2501 acts like brakes on

[Blondie70]

Have a 2016 L2501 2wd gear tractor. When mowing or moving even with heavy stuff attatched......pressing on the clutch gives a quick stop...almost like braking. The brakes have plenty of slack and are not dragging. I have checked each side and they brake as they should.
On a flat cement surface, with no implement attatched, I cannot move it , even by shoving the top of the back wheel. Just get a small amount of movement. It does not want to roll.
Tractor operates great. Nothing heats up. I have felt the rear end and transmission after operating for a hour or so, and nothing is extra warm. I have never seen a tractor that I couldn't move a bit by shoving the wheel.
The front wheels spin freely when off the ground. It has 320 hours on it.
Anybody got any insight on this ???>
Thanks, Pete

 

[Fordtech86]

I can’t help much, I know my gear L does not do that. Stupid question on my part, have you checked the tire pressure? Or jacked up the rear of the tractor to make sure they spin freely in neutral?

 

[bucktail]

My understanding is that the gear model L2501 doesn't have live PTO. Your PTO runs off the transmission so when you step on the clutch with the PTO under load the PTO will stop your wheels.

 

[jimh406]

Sounds like maybe the PTO is engaged.

 

[Fordtech86]

Bucktail and jim bring up a point, but I will give my experience with an almost identical tractor to OPs. It had almost 12 hrs on it when I got it and hadn’t had a pto implement on it.

With bush hog on and running, then pushing in clutch the tractor doesn’t stop as you say like brakes on. Pulling a loaded 18 ft trailer around the yard it still doesn’t just stop. I don’t have concrete but I can push the tractor by the rear tire when its in neutral on gravel or in the yard.

Maybe I read too far into your issue or maybe my tractor is broke, has similar hours now and does not exhibit the concerns the OP described.

Blondie, is this a new issue that just appeared? Have you owned the tractor since new?

 

[Blondie70]

I bought this tractor used. I have put most of the 320 hours on it, tho. I have never seen a tractor act like this. I can barely shove the top of the rear tire on a flat cement floor. I had a New Holland that I could push all over that floor. Same HP tractor.
Thanks guys

 

[Henro]

I bought this tractor used. I have put most of the 320 hours on it, tho. I have never seen a tractor act like this. I can barely shove the top of the rear tire on a flat cement floor. I had a New Holland that I could push all over that floor. Same HP tractor.
Thanks guys

Obviously something is not right!

If the tractor will not move with a push on the rear tires on a level surface with the tractor neutral, then something is obviously holding it back.

It could be something in the drivetrain like the brakes dragging, or it could be something related to the front wheels like a severely bad bearing locking up a wheel.

I think you need to eliminate some of the possibilities. Perhaps checkping the front wheels with them jacked up off the ground, by turning them by hand to see if they’re free, might give you some indication, or at least eliminate a possibility.

Jacking the rear of the tractor up and trying to turn a rear wheel may also give you some idea if the issue is related to the rear wheels and/or drivetrain related. With the rear off the ground you would expect one wheel to turn one way and the other to turn in the opposite direction. Or maybe with the tractor in neutral, if there was a problem with one of the wheels, the free wheel would turn and the shaft internal to the transmission would turn.

OR the rear wheels could both be locked up, which would still provide specific information.

At this point you need to do some specific checks which can give you information to point you in the right direction. My thoughts anyway…

 

[Pau7220]

I think you need to eliminate some of the possibilities. Perhaps checkping the front wheels with them jacked up off the ground, by turning them by hand to see if they’re free, might give you some indication, or at least eliminate a possibility

Agreed.. it may be just one rear wheel doing it. I've seen bent linkages, sticks jamming linkages, seized levers, etc. Have a really close look under there.

 

[Blondie70]

The front wheels are free. I did jack up one rear wheel the other day. I could not turn it by hand. I am going to jack the rear up soon the get both rears off the ground to see what will happen (will need to chock up the front tilt first) . Involved in grass cutting rite now, so will wait until I get the mower off. I will post results here. Thanks