaking force instead of braking force (this is why you have heard that 2wd is better for loader work on these) on the 300 series this does not seem to be a problem and I would use 4wd when ever I thought it was necessary.

 

[SPIKER]

Now thsoe reading this with 200 series JInma, be careful because with a loaded bucket you could get [underline]breaking[/underline]force instead of braking force .

YA that is the truth, as I recently got mine back together from some of that BREAKING chip was mentioning

Mark M