Electrical ground cable problems on L3010?

[woodchuckc]

Have any other 3010 owners had problems with losing their ground connection where the ground cable bolts to the frame? It seems like a pretty poor design to have the battery ground cable attached to the frame by a little 12 mm bolt directly under the battery. I started the tractor last night to move a pile of masonry sand, moved about 3 feet and it died just like someone cut off the ignition. Started messing around and had no lights, no nothing. I narrowed it down to a ground problem and finally figured out it was the connection to the frame. Of course to get to that connection you have to take off the plastic bottom front shroud, the battery and the battery tray. Sure enough, the frame, bolt and wimpy terminal were all rusted up (this is on 16 month old 2002 tractor with 91 hours that has been stored inside), probably from being located so close to the battery and its acid vapors. Following some wire brushing, scraping and reassembly it started up just fine – just ended up taking me an hour to get the tractor ready to move 3 FEL buckets of sand!

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve only had the tractor for about a week and love playing (scratch that, I meant working /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif) on it, but that seems like a pretty wimpy way to deal with the ground cable from the battery. I think I will end up finding another bolt on the engine or frame to use and get a different and more substantial ground cable.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem before with this tractor.

-Chuck

 

[RichNJKubota]

Yes, on my L4310 the ground cable needed some attention. When I bought the tractor used I went over the thing with a fine toothed comb and corrected a bunch of small problems. I even repainted about 1/2 of the tractor to make it look like new.

Rich

 

[Junkman]

I have found a product that when you spray it onto the metal connection it keeps the moisture out. It is known as PDRP by Sprayon. If you are old enough, you will recogonize the odor as that which is used by the military and commonly known as cosmoline. I use it on all electrical connections and any other surfact that I don't want to rust or corrode. I used to purchase it from Grainger, but I can't find it in the catalog any longer and it isn't that easy to fine any longer in the stores. I have just located a source on the web for it. It costs $2.88 a can in lots of 12. Well worth buying if you want to preserve the electrical connections and other things that rust etc.
Sprayon 00710 16 Oz. Aerosol P.D.R.P. Heavy Duty Rust Inhibitor

 

[woodchuckc]

Great - thanks for the head's up on the product.

Growing up, I remember that Dad had some kind of spray on stuff that was red and really sticky that he used on battery terminals. It worked great, but I have no idea of who made it or what it really was. It would easily last for a couple of years and prevent the deposits on the battery posts. Like most of the "good stuff" from decades past, it probably was not environment-friendly and isn't available anymore.

-Chuck

 

[b6200hst]

I have in the past used battery terminal protectant that I believe was made by Permatex and can be bought at most any auto store or Wal Mart. It is purple in color and seems to work quite well.

 

[Bird]

Chuck, I recently had a battery in one of my vehicles that wanted to grow snow around a terminal and I bought some "CRC Technician Grade Battery Cleaner" and "CRC Technician Grade Battery Terminal Protector" from O'Reilley's Auto Parts. The counterman there said they thought it was the best, and so far, I'm inclined to agree; seems to be the best I've used, and the terminal protector is red; don't know whether it's the same as what your dad used or not.