HDS 2135 ground speed?

[yardiron]

Originally Posted by ol'George

Do you pose' someone "tweaked" the hydro for lawnmower competition?
Either swap the hydro, repair it, or sent it back through the auction.
Don't tell the neighbor it was a faulty tractor, or tomorrow her lier will be contacting you for a new garage door and a new pair of undies she soiled, @ minimum.

What could they have done to make this faster like this? I find it hard to believe an adjustment could make it nearly double the speed it was meant to be.
Here's the parts list for the hydrostatic model, it doesn't look like it uses the damper?
I see where its located on the 2130 model but not on the 2135.

I really don't care about its top speed, I can always just throttle down or be careful but I don't want it doing any damage to the hydro unit or to things in the yard. It can be driven normally, it just takes a careful foot. (And maybe a big heavy front bumper?)

[ol'George]

The fact that it went through the auction, & was "cheap"
and does not slow down when you let off the hyd control, leads me to believe it has been modified internally for other than what it was designed for initially.
If it were me, since it already destroyed a garage door and changed your relationship with your neighbor lady by scaring the shit out of her, it is time to either part it out or send it to another auction before something unwanted happens that costs you a lot more than you paid for it.
But i'm just an old fart, that don't need "surprises" like that.
Now hold my beer, and watch this "wheelie"

[yardiron]

It was $6 plus a 10% buyers premium. But two other turn key Simplicity tractors sold for about the same money as well. An older CC with a deck and a 10hp motor went for $60. Lawn and garden stuff was going cheap. Like most auctions, nothing would start, all had dead batteries and stale gas.
I also bought a CC RT45 tiller at the same sale, it was missing the gas cap and had a tank full of rain water from the storm the night before. It sold for $28. I brought it home, pulled the tank and carb, clean out he carb, soaked the tank overnight with some EvapoRust, changed the oil and its as good as new. I had to order a gas cap for it though. I doubt it it was ever even used before by looking at the tines and paint. Just about everything was missing gas caps and sitting in the rain overnight. Its par for the course at most auctions here I guess. They pickup stuff from estates, bang it up moving it and take little to no care of it while its at the auction. Then there's the few who sabotage things to get the price down.

This 2135 looks like a new machine other than the missing headlight lens and the battered up grill panel. The way I saw it is that with such low hours, it likely hadn't been used or abuse much. The tires aren't dry rotted at all, so it was likely indoors its whole life and there's absolutely zero sign of it ever having mowed grass. The bottom of the thing is as clean as the top. No rust, no grass, no grease or dirt. Its as if it rolled off the showroom floor a week ago. The engine is clean, the filters were all spotless, the oil was fresh, and the paint shines. Its just the lower grill that's banged up and the missing headlight lens don't do it any favors either. I priced the headlight lens, you have to buy a whole assembly since they no longer service just the lens. I'm not sure I want to put $125 into a $6 tractor just to have a headlight lens. However I don't suppose the headlight bulbs will last long exposed to the elements like they are now.
For what I paid, I think I'd pull the motor out of it and use it in another machine before putting it back in the auction and maybe losing a few dollars on it. I've seen days when lawn and garden stuff doesn't even sell, especially tractors without decks.

The one thing it doesn't do is 'wheelie' it spins the tires but doesn't try to rear up, but I've not pulled back on it and tried to see if it'll stand up either. It does lighten the steering quite a bit in forward making turning in close quarters tough. It tends to just push the front wheels around. I don't think that's a matter of it being so fast, its more a matter of weight distribution. It seems too light up front, especially if I'm pulling something around the yard.

I was thinking of making up a raised trailer ball hitch so I can use it to move the boat in and out of the yard.

[crazycubtrio]

Just reading the “ breaking down the garage door and almost going to the basement” story has me thinking of the movie “ maximum overdrive “ be careful with that thing, it seems like it has a mind of its own!

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by crazycubtrio

Just reading the “ breaking down the garage door and almost going to the basement” story has me thinking of the movie “ maximum overdrive “ be careful with that thing, it seems like it has a mind of its own!

Call it "Christine" just like the '57/58 plymouth

[yardiron]

I don't know about it having a mind of its own but I think I figured out what's happening, or at least part of it.
When the throttle is set high or wide open, if you hit the 'brake' pedal to stop, it takes the forward pedal down with it. This only happens if your moving forward, then let off the forward pedal, then hit the brake. If you tap the reverse pedal, the brake pedal don't affect the forward pedal. To make it worse, at wide open throttle, the key won't shut the thing off, it keeps running until it either runs out of gas in the carb or you pull the the throttle back. For some reason its getting ignition power even after the key is off but only at full throttle.
I was pulling a wagon full of dirt around the yard, I turned past one of the raise garden beds and as I let off the forward pedal, it kept rolling, so I hit the brake pedal, the engine was at full power because I was pulling a 3x4" trailer full of topsoil. When I hit the brake, it surged forward into the raise garden bed and wouldn't stop, I had the brake pedal planted down, the wheels were grinding away in the dirt with the tires against the 6x6 garden box. I turned off the key and it kept running, I finally let off the brake and it stopped pulling and just sat there. The key was off and out of the ignition, but the throttle was at full. When I idled the motor down it shut off. I set the parking brake, and fired it back up and the thing acted fine, I backed it up and and continued forward. I tried pulling the key again, and found that it only runs on if its at wide open throttle. The brake pedal only affects the forward pedal if it was previously moving forward. If I go from reverse to the brake, the thing just stops. Its when its in that coasting state when the pedals move together. They're not stuck together, they work fine otherwise.
I feel it should stop sooner after letting off the forward pedal, but it keeps rolling. Its not 'under power', it just coasts. If I'm going uphill it stops pretty fast, if I'm going down hill, it will roll away if I let off the forward pedal, unless I tap the reverse pedal last. Once I tap the rev. pedal, it stops dead. I'm not even moving the reverse pedal, I'm just tapping it lightly with my foot.
I think if I figure out why it freewheels once I let off the pedal, I'll find the reason it runs away. At least I know now that tapping the reverse pedal is the only way to stop it. Definitely not hitting the 'brake' pedal.
For a guy my size, the pedals on this are a bit awkward, My knees are about the steering wheel when I'm driving it and its a real chore to pull my let up and back to get on the brake pedal. I may try to raise the seat several inches to make it easier to work the pedals. I did that on my other tractors too. On my old tractor, I used two lengths of 2x6" c channel between the seat and the fender pan. It raised the seat enough where I could easily work the pedals without having to lean to the left and raise my whole leg up to get at the brake pedal.
I think with a higher seat, getting to the brake pedal and reverse pedal will be just a move of the foot vs. having to lift my whole leg up. Of course it will also affect center of gravity and with the hydrostatic trans the way it is, it may induce wheelies, so maybe some lower weight is in order as well.

[ol'George]

Well it is possessed for sure!
Sounds like you need to investigate why Christine's linkage is doing the things you describe, that it ain't posta do.
Is all your insurances paid up?
Is that little MTD lawn tractor, what you really need to pull things around, and do yard work?
Just thinking, I don't know your needs.

[yardiron]

Its fine for what I need it for, I don't need a mower, just a mover.
I have a small yard, but its on a slight slope to the rear. I've got two boats and a camper that sit in the back yard behind my fence. The whole back yard is septic system so I can't drive my truck on it. I use the tractor to park the bass boat and the 19ft bay boat behind the house, and to drag the camper out to the road when I need it. I had an Allis Chalmers 916H but it won't turn sharp enough to get the boat in where I need to park it. The CC can turn around in a small area where the AC can't.
The CC pulls the trailer out in one shot, the AC can't make the turn and can't maneuver back and forth without unhooking and reconnecting twice.

I picked up another 2135 this morning at another auction for $5, its in better physical shape with 200 hours on it. It runs but won't move forward.
It back up but only slowly, and when I step on the forward pedal it only moans like its building pressure in the pump. The brake pedal just flops up and down. It goes down and sets the parking brake but there's no pressure and no tension. Its as if the brakes are stuck, but it rolls freely with the lever pulled out on the back The fluid is clean and full. This one is also missing its deck and headlight lens.

[yardiron]

Something else I noticed different between the first 2135 and the second one I just brought home, the first tractor shakes a lot at idle side to side, while the second one is dead smooth. Both seem the same at higher RPM. The first one has a lot of side to side rocking motion going on at a dead low idle. They first one revs faster too.

Both have Kohler single cylinder OHV engines. There was a 2130 there too but I got outbid on that by a few bucks, I really only wanted the 2135 thinking it could be a spare trans if I got it cheap enough. The 2130 went for like $24 and it had over 1000 hours on it and looked rough.
All the other tractors were cheap green models from Home Depot and such, they all sold for way too much money in my opinion.
There were a couple of 60's Cub Cadets in the sale but they went for over $100 each and were far from running condition.
Two CC 1440's went unsold in running condition. I'd have grabbed one or both but I only had room for the one 2135 on my trailer.

Any idea why the one 2135 won't go forward? It back up fine, but just moans when I try to go forward.

[Mike McKown]

No offense intended but go back to the auction and bid on the 1440's. They'll be much better choices for what you're trying to do.