Hello! I recently purchased this tractor and I was hoping someone could help with questions. The dealer primarily sells custom signs and storage rentals, with tractors on the side, so he is learning tractors also! Anyway, I was wondering about: 1) Sitting in the seat, between my feet (No! I'm not a poet!) is a gearbox shifter. On each side of the shifter is a handle that pulls up or down. What is this shifter and what are the handles for? (are they related to the PTO?)
2) Below my right heel is a lever that I can push down with my heel or pull up with my hand. What is that for? (2 or 4 wheel drive?)
3) On the left side panel below the dash, there is a knob that pulls out (or in), it is connected to a lever on the top of the engine. Is this a compression release valve? It doesn't seem to make a piffffffiiiinng sound when I pull it out when the engine is running as I would expect from a compression release.
4) When I test the 4 wheel drive by putting the nose against a big tree I only get 3 wheels turning, the two back and the right front. The left front doesn't turn. Should all 4 wheels be turning?
5) Does this tractor have a thermostat in the cooling system like a car has, something that needs replaced once in awhile if it gets stuck?
6) Behind the seat, on the top of the PTO, is a threaded hole with a big, threaded plastic screw in it. I unscrewed the cap and stuck my finger in it and my finger got cut off (no! just kidding!). My finger came back dry...should there be hydraulic fluid in this hole or is this where I add hydraulic fluid measured by the dipstick next to the shifter?
7) Should I change the hydraulic fluid from time to time? What kind of fluid? Does this fluid lube the gearbox, PTO hydraulics and rear differential all at the same time?
Thats it for questions for now...
Some info I can give regarding the hydraulic joystick. I read some posts from people with problems with this. When I bought the tractor the hydraulic joystick didn't work consistently, the box scraper would only go down, not up, then it would not go down, only up, etx. I pulled, cleaned, sprayed with electrical contact cleaner and reinserted all electrical connections, removed, cleaned, sprayed and reattached all ground connections and finally sprayed a contact cleaner into the top of the joystick, (pulled the rubber aside and sprayed down the shaft). That fixed all the problems with that joystick. It works fine and consistently now. Thanks ahead of time for any help you folks may offer and good luck with your tractor!
2) Below my right heel is a lever that I can push down with my heel or pull up with my hand. What is that for? (2 or 4 wheel drive?)
3) On the left side panel below the dash, there is a knob that pulls out (or in), it is connected to a lever on the top of the engine. Is this a compression release valve? It doesn't seem to make a piffffffiiiinng sound when I pull it out when the engine is running as I would expect from a compression release.
4) When I test the 4 wheel drive by putting the nose against a big tree I only get 3 wheels turning, the two back and the right front. The left front doesn't turn. Should all 4 wheels be turning?
5) Does this tractor have a thermostat in the cooling system like a car has, something that needs replaced once in awhile if it gets stuck?
6) Behind the seat, on the top of the PTO, is a threaded hole with a big, threaded plastic screw in it. I unscrewed the cap and stuck my finger in it and my finger got cut off (no! just kidding!). My finger came back dry...should there be hydraulic fluid in this hole or is this where I add hydraulic fluid measured by the dipstick next to the shifter?
7) Should I change the hydraulic fluid from time to time? What kind of fluid? Does this fluid lube the gearbox, PTO hydraulics and rear differential all at the same time?
Thats it for questions for now...
Some info I can give regarding the hydraulic joystick. I read some posts from people with problems with this. When I bought the tractor the hydraulic joystick didn't work consistently, the box scraper would only go down, not up, then it would not go down, only up, etx. I pulled, cleaned, sprayed with electrical contact cleaner and reinserted all electrical connections, removed, cleaned, sprayed and reattached all ground connections and finally sprayed a contact cleaner into the top of the joystick, (pulled the rubber aside and sprayed down the shaft). That fixed all the problems with that joystick. It works fine and consistently now. Thanks ahead of time for any help you folks may offer and good luck with your tractor!
