[RalphVa]

We had a 240D Benz for 25 years. Believe you me that it needed max rpm many times, especially in 1st and 2nd gears. Otherwise, with 65 hp, you don't move very fast. My wife could actually outrun most vehicles across town in it. It would make it fine going up Afton Mtn west of us on I-64 if you could maintain speed above about 65 mph. Drop below that, and you're down to 3rd gear and cannot shift to 4th because the maximum is 55 mph. The engine needed maximum hp to get over the mountain at speed.

However, the tractors are different. I needed max rpm on the 18.5 hp JD 4010 a lot of the time, but do not need the huge amount of hp in either the 1025R, 2025R or the B2601. Usually run those at 450 rpm PTO speed on both brush hog and wood chipper. These work fine at these lower rpms.

 

[RalphVa]

That to me sounds more like engine being not adequate for vehicle weight. That is a problem with almost every single car being sold in Europe now. With measly 1.0 or 1.2l engines to pull 2tons of weight. Ridiculous. I assume that benz engine had turbo if not that was the problem.

If the 240D had turbo, we'd probably still have it. Only the 300Ds had turbo.

 

[RalphVa]

Full rpm on a tractor is somewhere about 3000 rpm. The Benz diesels of old revved to 4,300 rpm and could run there all day long. The VW TDI revved to 5,000 rpm.