Work vehicle

In a tractor including:

• a crankshaft oriented vertically,
• an engine for driving said crankshaft and having an air inlet,
• a liquid-cooled radiator positioned above and supported by said engine substantially perpendicular to said crankshaft in a space defined by an enclosure, and
• a cooling fan interposed between said engine and said radiator and connected to said crankshaft, the improvement comprising:
• first filter means releasably connected to said radiator and enclosing said engine air inlet for simultaneously filtering air entering said radiator and said engine air inlet.

In a tractor equipped with a reversible hydrostatic transmission coupled for driving a pair of drive wheels of the tractor, the transmission including a swash plate oscillatable in opposite first and second directions from a centered neutral position for respectively establishing increasing forward and reverse driving speeds of the tractor, and a control shaft coupled to the swash plate and oscillatable about a first axis so as to effect movement of said swash plate, an improved control for effecting oscillation of said control shaft comprising:

• a control arm fixed to said control shaft and including a free end defined by an elongate cam surface formed arcuately about said axis and including a notch located between opposite ends of the cam surface;
• a manual speed and direction control lever;
• link means connecting said control lever to said control arm for effecting rocking movement of the latter for selectively effecting forward and reverse driving conditions in the transmission in response to movement of the control lever in opposite first and second directions from a neutral position;
• and
• a neutralizing assist for ensuring that the transmission will be placed in its neutral position when the control lever is placed in its neutral position, the assist including:
• a roller support arm carrying a roller at one end and being pivotally mounted for swinging about a second axis extending parallel to the first axis and located in the vicinity of said cam surface with the roller being in contact with said cam surface;
• biasing means acting on said roller support arm and urging said roller against said cam surface;
• and
• said roller and said notch being sized and shaped such that as said control arm approaches a centered position corresponding to the neutral position of the transmission the roller will enter the notch and move the control arm so as to effect neutralization of the transmission.

In a tractor equipped with a hydrostatic transmission including a housing forming a sump and having a pump located therein and coupled to an input shaft adapted for connection to an engine of the tractor, a motor located in the housing and coupled to an output shaft for imparting rotation to the latter and being coupled for receiving operating fluid from the pump, and a charge pump coupled being driven by said input shaft and being coupled for delivering working fluid to the pump, and a bypass valve located in the housing and being fluidly coupled to said motor for bypassing fluid flow generated by the motor when the latter is being driven through said output shaft as when the tractor is being moved with the engine stopped, the improvement comprising:

• said bypass valve being in the form of a spool valve having a spool surface connected for receiving fluid delivered by said charge pump and being biased in a first direction by the pressure of such fluid to a normal position wherein it blocks a fluid path extending between an output of said motor and the sump, said bypass valve being manually shiftable in a second direction opposite to said first direction to a bypass position wherein it opens a fluid path extending between the output of the motor and the sump, whereby an operator may place the bypass valve in its bypass position so as to permit the tractor to be pushed when the engine is stopped, the valve thereafter automatically assuming its normal position once the engine is started and the charge pump is driven to deliver fluid to said surface of the bypass valve.

In a tractor including an operator's platform, a seat mounting bracket fixed to the platform, a seat coupled to the bracket by a suspension permitting the seat to move vertically relative to the bracket between an upward location which it occupies in the absence of an operator being seated thereon and a lower location which it occupies when an operator is seated thereon, and a normally open operator presence sensing switch being mounted for being closed only when an operator is present in the seat, an improved seat suspension and switch mounting arrangement comprising:

• a lower seat mounting bracket means defining a pair of parallel spaced apart legs fixed to and extending upwardly from said platform;
• an upper seat mounting bracket means vertically pivotally mounted to said spaced apart legs and including a pair of parallel, spaced apart depending legs which are each provided with at least one vertically elongated slot;
• a beam extending between said depending legs and having at least one vertical tab at each end thereof received in a corresponding slot of an adjacent one of the depending legs, the tabs each having a height less than that of the slot;
• a first pair of coil compression springs respectively positioned adjacent the opposite ends of and being beneath the beam and having respective lower ends engaged with one of the platform or lower seat mounting bracket means;
• a second pair of coil compression springs positioned between the upper seat mounting bracket means and the beam and respectively being adjacent opposite ends of the beam, the second pair of coil compression springs having a spring rate which is relatively low in comparison to that of the first pair of coil compression springs;
• and
• said normally open switch being mounted to the beam and having a depressible plunger positioned between one of said seat and upper seat mounting bracket means so as to be depressed to effect closing of the switch upon sufficient force being applied to the seat to effect deflection of said second pair of coil compression springs.