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It is covered in the operator's manual. these days I'm using the MF-135 for planting while fertilizing or for crop spraying and ground speed is important to apply the chemical (constant pressure electric sprayer) at the rate I want. So I use any gear with high or low multipower that gets me the ground speed I need at an engine speed I'm willing to work with. I planted at 4 mph, and I started spraying at 10 mph but that was too fast for good control with a very light front end (from three point sprayer) so after the first tank I mixed for 8 mph. Then I used high range on the transmission first gear and multipower low to start and shifted to high to keep on going until I got in weeds that deserved a stronger dose, then I shifted back to multiplower low for the duration of the weeds. I was running about 1600 RPM on the tachometer. There is a decal on the inside of the right fender that shows the speeds for engine speeds from 1500 to 2000 rpm for all 12 speeds forward. You can't shift the transmission's other gears on the go, they aren't synchronized, but are truly sliding gears, but you can shift the multipower on the go. I don't plow now and the last I plowed was with a bigger tractor but when I did plow with the 135 I ran it full throttle in the fastest gear if would pull the plow in good ground. When I got into damp ground where it pulled harder or going uphill, I shifted down with the multipower if I was otherwise in multipower high. When running the tractor on the road, I'll start out with high range, third gear, multipower low and that will start a fair load and then accelerate it up to maybe 16 mph. Then to be easier on the multipower clutch, I'll back off on the throttle (which doesn't slow the tractor instantly because of the overrunning feature of the multipower) and then shift the multipower up and then goose the throttle to get up to about 22 mph. I do believe that the transmission front seal or the multipower valve leaks more in high multipower than in low and I know that is where the hydraulic pressure is high, but I use the gear selection out of the 12 to do the job I want done at the speed I want it done, so long as the tractor will pull the implement and itself. Plowing gardens you will probably keep the speed down under 3 mph because its only 50 feet between fences. I generally plowed at 4 to 5 mph because I had 23 acres to plow and doing that with two bottoms took several days. My limit proved each spring to be what torque the clutch could hold and eventually I'd have to drop a gear to keep the clutch from slipping. My main field is about 1000 x 1100 feet so I could stay that fast for quite a while. I just treat it as a tractor with 12 speeds forward and 4 reverse and use what gets the job done. That tractor has three gear shifts, two on the transmission and one on the dash. Mine has 5 hydraulic levers too, two brake pedals and a double clutch, plus a gear shift for the PTO. When I add a planter monitor and sprayer controls, it gets to be a lot of things to flip at the end of the row... But it did a good job planting. I'm having troubles with the spraying, its rained too well and some places I needed levitation as the only way to get through without planting the tractor and planter. The fastest reverse speed is surprisingly fast, be careful. Gerald J.
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