Today I went to haul another large hay bale for the cattle. It has snowed a little since I last hauled a bale. I drove into the hay bale and pushed against it to make sure it was tight on the bale spear. My back tires spun a little.
When I went to back up my rear tractor tires spun and I couldn't move but an inch or so. Really? I had no trouble last year to haul large bales through the snow.
The ground is frozen hard. The ground was saturated with moisture before the freeze so it can be a little slick. Maybe that's my problem.
I lowered the bale and tried to back up and away from it. I still spun. What in the world?!
I tried cat litter under the tires. I had some loose hay and put that under the tires. No go.
Earlier I had read in the tractor's manual about taking it out of four wheel drive, especially when driving on hard (paved) surfaces. I never put that into action. I checked the tractor manual again.
The section about Mechanical Front Wheel Drive (MFWD):
http://manuals.deere.com/omview/OMRE199128_19/OUO1043_0000270_19_15JAN01_1.htm
The photo didn't look like my tractor's cab and levers. Maybe my tractor doesn't have four wheel drive? I noticed the manual said: "If equipped".
Here is my tractor's cab. It doesn't quite match the manual's photo.
The yellow lever in front runs the tractor's Power Take Off (PTO). The orange lever in back...
Here is the photo of the orange lever. I focused more on the 540 and 540E than the little picture of the tractor. 540 is the PTO speed. With this lever by the PTO lever I guessed the orange lever had something to do with the PTO's speed.
I looked all over the tractor and could not find a four wheel driver lever. Maybe my tractor doesn't have four wheel drive?
Donna came over shortly with some baklava she had made and so I had her drive my four wheel drive pickup to pull my tractor. I thought if I could just get the tractor tires off of the icy ground and into the snow I would have traction.
Donna pulled my tractor into the snow.
However when I tried to drive the tractor again the rear tires just spun and the tractor wouldn't move but an inch or so. Donna was certain my tractor was a four wheel drive and the four wheel drive wasn't engaged.
We looked all over the tractor's cab. Donna finally asked what the orange lever did. I thought something with the PTO. She had me try the lever. Now my tractor could drive carrying the large hay bale. It was the four wheel drive lever.
In hindsight it seems obvious when looking at the little images of the tractor. But the one photo is a close up. Imagine you are sitting in the tractor seat in the larger photo looking down. Add that with the manual's photo and description and with some sort of tunnel vision I had in the cold weather and it may explain why I was so dumb to not notice it.
Thinking back I think I must had moved the orange lever this past Summer when I was running the yellow PTO lever when I was cutting and baling my hay.
Well... now I know what the orange lever is for.
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