What do I do with this 8 month old John Deere tractor and loader

[Lakeport]

I purchased this John Deere 4052R tractor last August, pretty much fully loaded including aux hydraulic ports front and rear. It is always stored inside in a heated building, but I do take it outside to use it to feed hay to the cows and move some things around with the pallet forks. It is a backup tractor to a John Deere 4600, which has served me well over the years and has been pretty reliable. I purchased the new tractor because the front loader attachments are the same, and I'm familiar with the operation of the tractor (HST transmission) and don't have to adapt to a different way of operating the new tractor. However, the paint on the new tractor, especially the front loader, is probably the worst quality I've ever seen on something. Even my cheap China hose storage reel has a better quality paint job than this tractor. Paint is literally flaking off of many areas of the loader. I contacted the dealer and sent photos, and they say that Deere is refusing to honor any warranty for this, calling the problem "environmental conditions". Add this to the other issues that they tractor has and I'm extremely upset. Any suggestions how I elevate this issue to get them to address this under warranty?

 

[Slackdaddy]

That is bad paint from the factory,, I have a tractor I bought new in 2008 that has sat outside for 1/2 of those 11 years what nothing even close to that.
Sad that JD will not warrant their products,, This is OBVIOUSLY a problem from the factory wonder what they will say if the engine or HST has problems??

 

[5030]

Trade it in on a Kubota.....lol Actually, looks like poor paint and metal prep to me but then modern top coats are very brittle anyway. You can thank the EPA for that. Looks terrible but then it is a tractor, not a Ferrari.

Good luck with getting it repaired. I'd think the repair (if any) would be less durable than the OEM topcoat.

 

[5030]

That is bad paint from the factory,, I have a tractor I bought new in 2008 that has sat outside for 1/2 of those 11 years what nothing even close to that.
Sad that JD will not warrant their products,, This is OBVIOUSLY a problem from the factory wonder what they will say if the engine or HST has problems??

Mechanical and cosmetic are 2 different animals entirely.

 

[Jchonline]

Keep pushing them. You deserve new paint.

 

[bullbreaker]

Lakeport :welcome: to TBN ! I'd be pizzed . Please keep us posted how this plays out .

 

[shovelmike]

Keep pushing them. You deserve new paint.

Inexcusable, make them repaint it. It's idiocy if they won't back it up, what little it would cost them compared to what they spend on advertising.

 

[crazyal]

It's never going to stop rusting until it's properly had the rust removed and correctly painted. If Deere doesn't want to do this I would sue both the dealer and Deere. They have no problems charging a premium price so the least they can do is stand behind their products. The local Deere dealership here has been great to me. Any problem I've had they gladly taken it in and repaired it under warranty even though I didn't buy it from them.

When I bought my X500 it was just under a year old used but still had lots of warranty left on it. The seat had a tear in it like the vinyl coating was too tin in one spot. I bought it from a different dealer who said nothing about the seat being covered under warranty but the local dealer said they would replace it but recommended I wait until the warranty was almost up. A few months ago I brought it down to them and they went through everything and anything that looked like it was defective they replaced. When I replace it I will buy from them. I think your dealer just doesn't want to mess with it. Sad that some dealers are great while others are not.

 

[Deere Dude]

It is a tractor attachment. Just wire brush it off, put Rustoleum rust reformer and then JD green paint. It is just in a couple spots anyway. Nobody will ever repaint the whole thing for you anyway so I wouldn't worry much about it.

 

[jeff9366]

Inexcusable, make them repaint it. It's idiocy if they won't back it up, what little it would cost them compared to what they spend on advertising.

I toured the Waterloo, Iowa plant where Deere assembles its 400+ horsepower tractors last summer. The paint segment was most interesting. Deere puts a 170,000 volt (+) charge on the tractor component being painted and a (-) charge on the paint. The paint spray almost leaps onto the part. Almost no accumulated paint on the floor. No drips. Quite interesting.

I will hazard a guess that poorly painted Loader is a Deere import from a factory, perhaps a Deere factory, without a sophisticated paint facility. Probably will not be possible to repaint Loader satisfactorily. Inexcusable that a poorly painted Loader was supplied on a new tractor.

 

[mcfarmall]

Bummer. Touch it up and move on. In my opinion it's not a hill worth dying over.

 

[Blue14]

Years ago I had something similar on a Kubota Grand L 4310 HST Cab paint peeled off in big strips on the inside back wall of the bucket on the loader and underneath where it peeled was all rust tractor was ordered new from the dealer and was always stored inside when not being used.

 

[Lakeport]

Trade it in on a Kubota.....lol Actually, looks like poor paint and metal prep to me but then modern top coats are very brittle anyway. You can thank the EPA for that. Looks terrible but then it is a tractor, not a Ferrari.

Good luck with getting it repaired. I'd think the repair (if any) would be less durable than the OEM topcoat.

I considered the Kubota, even though I'd need all new front loader attachments, but the deciding factor was due to the familiarity I have with operating my Deere 4600 and the similarity with the new one, especially the hydrostatic. We have a herd of over 150 cattle, and I feed a lot of round bales, which means I also load, unload, and store a lot of round bales, so it's a lot of forward and reverse operation. The single pedal of the Kubota would be too drastic of a change for me to switch between the two tractors as I do.

The new tractor also has a very uncomfortable cab. My one leg hits the parking brake and the other leg hits the sharp edge of the joystick lock. My steering column has a lot of slop in it, probably some loose bolts somewhere, and it seems that after I've been working it for a few hours with fairly heavy load, it has no power in reverse. And even worse, the front end loader has a lot of drift, so even without a load on it the loader drops about 1/2" every 15 seconds or so. I saw a post here that there is a valve problem and Deere is aware of it so hopefully there will be a solution to that, but given how poor the response has been from Deere I'm not optimistic. The loader drift is a big problem for me because as I'm feeding hay and have to unwrap the bales the loader drops so fast I can't complete the task without climbing back into the tractor to raise it up again.

I have a lot of background regarding paint and powder coating, and there is no excuse for the poor quality of the paint. The metal wasn't pre-treated properly, and frankly, when you have equipment like this the material should ideally be e-coated, or at least primed, rather than just running bare metal through the powder coat line. E-coat is very environmentally friendly, and there are lots of primers available for powder coating bare metal. If I have to repaint it myself, I can assure you it will be more durable than the OEM topcoat, and seriously consider retaining an attorney to sue the dealer and Deere if they don't take care of all of these issues.

 

[Lakeport]

It's all over the front loader. The photos are just a sample of the areas that are flaking off. It would be a constant job every couple of months touching up areas. In my opinion, the entire loader needs to be properly prepped and painted . I'm just wondering if other owners have had similar issues?

 

[Ortimber]

It's never going to stop rusting until it's properly had the rust removed and correctly painted. If Deere doesn't want to do this I would sue both the dealer and Deere. They have no problems charging a premium price so the least they can do is stand behind their products. The local Deere dealership here has been great to me. Any problem I've had they gladly taken it in and repaired it under warranty even though I didn't buy it from them.

When I bought my X500 it was just under a year old used but still had lots of warranty left on it. The seat had a tear in it like the vinyl coating was too tin in one spot. I bought it from a different dealer who said nothing about the seat being covered under warranty but the local dealer said they would replace it but recommended I wait until the warranty was almost up. A few months ago I brought it down to them and they went through everything and anything that looked like it was defective they replaced. When I replace it I will buy from them. I think your dealer just doesn't want to mess with it. Sad that some dealers are great while others are not.

You would start a lawsuit with John Deere over paint chips on a loader frame?? You and I are cut from different cloth.

 

[Lakeport]

The photos are just a sample of the paint peeling from the loader frame. As I said, the tractor is stored inside in a heated building unless I'm using it. I will definitely sue if they don't address the issue, and the paint peeling is not the only issue. Obviously my dealer isn't very responsive either, but there isn't a lot of competition here.

 

[fried1765]

You would start a lawsuit with John Deere over paint chips on a loader frame?? You and I are cut from different cloth.

I ABSOLUTELY WOULD sue over "paint chips"
That is one he11 of a lot more than just "paint chips"!
It needs to be documented that both the dealer and JD, refused to remedy the paint issue.

If I were the OP I would then take the loader to the best/most expensive paint shop I could find.
Have the loader sandblasted, etched, primed, and painted with the best epoxy paint available.

I would then file suit (within the warranty period if possible) for the repair cost, in small claims court, against JD and the dealer.
If nobody shows up to defend, a judgement will automatically be issued in your favor.

 

[Ortimber]

It's all over the front loader. The photos are just a sample of the areas that are flaking off. It would be a constant job every couple of months touching up areas. In my opinion, the entire loader needs to be properly prepped and painted . I'm just wondering if other owners have had similar issues?

I have a 4052R and the paint is good on it. My bigger tractor, a 5100M, does have some paint issues like your tractor. I just prep and touch up as necessary.

 

[radios1]

It's all over the front loader. The photos are just a sample of the areas that are flaking off. It would be a constant job every couple of months touching up areas. In my opinion, the entire loader needs to be properly prepped and painted . I'm just wondering if other owners have had similar issues?

it's been going on since at least 2007. you'd figure they fix the problem, but NO!.. John Deere tractor paint peeling - Google Search

 

[3Ts]

I ABSOLUTELY WOULD sue over "paint chips"
That is one he11 of a lot more than just "paint chips"!
It needs to be documented that both the dealer and JD, refused to remedy the paint issue.

If I were the OP I would then take the loader to the best/most expensive paint shop I could find.
Have the loader sandblasted, etched, primed, and painted with the best epoxy paint available.

I would then file suit (within the warranty period if possible) for the repair cost, in small claims court, against JD and the dealer.
If nobody shows up to defend, a judgement will automatically be issued in your favor.

So you've won the judgement, now what. You still don't have any reimbursement of your expenses. Now you have to go to court again, at what point does the cost of attorneys exceed the cost of the repair? And attorney costs are not always paid by the losing party.