How to operate a farm tractor?

Answer 1

That would depend on the tractor and what country that tractor is from. This answer assumes North American tractors. Starting the engine is as simple as turning the ignition key. Many have turbochargers, so the throttle will need to be set to around 1200 RPM and idled with no load for about two minutes to warm up. They have Power Steering, power breaks (one pedal for each side of the machine) and a power clutch. They have signal lights, except the lights need to be turned off manually. They have a switch that controls the lights, with multiple modes (head lights, warning lights, head lights with warning lights, and field lights which illuminate all areas around the machine). The dashboard has a speedometer, a tachometer, a chronometer (a tractors age is not measured in kilometers/miles, but in hours), gauges to monitor the machine's condition (engine temperature, engine oil pressure, battery, etc as well as diagnostic indicators that light up when a problem is detected (engine temperature too high, transmission temperature or pressure too high, electrical problem, etc). There are two kinds of warnings: warnings indicate a problem requiring attention but not immediately fatal and engine stop warnings indicate a critical failure requiring immediate shutdown. There will be a bank of levers corresponding to the SCVs at the rear of the tractor, above the hitch. These are the hydraulic hookups, which are universal and standard to all tractors regardless of brand. What the hydraulics do depends entirely on what they're hooked up to. How to make the machine move depends on what type of transmission it has. In most cases, one sets a desired RPM, pushes in the clutch and selects a gear before engaging the clutch. Engaging the clutch is one of the hardest parts: engage too slowly and you burn the clutch. Too quickly and you give the drivetrain a good slam. Tractors normally have multiple ranges and multiple forward and reverse gears. The gears are named by range/gear. So A1 means range A gear 1, B2 means range B gear 2. Unlike semis, tractors don't always start in a low gear and shift through their gears to a higher one. In fact, the gears aren't even in the order you might think. For example, in a JOHN DEERe 8970 the gears (in order from lowest to highest) are A1 A2 A3 B1 C1 B2 C2 B3 D1 C3 D2 D3. You might start the machine in B2@1900 RPM and leave it at that. When shifting, select neutral, select range then select gear. What gear/rpm combination you want depends on what you intend to do with the machine, size of engine, implement attached and field conditions. Different transmissions have different numbers of ranges and gears and shift differently. Unsynchronized transmissions require you to stop the machine before changing range or gear. Synchonized can shift gears without stopping (except reverse), but must be stopped to change ranges. Powershift can change gears without using the clutch (just move the lever. The machine shifts gears using hydraulic pressure), but must be stopped before changing range. Quad-speed or quadrashift are a hybrid synchonised/powershift, where it is possible to powershift between certain pairs of gears. CVT and IVT transmissions have no gears in the traditional sense. To shutdown the machine, it must be idled at 1200 RPM for two minutes (no load) to cool the engine and prevent damage to the turbocharger.