Advice from L3902 HST owners

[jyoutz]

Isn’t this a thread about L3902 with a loader?

Tractors smaller than a MX also benefit from being properly ballasted. The size and weight might be different, but physics/fundamentals are same.

Absolutely, but my point is that they may want to use some kind of removable ballast if they are using a tractor on the lawn.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Absolutely, but my point is that they may want to use some kind of removable ballast if they are using a tractor on the lawn.

Here is an L3901 with loaded R4s, a loader, and a Woods finish mower ready to mow my lawn. I am very picky about my lawn and the loader and loaded tires are a total nothing burger. A much bigger issue is the quality of cut I get from that Woods mower...

Dan

 

[jyoutz]

Here is an L3901 with loaded R4s, a loader, and a Woods finish mower ready to mow my lawn. I am very picky about my lawn and the loader and loaded tires are a total nothing burger. A much bigger issue is the quality of cut I get from that Woods mower...

Dan

View attachment 128719

A lot depends on the soil type. Fine textured clay soil would compact.

 

[mcmxi]

Most wheel weights attach to the wheels and the load is carried by the tires not the axle - no different than liquid ballast.

Dan

Is there any unsprung mass with a tractor since there's no suspension other than the tires? The weights are bolted to the rim which is bolted to the axle, with the tire acting as a spring between the axle and the ground. As the weight acting on the spring (tire) increases, it compresses more and exerts a greater force on the rim, wheel bearings, hubs, axle, etc. Liquid ballast doesn't compress the spring (tire) unlike wheel weights or anything else attached to the tractor. So adding it to the tires won't increase the energy stored in the tires, unlike adding wheel weights. I was trying to point out the difference between adding wheel weights vs. liquid ballast in an earlier post.

I enjoy thinking about these sorts of things and almost always learn from them. Part of that process is being transparent. It's been a long time since I got a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and we often get stuck (and comfortable) working in a career where we're in the trenches all day, every day so there are few surprises. Much of engineering is not intuitive and that's why we learn free body diagrams in engineering school as an analysis tool for solving complex mechanical relationships.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Is there any unsprung mass with a tractor since there's no suspension other than the tires? The weights are bolted to the rim which is bolted to the axle, with the tire acting as a spring between the axle and the ground. As the weight acting on the spring (tire) increases, it compresses more and exerts a greater force on the rim, wheel bearings, hubs, axle, etc. Liquid ballast doesn't compress the spring (tire) unlike wheel weights or anything else attached to the tractor. So adding it to the tires won't increase the energy stored in the tires, unlike adding wheel weights.

The weights rest on the rim which rests on the tires which rest on the ground. The the axle, hub, and bearings see none of that load.

Dan

 

[hedgerow]

[QUOTE="mcmxi, post: 720309, member: 45692

In what other ways is fluid in the tires annoying to you? It's good to have access to information and perhaps there are other issues that I haven't encountered.
[/QUOTE]
Growing up in a service station, truck stop and working on farm equipment and farming for well over forty years I don't care to ever work on another tire that has been loaded with any liquid. Any liquid in tires probably left this farming operation thirty plus years ago. I fixed enough tires a year on this farm I don't need to have to pump liquid out and put liquid back in tires. Have steel weights on tractors around this farm. Have three on each side on the MX6000 and it could use couple more on each side. I understand most of you folks never put enough hours on your tractor to have to fix or replace tires. We had a very dry year around here last year and by the time harvest was over I had two tires on the combine and a tire on the grain cart tractor that needed air up every day. Had four flats on grain hauling semis also. Got my work out fixing tires. I am too cheap to paid to get a tractor tire fixed.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Growing up in a service station, truck stop and working on farm equipment and farming for well over forty years I don't care to ever work on another tire that has been loaded with any liquid. Any liquid in tires probably left this farming operation thirty plus years ago. I fixed enough tires a year on this farm I don't need to have to pump liquid out and put liquid back in tires. Have steel weights on tractors around this farm. Have three on each side on the MX6000 and it could use couple more on each side. I understand most of you folks never put enough hours on your tractor to have to fix or replace tires. We had a very dry year around here last year and by the time harvest was over I had two tires on the combine and a tire on the grain cart tractor that needed air up every day. Had four flats on grain hauling semis also. Got my work out fixing tires. I am too cheap to paid to get a tractor tire fixed.

Bingo!!

Tire service is the only real drawback to liquid ballast and I can well understand your distaste for it.

Like the vast majority of people here when my car, truck, or tractor tires, loaded or not, need serviced I give them and my credit card to the tire man.

Dan

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Absolutely, but my point is that they may want to use some kind of removable ballast if they are using a tractor on the lawn.

Lawnmowers can rollover too.

Here is an L3901 with loaded R4s, a loader, and a Woods finish mower ready to mow my lawn. I am very picky about my lawn and the loader and loaded tires are a total nothing burger. A much bigger issue is the quality of cut I get from that Woods mower...

Dan

View attachment 128719

What is on the side of the loader frame just behind the bucket about at the height of the cross pipe in the loader frame?

 

[mcmxi]

I understand most of you folks never put enough hours on your tractor to have to fix or replace tires. We had a very dry year around here last year and by the time harvest was over I had two tires on the combine and a tire on the grain cart tractor that needed air up every day. Had four flats on grain hauling semis also. Got my work out fixing tires. I am too cheap to paid to get a tractor tire fixed.

As you say, the number of hours you run a tractor, and the environment you operate in can make a big difference. If we took a poll here, I wonder how many have had a rear tire go down, and if so, how many hours on the tractor and how old are the tires.

I'll wait until I have to repair or replace a tire before I even think about not having beet juice in them.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Lawnmowers can rollover too.

What is on the side of the loader frame just behind the bucket about at the height of the cross pipe in the loader frame?

Third function couplers - my own design

Dan

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Third function couplers - my own design

Dan

View attachment 128749

View attachment 128748

That looks awesome (very clean install) but i was referring to what was on outside of the loader frame…

 

[TheOldHokie]

That looks awesome (very clean install) but i was referring to what was on outside of the loader frame…

Oh. Thats my current nemisis - a square point shovel stowed in the cross tube. We go a couple short rounds each day and it akways wins

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Oh. Thats my current nemisis - a square point shovel stowed in the cross tube. We go a couple short rounds each day and it akways wins

That’s funny. I wondered what that was…such an odd shape there and I never even thought about that being a shovel.