will it or wont it

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

I few weeks ago I was over on the New Holland portion of this site and a fellow was talking about his misadventures with a NH sliding over the hill and into the bushes. Several posters talked of the advantages of FWA on steep slopes and all agreed. One poster mentioned that on Kubotas, some maybe not all, the FWA would engage if the brakes were applied. Is this correct?

 

[Recoveryhill]

I don't know what FWA is?

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I few weeks ago I was over on the New Holland portion of this site and a fellow was talking about his misadventures with a NH sliding over the hill and into the bushes. Several posters talked of the advantages of FWA on steep slopes and all agreed. One poster mentioned that on Kubotas, some maybe not all, the FWA would engage if the brakes were applied. Is this correct?

What's FWA? If it's something to do with 4 wheel drive automatically working by pushing brakes, then no Kubota (15) I've ever owned did. All I've owned have a lever which is in 2wd or 4wd and that's where it stays until the lever is moved. After the first time in 2wd on a steep hill mine have always been in 4wd going down the hills.

 

[BeezFun]

What's FWA?

I'm guessing it means Front Wheel Assist and is related to the confusion over what 4WD really means. Maybe they have some sort of differential lock on the front axle of some tractors, like I have for the rear axle on my kubota, and they call that FWA.

 

[k0ua]

A lot of the larger full size utility tractors will engage the FWA (4WD ) when you press on the brakes. I don't know of any of the CUT's that will do that.

 

[Grandad4]

On a FWA/4WD tractor, when you have the front wheels engaged the tractor has braking action on all 4 wheels, even though there are only brakes on the rear wheels because the front and rear axles are connected by the 4WD. So a FWA/4WD tractor can stop better on hills and in slippy conditions where a 2WD would slide out of control. Not unique to Kubota. Don't know if that was the context of the discussion, but that's one major advantage of having a 4WD setup. Lots of owners have made a habit of double checking the 4WD after a memorable ride down a hill in 2WD.

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

Sorry guys, FWA, (front wheel assit) is very common tractor terminology and I thought most folks knew. Common like CHA, 3PH, FEL, ROPS, WF, NF. Sorry guys. I to need a lesson. Is there a difference between FWA and 4WD? I'm sure there's been discussion elsewhere.

 

[Grandad4]

In the 1960's and '70's various configurations of farm tractors having both front and rear axles driven became more popular. Some models had equal sized wheels and tires on front and back; others had smaller front tires. The ones with equal sized tires all around were called 4WD; the ones with smaller wheels in front were "front wheel assist" (FWA).

Things have gotten kind of blurry since then. Deere, for example, calls its largest models "four wheel drive", and they fit the classic definition. Their mid-sized utilities are called "MFWD", or "manual four wheel drive", although they would be "FWA" type tractors based on wheel sizes. And then Deere compact models are described as "4WD".

I wouldn't get too caught up in the terminology... the important thing is whether the front axle puts power to the ground or not.

 

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

Thanks Grandad that a good explaination. No industry standard on terminology, imagine that.

 

[RaydaKub]

No industry standard on terminology, imagine that.

That's really the beauty of standards; there are so many to choose from.

 

[k0ua]

I always though that MFWD was Mechanical Front wheel drive to set it apart from some tractors that have a hydraulic front wheel drive system. The Mechanical part is what is allowing the rear brakes and engine compression braking to slow down the front wheels so that the extra contact patch of the front wheels is applied to the ground too. All it takes is one "wild ride" in 2wd down a slippery hill to understand all of this better

James K0UA

 

[Grandad4]

Er, you're right, it's "mechanical", not "manual". Long day... sorry about that.

 

[MHarryE]

My M135GX automatically engages MFWD when both brake pedals are pressed. My L5740 does not. The larger tractors have electrical front wheel engagement making this possible. The smaller tractors with mechanical front wheel engagement - not really feasible because it involves shifting a gear set rather than engaging an electro-hydraulic activated clutch.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I always though that MFWD was Mechanical Front wheel drive to set it apart from some tractors that have a hydraulic front wheel drive system. The Mechanical part is what is allowing the rear brakes and engine compression braking to slow down the front wheels so that the extra contact patch of the front wheels is applied to the ground too. All it takes is one "wild ride" in 2wd down a slippery hill to understand all of this better
James K0UA

It doesn't even have to be slippery in 2wd to learn to understand this better. Ask me how I know. Now slippery is even it's own lesson. I went down one of my hills on wet grass in 4wd ONE time and ONE time only. I wouldn't drive in snow, what little we get, for years until I found out snow isn't as bad as wet grass.:thumbsup:

 

[Gem99ultra]

Almost off-topic, but the last time I talked to a dealer about Ford tractors he told me that Ford has a special order option for Low Center of Gravity built tractors. ...said the Highway Dept. bought a lot of those.

I have a slope also that I'm afraid to tackle on my little L3400. Back when I had my Fordson-Dexta, I would have run that slope and never gave it a thought. I don't know what the difference in capability of the two is, but I'm in no mood to go rolling down a 100' 30-degree slope

 

[mikehaugen]

I think most of the big manufacturers offer some sort of "low center of gravity" option if you ask.