5105 maintenance notes

   / 5105 maintenance notes #1  

andrewj

Platinum Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2005
Messages
509
Location
South Carolina
Tractor
JD 5105
Hi folks. I have a couple of posts on my 5105. around 130 hours so far. A few of my issues deal with my lack of experience, but I figured there may be other quirks of the 5105 that I need to share with others.
I'll share them all and you can decide.

the main ones in no particular order are:

Parkng brake pivot bolt came out. Safety issue and you can no longer safely park the tractor (of course, you can put in gear but even the manual says don't rely on this). Replacement - around 6 bucks for bolt and plastic bushing, but machine was out of commission till I could get tgo the dealer. The factory should have used lock tite. I use my parking brake every time I stop my tractor for safety. The heavy use must hve caused the bolt to back out and fall off. So just take a peek under the cowl and see if your bolt is still tight.

Engine seems rock solid - starts in cold weather - has not failed to start and run HARD. It is a Deere power tech. Does produce white smoke at startup, that seems normal for this engine.

Gear shift (1-4) on the right side lost it's cotter pin. I just had to tap it back in, and it has not worked itself out again. Not sure why it nearly came out once but has been fine since.

Range shift knob (left hand side) completely came off. the top of the cap pops off revealing a screw. My screw had come completely out. again, factory should have used lock tite. I just put some on and it has not come out since.

Grill screen. Wow do I have a beef with Deere over this one. they recently stopped selling the screen by itself for around 40 bucks, and now you have to buy the whole front light assembly for over $200!

Left step. next time you are at a deere store, take a look at all the tractors on the lot - the only one with the step hanging down inside the tire track is the 5105. this means every time you dodge a stump by driving around it, the stump can catch your step. the step is also tied directly in with the fuel tank. You either have to cut the tank support or cut off the step. If you drive it as is, if you hit a stump on the step you risk puncturing a very expensive plastic gas tank.

Exposed sending unit. the very bottom of the gas tank hangs slightly below the bottom of the tractor, and contains the sender, or sending unit which tells you how much fuel you have left. Another 200 bucks to replace. probably a stick knocked it off. It is a very fragile plastic piece with two unprotected wires hanging out.

black plastic "anti wrap shield" for MFWD came off the front gear assembly. It is just hanging on the drive shaft about an inch back. Not sure what I can do about it. Dealer says normal.

PTO activation switch. This is the tiny relay which tells the computer to turn on the PTO light when it senses a decrease in pressure from the PTO lever. The switch has a rubber boot which is very thin. After about 60 hours , most of which was bush hogging, the boot wore a hole and dirt collected inside, making the switch inoperable. (PTO light stayed on all the time) Deere said not a warranty item. (? oh well.) I replaced with my own money it for around 30 bucks. to be honest, I am still steaming a little over this one.

My clutch linkage problem was discussed above, so won't go into it again.

Most important thing I can say is the dealer made all this very bearable. My salesman was simply awesome. He personally would pick up and deliver my tractor when it needed to go in. Very proud of my dealer, and in all honesty, you are going to have problems with ANY new tractor, and especially a new model which still has bugs to be worked out, I just expected more de-bugging from the factory from a green one.

Hood no longer matches up with the cowl. Scratching my head over this one, but for over 19 grand I did not expect such poor fit/finish. Not that I give a darn but if I were going to re-sell it someone would ask me if I wrecked it, that's how out of line it is.

About 80 hours, one of the light relays became defective. This puzzled everyone since they are all sealed in resin from the factory somewhere in Japan, and are notorios for working forever. Mine didn't. this was a factory warranted item.

Regrets: If you are buying this model get the tire upgrade from 14.9 by 28, to 16 by 28. You will get over an inch and a half of gbround clearance, which may prevent your sending unit/gas tank puncture scenario described above.

Comments welcome.
 
   / 5105 maintenance notes #2  
Wow! I'm afraid I don't understand why you say the dealer is making this bearable. It sounds like he is not going to bat for you in getting these things covered under warranty. It is hard to tell from here, but the pto switch and the mfwd shield sounds like they should be covered. In fact the only things I would think is questionable is the grill screen and torn wires on fuel sender.
 
   / 5105 maintenance notes #3  
Got to agree with you JD110. I would expect more from a dealer.

You hit some new issues that I haven't found with my 5420. Although my PTO has never worked from the time of delivery (19 hours on the machine). I will tell the dealer that one at a later date.
 
   / 5105 maintenance notes
  • Thread Starter
#4  
burnet, PTO not working would seem to be a pretty big deal! That would seem to be the dealer's first big test!
 
 
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