battery terminal corrosion

[webbmeister]

Mike - I see quite a bit of rust at the bottom front (that would be the area facing away from you as you sit in the seat /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif - sorry, couldn't resist) of your radiator - aren't you worried about that getting worse?

Jim

 

[PineRidge]

Jim it's all been removed cleaned, painted, and reinstalled. I took a good look at it once it was disassembled and it was all light surface rust, not the down and dirty etched stuff. I believe that I caught it at a very early stage; maybe another 30 days like it was headed and it would have been bad news bears.

Thanks for the concern however! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jinman]

Mark, that's a nice job on your battery. You really have a great dealer who is taking care of you "above-and-beyond." I am curious about the grass I see behind your battery. The front of my radiator never gets anything but fine dust in it due to all openings being that small mesh screen on the top and sides of the hood. It's the same under the battery, a fine mesh. How is that grass getting into your radiator? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I went back and looked at your picture and mine. I think you are missing the foam piece that seals around your hydrostatic cooling lines. That piece keeps out lots of debris. When I got my radiator and hydrostatic cooling lines replaced, I got a new foam seal too. My radiator stays really clean. All I ever get is fine dust on it. It probably won't be a really big problem with your tractor, but I just felt like I should mention it to you.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> Mike - I see quite a bit of rust at the bottom front (that would be the area facing away from you as you sit in the seat - sorry, couldn't resist) of your radiator - aren't you worried about that getting worse?</font>
The debris between the battery and the radiator are crushed leafs.

 

[markie61]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I think you are missing the foam piece that seals around your hydrostatic cooling lines. )</font>

Thanks, Jim. I'll check it out. The stuff in the radiator came from finish mowing a field after someone else had bushhogged. Some of the stuff left was so tall it was forcing itself into every nook and cranny under the tractor. If foam is missing, I'm sure it would be forced up there.

Speaking of stuff in the radiator.... One day in July I was mowing the fields for about 4 hours. After I was done, I popped the hood to clean out any debris that was under there. I was alarmed to find the grey-ish crust up to 1/4" thick on almost everything on the front of the engine but behind the radiator. I was worried because I knew my fan sometimes hit the shroud - but that was when I was lifting heavy loads with the FEL. I thought, "Great! My fan belt is disintegrating!" After looking at the belt a realizing it was in like-new shape, I scraped some of the crust off and looked at it very carefully. When the light hit it, it sparkled a little bit and that's when I realized it was a very tiny insect wing. Thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of very little flying insects had been pulled in through the radiator and splattered against the front of the engine whose heat baked them to a crust. It also explained why dozens of barn swallows were swooping all around me when I was mowing - I was stirring up the bugs and the swallows were getting an easy meal.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You really have a great dealer who is taking care of you "above-and-beyond." )</font>

The thing is: he's not my selling dealer. I bought used from another dealer in another state. I think the "power" that I had was "knowledge." I was fortunate enough to have all the info of other owners' experiences from exploring TBN. Also, I think the service manager was very good and listened to what I had to say. I have a high opinion of him. On the other hand, the guy who schedules pickups and deliveries...well...let's just say I don't want to put anything in writing... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Mark

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( How is that grass getting into your radiator?)</font>

Hey Jim, I was shocked when my sales rep told the TC35 had no slide-off radiator screen (like my TC29 had). He assured me it wasn't needed. Yea, right. Well, to my surprise, my radiator stays clean. Even mowing tall dallis grass which used to clog my grill and screen in 45 minutes does not collect anywhere. I think most of the air intake is on the top, and the suction in the front is fairly low. This is excellent engineering except for the battery compartment getting wet.

 

[webbmeister]

All kidding aside, I was looking farther to the right of the picture, right at the bottom of the radiator screen. Is that just leaf stuff, or is that rust?

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> Is that just leaf stuff, or is that rust? </font>
I just double checked, it was leaf stuff (the picture was taken a while ago).

 

[jinman]

Mark, I'm attaching the illustrated parts catalog picture of the battery shelf and surrounding hardware for the Class III Boomer. The foam part is no. 8, shown with the light yellow tint (it's actually black). There are two part numbers listed in my book for this "rubber seal." Part no. 8 is 86400277 and they list a part no. 9 as 86400546. Both are called rubber seal, but I could not find part number 9 in the diagram. My guess is that the same part is use for hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic tractors and the part no. 9 covers the holes for the hydro coolant lines on non-hydro tractors. That's just a guess, so I may be way off on my guess. I hope this will help you identify the part if it's missing from your tractor.

Have_blue, I agree with you about not having a screen. I was shocked there wasn't one on my tractor, but I've come to really appreciate the well designed airflow and filtering by the perforated metal screen. It's a great system. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Boomer33]

The bolts on my cable ends are rotted in the center between the two halves of the cable clamp. After wire brushing them they are less than half the diameter of the end of the bolt. I want to replace them now, but cant get the old ones out of the lead clamp. Any thoughts on how to remove them without destroying the soft metal clamps? Thanks in advance to all you good folks!