Engine speed?

[Stefan]

Guys,

I'm not sure how to adjust the maximum engine speed of my 1959 Dexta. Should it be 2200 or 2400 rpm?

Regards
Stefan

[Brian]

Stefan,

Engine idle 550 rpm, Maximum "No Load" speed 2200 rpm.

[Stefan]

Thanks Brian.

[Mark]

Stefan,
I cranked mine up to 2200 rpms, with a Massy F&%&^%n tach. I honestly think this is what did my injector pump in.
My son was coming down a hill on his way home with the bush hog on the back and it over wound coming down this hill. Bending the rod in the injector pump.
If you crank it up this high be on guard and don't let it over wind the motor.
Mark

[Brian]

Mark,

I don't think overreving would have caused that problem. 2200 rpm is the maxiumum no load revs so when it is driving it will be running slightly slower than that. When the revs exceed the 2200 setting, the governor shuts off the fuel so you get engine braking as well.

Some Dextas in Holland have been opened up to around 2600 rpm and have run happily for many years. Oscars Dexta was set at 2400 rpm and he did a number of road runs at full throttle.

[Oscar]

Oscars Dexta was set at 2400 rpm and he did a number of road runs at full throttle.

Not quite. Before those (long) road trips, I reduced maximum revs to 2000 rpm. Very, very rarely did I run the tractor above 2000 rpm and certainly never when the engine was idle.

An engine needs to work to stay clean and healthy. But work is not the same as revving up. My tractor did very little work so revving her up was sure to do more harm than good.

The ideal situation is to have the tractor drive, say, a stationary water pump or manure mixer through the PTO at 1500 rpm.

A friend of mine has a Fendt 103LS, an oldie with close to 10,000 hrs on it. He doesn't look after his machinery all that well and that Fendt looks like it went all the way to hell and back. I treat it gingerly, he doesn't. Last time I was there, he hooked it up to a machine that grinds bales of straw into a fine powder that he uses in the stables. That machine requires a high PTO rev, which in turn requires a gear mechanism to keep engine revs down. And that, in turn, requires a strong engine. That old Fendt is not strong, certainly not compared to modern standards. So he did not use the gear mechanism to keep engine revs down and instead revved her up to absolute max revs, appr. 3000 rpm, for hours and hours on end. I said why don't you use one of your stronger tractors? He said they were too strong for the machine - if it became obstructed, the tractor's engine would keep running and grind the machine to mush. The Fendt's engine, not being that strong, would stop before the machine would break (for the same reason, he puts the Fendt in front of implements that actually require higher power, because his others tractors have sometimes caused damage to the implements). Well, that little Fendt was blowing steam within minutes. I shut her down, turned out there was hardly any water in the radiator. Oil level was low too. He would have had a blown engine on his hands if I'd not stepped in. And even with enough water and oil, that engine was on the verge of breaking up. He doesn't care, he says if it goes then it goes. Tractor's been written off anyway. The way I see, it, that Fendt has put bread on his table for 28 years.

[Brian]

Sorry Oscar,

I thought it was you that had said his Dexta was adjusted to between 2400 and 2600 rpm for road work. Must learn not to rely on my memory when answering posts.

Back in 2002 there was a question about a Dexta reving up to 3000 rpm and that was what i had in the back of my mind. We were talking about them reving at 2600 in that thread.

[Mark]

Brian,
I'm glad to hear that, that wasn't what happened to my Dexta. I guess it was coincidence for me that the next day after setting the rpm's this happened. I didn't know about the governor shut the fuel off should the rpm's go to excess. Just goes to show we never get to old to learn.
Thanks