Buying Advice Buying a Foton 25hp in the next month: Advice appreciated.

[SensibleNick]

That's something I'd do in front of the dealer.

//greg//

Sadly I won't have the chance - when I see the tractor it'll be arriving at my place.

It's always possible that the manufacturers have got their acts together: I know that in my industry at least we're no longer able to simply write Chinese equipment off as "low quality rubbish". There has been a significant change in the last 2 or 3 years.

Still... I'll check it and take photos for everyone to giggle at

Thanks again for the help Greg: I get the feeling I'll have to buy you a pint somehow oneday.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would make him change all fluids, period. I have never seen a Chinese Tractor that did not have junk in it. If he does not then you need to.

Chris

 

[Sweden-Art]

Hej

Congrats on you new purchase, exited time for you I bet. I was a walking ulcer while waiting for my order. I ordered directly from China, a Dong Feng 254G2, I received it in December. I have put 30 hours on the clock so far, all of them pushing / removing snow with the loader.

I concur with the others about the fluids. Make the dealer flush and change all fluids. My tractor arrived crated and i did all the prep myself. I changed the fluids, checked all bolts and nuts - Adjusted and checked the clutch and so on. My fluids was full of shavings from machining. In the first picture you see the front axle oil, the shining in the left corner is not a light phenomenon from the cell phone camera, its burrs and shavings. Second picture is the engine oil. Third picture is how the inline filter screen in the fuel line looked like.

 

[SensibleNick]

Sadly guys It's not negotiable... the tractor is already insanely cheap, and if it's going to be done, part of me is happy that it'll be me doing it: at least I know it'll be done properly.

If the oil is skit* I'll filter the bits out and send them to the dealer. He's a resonable bloke and will probably give me a good price on my next toys

I'll put a magnetic drain plug in it to start with.

As said... Engine oil, Diesel system and hydraulic systems already have the fluids changed by the dealer. Geabox and axles are the only ones they don't do.


*Spell the word in Swedish and the swear-filter doesn't notice it

 

[Rich Waugh]

Sounds like you're getting a great tractor!

I will heartily endorse what others said about changing the fluids. Even though\ the dealer will have allegedly changed the oil, hydro and gear case, I'd strongly recomend examining them while you're changing the front end, and anyt other fluids - like the injector pump sump, for instance. Then, having assured yourself that all fluids are starting out fresh and first rate, you can run the tractor for a few h ours with some confidence.

I suggest only running the break-in fluids for the first five hours and then draining them and replacing. Yeah, it's going to cost a hundred bucks or more, but it is the cheapest insurance money can buy. In manufacturing they try to get the core sand and shavings out, but they never fully succeed, so you want to run it long enough to get them collected and then drained and tossed.

I sa an article on a gigantic ship engine once, something on the order of half a million brake horsepower with pistons the size of Volkswagens or something equally huge. I recall the author saying that the first oil change netted over ten kilos of shavings and core sand. Ever since seeing that, I'venever run break-in oil for more than two hours before draining, and my engines all last much longer than their design lives.

Rich

 

[SensibleNick]

For a couple of years when I lived in the UK I worked for JCB Transmissions designing assembly tools and keeping an eye on assembly quality.

One of the things we did was to intruduce 2 industrial washing machines for the gearbox casings so that they could be washed just before they were needed on the assembly stations. There were a few manual gearboxes, but the majority were the power-shifts. These use fully hydraulic clutchpacks that use the gearbox oil as it's own hydraulic oil. When it comes to cleanliness, there it was of paramount importance.
I spent afternoons sucking samples of oil though filters and counting the concentration of particles per square centimeter.

So don't worry guys... I know the causes, the potential results and the fixes intimately

Part of me hopes that the guys and girls at the Foton factory have learned the joy of mentally vicious washing machines in their post-machining processes.

The Other part of me will go and find out the best place to buy a small barrel of oil from.

 

[greg_g]

As said... Engine oil, Diesel system and hydraulic systems already have the fluids changed by the dealer. Geabox and axles are the only ones they don't do.

You didn't mention cooling system or injection pump. They should not be overlooked either. Unless you simply forgot to mention them, you can them to the do-it-yourself list. Assuming the dealer didn't flush them, the radiator/engine block/water pump/thermostat will be a mess. And you definitely don't want to work the engine with either no oil - or dirty oil - in the injection pump.

//greg//

 

[SensibleNick]

You didn't mention cooling system or injection pump. They should not be overlooked either. Unless you simply forgot to mention them, you can them to the do-it-yourself list. Assuming the dealer didn't flush them, the radiator/engine block/water pump/thermostat will be a mess. And you definitely don't want to work the engine with either no oil - or dirty oil - in the injection pump.

//greg//

Cooling system and injection pup I don't know.

Right... Unknowns:
-Axles
-Gearbox (plural?)
-Injection pump
-Cooling system

To check anyway:
-Hydraulics
-Engine oil
-Fuel system.

The missus understands and accepts that owning a tractor is like owning a dog.
It needs walks
It needs feeding
It needs more walks
It needs toys. :licking:
And when you get a new one it needs all it's shots and a full check-up.

I have no worries about sorting it out properly, and I'd already prepared myself for the eventuality that I'd need to drop a good deal of cash on fluids.

When the time comes I'll be documenting it all here on TBN incase someone else decides to get one.

Right now I'm hunting for scrap steel to turn into a Grapple, and a place to get teeth for the FEL.

 

[3RRL]

I don't know about the Foton, but the two Chinese tractors I have (Kama and Jinma) recommend valve lash adjustment and head bolt retorque. I did both tractors after only a few hours running. Both needed the valve lash adjustment right away. On some, the head bolts are underneath the valve train and that needs to be removed in order to get to them. Then set the valve lash within the tolerance. I found the closer I got to the lower end (smaller) of the tolerance, the quieter the diesel ran.

 

[greg_g]

I found the closer I got to the lower end (smaller) of the tolerance, the quieter the diesel ran.

Yeah, except they wear in the opposite direction. When otherwise correctly set, valve lash clearances typically get tighter with wear (related to valve seat wear I believe). So the closer you set them to the bottom of the spec window (smaller number), the sooner you'll have to do it again. May or may not be accepted practice, but I set mine at the top of the spec window (larger number).

//greg//