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When I push the lever to go forward or backwards it is very jumpy(stiff). I lubed all the spots I can get to. I just got the mower and plan on changing the fluid and filter is there anything else I can do to make it smoother?

Does anyone else keep up with this group?

Found the cable bad controlling direction. Cable was broken. Going to order a new one tomorrow.

:welcome:
happy now ?
Being a full on commercial diesel engined mower, users & service mechanics for them are a bit thin on the ground and even thinner on forums like this.
I can bluff my way through old variable stroke engines with mechanical lift pumps, but modern electronically controlled ones are out of my ball park.
Every couple of days you might like to reply to your own post with the :anyone: smilies found in the "more" section under the 15 on the right hand side.
We consider this a polite way to push your post back to the top of the new posts list.

bertsmobile1 said:

:welcome:
happy now ?
Being a full on commercial diesel engined mower, users & service mechanics for them are a bit thin on the ground and even thinner on forums like this.
I can bluff my way through old variable stroke engines with mechanical lift pumps, but modern electronically controlled ones are out of my ball park.
Every couple of days you might like to reply to your own post with the :anyone: smilies found in the "more" section under the 15 on the right hand side.
We consider this a polite way to push your post back to the top of the new posts list.

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LOL, just a little shocked. Was hoping someone would have had an idea. Just glad it is the cable, and not something more expensive.

Thanks

Also didn't mean to sound demanding. I was just asking if there where others that kept up with the jacobsen section still.

Most of the regular posters use the "new posts" function that brigs up all of the new posts across the entire site.
This is a funny forum .
'Not many fanatics & fans ,most post a problem, it gets worked through, about a 1/3 sent a Job done post to close off the thread before they leave and the others just go & mow.

LOL, I have been using the new post function also.

Hi, I just joined this group and I also have a 628D 4wd. Love my machine, it's a 2006 and has about 1300 hrs. I mow about 2.5 acres. Mine has a 72" SD deck. I order parts on line from Jacobsen and the parts are pretty reasonable considering the industrial build of these machines.
Hope to share info with other Turf Cat owners....Mike.

What is the SD deck?

helomech said:

What is the SD deck?

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Side discharge...

Oh okay. Mine is the 72" right side discharge.

helomech said:

Oh okay. Mine is the 72" right side discharge.

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Yeah, same here. Glad to find this forum, there isn't a lot out there for these machines since most are owned by institutions. Mine was one of two from a high school in upstate NY. I can't think of a better mowing machine and I've had a few. Like I tell people, " the only thing that I have to do while mowing, is being there"...Mike.

Just some pics of mods that I have made to my machine...Mike.

northcreeek262 said:

Just some pics of mods that I have made to my machine...Mike.

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Yours is way cleaner than mine. Mine has to deal with very rough terrain all the time. I don't have nice grass for it to cut, we are in a bad drought again right now.

helomech said:

Yours is way cleaner than mine. Mine has to deal with very rough terrain all the time. I don't have nice grass for it to cut, we are in a bad drought again right now.

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The photos were taken on the best part of my lawn, most of my cutting is pretty rough too, with plenty of trees. I think my lawn would kill a lesser machine. We are pretty dry too, I watered a good part of the day to try and save the grass on the slopes of my lawn. Then it rained a few sprinkles that didn't even make it through the trees. Funny thing is that I got the 4wd because it can get sloppy when we get lake effect rains off of Erie but, this year, not so much....:confused3:

northcreeek262 said:

The photos were taken on the best part of my lawn, most of my cutting is pretty rough too, with plenty of trees. I think my lawn would kill a lesser machine. We are pretty dry too, I watered a good part of the day to try and save the grass on the slopes of my lawn. Then it rained a few sprinkles that didn't even make it through the trees. Funny thing is that I got the 4wd because it can get sloppy when we get lake effect rains off of Erie but, this year, not so much....:confused3:

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We got lots of rocks, red dirt, and washouts. No way any zero turn would make it across my yard. The red dirt here turns to slippery snot when it gets wet. BTW the 4wd sucks in reverse.

helomech said:

We got lots of rocks, red dirt, and washouts. No way any zero turn would make it across my yard. The red dirt here turns to slippery snot when it gets wet. BTW the 4wd sucks in reverse.

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Yeah, I found out about the lack of 4wd in reverse, the "hard way". They say nothing about it in the manual, maybe it provides a sort of differential action when turning, wish I knew the reason .

northcreeek262 said:

Yeah, I found out about the lack of 4wd in reverse, the "hard way". They say nothing about it in the manual, maybe it provides a sort of differential action when turning, wish I knew the reason .

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Polaris does the same thing, you loose 4wd in reverse unless you push a button.

helomech said:

Polaris does the same thing, you loose 4wd in reverse unless you push a button.

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I asked the question to Jacobsen, here's what they said:
Me:
Hi, Can you tell me the reason for the lack of 4wd in reverse on my 2006 628D TurfCat ? does it have to do with providing a type of differential action on the turning wheels?
Is there a retrofit for a selector switch to gain 4wd in reverse?
thanks, Mike.
Jacobsen:
Mike the 628 Turfcat does not come equipped with a 4 wheel drive reverse, There is no change over kit to make the unit have four wheel drive in reverse. The reason for this is that the rear wheels have to be in a neutral position when backing up or they end up turning into pumps causing the rear wheels to lock up when the unit is backing up.

ps: Personally, I think that with a little more engineering this snafu could have been eliminated but, the bean counters saw this machine going over $30K and put the brakes on....Mike

That reason doesn't even make sense.

helomech said:

That reason doesn't even make sense.

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That first reply was from a dealer, this is what the factory says:

Yes, the differential action is a part of it. No there is not a switch that would lock in 4WD. When the traction pump moves to the reverse direction, the flow of the oil reverses. There is a check valve in the rear wheel motors that opens up allowing some of the oil to by-pass the wheel motor. This is done to protect the rear wheel motor and so you don’t tear up the turf when steering in reverse.

Jay Draeger
Customer Care
jdraeger@textron.com

That is what I figured, the rear wheels locking up in the previous post is what I say is bogus. I am a helicopter mechanic, I do understand hydraulics.

helomech said:

That is what I figured, the rear wheels locking up in the previous post is what I say is bogus. I am a helicopter mechanic, I do understand hydraulics.

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This user does not have permission to use the HTML BB code.

helomech said:

That is what I figured, the rear wheels locking up in the previous post is what I say is bogus. I am a helicopter mechanic, I do understand hydraulics.

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Another dealer response: Unfortunately there is no way of making the turfcat go into 4WD reverse, as far as traction upgrades are concerned there is a differential lock kit available, but it will only affect the front wheels.

MTE Turf Equipment Solutions,Inc
33 Thruway Park Drive
West Henrietta, NY 14586
Phone 585-334-0100 ext 1124

Seems odd that you would have a locking differential on a machine without a differential ?? again I think they are talking about a differential "type action".........what say you? Mike.

The check valve could easily be removed and a plug put in instead. That would allow for flow in both directions.

helomech said:

The check valve could easily be removed and a plug put in instead. That would allow for flow in both directions.

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Let me know how you make out...:wink:

northcreeek262 said:

Let me know how you make out...:wink:

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I am not to worried about it, only ran into a problem once. My place is rarely wet.

helomech said:

I was just asking if there where others that kept up with the jacobsen section still.

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I check in here now & then but my current Jake interests are the old 60 & 72 Commercials (click on Phoenix link) and the HR15 & HR9016.

helomech said:

I am not to worried about it, only ran into a problem once. My place is rarely wet.

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Replies are still coming in, here is yet another explanation ...:confused2:

On Aug 30, 2018, at 8:25 AM, Laurita, Ron <rlaurita@textron.com> wrote:

Michael: The unit you have, and this is true on most 4WD units, will disable 4WD in reverse. It is done this was for safety reasons. The reason is if traveling downhill in 4WD and you move the pedal to neutral or slightly reverse to slow down, the potential to loose steering ability can happen. So we disable 4WD in reverse.

Jacobsen Technical Support

Fellas,

Was wondering if you could help me get smart on these Jake front mount mowers. I am in the upstate NY area also.

My propert is pretty hilly and wet sometimes, so I would need the 4 wd for sure. My question is about the ability of these machines to handle rough terrain. I have a few acres of old pasture I mow and it beats the life out of me on my zero turn. Do these style of mowers handle the rough stuff pretty well?

I’m on the lookout for a used machine in the Albany area. How did you guys find your machines?

Thank you for the help, Joe

helomech said:

Oh okay. Mine is the 72" right side discharge.

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And every so often ya get a smart-arse ( me ) ... to add some nonsense in .. like mine is a butt-hole discharge, was born with it, and after 71+ years it still "toots" loud N clear but on occasion has needed Metamucil to function properly.. :laughing:..:laughing:

They handle the rough better than any other style of mower. I have not got mine stuck, and my property is full of washouts and red clay. That stuff is slick. I love mine, I don't know of anything else that could mow my place shy of a real tractor. I used my real tractor for it for years, but this thing does it in half the time.

I mow about 2.5 acres and it is also pretty rough (not country club) mowing. This is the best machine that I have ever been on even in the wet seasons. As we have stated here, there is no 4wd in reverse so you have to be careful not to nose into a mud pit with an obstacle in your way. The State of NY uses these machines in their parks and some of those are pretty rough terrain.
I found mine on Craigs List, a High School in Newark NY was trading up and I bought one of two that they had.
As a point of reference I bought mine, (a 2006 with 1200 hrs.) in 2015, they wanted $6,500 and I got it for $5,500. There are individuals asking crazy money for these but, you can find deals if you have patience. I like buying from an institution since money seems to be no object when it comes to maintenance, actually most of these are not in private hands anyways.
These have no suspension except for the seat and will bounce a bit in the rough stuff but, they have quite a bit of weight to temper the bumps and they do not rock back/forth like a zero turn.....Mike.
PS these also come in 2wd so look for the hoses to the rear wheels if you want 4wd.

I found mine on craigslist also, paid 2900 for it, but the lift for the front was broken. Cost be about 200 bucks to fix it.

Fellas,

Was wondering if you could help me get smart on these Jake front mount mowers. I am in the upstate NY area also.

My propert is pretty hilly and wet sometimes, so I would need the 4 wd for sure. My question is about the ability of these machines to handle rough terrain. I have a few acres of old pasture I mow and it beats the life out of me on my zero turn. Do these style of mowers handle the rough stuff pretty well?

I’m on the lookout for a used machine in the Albany area. How did you guys find your machines?

Thank you for the help, Joe


Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike. https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d

northcreeek262 said:

Fellas,

Was wondering if you could help me get smart on these Jake front mount mowers. I am in the upstate NY area also.

My propert is pretty hilly and wet sometimes, so I would need the 4 wd for sure. My question is about the ability of these machines to handle rough terrain. I have a few acres of old pasture I mow and it beats the life out of me on my zero turn. Do these style of mowers handle the rough stuff pretty well?

I’m on the lookout for a used machine in the Albany area. How did you guys find your machines?

Thank you for the help, Joe


Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike. https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d

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I had to get a new membership to answer your question. They will handled very rough terrain. I drive through washouts often in red clay and have not got stuck yet. Just remember it does not have 4wd in reverse. I found mine on craigslist.

Joe..

Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike.

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d

The early winter weather has ended my plans to mulch the leaves before the snow sets in. So today I did the whole maintenance thing and put her to sleep for the winter. First time that I changed the hydraulic fluid and filter, A 5 gallon bucket of 10w-30 from TSC was perfect, The pre-fuel filter had some weird looking stuff in it. Should be good to go in the spring.....Mike.

New member here...bought a Jacobsen 428d last summer. Similar machine to the 628d I imagine but a little older. As others have said...amazing how little info is out there on them. Plenty of other commercial machines of various types that have a following. On another note, I used to have an old Jacobsen F-10 batwing reel mower like the one used in Caddyshack....15 ft cut. lol I bought it from someone else that b ought it from the Seaford Delaware golf course. It was fun cutting 15 ft in one pass!

So my 428d runs beautifully but the 4wd does not engage. I'm guessing maybe one of the safety switches is not working or adjusted right perhaps. Downloaded the manual, so maybe I'll pull it into the garage this winter and mess with it a bit. I wonder if theres any reasons not to bypass the switches in general? I mean...I know the factory had their reasons, but they usually cite safety and the reasons are relatively ridiculous and intended to try to keep them out of a courtroom.

I too feel as if it should reverse in 4wd without "burning up the motors" in the rear wheels. I can't picture that happening...it should just be reversal of flow and all those hydraulic motors are generally built to do it...no reason I can think of from an efficiency standpoint not to build them to be capable of reversing. Meaning you dont gain some type of efficiency benefit from building them to only flow one way. Maybe they felt as if the machine COULD be unstable if the rear wheels were turned and you were sideways on a slope...

So Ive downloaded the manuals and just need the time to read through to figure out where the switches are and what they do. I'm guessing mine may have a backflow preventer on the rear wheel lines like your machines do, and that might have to be removed. I'd at least like to try to adjust the switches or bypass them to see if I can get 4wd to engage at all. For all I know it could be the switch on the dash. lol For reverse 4wd...I do have a section of my lawn on a hill that I'd like to nose into downhill, but question being able to reverse out of without the 4wd. We'll see how much time I have this winter. I have lots of other projects going on too in the house, around the house and with some old cars I own. lol But just thought I'd sign up and log into this thread since you're the only ones I found who even mentioned this topic!

I'm with you on that. I'm thinking that it might be as easy as unscrewing the check valves on the rear traction motors and pulling out the ball and spring.
As for the popularity it is truly baffling why these machines don't have a dedicated following. Jacobsen has been around forever, their machines are of industrial build, you see them used by Parks, schools,etc. and you can get them used for decent money, not to mention that Jacobsen doesn't kill you on parts. I do wish that their Dealer network wasn't so stretched-out, they really don't advertise to the masses, maybe that's good for us, I didn't have to get in a bidding war
when I bought my 628D and it's awesome .:thumbsup:

I'm revisiting this topic again because it has been really wet mowing this spring and 4wd in reverse would help. I've ordered some plugs to cap off the ports when I remove the check valves from the rear motors. I'll report back when I do the swap...Mike.

Check valve port plugs will only defeat all rear wheel drive(I found out). Instead I bought two new check valves on ebay for $11 each and modified them to be permanently closed. I drilled and tapped for a 10/32 thread and used 3/4" allen head screws with locking nut (screwed in to bottom plunger into seat) after coating screw with blue loctite.
Nosed it into a ditch and backed right out, never would have before. Drove it up/down several hills, did turns, reverses,etc. and noticed no drivability issues. I did notice that if you do a fast reverse you could spin the rears on wet grass but, real 4wd is what I need.
Mowed some rough stuff today for about an hour, now with forward/reverse 4wd. Worked perfectly with zero issues and rear traction motors were no warmer than the front. I believe that many of the concerns expressed to me by dealers on this subject were just educated guesses with no first hand experience.

Still going strong with 4wd reverse modification, no adverse effects to mower parts or in drivability . Been able to back out of some tough spots.

I have a 2006 628D 4WD Turfcat that is losing hydraulic fluid around the piston on the steering cylinder. Has anyone ever torn down that cylinder and rebuilt it?