That when I engage the blades I should have the engine at the max RPM's....scag TT, 27 Koh.....and so, after 125 hours on the machine, I was skimming through parts of the owners manual while "resting" ....in the rest room....and I find that IT SAYS to have the engine at about 75% of max RPM's when engaging the blades...or premature clutch wear.....etc...etc... SO....here is my problem...this dealer has been right on the money about everything else,,,and has sold scag for a long time....does the mechanical work right along side with his shop workers....won't even sell a machine unless he personally puts it together and checks everything....and I remember directly asking him at the time of the purchase if I heard him correctly say to have the engine at max RPM's..twice!...(having just traded a kubota that you had to slow it way down or it would kill the belts)...should I call him and point out this..."potential problem"....should I ask him for a free check of the blade clutch.....what would you do....? What should I do?
I would take the manual to the dealer and ask him what he thinks about this bit with the 75% rpm, it seems like this guy is straight up and won't feed you no bs.
You may still have to make up your own mind, my last dealer was really good but on some things we disagreed, still I respected his opinion highly and took a lot of things he said into serious consideration. I dare say I would likely do the same with your dealer, thou of course you would know better here what to do, how to proceed...
Are you getting confused with the break-in procedure with the PTO-Clutch? New mowers you should have throttle at full speed and engage PTO and allow mower to run for 10 seconds..........Disengage PTO and wait 10 seconds........Repeat steps for 12-15 cycles
Are you getting confused with the break-in procedure with the PTO-Clutch? New mowers you should have throttle at full speed and engage PTO and allow mower to run for 10 seconds..........Disengage PTO and wait 10 seconds........Repeat steps for 12-15 cycles
Just wondering why the throtle has to be set so high to engage the blades? The way I am thinking is that the higher the rpm's the more stress on the clutch just like a vehicle or am I wrong.
After the break in procedure , previously described by another other poster ,never engage the clutch at max RPM.When the engine is cold, let it warm up a bit engage at half throttle,disengage at half throttle as well.
i feel that engaging at 1/2 throttle to full throttle is fine. go with 1/2 throttle if it does not bog your engine down badly. If your eng bogs and struggles you could have problems with throwing your belts from the sudden snap of the belt trying to engage. I spoke to a Toro engineer about this 2 years ago when this whole thing of engaging decks at full rpms came about, he explained its all about "belt wrap" around the puleys and how much slip the manufacturer wants vs that sudden snap and possibly belt thrown off and spring failure if there is not enough power to slip the belt for that brief seconds of initial engagment.
You can look at this two ways. Engine RPM's are low therefor your alternator/charging coil is not putting out much amperage. Clutches draw madd amperage when engaging and by not having the engine at max rpm's you can actually slip the clutch just as much because there is not enough power to quickly engage.
The other angle of this is full throttle engagement will have much more amperage but high rpms tend to put some wear on clutches. I used to engage at 1/2 throttle or less on my 44z but after having recent engine issues with bogging and a poor running condition, I can now only engage at wot or engine bogs and dies. What I have found is the time it takes for the clutch to stop slipping and engages is almost the same at all rpm's.
As for disengaging at 1/2 throttle, screw that. Productivity comes before equipment in my book and by stopping, slowing the engine rpms down, disengaging clutch, speeding engine up, going back to trailer just seems like forever. I just kill the blades from WOT and leave it be. When the clutch wears out a new one is only 150-200 bones.
That when I engage the blades I should have the engine at the max RPM's....scag TT, 27 Koh.....and so, after 125 hours on the machine, I was skimming through parts of the owners manual while "resting" ....in the rest room....and I find that IT SAYS to have the engine at about 75% of max RPM's when engaging the blades...or premature clutch wear.....etc...etc... SO....here is my problem...this dealer has been right on the money about everything else,,,and has sold scag for a long time....does the mechanical work right along side with his shop workers....won't even sell a machine unless he personally puts it together and checks everything....and I remember directly asking him at the time of the purchase if I heard him correctly say to have the engine at max RPM's..twice!...(having just traded a kubota that you had to slow it way down or it would kill the belts)...should I call him and point out this..."potential problem"....should I ask him for a free check of the blade clutch.....what would you do....? What should I do?
I just had the same conversation when I bought my new one this week.
He had said, when I bought new in 2001, to engage at full throttle. Poking around here, these discussions come up now and again. So I make it a point to ask him, and the other dealers when I demoed their machines. The "new" answer I have received is: 3/4 throttle on the Scag, from two different Scag dealers. A little less if it doesn't bog the motor. He now wants to see it engaged as to take it easy on the clutch, but bogging the motor is worse. He also said it will not hurt the Scag's clutch, but why beat it up unnecessarily?
The other dealers/manufacturers said basically the same thing.
No one ever mentioned the shock on the belts anywhere along the line. They seemed to be more interested in #1.. NOT bogging and #2..saving wear on the clutch. Not to discount the few possible belt maladies, I'm just saying that with several different dealers and brands, they didn't mention it to me.
I wouldn't sweat it. Just engage @ 3/4 from now on.
well lets put it this way on clutches and wear. most of these ztrs are now using 250-350 ft/lb rated clutches (specially scag, they use very heavy duty clucthes on the tigers and wildcats) Out little kawasaki and kohler enginers are only putting out 30-60ft/lbs or torque at the crankshaft and with not a whole lot or turning resistance from just a few or 1 deck drive belt and three spindles/blades on the deck. So our application for these clutches is no way near really stressng them that badly. the biggest thing that kills these clutches on the scags is they are adjustable (for the air gap) and if they dont get adjusted normally and the gap opens up to large and is run like that for a long time, it really progresses the wear between the disc and floater/brake plate. Also alot of these clutches wether it be warner or orgura tend to have the armature go bad before the discs and plates wear out (where the resistance internally that it takes to allow it to engage becomes to little and now wont work, or causes a major draw on your charging system, and theres nothing to do maintance wise or engagment wise on that issue) i normaly see if the clutch is maintaned you should get anywheres from 800-1200 hours out of one and thats a pretty good lifespan in my book for a commercially used part, when you think of your engine is really only truly rated for 1800-2500 hours on its lifespan!
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