You have got to be kidding me..................

[Ozarker]

First let me say that I really like my little 1500D Yanmar. I have had it for a little over three years and it has done everything I need it to do. But..........every time I need to fix something I find that someone before me made some half a$$ed jackleg repair.

A few weeks ago I was doing a lot of work recutting the ditches for my driveway, recutting the crown, etc, and before I could get the job completely done, the clutch went south. Couldn't get it to completely disengage and the gears would grind when I went from neutral to any gear.

So I ordered a new clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing and, since I don't have a suitable place to break a tractor in half, took it to our local independent tractor guy to have the clutch put in. He had never worked on a Yanmar before as was a little hesitant but I assured him that I have the repair manuals and had access to parts if more were needed. So he agreed to do the job.....after he got all the AG tractors in the shop done.

Got it in the shop this week finally and today I get a phone message from him telling me that we needed to order more parts. What now!!!

When I got there he showed me that my old clutch wasn't really in too bad of shape. The problem was with the throwout bearing. You see, the throwout bearing is retained with two springs. I didn't have two springs. I didn't have one spring. I had one nylon wire retainer on one side and the other nylon wire retainer that someone had put in there was broken.

No telling how long that rig had been in place. The bearing was trying to get sideways every time I pushed on the pedal and it was seized up. The fingers on the pressure plate were well worn where the seized up bearing had been riding on it.

So, I called Aaron at Hoye and he is sending the new springs to my guy. Maybe I'll have my tractor back this weekend.

Why do people rig stuff up like that?

 

[NIXON]

Well , look at the bright side if there is one . At least you found an honest an competent repair facility /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif They could have taken your money and done another shoddy repair .
But they took the time to investigate the real problem .
As to why folks "rig " things .... I guess it just takes all kinds !
John

 

[mahlers]

I personally hate band-aid repairs - but I've got to admit that I've done my share of them. Usually, it's a case of having to get the darn thing fixed ASAP, not having the right parts, and having the honest intention to do it right later. Sometimes those Mac Gyver repairs hold up much better than you thought they would, and they devolve into "if it breaks again, I'll worry about it then" repairs. For something like you mentioned, though, where the tractor needs to be split to do the repair, I really can't see why anyone would do a shoddy job like that - the risk for near-future pain is just way too high.

 

[Ozarker]

Yes, he is a good guy. He's a local good ol boy who has been working on everybody's tractors and selling implements for years. He has a yard full of old IHC's and old equipment that he has traded for. Even has an old flail mower for a Cub that I looked at.

He had never worked on any of the Gray market tractors. He had seen them at auctions but just ignored them. Now he's thinking about getting some for resale. He told be that while my tractor has been sitting there lots of people have asked him about buying it.

I may have just created my own local Yanmar dealer. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[NIXON]

Sounds like you (and He ) may be onto something good!
An honest mechanic ,and a knowlegeable person on a particular brand is always a good combination ! John

 

[beenthere]

Your 'jury-rig' story reminds me of a Deere 2 cyl crawler I bought used. Normal clutch/brake adjustment led to a wild trip into the rear end for a transmission, differential, and clutch/brakes overhaul where I found the previous 'overhaul' included a welder used to 'stick' the gears back on the shafts, instead of using the snap rings. Spent the money to replace a number of shafts and gears and put it back together right with all good parts.
Recovered only my investment in parts when I sold it. Couldn't get any more or less for it than if I had just welded it back together. But I felt much better about it.

 

[theonlybull]

Beenthere, we've got an old jd 2cyl crawler, and it'a had it's share of these kinds of fixes..... ack, thier all gone now though, and the crawlers worth soo much that we could never sell it lol...

as for " quick fixes", i run a machine shop, and you wouldn't belive the stuff we see. fixing something broke is no problem, but fixing something someone's been frigin' with, is a tottaly different story.... sometime we just turn them away, because it will cost way more to fix the fix then the machine is worth...

 

[DiskDoctr]

Ozarker,

"Creative Engineering and Redesign" is sometimes a good thing, other times it makes problems.

I can't speak to the reason the previous owner chose to "fix" it that way instead of using the right parts, but it did last over 3 years, right? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hopefully you won't run into any more surprises. You might even end up with a local dealer you know and trust out of the whole thing!

-JC

 

[mrcaptainbob]

It's not the size tractor most of you have, but the 'issue' is the same. I have a Bolens HT-20. Everytime there's a 'hiccup', then the reason becomes clear. Previous owner(s) had a welder and no knowledge. Driveshafts welded not exactly straight....etc. Two different kinds of sparkplugs.....one for a weed whip, the other for maybe a walk-behind... Pitiful.

 

[Ozarker]

Here is a picture of the tie I took today.