Wombat125
Gold Member
So I get a call from my local dealer on Thursday to tell me I had a PIP on my tractor. After I figured out that PIP is JD parlance for Product Improvement Program, which is code for recall, the woman on the phone asked if they could send someone out early next week. I told her I would be out of town, so it would have to wait until around March 3. She asked if they could sneak it in tomorrow (Friday). That worked.
Around 3:00 pm, the field tech shows up in his new 4x4 F550 with a new steering cylinder in hand. Apparently some of the pistons in the steering cylinders in my serial number range were left exposed to the elements with no corrosion protection and were prone to pitting and tearing up the seal. This caused erratic steering behavior. Apparently, these cylinders were sourced from Italy for whatever that's worth. As it turns out, my piston was fine, but per policy, they replaced it anyway.
The replacement cylinder was black (dang cabbed tractors), but the field tech painted it green in my shop. While he worked, I pelted him with questions about my tractor and helped a little by holding the wrench on one side of the piston while he loosened the tie rod on the other side.
When it was done, the 1 hour job ended up taking nearly 2 hours, mostly because we got into an extended conversation about my 1966 JD 110H lawn tractor and old Japanese dirt bikes.
The point of this story is that once again, I am very glad I selected the John Deere brand.
Quick, what's wrong with the second picture?
Around 3:00 pm, the field tech shows up in his new 4x4 F550 with a new steering cylinder in hand. Apparently some of the pistons in the steering cylinders in my serial number range were left exposed to the elements with no corrosion protection and were prone to pitting and tearing up the seal. This caused erratic steering behavior. Apparently, these cylinders were sourced from Italy for whatever that's worth. As it turns out, my piston was fine, but per policy, they replaced it anyway.
The replacement cylinder was black (dang cabbed tractors), but the field tech painted it green in my shop. While he worked, I pelted him with questions about my tractor and helped a little by holding the wrench on one side of the piston while he loosened the tie rod on the other side.
When it was done, the 1 hour job ended up taking nearly 2 hours, mostly because we got into an extended conversation about my 1966 JD 110H lawn tractor and old Japanese dirt bikes.
The point of this story is that once again, I am very glad I selected the John Deere brand.
Quick, what's wrong with the second picture?
