The price of grubbing with an L4400

[N80]

I took the radiator by a little local garage (radiator repair) and the guy there said he couldn't fix it. I wasn't terribly confident in his opinion though, he seemed very unsure of himself. I also called the dealer, a new one is $392. I'm going to try another repair shop here in town.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

George,
I had my first mishap this weekend with my 3130. Clearing a 12 year old skidder trail of pines and dirt mounds to get to house site. I put the FEL into a dirt mound and when raising it heard a hissing sound. Backed out raised the FEL and no sound. Put it back into the mound and when the FEL had a load applied heard the hissing sound again. I thought I had a leak on the hydraulic lines. Backed out again and noticed the front tire was flat /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. When I was in the mound and lifting the valve stem was hitting a root and broke off the second time.

Of all the tools in my truck none of the sockets I had would fit the lugs, called BIL, pulled tire, fixed and back running in less than 2 hours.

Things happen /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[N80]

I've had a flat on the front too. Was lifting a large rock with FEL and was backing up a grade. Had to make a sharp turn and the downhill tire on the front came right off the rim. Air pressure had probably gotten too low.

Pulled the tire and rim off and my B-I-L and I fixed it in his shop with hand held bead breakers. But, the valve stem also got torn up and had a slow leak so I had to take it to a tire place anyway. No big deal though.

The recommended pressure in the front tires on the 4400 is only 22 pounds. Seems low, but that's what the book says.

 

[Mikeeemo]

It might me time to add a skid plate. I have been looking over the posts about them for a couple of weeks. I have done a little grubbing with my L4400 and after a couple of close calls with the limbs, I have decided that it is time to provide this fine machine with some armor...
I agree with your concern over front tire pressure, I bump my front up a few pounds when hauling heavy loads & carry the box blade on back.

 

[N80]

The skid plate idea did occur to me. I'll have to look at some designs. In my case, this tree stem came in through the side so I'm not sure a skid plate would have prevented it.

 

[Berniep]

I would look for a bona-fide radiator shop. I have seen some pretty messed up radiators get repaired. They most likely will block
the tubes that are dammaged. Had a guy tell me that he had the core (the silver part between the endcaps)replaced for half the price of a new one. I didn't even know they could do that.

 

[Highbeam]

Thing is, that radiator looks like aluminum. The good old boys in the good ol' radiator shop would have sautered the good ol' brass or copper radiator shut with sauter. Done deal. They can recore a good ol' style radiator with metal end tanks assuming they can find the core piece. When they rod out a radiator they need to take off at least one end tank. You don't hear about rodding out a radiator much anymore now with the plastic end tanks.

 

[simonmeridew]

One day twenty years ago I was using my Ford 8N in the woods when some brush pushed up (like you from the side) and pushed the fan forward. The fan immediately imbedded in the radiator and stopped, cutting off about 6 tubes. I shut off the motor, and took the radiator off(not an easy job in the woods--the hood needs to come off etc). The original radiators in the 8N were REAL radiators, I think the tubes are brass so I started taking fins off around the tubes that were cut off. I folded the ends over on each side of the cut tubes and soldered them--again not an easy job because of contamination of the surfaces with antifreeze, paint etc, and in addition I didn't really have any reliable way of testing the solder job except putting it back on the tractor, lugging antifreeze etc out to the site and reassembling. Anyway, it worked the first time, and still is leak free.
The point of all this is to lend a bit of historical perspective to radiator problems; on cars and trucks nowadays don't expect to find brass or copper, but aluminum and plastic. And I think that the only way to recore a modern radiator is to box it up and send it back to China where they're all made where they'll just make another one for a couple of dollars anyway. That is I don't think they can be recored.
simonmeridew

 

[N80]

Well, I found a guy that could fix it! It was a step up from the first place, but not a big step. But, his ad in the phone book said he "specialized" in aluminum and plastic. But, when I showed it to him he shook his head and said he wasn't sure he could fix it but he'd try. Two days later he had it fixed. He basically sealed up each end of the busted tubes. There was one other tiny leak and it looks to have some sort of solder on it, maybe epoxy, I don't know. He charged me $85 which seems high but I was happy to pay it instead of $390!

I re-installed it this weekend and put 2 or 3 more hours on the tractor cleaning up some of the hillside I'd cleared. The fan shroud was cracked all the way through on the bottom, but I fixed it using some fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Works fine.

So, all is well again. I'm just a lot more careful about little saplings. However, I must admit, I had been thinking about paying a dozer guy (or a Kershaw machine) to clear this space and it was going to cost at least $1000. So $85 bucks and a little down time don't seem too bad. It has taken me about 8-10 tractor hours. I've got a few brush piles to burn and some minor leveling to do and I'll be able to mow this with my light duty mower. Not bad for a little 45 hp compact. And it was fun too!

 

[Highbeam]

Now that's the spirit. I suppose the modern day solder is epoxy.