[Cannon51]

I mowed my sons grass yesterday with his DLT2000 (about a 2004 with 320 hrs) and since there were a lot of windrows I ran the Agri-Fab 42inch sweeper over it. I had to dump the sweeper 5 times and toward the end of the sweeping I thought I could tell that the tractor was going slower. I had not thought that the sweeper would be hard on the hydro because it is so light (empty) but there is also some drag from the wheels spinning the brushes. Is there any reason not to pull a sweeper with a Hydro?
Cannon

 

[TUDOR]

As you noted, there is some drag from the wheels to power the brushes. Since the K46 can only output about 2.75 hp, the combination of turning the brushes and travelling with the entire load of tractor and full sweeper is going to use a serious percentage of that available power and heat in the hydro will be the result.

As long as the hydro's temperature stays below 180*, there shouldn't be a problem. If you notice this happening again, check the temperature of the hydro with a digital thermometer.

If it's high, or if you think that it's getting high, drop the sweeper and take a tour of the yard with the engine at full throttle and fairly high speed on the hydro for a few minutes. This gets the cooling fan moving the most air and not recirculating hot air, and exposes the oil flow in the passages to the cooler case for better heat transfer rather than with the tractor sitting still while the case is cooling and the oil in the sump isn't moving and stays warm.

Most important, keep the cooling fins clean.

 

[Cannon51]

Thanks Bob, I have a couple of gear drive tractors that I don't enjoy cutting grass with, might be better to take one of them over there to pull the sweeper. I'll try to get a look at that transmission and see how dirty it is.
Cannon

 

[TUDOR]

Sounds like a workable solution to me. :fing32: