Brake light bulb housing plastic falling apart on DK45SE

[schweizer]

I have a DK45SE, bought new in 2008, now with 500 hours. I noticed a few weeks ago the L brake light was burned out, so I took apart the housing to change the bulb a few days ago. Here's what it looked like inside. The plastic of the bulb housing "locking" mechanism is crumbling away. That caused the bulb to become loose and melted into the rest of the housing. Good thing it didn't burn more. It appears it eventually got hot enough to burn out the bulb. I disassembled the opposite side (R) and it looks the same -- crumbling plastic. Anyone else run into this problem? I'll take the parts down to the dealer on Monday, but I don't expect any sympathy. Thanks for any input.

Marcus

 

[mpham]

Wow! Do you leave the tractor running with the brake lights on all the time? That sure seems excessive. It shouldn't get that hot at all with running lights.

 

[DK35vince]

Are your brake lights stuck on causing that much heat ?

 

[schweizer]

No, I don't leave the brake lights on all the time, but I do put on the brakes whenever I'm parked somewhere, and oftentimes the engine is still running. Habit -- left foot on brake pedal, right foot lifts up locking latch. You just never know if the kids are going to jump up on the tractor, or it pops out of gear and rolls down a hill. (Most of our land is hillside.)

 

[DK35vince]

That's fine.
But I'm wondering if the brake lights are not turning off all the time.
Sticking on and you didn't know it.

 

[dennis52]

The outer lens of my DS45 brake light melted a little and I would have only left the brake on (stationary) for no more than 10 minutes.
Nowdays , I don't engage the brake for very long and prefer just to drop my implements on non sloping ground.

The other option is to take the bulbs out or replace with a lower wattage

 

[schweizer]

Interesting, Dennis52. Nice to hear I'm not the only one.

Here's what my dealer said (Runaway Tractor, Grants Pass, OR):

They've never had any problems with the taillights overheating. He also wondered if I had a faulty brakelight switch that was keeping the lights on. If you leave HST tractors in "gear", they can roll very slowly, right? Well, here's another thing I found out: if you park on a hill with the engine off but in "gear", once the hydraulic oil gets out of the system you could have a runaway tractor on your hands. Now I'm happy I have the habit of engaging the parking brake every time.

My dealer had some brakelight assemblies lying around that were cracked on the outside from shipping damage (received a bunch of tractors from a different dealer). We took them apart and salvaged the wiring harnasses/plugs and a light that matched my melted light. Quick fix and no charge. Restored my faith in him. (As some may know, I was upset about the cost to fix broken glow plugs a few months ago.) Then I replaced the bulbs with new LED 1157-model from an auto parts store. $16 LED bulbs instead of the $3.50 for incandescents, but at least now they shouldn't overheat.

Marcus