Sysop
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Messages
- 3,316
- Location
- Fairmont, WV
- Tractor
- Mahindra 4035HST purchased 2013 - Husqvarna TS348-D purchased 2019 - Craftsman 42" HST purchased 2003
First, I'd like to say hello and thank you to everyone who's posted any information on this site. It made selecting the proper tractor for my needs much simpler.
I've been looking at tractors for almost a year now, I've had limited experience with them in the past, and never owned anything larger than a Craftsman 20 horse lawn and garden tractor (riding mower...) I made my decision to go Mahindra for a number of reasons, and the 4035HST seemed like it would be the most ideal fit out of their models. I had researched several others, New Holland, JD, Kubota, Kioti; all were either too much for what they offered or not enough of what I needed. Many dealers here lack a proper selection of implements, Mahindra really was no different in that respect, but they had the minimum of what I needed. Financing, I wanted to get what I needed at the time of purchase and all at one place.
I went in and told them I'd like a price on a 4035HST with the frontloader and Bradco frame mount backhoe, 9 inch post hole auger, 5' finish mower, 5' standard duty rotary brush cutter, and I'd want the tires filled. I wanted 6' mowers, but all they had was 5' and said it would be long wait for the 6' mowers. I felt they were giving me a good deal, so signed the papers. We went over the operation of the tractor, then they delivered it late Thursday afternoon, 5/30/2013. They dropped everything off in front of my barn, and then turned the key over to me.
I took the tractor into the building and removed the backhoe so I could get the 3 point stuff hooked up and moved. Once I got the backhoe off I attempted to attach the three point links to move the mowers. As the title indicates, I'm new to tractors; so this wasn't an easy feat. I've dealt with some 3 point stuff on tractors that already had the links installed and setup for a given implement, but never had to do a setup myself. After spending more time than I care to admit, I admitted defeat and knew something was wrong. I got out the chains and hooked to the crate the finish mower arrived in, moved it out of the barnyard. Went back, unpacked the post hole digger out of the crate it was in and carried it in the building. Just as I went back out to chain up the brush mower, the delivery guy showed back up. He'd forgotten an important part of my 3 pt linkage in the floor of the truck! YAY! I start getting the links reconnected and everything ready to pick up the brush mower to move it, the lift arms won't come down... I messed with it a moment and remembered the knob under the seat that controls the descent speed, checked and it was all the way on fast. I turned it down and back up, went around to the back, gave a push down and they slowly went down. Once I got the brush hog hooked up I tried picking it up, no good... I went ahead and moved it from the barnyard and put things up for the night, it was getting dark and I had to work the following day.
I spent the evening reading up on the draft control functions, because use of that function wasn't entirely clear to me and I thought that might have been my problem. I went to work on Friday, which was a very long day, so I didn't have much opportunity to mess with it. Since from my reading I was now sure how I was supposed to have the draft control set when not needing draft control, I did give it another quick try Friday night with no luck. I did a bit more reading about people with lift issues before going to bed and learned the most common lift problems occurr when it is low on fluid.
Saturday: I get out all the maintenance checklist information, start going over the tractor from stem to stern. Pumped fresh grease in everything, checked the oil, axle, then the transmission/hydraulic fluid. The transmission/hydraulic fluid was VERY low. I could see it down in the chamber, but it wouldn't reach the dipstick. I called the dealer to learn they're closed on Saturdays... So I went and got some fluid from the local tractor supply and started adding it. Started with a half a quart, then a quart, then another quart; it wasn't until I had put an entire 2 gallon jug in it that it reached the dipstick!!! Still not into the safe range, I went and purchased 2 more 2 gallon jugs and took home. Started adding more, it took a total of 3.5 gallons to bring it into the mid range of the dipstick. I started the tractor, let everything warm up, tried the 3pt lift, nothing. Oh well, I need to use the finish mower, and for that they need to be down anyway... Hooked it up, ran it for 30 minutes around the barnyard, during which time, the 3pt raised on it's own! I hit the lever to put it down, it went down, I remowed what it caused me to miss, thought perhaps the system finally decided to work. Once I got done with the barnyard, I disconnected the finish mower and got ready to connect the brush hog. I tested the 3pt lift functionality, it wouldn't lift again. Parked the tractor and called it a day...
Sunday I spent doing family things, Monday I had to work out of town and had no time.
Tuesday: I stopped at the dealer, told him what had occurred thusfar. He gave me 3 gallons of hydraulic fluid to replace what I'd bought (I found that to be a good sign of the care I'd get from my dealer), and he gave me a procedure to run through for bleeding air from the system.
Wednesday I got off work early and tried what he told me, no luck.
Thursday I was off early again and I called back, he said he'd have his mechanic come look at it. The mechanic showed up and didn't like what he saw. He found one of the hydraulic lines that connects the rear remote ports leaking, tightening that took care of it. But there was still no lift on the rear arms and a particular noise he didn't like when he raised them by hand. He said either the valve inside, the chain inside, or a combination of the two was at fault, but he'd need to take it to the shop to work on it. He called the dealer, the dealer got the truck driver on the phone, said they'd be there to get it the following morning.
Friday (today): They picked it up at 8AM and took it back to the dealer. The mechanic took it apart and found the control valve putting fluid out where it shouldn't whenever the lift was activated. They told me they contacted MUSA and one of their traveling technicians is on his way south from PA, and he is going to stop in tomorrow (Saturday) and look at it and tell them how to proceed. MUSA wanted to have their technician look at it first hand to determine if it was a valve failure of some sort or an assembly issue.
So far, other than having a busted tractor from day one being a bit discouraging, I've been pleased overall with how it's been handled. Any thoughts from more experienced tractor owners than myself (which is nearly all tractor owners) are welcome!
And of course no new thread is complete without a picture.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.
I've been looking at tractors for almost a year now, I've had limited experience with them in the past, and never owned anything larger than a Craftsman 20 horse lawn and garden tractor (riding mower...) I made my decision to go Mahindra for a number of reasons, and the 4035HST seemed like it would be the most ideal fit out of their models. I had researched several others, New Holland, JD, Kubota, Kioti; all were either too much for what they offered or not enough of what I needed. Many dealers here lack a proper selection of implements, Mahindra really was no different in that respect, but they had the minimum of what I needed. Financing, I wanted to get what I needed at the time of purchase and all at one place.
I went in and told them I'd like a price on a 4035HST with the frontloader and Bradco frame mount backhoe, 9 inch post hole auger, 5' finish mower, 5' standard duty rotary brush cutter, and I'd want the tires filled. I wanted 6' mowers, but all they had was 5' and said it would be long wait for the 6' mowers. I felt they were giving me a good deal, so signed the papers. We went over the operation of the tractor, then they delivered it late Thursday afternoon, 5/30/2013. They dropped everything off in front of my barn, and then turned the key over to me.
I took the tractor into the building and removed the backhoe so I could get the 3 point stuff hooked up and moved. Once I got the backhoe off I attempted to attach the three point links to move the mowers. As the title indicates, I'm new to tractors; so this wasn't an easy feat. I've dealt with some 3 point stuff on tractors that already had the links installed and setup for a given implement, but never had to do a setup myself. After spending more time than I care to admit, I admitted defeat and knew something was wrong. I got out the chains and hooked to the crate the finish mower arrived in, moved it out of the barnyard. Went back, unpacked the post hole digger out of the crate it was in and carried it in the building. Just as I went back out to chain up the brush mower, the delivery guy showed back up. He'd forgotten an important part of my 3 pt linkage in the floor of the truck! YAY! I start getting the links reconnected and everything ready to pick up the brush mower to move it, the lift arms won't come down... I messed with it a moment and remembered the knob under the seat that controls the descent speed, checked and it was all the way on fast. I turned it down and back up, went around to the back, gave a push down and they slowly went down. Once I got the brush hog hooked up I tried picking it up, no good... I went ahead and moved it from the barnyard and put things up for the night, it was getting dark and I had to work the following day.
I spent the evening reading up on the draft control functions, because use of that function wasn't entirely clear to me and I thought that might have been my problem. I went to work on Friday, which was a very long day, so I didn't have much opportunity to mess with it. Since from my reading I was now sure how I was supposed to have the draft control set when not needing draft control, I did give it another quick try Friday night with no luck. I did a bit more reading about people with lift issues before going to bed and learned the most common lift problems occurr when it is low on fluid.
Saturday: I get out all the maintenance checklist information, start going over the tractor from stem to stern. Pumped fresh grease in everything, checked the oil, axle, then the transmission/hydraulic fluid. The transmission/hydraulic fluid was VERY low. I could see it down in the chamber, but it wouldn't reach the dipstick. I called the dealer to learn they're closed on Saturdays... So I went and got some fluid from the local tractor supply and started adding it. Started with a half a quart, then a quart, then another quart; it wasn't until I had put an entire 2 gallon jug in it that it reached the dipstick!!! Still not into the safe range, I went and purchased 2 more 2 gallon jugs and took home. Started adding more, it took a total of 3.5 gallons to bring it into the mid range of the dipstick. I started the tractor, let everything warm up, tried the 3pt lift, nothing. Oh well, I need to use the finish mower, and for that they need to be down anyway... Hooked it up, ran it for 30 minutes around the barnyard, during which time, the 3pt raised on it's own! I hit the lever to put it down, it went down, I remowed what it caused me to miss, thought perhaps the system finally decided to work. Once I got done with the barnyard, I disconnected the finish mower and got ready to connect the brush hog. I tested the 3pt lift functionality, it wouldn't lift again. Parked the tractor and called it a day...
Sunday I spent doing family things, Monday I had to work out of town and had no time.
Tuesday: I stopped at the dealer, told him what had occurred thusfar. He gave me 3 gallons of hydraulic fluid to replace what I'd bought (I found that to be a good sign of the care I'd get from my dealer), and he gave me a procedure to run through for bleeding air from the system.
Wednesday I got off work early and tried what he told me, no luck.
Thursday I was off early again and I called back, he said he'd have his mechanic come look at it. The mechanic showed up and didn't like what he saw. He found one of the hydraulic lines that connects the rear remote ports leaking, tightening that took care of it. But there was still no lift on the rear arms and a particular noise he didn't like when he raised them by hand. He said either the valve inside, the chain inside, or a combination of the two was at fault, but he'd need to take it to the shop to work on it. He called the dealer, the dealer got the truck driver on the phone, said they'd be there to get it the following morning.
Friday (today): They picked it up at 8AM and took it back to the dealer. The mechanic took it apart and found the control valve putting fluid out where it shouldn't whenever the lift was activated. They told me they contacted MUSA and one of their traveling technicians is on his way south from PA, and he is going to stop in tomorrow (Saturday) and look at it and tell them how to proceed. MUSA wanted to have their technician look at it first hand to determine if it was a valve failure of some sort or an assembly issue.
So far, other than having a busted tractor from day one being a bit discouraging, I've been pleased overall with how it's been handled. Any thoughts from more experienced tractor owners than myself (which is nearly all tractor owners) are welcome!
And of course no new thread is complete without a picture.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.
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