Just wondering if it's common to have to downshift to 4th or even 3rd gear to get up hills with a 1986 730A? Almost thought I wasn't going to make it and had a gravel truck and pup behind me. Not sure if I smelled slipping clutches or not.
Should be able to pull most hills in 5th or 6th, I'd check your fuel filters. My 720A got boggy on me this week, swapped filters out and was good to go again.
I wonder if the extra weight from the foam filled tires and ripper makes it sluggish on hills?
My 730 was never over powered
My 720a has a ripper and water filled tires and it will pull hills in all gears no problem. That being said, I've had two Galion graders that had a hell of a lot more wear on them and third gear was about the best you could hope for to pull any decent Hill.
Real question is, does the engine drop a pile of RPM or does the torque just start stalling almost with the machine hardly moving. In other words does the transmission slip, or engine problem. Simon C
It seemed more like the torque stalling. I had a gravel truck and pup behind me and was trying to go as fast as possible but pretty slow going up the hill. Without the gravel truck I would have just downshifted where it was pulling good. It was a fairly steep grade. I thought I smelled something slightly burning like maybe clutch plates or oil but it went away once I got up the hill. On fairly flat ground and less steep grades no problems. I can drive in 7th gear no problem but over half throttle in 8th I get some tire hopping I'm sure is because of the foam filled tires but I can live with that. I'm not driving down the road very often.
My 730 used to blow oil out the transmission vent when going down the road but no slipping. They extended the vent line and installed an air tank on the back of the cab with the vent line on the bottom and the vent on top. It would catch the oil that sprayed out the vent line, then the oil would drain back into the transmission
I'll have to check the oil level when I go put next. I thought I read on here it's important to change the oil and filter on a regular basis? I'm wondering if maybe old oil could be at least part of the problem?