Another try with a TN-A

[Larry-On-The-Hilltop]

Greetings, All-

It's been a while, but I finally have a couple moments to share my tractoring experiences with NH. I'm now on my second TN60A, after the first having been repurchased by NH under warranty last month due to multiple, recurring defects. As I mentioned over in the Buying/Pricing forum earlier today, NH has great ergonomics and fantastic financing, but poor quality soon follows. Within the first 250 hours, the power shuttle clutches failed at 100 hours, the steering box needed replacement three times, and the tractor left me stranded outside for almost two weeks ultimately due to an electrical fault. Over the last 52 weeks, I suffered a total of eight weeks of downtime. Needless to say that I am not very impressed with NH quality. It's only because I have a dealer who is simply awesome and my own dogged persistence with NH Customer Service that I received any consideration at all for my problems. I would have preferred to have gone orange or green at this point, but I could not afford to take the depreciation 'hit' and walk away. I only hope that this replacement unit does not suffer from the same shortcomings as the first.

Has anyone else experienced such problems with a TN-A??

[slowzuki]

Sounds like your hydraulic fluid was contaiminated somehow and got into a few areas.

Originally Posted by Larry-On-The-Hilltop

Greetings, All-

It's been a while, but I finally have a couple moments to share my tractoring experiences with NH. I'm now on my second TN60A, after the first having been repurchased by NH under warranty last month due to multiple, recurring defects. As I mentioned over in the Buying/Pricing forum earlier today, NH has great ergonomics and fantastic financing, but poor quality soon follows. Within the first 250 hours, the power shuttle clutches failed at 100 hours, the steering box needed replacement three times, and the tractor left me stranded outside for almost two weeks ultimately due to an electrical fault. Over the last 52 weeks, I suffered a total of eight weeks of downtime. Needless to say that I am not very impressed with NH quality. It's only because I have a dealer who is simply awesome and my own dogged persistence with NH Customer Service that I received any consideration at all for my problems. I would have preferred to have gone orange or green at this point, but I could not afford to take the depreciation 'hit' and walk away. I only hope that this replacement unit does not suffer from the same shortcomings as the first.

Has anyone else experienced such problems with a TN-A??

[LoneCowboy]

My TN75DA has been flawless

My TC45DA was such a Piece Of *(&^ that after 1 month I made them buy it back.

The TC45DA replacement has been pretty flawless (176 hours so far)

[Larry-On-The-Hilltop]

Actually, it had nothing to do with the hydraulic fluid. With the Power Shuttle, it was determined that the springs within the clutch packs were out of specification from the factory. Good incoming materials inspection over there in Jesi... On the steering box, NH ended up getting the box back, as no one could determine why the box kept blowing seals and leaking all over. Nothing as discouraging as finding hydraulic fluid all over the operator platform mat of the new tractor. Lastly, the electrical fault was traced back to a power shuttle switch that had shorted out. Who is it on here that speaks so colorfully about NH electrical systems Just what I want sitting in my garage: bzzzt-poof-arrgggh!

LoneCowboy, we have a five-star dealer. I hope that I have as good or better fortune with my replacement as you are having with yours...you're right, the FWA is pretty cool, and those 16.9x28 rears float very nicely.

[slowzuki]

NH is known for electrical faults, at least in the ag machines. Bad connectors to unplugged connectors to you name it.

[MessickFarmEqu]

We sell huge amounts of TN's, one guy has 8 of them that are used every day to pull boats in and out of the water. Even given this, I can't say we've ever seen problems on the scale that you are having. The TN is a very proven design tractor, its been around a long time and by and large the bugs are worked out.

[dgl24087]

Messick, do you have any T4000 or T5000's yet? I've seen 1 T5060 on a dealer's lot in Salem, VA. My brother has seen 2 T4040's on a dealer's lot in Pennsboro, WV.

[Larry-On-The-Hilltop]

Oddly enough, I'd probably not have believed the failures either, or have attributed them to abuse were it not me The unit was always kept in a heated garage, serviced regularly, and used lightly. From what my own dealer said, it is unusual enough to run in to so many problems on one unit so very early on. I even took the step of talking directly with NH's Product Behavior Specialist for the TNs- it turns out that the district service rep wasn't feeding the problems back up the line to NH. I only hope that this current unit holds up as well as or better than everybody else's on here.

NH Customer Service was probably the worst part of my experience. That's not my dealer's fault, either- he didn't build it, and bent over backwards trying to keep it from failing. Everybody above the dealer (area service rep, regional service manager, regional sales manager) just threw their hands up and said that there was nothing they could do until, out of exasperation, I called directly to the top. Suddenly, there was a flurry of action in a very short amount of time. I only wish that the rest of the characters were as responsive as the dealer and the director.

[MessickFarmEqu]

Originally Posted by dgl24087

Messick, do you have any T4000 or T5000's yet? I've seen 1 T5060 on a dealer's lot in Salem, VA. My brother has seen 2 T4040's on a dealer's lot in Pennsboro, WV.

We have two locations, as I recall our other store has several. I've only seen a handful float though at my lot.

[mojoinco]

I got to thinking about the general complaints on the electrical components, and the long term expectations (across brands as well). I bought a used unit with cab, mostly because the price seemed reasonable -- and it happened to have a cab. With a cab, you don't have as much exposure to humidity (fog, water, rain, etc) nor as much dirt/dust/weeds/etc. Probably saving myself some (not all I expect) trouble in the long run. Just food for thought in future considerations. Would matter a lot less if I planned on wearing this thing out (clearly not commercially oriented) in the near term (say 5 years).