With hydraulic clutches... does shifting at lower RPM help?

[MARK ROBKE]

Interesting. Page 102 of my print manual is "Troubleshooting"... with nothing about this particular subject. I downloaded a shop manual a couple of years ago, for the wiring diagram... I'm going to check that, to see what it says...

Thanks

I recently bought a Kubota M7040, and the owner's manual had specific times for warm up at different temps below freezing so that the hydraulic clutches would fully apply. And another page said do not park the tractor out in the rain! I don't, of course, but found it interesting that they say so. This tractor has a lot of cable/levers that were kinda stuck from sitting out while it was for sale, I guess. Mark.

 

[flying belgian]

I recently bought a Kubota M7040, and the owner's manual had specific times for warm up at different temps below freezing so that the hydraulic clutches would fully apply. And another page said do not park the tractor out in the rain! I don't, of course, but found it interesting that they say so. This tractor has a lot of cable/levers that were kinda stuck from sitting out while it was for sale, I guess. Mark.

The dealers have all the new tractors setting out in the rain.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

The dealers have all the new tractors setting out in the rain.

Yeah, I know-just thought it was a bit funny. My tractor is used, but was very obviously barn kept until it went for sale. Mark.

 

[JD Dave]

I would suggest using lower RPM's when shifting. Now this comes from an old guy using an old JD 480B forklift to push brush out of our orchard. The machine is great and we have a cow-catcher type of a rake on the front. The tractor design is the old collar shift transmission behind a reverser. The reverser is hydraulic used in many John Deere industrial machines back in the 1970's. The hydraulics allow the forward and reverse to occur smoothly at most any rpm. That being said, the system often hiccups and will tend to bang into the next directional choice. In this regard and before we can diagnose the valve, I always feather the clutch when changing directions.

 

[buickanddeere]

I mostly thought about this watching a neighbor use their skid steer to move snow. They just kept the throttle at full bore...back, forth, back, forth...

Myself, when I use the Mahindra on the loader... I set the hand throttle at, say 1500... and do any shifting at those RPMs... then use the foot throttle to rev up, once the transmission is engaged.

When my brother drives the tractor, he just leaves the throttle full bore... forward, reverse... shifting gears... whatever... (of course... he stalls the tractor every once in a while like this... the hydraulic clutch does not feather... so if you pick too high of a gear, thinking that RPMs and feathering are gonna do the trick... think again)

Hydrostatic Drive in the skid steer does not compare well to tractors with gear drive and a reverser .

 

[will-max dairy]

I recently bought a Kubota M7040, and the owner's manual had specific times for warm up at different temps below freezing so that the hydraulic clutches would fully apply. And another page said do not park the tractor out in the rain! I don't, of course, but found it interesting that they say so. This tractor has a lot of cable/levers that were kinda stuck from sitting out while it was for sale, I guess. Mark.

I don't recall this exact statement in my tractor's manual, but it's a good idea to keep this 6075 dry.

Two problems have occurred with mine:

1. The park lever uses a cable. It has a dip in it under the operator platform. This dip always collects water, and, if you put the tractor in park, and then the temperature goes below freezing? You're screwed. The cable will freeze and there's no way to unlock the brakes. We have a standing order around our farm.... "Do not put the Mahindra in park during the winter!!!"

2. The PTO is an electric solenoid over a hydraulic actuator. The solenoid is activated by a switch by the operator's seat. This switch has a boot on the bottom where the two wires are soldered to it. The boot has a weep hole in it, but it's not big enough. Water will gather in that boot... and randomly short the switch... causing the PTO to turn on at random times.

I've had to remove that boot twice and shake the water out of it!

Needless to say. The other standing order around our place is... "Do not touch anything attached to the Mahindra's PTO while it is running!!!"

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Don't prioritize the tractor over your neck. Jerking back and forth is hard on the old body.

Like others have said, the wet clutch can take a LOT of abuse. Make use of the accelerator pedal to control engine speed for loader work.

 

[psimmer]

So... this newfangled tractor I've had for the last five years. It has hydraulic clutches. It's how the reverser thingy works. Love it.

But, I usually try to use the reverser, or shift at a lower RPM and then rev up once the transmission is engaged in the new gear.

But... maybe that is old school thinking. Maybe I'm thinking about how that may have been better for old tractors with the clutch engagement mechanically controlled by my foot...

But with these hydraulic clutches, wouldn't higher RPMs mean more hydraulic pressure and a more definitive hydraulic clutch engagement with less slipping?

It seems that this is how the tractor was designed. If you just leave the RPMs up and, say, use the reverser, the transmission doesn't really slip at engagement or try to feather, there is a slight delay and then a very definite engagement (sometimes causing a minor spinout of the wheels on soft ground).

Maybe I'm confusing old school thought with newfangled tech?

Interesting discussion. I work part time blowing snow for a commercial lawn maintenance/snow removal company. I operate a 2022 John Deere 5100E MFWD with a 92 inch 3 point inverted blower. It is a 24 speed transmission with a hydraulic reverser. A friend of mine, (early 30's) used to operate one of the other blower tractors for the same guy. He would set the hand throttle and just use the reverser for backing up to a garage door, then move to forward and go. I on the other hand (68 years old) don't trust my reflexes nearly as much, so I operate with the foot throttle in doing driveways in a constant back and forth operation. The owner has 5 of these tractor/blower combos, and some use hand throttle and myself I use foot throttle. None of these tractors have had any clutch or transmission problems in several years of operation. Oldest is a 2016 as I recall.