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slowing speed of tractor

16 years ago

This might be a stupid question, but I'm wondering if there is a way of slowing the speed of my tractor (swapping out a drive pulley, etc.). It is a Craftsman DY4500 (24hp Intek, 42" mower), K46 TT.

My yard is pretty rough, so if I push the "go" pedal even one-quarter of the way, I get a pretty rough ride and hood of tractor shaking, etc. I run at full-throttle to keep mower blade speed up, but have to really feather the pedal to keep a nice slow speed for mowing. Is this hard on the hydro tranny?

In retrospect, I maybe should've gotten less HP, but I've got some pretty good hills on the property (about 1/2-acre) and felt the HP would be good for scaling those. I've had to swap out the turf treads for lug tires filled w/ washer fluid, otherwise tires would spin everytime I took a slight turn on a hillside. I'm afraid I'll wear out the tranny a lot quicker with the heavy ag tires, but I need the traction. Anyway, I'd really like to know if there is a good way of reducing tractor speed without reducing mower blade speed.

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Comments (4)

mownie
16 years ago
When you want or need "slow ground speed", just continue to do what you have been doing......"feather" the hydro pedal. The transmission is designed to operate in any position for any length of time. "Feathering" of the hydrostat control pedal (or lever for those type) is not like "slipping a clutch" (or "slipping a belt") on manual transmissions (which is harmful). Consider your hydrostatic transmission as if it were equipped with an almost infinite set of gear ratios. No matter what position the pedal (or lever) is in, it is fully engaged (so to speak) in that gear ratio and can run like that for any amount of time with no harm (provided that you are not otherwise overloading the trans beyond the design limits). You need to keep your engine RPM as high as you can to ensure the transmission cooling fan is spinning fast enough to cool the transmission.....slow engine = slow fan = tranny overheat = damaged tranny.
gdj204
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the info - that helps a lot!
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davidandkasie
16 years ago
you say you have the ags fluid filled. when i first did mine i did not put enough fluid in them and they would slosh and jerk the tractor pretty harshly. i added a couple more gallons to each tire and the ride smoothed right out.

if you yard is that rough, i guarantee you will break your steering before another year or two. you need to bust it up and smooth it out. if you have to, do it in sections, but get it done. ask me how i know this, it ain't fun to see your front tire sitting 10 feet away fromthe mower inthe middle of the yard!
kidranger56
16 years ago
Most people want to make thiers faster! Having 98% of my tractors with standard transmissions ( or shift on the fly MTD's) and only one hydrostatic- it sure is different to drive one. The original suggestion sounds like the only course of action- feather it. You dont want to mess with pulley changes- least not on a stock tractor. Also adding more weight might slow it down as well.

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