Tractor oil recommendation

[citrustaco]

I put out a lot of different sprays, micro nutrients, fungicides, pesticides, miticides, copper, and sulfer

On my other tractor, a new holland, it has booms which is what I put out my herbicides with.

here's a picture of her, if interested: http://img189.imageshack.us/i/img0215c.jpg/

I do have experience with a clogged radiator, my irrigation pump's radiator was clogged pretty bad. we ran a small hose from the water outlet to the rad to keep it cool. Worked pretty good until I had it rebuilt. The guy said it was something stupid high percent clogged. Now it stays nice and cool.

I will do some investigation on the massey's radiator this weekend.

 

[citrustaco]

I will check the clutch fan tomorrow mourning after I finish my sprays so the tractor should be nice and hot.

A Harman, I think you may be making a mistake, as when I took it out I could not tell a difference, other then the tractor being much cooler during periods of idle, and less heavy duty work such as spreading, and grading.

Thank you for all the ideas,
David

 

[Cup of Joe]

tractorbynet.com would seem like a good website for you to visit if you have not already. There are members with tree farmers. You never know what you might find useful.

 

[citrustaco]

I will post a thread and see what they say.

Although I must say it seems a lot of them own much smaller compact tractors.

 

[Cup of Joe]

It is allot of compact tractors which is what I own. Some do have larger models. You just never know what tip or project idea maybe useful.

 

[citrustaco]

I agree, you never know which idea will be useful.

I just wish it'd be easier to test if a fix did anything, as it's running hot only when it's 100 degrees 100% humidity or so it seems mid afternoon.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: citrustaco
I took out the thermostat in an attempt to reduce the temps, didn't do anything.



Did you put the thermostat back in? I hope you did, because it has to be there to force coolant to go into the radiator.


How?

With it out, the coolant should flow just like it would when it was open when hot.


Every thermostat I've ever seen allows coolant to flow through the radiator bypass when closed. Then when the coolant heats up, the thermostat opens and starts blocking the bypass, forcing coolant to flow through the radiator. If the thermostat is not present, the coolant will take the path of least resistance, for the most part bypassing the radiator, or splitting the flow between the two. I spent 10 years as a development engineer at Cummins and John Deere, and when we set engines up on the dynamometers, we installed thermostats that were blocked open to force the coolant to flow through the test stand heat exchangers.

I think you need to make sure the cooling system is in full working order before proceeding. After all, it used to work didn't it? The engineers weren't just playing around when they designed the system with a thermostat.

 

[citrustaco]

My thermostat I believe only blocks the upper radiator hose. I could be wrong but I swear that's how its always ever been.

I believe from an engineer standpoint, the thermostat is there to allow the oil to get hot enough for peak performance, and for the engine to reach optimal operating temperatures for the best mpg.

It has been running hot in the summer since i've owned.

Oh well, I'm off to go spray all night. Take care,
David

 

[sdan27]

Typically, you can 'hear' when the fan clutch is engaged. You can definately tell the difference when it disengages especially. On most our applications, regardless of temperature, when you first start the engine and rev it up it will be noticably quieter after it runs a few seconds and the fan disengages. You may check out www.newagtalk.com. Folks have all sorts/sizes of tractors there. We had a tractor that was running right up to the high point on the temp gauge a couple summers ago. I ran some Fleetguard Restore cooling system cleaner through it, following the instructions on the bottle, and that fixed it right up. The next summer, I had the radiator out anyway and realized I couldn't even see through it so I cleaned it out real good with a powerwasher and that helped it run a little cooler yet. How many hours are on the tractor and has the coolant ever been changed/flushed before?

 

[citrustaco]

I will run a radiator flush, and do a deep clean on the fins and I'm sure it'll fix it, there's nothing else.

Thanks,
David

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: citrustaco
I do run at 540, 100 gpa, 1.25mph

and I did throw a new air filter in last fall.

the temp problem has got to be weather related.

Thank you,
David


Well, I'd say "weather AGGRAVATED." Your rig should be able to run within normal temps even in a Florida summer if the cooling system is up to scratch. Check for dirt/leaves/sand packed in the radiator cooling fins, check the interior of the radiator for corrosion buildup reducing flow, and check the waterpump for abraded impeller vanes reducing efficiency. I assume the tractor has a direct-drive fan with no thermal clutch, so that shouldn't be an issue. My bet would be the radiator, I've rarely seen any tractor with a few years on it that didn't have a pretty good buildup of crop debris packed into the radiator fins. It can be really hard to get out, too, you think you've reverse-blasted it all out with a garden hose, but some of it just will NOT let go.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: citrustaco
I took out the thermostat in an attempt to reduce the temps, didn't do anything.



Did you put the thermostat back in? I hope you did, because it has to be there to force coolant to go into the radiator.


How?

With it out, the coolant should flow just like it would when it was open when hot.


Many automotive engines use the thermostat to restrict the bypass passage as it opens, which forces more flow through the radiator. Not all that common on things like tractors, though, since they usually have very oversized waterpumps and just mix the radiator and bypass flow. In fact industrial engines tend to mix that way to make the water jackets more uniform in temperature than they would be with all the flow going straight through the radiator.