Hi all. My dad has a '90 Ford 1520 (1st hand owner) with HST and FEL. I don't know the hours by memory, but I know that it has relatively low hours for it's age.
While coming back from splitting some wood at the neigbhour's place late in the evening he forgot to drop down to medium from high gear before climbing the steep hill leading to his place. My dad tends to run the machine at lower RPMs when moving from one place to another and the engine started to lug down while on the hill. The splitter he has is pretty hefty and was attached to the 3-point. He tried giving more throttle, but to no avail and the tractor started to roll backwards down the hill. The brakes did not help in stopping or slowing the tractor and he ended up hitting a tree with the splitter and finally, the right rear wheel.
At that point, he was able to switch gears and move forward. After parking it, he noticed a crack in the right rear axle housing and low Hydraulic fluid. The low fluid is not uncommon after splitting since the piston on the splitter tends to leak quite a bit under use so I'm not sure if it's related to the crack.
The thing is that there was rust along the crack which could mean that it was already there (at least in the form of a fissure) and when the dealer came to pick it up for repair, the fellow said that he's seen cracked axles before and that somethign like dropping a full FEL bucket on a hard surface can cause it.
Does that last statement make sense? Have any of you seen cracked rear axles on this series before?
My other question is about the brakes: Is it normal that they did not help in stopping or slowing the tractor? I realize that they are oil brakes, but still seems like they should have helped a little here.
Thanks for your feedback.
While coming back from splitting some wood at the neigbhour's place late in the evening he forgot to drop down to medium from high gear before climbing the steep hill leading to his place. My dad tends to run the machine at lower RPMs when moving from one place to another and the engine started to lug down while on the hill. The splitter he has is pretty hefty and was attached to the 3-point. He tried giving more throttle, but to no avail and the tractor started to roll backwards down the hill. The brakes did not help in stopping or slowing the tractor and he ended up hitting a tree with the splitter and finally, the right rear wheel.
At that point, he was able to switch gears and move forward. After parking it, he noticed a crack in the right rear axle housing and low Hydraulic fluid. The low fluid is not uncommon after splitting since the piston on the splitter tends to leak quite a bit under use so I'm not sure if it's related to the crack.
The thing is that there was rust along the crack which could mean that it was already there (at least in the form of a fissure) and when the dealer came to pick it up for repair, the fellow said that he's seen cracked axles before and that somethign like dropping a full FEL bucket on a hard surface can cause it.
Does that last statement make sense? Have any of you seen cracked rear axles on this series before?
My other question is about the brakes: Is it normal that they did not help in stopping or slowing the tractor? I realize that they are oil brakes, but still seems like they should have helped a little here.
Thanks for your feedback.
