LS Frame Issue Video

[hutchman]

Add another one to the list. Mine was purchased in 2012 and is approx. 700 off the serial/chassis number of the one depicted in Manguss' picture.
I have 303 hrs on it and don't believe it has been abused. The dealership I purchased it from no longer sells LS tractors and the only new dealer in the province started in may of this year and IMO are not yet up to speed. They only order in parts as needed and don't tell you that they add extra to your previous quote for shipping until you drive an hour to pick them up. I didn't complain but the next time I needed to order parts
( brackets for the anti sway assembly) I ordered them from Iowa farm equipment who ships for free to a parcel service in North Dakota. Same price ( after dollar exchange) and its cheaper to drive the car( but not the truck LOL) there to pick them up than what they charged me for shipping here.
I have been unable to talk to anyone here who knows of this issue and the only distributors' page I can find in Canada is in Quebec and Je suis desolee Je n'est parle pas francais. I sent an email to ls tractor usa on Thursday but they hadn't replied by Friday so I guess it's phone calls on Monday. I wish I had the dealer support here that some of you appear to have down there. I know my warranty on the frame is up as its 2 years on it so I am not very hopeful but I will see what they have to say. I don't want to have to pay for it and if I do I think I'll just gouge out the crack have it welded and ground flush and weld a fish plate onto it. I also think that I shouldn't have to pay for it. LS appears to have known that there was issues prior to peoples 2 year bumper to bumper warranty expiring and did not take the proper action by issuing a recall. I know that I was annoyed when I had a car and a boat recalled but at least the manufacturer in those cases did the right thing and recalled them all rather than just fixing them on a case by case problem as the defects popped up. Sorry for the rant but I have work I need to get done before the greenback run happens. I can't go fishing if my work isn't done LOL

Call LS. Hopefully they will take care of you and put you in touch with a dealer to do your repairs.

If you don't get any satisfaction ... here are pictures of the reinforcing plate in case you have to take matters into your own hands (get a welding or machine shop to make parts if they are too hard to find/get or cost too much $$$):

Inside view:


Outside view:


View from top:


... if you look back in this thread at the picture of the crack in the frame, you will see a single bolt hole about 5 inches in front of where the original FEL mounts ends ... that's how far forward the reinforcing kit on the FEL extends. Looks like the fix is to extend the FEL mount to be forward of that horizontal cross member weld in the frame.

 

[clan de boye]

Well I phoned north carolina today. After being transferred a couple of times I ended up with the technical services department. They told me to talk to my dealer. I repeated that my dealer no longer sells ls tractors and that is why I was calling them. I asked if they had issued a technical services bulletin about this issue. They wouldn't give me a straight yes or no answer. They told me to talk to my dealer, repeated I don't have one anymore. I asked what size reinforcing bracket I should weld on thickness length etc.. Talk to your dealer and see what they will do for you. I'm pretty sure I don't stutter lol but there was obviously a failure to communicate. The conversation essentially ended with we'll have a dealer call you.
Customer satisfaction sinking fast LOL.
btw thanks for the pictures, I just wanted to hear it from them, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. The whole conversation was like dealing with a provincial government department.

 

[hutchman]

Use the web site to see if they have another dealer any where close to you:
Search results

 

[DK35vince]

Well I phoned north carolina today. After being transferred a couple of times I ended up with the technical services department. They told me to talk to my dealer. I repeated that my dealer no longer sells ls tractors and that is why I was calling them. I asked if they had issued a technical services bulletin about this issue. They wouldn't give me a straight yes or no answer. They told me to talk to my dealer, repeated I don't have one anymore. I asked what size reinforcing bracket I should weld on thickness length etc.. Talk to your dealer and see what they will do for you. I'm pretty sure I don't stutter lol but there was obviously a failure to communicate. The conversation essentially ended with we'll have a dealer call you.
Customer satisfaction sinking fast LOL.
btw thanks for the pictures, I just wanted to hear it from them, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. The whole conversation was like dealing with a provincial government department.

I guessing you would have gotten the same response from most all tractor brands service dept. "Talk to your dealer"

 

[clan de boye]

As I mentioned the dealer I purchased it from no longer sells them. the new dealer in the province didn't make a profit when I bought it so what is their interest in helping me other than to make a profit from repairs? Straight up. THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. LS tractor obviously was/is aware of the problem as this thread states that they did do upgrades on the 3039 to prevent this issue from reoccurring on the later ones they sold. If they did that, then why didn't they issue a recall on the ones already sold with this existing issue? If they were putting in the upgrades they can't say they weren't aware.
I am aware that the bumper to bumper is over by a year. I accept that I may be hooped. What I want from them is quite clear. What quality steel what dimension in precisely what location. "Talk to your local dealer" when they know that the dealer I bought it from is no longer selling them is unacceptable.
Simple common courtesy from the head office technical services office should simply be. this grade of steel, this thick, this wide, this long extending this far from either side of the crack by the weld where the fault occurred. Apparently customer service/satisfaction does not extend that far. I called them for clarity not obfuscation. I truly don't expect them to declare mea culpa and fall on their swords. What I do want and expected at the very least was for them to say gee too bad but here is how the fix works.
The (former) dealer I bought the thing from was sued (successfully) by a co-workers son in law over warranty issues on his 3039 that weren't fixed to his satisfaction. His son in law told me I should unload mine and I replied with other than a few issues I viewed as minor I was happy with mine. As you can tell I am obviously not very happy now. If I believe that I was treated unfairly at a business I make my concerns known. If they do not make it right, I usually just take my business elsewhere. That obviously is my intention here. If LS didn't do the right thing and knowingly, wilfully and deliberately let the issue slide until peoples warranty expired then my only response to that can be, fine, but I will not let a business/dealer profit from me due to their business association with a manufacturer who in my mind is responsible for the situation in the first place.
Having said all this I should probably of said nothing and just got it fixed so it doesn't affect the resale value if I decide that I can afford to eat the loss and trade it on something green or orange or red anything but blue LOL BTW Anyone here know what the trade in value for a lightly used MINT condition 3039H with 303 hrs would be LOL

 

[hutchman]

As I mentioned the dealer I purchased it from no longer sells them. the new dealer in the province didn't make a profit when I bought it so what is their interest in helping me other than to make a profit from repairs? Straight up. THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. LS tractor obviously was/is aware of the problem as this thread states that they did do upgrades on the 3039 to prevent this issue from reoccurring on the later ones they sold. If they did that, then why didn't they issue a recall on the ones already sold with this existing issue? If they were putting in the upgrades they can't say they weren't aware.
I am aware that the bumper to bumper is over by a year. I accept that I may be hooped. What I want from them is quite clear. What quality steel what dimension in precisely what location. "Talk to your local dealer" when they know that the dealer I bought it from is no longer selling them is unacceptable.
Simple common courtesy from the head office technical services office should simply be. this grade of steel, this thick, this wide, this long extending this far from either side of the crack by the weld where the fault occurred. Apparently customer service/satisfaction does not extend that far. I called them for clarity not obfuscation. I truly don't expect them to declare mea culpa and fall on their swords. What I do want and expected at the very least was for them to say gee too bad but here is how the fix works.
The (former) dealer I bought the thing from was sued (successfully) by a co-workers son in law over warranty issues on his 3039 that weren't fixed to his satisfaction. His son in law told me I should unload mine and I replied with other than a few issues I viewed as minor I was happy with mine. As you can tell I am obviously not very happy now. If I believe that I was treated unfairly at a business I make my concerns known. If they do not make it right, I usually just take my business elsewhere. That obviously is my intention here. If LS didn't do the right thing and knowingly, wilfully and deliberately let the issue slide until peoples warranty expired then my only response to that can be, fine, but I will not let a business/dealer profit from me due to their business association with a manufacturer who in my mind is responsible for the situation in the first place.
Having said all this I should probably of said nothing and just got it fixed so it doesn't affect the resale value if I decide that I can afford to eat the loss and trade it on something green or orange or red anything but blue LOL BTW Anyone here know what the trade in value for a lightly used MINT condition 3039H with 303 hrs would be LOL

I bought my tractor used sight unseen (only saw some pictures) from a dealer two states away and discovered this problem as I was going over the tractor a few weeks after they delivered it. Mine (a 2011) was out of the general warranty too. The dealer that fixed it didn't get any money from me. It's just like with car dealerships ... if you move to another state (province I guess in your case) and your car is under warranty, you go to the dealer near you. Companies pay dealers for warranty work. Your best bet is to talk to whatever dealer is closest to you so they can get the process started with LS USA.

I was like the 3rd person on here to have the problem. When I took my tractor off to get it fixed I really didn't know what all they were going to do to it. I just knew they were going to cover it and fix it.

 

[TSO]

You could also check with a NH or Case dealer, it has been said that LS will authorize repairs under certain conditions.

 

[hutchman]

Verdict is in....

They picked up my tractor early yestarday - sadly it sat on their lot all day, and didnt go in the shop until this morning :confused2: bummed, since I could have used it!

Anyway, they delivered it back tonight about 4:30!

When I stopped in yesterday afternoon to check on it, I was able to skim some more info. Seems my tractor had the latest frame design upgrade already. Not good since I managed to break it! But he said the new loader brackets should solve the issue. He said (and is evident from what I see now) that they bolt the new brackets in place, then tack weld them to the existing loader frame. Remove entire loader frame, and weld it properly. (see pictures).

Now - my service guy agrees with my concept, that its likely there was something metallurgical wrong with the original frame. Something that was maybe a 'bad batch' issue. He said he has only see one other 'new' frame broken, and it was exactly the same as mine, crack starting right at the edge of the weld like that. From what I understood, the older frames exhibited a different break....

View attachment 382147 View attachment 382146 View attachment 382145

I just noticed something in these pictures I didn't see the first time ... the bolts are grade 10.9 (basically grade 8). The bolts they put in mine match the other frame bolts going into the engine block which are all 8.8 type bolts. I think the max torque on those 8.8 bolts is around 60 ft. lbs.

 

[hutchman]

View attachment 382932View attachment 382933 It appears that the one I just purchased has had the same procedure done to it. I hope the pictures come out.

I was comparing to the pictures of magnus580. I think like some one else mentioned the loader puts a lot of stress on that area and it needs beefing up. Now that I am looking closer, it looks like mine is a little different. But same idea. I am confident the redesign/ repair will resolve the problem.

Also I know it is a frame, but to me it is about 1/4 flat stock tying the front end together as a reinforcement. Some tractors don't have that and there is no frame / reinforcement, just the components bolted together. But I am no expert.

My feeling is it was a design flaw and the redesign of the loader brackets will solve the problem however I am going to be watching this closely.

... Hmm, this one also has 10.9 bolts. I wonder if the torque spec was changed too ...

 

[hutchman]

Can someone verify the reinforcing kit bolts are 10.9 grade and is the torque 76 ft. Lbs.?

For obvious reasons, I don't want to ask my dealer (who used 8.8 grade bolts at 55 ft. lbs.) who did my repair.

I'm afraid to switch to 10.9 grade bolts and that torque without knowing that's the latest spec. Don't want strip the casting.