Disappointed with John Deeres build your own calculator

[Robert_in_NY]

I don't notice any change with pto on or off. I did drive it down the road with nothing in tow for the first time though today and the entire drive you can feel it rocking almost like its tettering. Some times it is worse then others but I think the worst case is when I hit a crack on the road or slight bump. If I had no experience at all with tractors I would most likely assume this is how it is suppose to be but when its the only one of any of my tractors or any other tractors I have used that does it then it leads me to believe there is actually something causing this. And if there is something causing it then hopefully it can be fixed or else it is gone as it isn't a fun tractor to operate.

Since it was mentioned it may be a ballast issue I started trying to think of the different ways I have used this tractor. Generally if I have something in tow (like a 400 gallon sprayer or 1 ton vicon on a cart) then I don't notice the bouncing as much. I have never driven it down the road with anything on the 3pt yet to know how that acts but my father did and he had to slow down considerably as he said he had trouble with it bouncing. I just know using it with a 3pt implement is just not ideal and I also don't really want to have all 1k lbs on the front if not needed. The front tires are 9.5-16 so their fairly skinny and in soft ground with all that weight they will sink very fast. I put the 400 on to see if it would help but I don't notice any difference. I can add the other 600 sometime after this next round of spraying and see if it helps but handling those 100 lb weights is not really fun. I also have two more rear wheel weights I can add if anyone thinks it would make any difference but I can't see where it would but then again I am lost with this whole problem anyway so I am open to any and all suggestions.

 

[aczlan]

Sounds almost like the teeter-totter that our B7500 does with a 5' bushhog on the back (much worse with no loader on the front)...
Any chance that one or both of the rear wheels is out of round enough to wobble and cause this, or perhaps the wheelweight is loose on one side?
If you can cause it (to a certain extent) by running on the road, it might be worth changing the weight balance and tire pressures one at a time to see if that changes the behavior.
As a first step, I would be inclined to get all 4 wheels in the air and see if they run true when spinning in the air, or if they are wobbling.
Edit: Any chance that it could be something (brakes?) catching and releasing in the drivetrain which gets smoothed out with a spreader or sprayer in tow?

Aaron Z

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Anything is possible, this tractor has that feature where when you touch the brakes it engages the FWA to give you front wheel braking as well. So it could be something related to that but that would be something I wouldn't know how to check or test to easily. The tires are radials and I was under the impression that radials were suppose to ride better. Its possible their out of round and if I get the time I will see if I can check them. Been busy with haying and spraying so spare time is hard to come by. Next month things slow down though thankfully.

 

[eagle107]

Did you call Lamb & Webster (I think is where you brought it) and have them send out a mechanic to look at the tractor and see what is happening first hand? I would think they would be out there in a heartbeat seeing it is a new tractor and it is not running right.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Did you call Lamb & Webster (I think is where you brought it) and have them send out a mechanic to look at the tractor and see what is happening first hand? I would think they would be out there in a heartbeat seeing it is a new tractor and it is not running right.

I told my salesman about my issues with it and he didn't care. This was around March when I first started looking to upgrade the seat in hopes of helping it out. I was putting on fertilizer and was in a lot of pain trying to run the tractor. He never even got back to me about an air seat until after I gave up and ordered it from Neil Messick and the Kubota Rep here refused to drop ship it to me and wanted me to buy it from L&W's instead. The Rep talked to L&W is all I can assume as my salesman called me after I ordered it from Messicks and this was a minimum of 6 weeks after I first asked the dealer to look into it. So Kubota refused to drop ship it directly to me and instead shipped it to PA and Neil shipped it back to me. Sadly, my experiences with L&W's is that they are great when your talking about buying a tractor or big ticket implement. They even remember your phone number and call you every couple of days. Once you sign the papers though they lose your number. Its why I bought my Farmall from LaPortes in Westfield instead of saving a couple hundred dollars buying it from L&W.

Neil Messick has been great with trying to help get Kubota on board to figure out what is wrong. I am waiting to hear back from them and if I need to take it to a dealer I most likely will take it to Messicks instead of my local dealer. I have very good friends down that way so it would be a great excuse to go visit for a week or so. Plus I am more confident in Messicks actually believing me and going to all ends to figure out what is wrong with this machine. But again, I am waiting for Kubota to contact me again. They were going to talk to the engineers and see if there are any other issues reported on these tractors like I am experiencing and if so hopefully they will have a fix already.

 

[charleyfarmall]

It sounds almost like a tire frequency problem. Are the tires loaded?
I know that when my New Holland sits the tires get out of round and the ride at higher speeds is fairly bouncy. The tires on that tractor are loaded and I don't think it helps...

 

[Robert_in_NY]

It sounds almost like a tire frequency problem. Are the tires loaded?
I know that when my New Holland sits the tires get out of round and the ride at higher speeds is fairly bouncy. The tires on that tractor are loaded and I don't think it helps...

That is what I told the kubota guy. The tires are not loaded (well I told them I didn't want them loaded). They are radials and I was under the impression radials didn't have that issue. I do know it hasn't been an issue on any of my other tractors though.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

another thing to watch is you'll want to keep your hands off the 3pt levers when your not adjusting them. I think the levers run straight from the tractor up into the cab without cables to isolate their movement from the cab. If you've got your hands on the levers and the cab bouces you end up jumping the 3pt up and down as well. We had this problem on the New Holland compact cabs and ended up replacing the cab shock mounts with hockey pucks. Seems like it would be a step backwards, but it worked.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

another thing to watch is you'll want to keep your hands off the 3pt levers when your not adjusting them. I think the levers run straight from the tractor up into the cab without cables to isolate their movement from the cab. If you've got your hands on the levers and the cab bouces you end up jumping the 3pt up and down as well. We had this problem on the New Holland compact cabs and ended up replacing the cab shock mounts with hockey pucks. Seems like it would be a step backwards, but it worked.

Thanks Neil, I dont usually touch the levers unless I am adjusting the 3pt. I started paying attention to the levers on my other tractors and I don't see them moving at all on either the TN or the Farmall. Haven't ran the 1920 in a little while to have checked.

 

[eagle107]

another thing to watch is you'll want to keep your hands off the 3pt levers when your not adjusting them. I think the levers run straight from the tractor up into the cab without cables to isolate their movement from the cab. If you've got your hands on the levers and the cab bouces you end up jumping the 3pt up and down as well. We had this problem on the New Holland compact cabs and ended up replacing the cab shock mounts with hockey pucks. Seems like it would be a step backwards, but it worked.

Oh, my god, you've got to be kidding me.... Are the shocks that bad/goofy? That has to make the ride tougher...