# 540 vs 540E



## Cactus50 (Nov 26, 2020)

I'll give you guys something to smile about because the "rookie" in me is about to come out...

I bought my wife a JD5100M. It has a 540/540E PTO; previous tractors (JD5525 and MF471) did not have the E feature. I have a JD6105M 540/1000. She basically shreds pastures and roads, no heavy work. I'm assuming it would be best to use 540E in that situation, correct? Please forgive my "rookieness"!


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

540e is for the jobs that don’t need full power like say fertilizer spreader and super light clipping. Probably on auxiliary generators too. I don’t think I would want to be in economy mode while mowing thick foliage.


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## TJ Hendren (May 12, 2017)

Your engine will be running very slow when the pto reaches 540. Mine does 540 @ 1140 rpm in the E mode. Use it only for very light stuff.


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## Stxpecans123 (May 18, 2020)

I use 15 foot batwing, bale hay most everything in 540e. Never had an issue. And really power isn't much lower. Look at nebraska test, the engine is only giving up 5 it 6 pto hp. And in a Deere 5 series it isn't 1100 rpm at 540e. Maybe more like 1600rpm.

Edit to add
I stand corrected, I just reviewed nebraska test results and on my 5100e ft4 it says little over 1700rpm and you loose about 5 hp
On a 5100m ft4 it's just under 1700rpm and you loose 1 pto hp.

Now if it was really working the tractor hard I would switch over. But with my 5100e in 540e I have only needed to go-to regular 540 a few times. Probably have 900hrs of batwing mowing with that tractor and 95% or more in 540e.
I 99% bale hay in 540e but with that cheap 5100e and poor gear selection bumping into regular 540 I can get different ground speeds so if the field is extra rough I can go-to I think it's b1 or be and get 3.6mph otherwise there is a huge jump from like 3.0 to 4.5 or some terrible gearing jump.


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## Cactus50 (Nov 26, 2020)

Ok thanks I'll get down there to try it out and see how it goes, I assumed that in the heavier stuff I would need to get out of e mode but thought I would ask you guys that have experience with e. We have areas of King Ranch Blue Stem and that stuff can get pretty thick. I appreciate the input guys!


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Another point, depending how hot it is, the engine rpm lower (fan rpm lower) means your AC will be slightly less effective if its really hot.


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## Cactus50 (Nov 26, 2020)

Well, South Texas gets really hot!


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## Stxpecans123 (May 18, 2020)

Cactus50 said:


> Well, South Texas gets really hot!


A/c isn't effected on my 5100e. 
Although now that you bring that up I do noticed that since the engine fan isn't running as fast/pulling as hard, that when baling the radiator doesn't seem to get as dirty as quick. 
What I really like the most about 540e, is it makes it alot more quieter inside the cab. Especially the 5100e not sure 8f the M is that much better but mine at regular 540rpm there is a rattle right at 540.


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## TJ Hendren (May 12, 2017)

Stxpecans123 said:


> I use 15 foot batwing, bale hay most everything in 540e. Never had an issue. And really power isn't much lower. Look at nebraska test, the engine is only giving up 5 it 6 pto hp. And in a Deere 5 series it isn't 1100 rpm at 540e. Maybe more like 1600rpm.
> 
> Edit to add
> I stand corrected, I just reviewed nebraska test results and on my 5100e ft4 it says little over 1700rpm and you loose about 5 hp
> ...


Probably should of clarified mine ain't a Deere.


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## Stxpecans123 (May 18, 2020)

To the original poster I am in South Texas myself.
To TJ, what model of tractor? 1100 rpm is really low. I have ran a boxcar magnum with a 1000 to 540 pto adapter shaft and ran the engine at lower rpm to get 540 on that 1000 shaft. It was about 1100 rpm. I was trying it for somthing. That didn't work very well on a low ho requirement task (maybe 60hp) and this is on a about 170 pto hp tractor.


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