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Slow Sovereign....what to look for?


jimmystractor

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One of my Sovereign 18 HP command is noticeably slower at full throttle than my other tractors. I would say it is about half the speed of the other tractors that are all the same. I don’t think it is a carb or fuel issue. It seems to be at full throttle. Is there some type of adjustment that can be made or something else I should be looking for? It does have a non stock (it is a green belt) drive belt. Could this be the issue if it is not the correct size?

 

Also, the hydro lever (forward and reverse) is much “tighter” or harder to push forward than my other tractors as well.

Edited by jimmystractor
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Sounds like someone installed a non-standard sized pulley and had to compensate with a different belt.  Compare your pulleys to the parts list. 

A smaller drive pulley or a larger driven pulley would result in slower speed but increased torque.

Edited by wwbragg
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Binding in the linkage maybe?  Linkage not allowing the lever on the hydro to go full distance in the cam plate?

Tilt the seat deck up and take a look, easy to see then.

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Heres some of the things I have found with the junkers I have bought over the years that deal with ground speed, hard moving lever,  and the hydro.

1- clutch pivot bracket rusted to pivot pin not allowing the bracket to fully tension the belt (quite common) worked fine till someone pushes in on the clutch, then it doesnt fully move back.

2- push valves not completely popping up

3-hydro lever removed at some point and the parts improperly re-installed

4- adjustment cam and linkages out of adjustment

if I think of more I'll add them later

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Hello, Have you ever changed the filter and trans fluid ? I had a sovereign that was sluggish , and after a filter and fresh trans fluid It worked fine.

Another sovereign I changed fluid ,but, I bought an STP brand filter that supposed to be correct, but I had problems with a sluggish  trans.  I put the NAPA  filter on and it worked great again!

 

Thanks Ken in Mi

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Here is an update...@smilinsam and everyone else.

I checked all of the pulleys and compared with another Sovereign I have. All look the same. 

So today, I changed the drive belt that was on the tractor with a Simplicity belt...same thing. 

It has a different hydro filter than original on it and the fluid is completely full. The tractor is not sluggish...it is super slow. 

Any other ideas to try?

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As Ken stated, the hydro filter has to be correct.  

I believe the filter is on the inlet side of the pump and if a too fine mesh filter is used, the flow will be restricted.  Many people think a finer filter is better but not in all cases.

Since you have another Sovereign, try swapping the hydro filters and see how each tractor reacts.  

 

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That reminds me

5- do NOT use fram oil filters. Way too restrictive. Had a Powermax once and  had been using frams for years back when they were all orange. Then they tarted making them with a black grip. Put one of those on and the hydrolift would not work and the tractor moved real slow.

Since then I have been using the napa brand replcements. I dont have the number in front of me right now but can post it tomorrow.

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  • 1 year later...

I learned that placing hose clamps on each end of the spring on the linkage will fix this problem. I haven't tried it yet but I am looking forward to trying it.

 

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2 hours ago, littleram8 said:

I learned that placing hose clamps on each end of the spring on the linkage will fix this problem. I haven't tried it yet but I am looking forward to trying it.

 

Curious on what this method does to improve slugish tranny

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...forces the control arm on the transmission to move even if its tight. It's possible something is wrong and when he pushes the hydro lever, it's just compression the spring in the linkage instead of moving the control arm on the transmission as it should. 

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@jlasater is correct. 

Same effect as adding washers to compress the spring more but adding hose clamps (SS screw type) would be much easy to do. 

The issue I’ve found with a more compressed spring is the hydro is jumpie  

But no amount of control linkage  tinkering will solve a too restrictive filter. 

 

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On 4/28/2018 at 10:05 PM, SmilinSam said:

5- do NOT use fram oil filters. Way too restrictive.

Fram used to be a good filter. I have taken several of the later models apart that were on cars and trucks just for fun. The filters are clean about half way through the body, the oil nasty. I use NAPA or Wix, if I cannot get original equipment, and have nasty filters, and clean oil, as it should be

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Yes basic orange can Fram is junk. Though I have used and compared Fram XG filters and they hold their own against anything you can throw at them, though they are not cheap

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On 7/17/2019 at 2:48 PM, jlasater said:

...forces the control arm on the transmission to move even if its tight. It's possible something is wrong and when he pushes the hydro lever, it's just compression the spring in the linkage instead of moving the control arm on the transmission as it should. 

Yes, this is the problem I was having. 

I was also recommended an AC Delco PF13 for a trans filter 

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Is it also slow in reverse?  If is not it, then it is a control lever linkage issue... you are not getting enough travel of the cam plate when moving the lever forward.

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