Disappointed in Massey Ferguson

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Alien:
Yours is one of only a few ADULT comments on this thread!

It is common here for people to utilize ridicule to seemingly bolster their position. I understand why: it's the proverbial "slap in the face" to WAKE UP! or the cold water thrown from a bucket. ****, I've resorted to this myself. There are certainly kinder ways to express one's sentiments no matter how out to lunch you think an op might be.

About the fix: For the exhaust, can a sleeve be welded onto the break? Cut some of the damage off and see if this is a viable fix. It should work just fine if there is room to do so.
The light I assume is a plastic piece. If it did not break into a lot of pieces, I've had great luck with Weld Bond cement. It dries clear and stands up to water. I've repaired a plastic fender and a light with the stuff on my tractor.

For another tale of what some manufacturers will not support no matter what: take a look at Chryslers first attempt to put the hemi in trucks. The early models came with weak valve springs that when they broke, could provide the valve to slip down into the piston and grenade the block. This could happen anywhere from 65K to 130K. Some never broke but a goodly number did. Chrysler knew of the problem but did not do a recall but simply redesigned the springs for 2005. If you had say a 2004 Durango and you only put 7-8K miles on it per year, 12 years later if your engine catastrophically failed because of the known weak springs, you would have absolutely no recourse even if it's costing you 4-6K to fix the truck.

 

[powerscol]

Ok first to help the OP - take your part numbers and do a search on them. You might be surprised at the pricing out there - much cheaper at som dealers. There are several sponsors here that carry MF parts too. However you have what amounts to a HD garden tractor that was probably not even made by MF to begin with.

Have you checked if the later model exhaust will fit? if so go with that or have a welding shop fab you up one as suggested. I just had to replace a 22 year old Sears GT garden tractor (parts not available) - 18HP that ran better then the new 24 HP I got from Sears last fall made by Huskavarna. (Price was $1500 less than the exact Husky model with free shipping and no sales tax). However I wish I could get my old one running - did a better job.

Another source as you have a small compact unit is call around to the mower repair shops - sometimes that have donor units around or look on Craig's list or other places.

Hope this helps, but anything that old, despite the low hours something is bound to happen.

One thing bugs me though - did you not notice a sound difference when the muffler broke, and check things out? Seems strange you did not see it until the headlight melted. Just wondering - not pointing fault. I ruined a push lawn mower by not noticing the oil drain plug had come loose. My fault for not putting it back in correctly, but then again it probably was a poor design

Hope this helps

 

[lilranch2001]

I am probably one of those childish people they are referring to, but I tried to talk some sense to the OP and he was not having any part of it
He is a stubborn individual who in my humble opinion could not and does not WANT to see reason

 

[TSO]

I wonder...

If I buy a car, barely drive it for 13 years, drive it one day and have a tire blow out (because of age, it dry-rotted and I failed to inspect it before driving) ... I wonder if I can go back to Ford (or whoever) and get upset when they won't replace for free, the model of tire they installed on the car 13 years ago, even though they knew that tire material degrades with age and they have since replaced that tire with a better one on subsequent models... ?

I'm sorry that the OP had something break on his tractor, whichever brand it is. But that's the nature of mechanical items. Over time, and thru use, mechanical things degrade, wear-out, break, need constant maintenance, etc.

I'm very pleased with the durability and reliability of my Massey tractors... But at the rate I use them, in 12-13 years of ownership, I'll be up to around 6000 hours. I know that eventually, things will break, sooner or later. Either from over-use, under-maintenance, or natural degradation. If after 12-13 years, the only thing that degrades and breaks is a $300 muffler, I'll be tickled pink! It's not likely that Massey (actually Iseki in this case) even made that exhaust piece, they probably had it built by a supplier.

And if my machines go 12+ years without anything breaking, I'd be looking hard at that brand again, because that's a good run for anything mechanical, regardless of how much use I put on it.

 

[TSO]

Here's another example:

A few years ago I owned a Ford CM272 commercial front mower with a Shibaura diesel. Well past it's warranty. Nice machine. A design flaw in the cooling system (rear-sucking fan clogs radiator fins) caused the engine to overheat, ultimately leading to a blown head-gasket, and an expensive repair bill for me.

Crappy design, later rectified in later models.... Did Ford, or NH pay for it? Nope. Should I have done a better job at being diligent to keep the radiator fins clean? Yup.

It's a piece of machinery, stuff happens. Certainly I wouldn't NOT consider buying that brand in the future because of it.

 

[Creamer]

A few years ago my 2005 Odyssey had the center spark plug back out a couple of turns. Melted the coil on plug and made a great mess. had to pull the head to fix it - approximately $1200. It was out of warranty a couple of years but not to the recommended 1st plug change. Honda would not do anything about it. It is a known problem with their 3.5L engine. C'est la vie!

 

[Creamer]

If you cannot get it welded find an alternate exhaust system to put on it. As someone suggested the newer model may work well.

I never think about it but somebody suggested look on the web as some dealers sell their parts cheaper than others. Great suggestion! If it is the same exhaust i would beef it up or support to protect yourself in the future.

BTW - my 1710 had a similar problem but it didn't melt the headlight. It would have been 16 years old when it happened and had about 600 hours on it.

 

[RaydaKub]

Would have been nice if the company had issued a bulletin on it, but they (evidently) didn't. Would have been nice if the dealer had sent out some mail to his customers that had purchased that model, but he (evidently) didn't. Would the OP have taken the time and effort to get the update if he'd have known about it in the first 2 years? I dunno. It is kind of the nature of warranties on almost anything though. They give you a year or 3 or 5, but then you're on your own unless you buy some kind of insurance like KTAC.

Have you looked around for any salvage yards for these parts? I know I've seen threads where they list a huge one in KY, but I'm not familiar with any myself.

 

[lilranch2001]

I am not quite sure what it means, but Tractor Data site doesn't seem to want to pull up a 2003 GC 2300
First year it pulls up is a 2005

TractorData.com Massey Ferguson GC23 tractor information

 

[jenkinsph]

I would fix the problems including reinforcement of the exhaust pipe and move on. Life is too short to stress out over it. An exhaust shop should be able to make the repair for you if you can not do it yourself.