MoreCowbell
Silver Member
My BX2350 did not have a good day today. 
While mowing I tried to lift the MMM and heard a bang. The "ear" on the left side lift arm, which raises the MMM linkage, snapped off the arm.
I removed the MMM and noticed that the end of the metal tab welded to the chassis to limit upward travel of the rear link (the "Stopper" as it's called in the MMM manual) was bent slightly upwards.
I raised the linkage by hand and noticed that the link that lifts the rear link was hanging up on the very edge of the stopper - not passing it by as it should. The upward bending of the stopper was apparently cause by the force of the hydraulic lift still applying force to the hung up linkage.
Because it was only hanging up on the very edge of the stopper, I was able to flex the lift link outward slightly by hand and get it to slide past the stopper and high enough to get the dial into "Top" position. In the picture you can see how it scrapes past the stopper.
The linkage on the right hand side of the tractor is fine and does not hang up at all.
I don't know if this condition has always existed (86 hours on clock), and the cast iron "ear" just fatigued due to repeated overstressing, or if something recently bent throwing the linkage out of alignment and causing the hangup and subsequent breakage when I tried to lift the MMM.
I'm thinking the fix would be to replace the broken lift arm ($95 at Messicks) then grind the left side stopper back very slightly to allow the lift link to clear it. However, I actually have 2 months left on my 2 year warranty so I will run this by the dealer. They have been very good so far with my warranty issues up to now so hopefully it will be covered.
Have any other BX owners seen this before? Thanks.
While mowing I tried to lift the MMM and heard a bang. The "ear" on the left side lift arm, which raises the MMM linkage, snapped off the arm.I removed the MMM and noticed that the end of the metal tab welded to the chassis to limit upward travel of the rear link (the "Stopper" as it's called in the MMM manual) was bent slightly upwards.
I raised the linkage by hand and noticed that the link that lifts the rear link was hanging up on the very edge of the stopper - not passing it by as it should. The upward bending of the stopper was apparently cause by the force of the hydraulic lift still applying force to the hung up linkage.
Because it was only hanging up on the very edge of the stopper, I was able to flex the lift link outward slightly by hand and get it to slide past the stopper and high enough to get the dial into "Top" position. In the picture you can see how it scrapes past the stopper.
The linkage on the right hand side of the tractor is fine and does not hang up at all.
I don't know if this condition has always existed (86 hours on clock), and the cast iron "ear" just fatigued due to repeated overstressing, or if something recently bent throwing the linkage out of alignment and causing the hangup and subsequent breakage when I tried to lift the MMM.
I'm thinking the fix would be to replace the broken lift arm ($95 at Messicks) then grind the left side stopper back very slightly to allow the lift link to clear it. However, I actually have 2 months left on my 2 year warranty so I will run this by the dealer. They have been very good so far with my warranty issues up to now so hopefully it will be covered.
Have any other BX owners seen this before? Thanks.
