Catastrophic hydraulic top link failure

[Baby Grand]

No doubt about it. I have been looking at hyd. toplink prices. The choice is made.
Brian is getting my order when I order in feb. Good selection and stands behind his products.
Have to recover from getting a new ETA boxblade and Christmas first. :laughing:

Tom

Me too. Been on the fence for a while, but every time I hitch up and use the 3pt pallet forks or, the rear blade, I really feel the need for TnT. Been saving up for this and I don't want the work to go to someone who won't man up. A failure, when well addressed, is a very powerful sales tool.

 

[nomad]

If anyone can point me in a direction to where I can get better ends at a reasonable cost, PLEASE do so.

Hmm, did you invite me? Well, I looked at your website now and prices there. I haven't done toplink business for 3-5 years, so, costs might be different. A rough guess here.. After all other costs from import, transportation, risk factor, etc as well as profit of course, your prices look reasonable. If they were made here in Turkey, at a quality manufacturer, I'd say wholesale price wouldn't be less than 100-150 USD. With your these RETAIL price level around 200 USD, my quick estimation says your profit is around 20-30 USD which is not really much. If I were you, importer there, I'd go for more special items. For example, reproduction of old, antique parts or their-adds ons in which there are not many players. For ex, what about power steering kits of older tractors? There is bigger profit room in that field. One another idea is that you can reduce your import shipping cost to zero by importing hyd toplinks within a container of bigger items such as farm equipments and implements. Also, import price quotations for toplinks will be lower when importing some bigger items. This strategy was being followed by tractor parts importers who were filling container with cheap tractor seats and shipping cost of, say, crankshafts shipped together with the seats were being lowered to almost zero dollars.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hmm, did you invite me? Well, I looked at your website now and prices there. I haven't done toplink business for 3-5 years, so, costs might be different. A rough guess here.. After all other costs from import, transportation, risk factor, etc as well as profit of course, your prices look reasonable. If they were made here in Turkey, at a quality manufacturer, I'd say wholesale price wouldn't be less than 100-150 USD. With your these RETAIL price level around 200 USD, my quick estimation says your profit is around 20-30 USD which is not really much. If I were you, importer there, I'd go for more special items. For example, reproduction of old, antique parts or their-adds ons in which there are not many players. For ex, what about power steering kits of older tractors? There is bigger profit room in that field. One another idea is that you can reduce your import shipping cost to zero by importing hyd toplinks within a container of bigger items such as farm equipments and implements. Also, import price quotations for toplinks will be lower when importing some bigger items. This strategy was being followed by tractor parts importers who were filling container with cheap tractor seats and shipping cost of, say, crankshafts shipped together with the seats were being lowered to almost zero dollars.

The problem with having someone else make all the top links is then I would have just what my competition has. :thumbdown: A few different links and the customer has to just get by. Same goes for the side links. NO ONE wants to build what is needed, even Deere & Kubota. I build what is needed and functions how the customer needs it to function, not "here it is, you make it work".

 

[PhysAssist]

All I can say is that I have been in business for myself since 1975. I am very good at what I do. Stuff happens beyond my control, whether it has been a material failure or customer neglect or even abuse. I have ALWAYS taken care of the problem and will continue to do so. If I ask questions, it is because I want to understand how or why the problem came about. No blame is brought up, just if some things are done-handled differently then the problem might not occur again.

Brian (if I can be so bold as to call you by name instead of using your MtnViewRanch "handle", now that I know what it is...)

Your stand-up attitude has been apparent in all of your posts, and even though I'm not really in your sales demographic for TnT setups, if I were, I'd certainly be buying from you, even before I had this most recent chance to see your stand-behind-your-product stance and in-plain-view method for making sure that the customer is satisfied in your way of doing business.

In my worldview, the only thing better than a product that never ever fails no matter how the user abuses it, is the producer of the product standing behind their product (and in Brian's case standing at the side of the user) no matter what.

Mega-kudos to you sir, I salute you!!

Humbly,
Thomas

 

[pclausen]

I got my new top link and will be installing it over the weekend. The eyes are much beefed up over the original version as seen in these shots.

Brian even included one longer hydraulic hose since one of the ones I ordered originally was a little to short. This was after he asked if I was sure I wanted to shorter ones, and I said yes instead of taking his advice on getting a slightly longer one.

Brian is truly a stand up guy!

 

[lostcreekranch]

Brian;

I have just recently started looking at hydraulic top links for our two tractors and your handling of this failure helped me make up my mind. Will be placing order for a Class 1 for our Kubota B2710 in a few days after I sort out getting a remote on back for it and determine hose lengths.

Will be needing a Class 2 for our NH TL-100A soon after that.

Thanks for being a standup vendor. Wish we could find more like you out there!

 

[boggen]

bumps, 3pt hitch, tractor that has no suspension. and something on the 3pt hitch, do not mix.

if the implement itself is bouncing up and down, more than tractor. (3pt hitch is loose) and there is play within the 3pt hitch. ya going to be breaking something sooner or later. more so if all the weight of 3pt hitch equipment is applied to the 3pt hitch, and there are no transport wheels on the equipment itself.

they make "stay straps" just metal bars. with some holes in it. and attach some place little above the PTO shaft normally, and then angle out and down to each lower lift arms. and either connect at the 3pt hitch pin to 3pt hitch equipment or just before the pin that connects to 3pt hitch equipment.

the stay straps. are solid metal. and do as name applies. act like a rigid bar. to reduce any sort of play within the 3pt hitch. and make sure the 3pt hitch stays lifted up.

============
what does securing the lower lift arms so they do not move, compared to the top link that broke. a lot. the lower lift arms are were a huge amount of play and bounce can happen. heck play and looseness of a 3pt hitch is basically built into it on purpose. and stay straps, are the item, used on 3pt hitches for transporting 3pt hitch equipment.

 

[pclausen]

I do tend to put a lot of stress on my equipment. Here are some shots if what I had hooked up the days before this failure.

 

[Herkypilot]

Ok, I'll say it - some guys have all the great toys.

 

[Zebrafive]

I got my new top link and will be installing it over the weekend. The eyes are much beefed up over the original version as seen in these shots.

Brian even included one longer hydraulic hose since one of the ones I ordered originally was a little to short. This was after he asked if I was sure I wanted to shorter ones, and I said yes instead of taking his advice on getting a slightly longer one.

Brian is truly a stand up guy!

Thanks for posting the pictures of the new TL compared to the old.
What is the OD of the new forging?
I see the new cylinder now has side ports. Was this a request too?