Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,615
Well to some of you this might not qualify as much of a problem, but this is really the first issue with my TC.
Sunday I filled up the tank with fuel, hooked up the JD 71 Flexi planter and finished planting the sweet corn. Mowed a small part of the yard. Moved branches to the burn pile. Did a few other odds and ends. Parked the tractor and took the day of Monday to be with the family.
So today a college kid (and his 2 assistants) I hired shows up to tear up the sod in my back yard with a sod cutter to prepare it for a new Japanese inspired garden. He grew up on a farm, drove tractors all his life, I left the TC for him to use ot haul the sod to the compost pile. He and I went through everything, safety interlocks, operating, etc last week. So off I go to my office. An hour later he starts up the tractor, drives to my back gate and the tractor sucks the fuel tank dry while it is exactly in the middle of the open gate. Fuel tank is reading FULL.
On the cell phone I try to talk him through everything, I figured as he was coming down the hill to the gate the leaned forward and the safety switch cut the engine. I hear the engine cranking over the cell phone. Can't be a safety interlock because they disengage the starter. I can't just tell him to fire up the other tractor for 2 reasons. . . 1st, the bigger tractor won't fit through the gate. . . 2nd, this tractor is stopped in the gate!
I leave work, come home and find him and his 2 assistants and my little tractor stopped in the middle of the gate. Can't push it back because that is UP HILL. Can't push it forward because they had dug a nice hole in front of it for a fountain. Hmm. Fuel guage is reading FULL. The clearance on either side of the tractor is 2" to either gate post.
Silly me, I take the fuel cap off and look inside. NOTHING. Not a drop. Guage is reading FULL.
Into the garage for some fuel. Spare tank is 1/4 full. So there is a bit over a gallon of fuel in the tank. So now I have Larry, Moe & Curley trying to help me as I try to get between the tractor and the gate to lift the hood, take off the side panel and see about bleeding the fuel line. Never done that before on a tractor with a loader, let alone a tractor with a loader stuck in a gate, while wearing my best dress Hawaiian shirt, finest Top Sider boat shoes and crisply ironed khaki slacks. Fortunately the little Craftsman 1/4" drive socket set fit in the small area and I had the nut undone to bleed out the air. It started without having to undo the injectors too.
But now I guess I better watch my fuel a little better. And call my dealer as my warrenty is about to run out and I'd like to get the fuel gauge fixed under warrenty.
Sunday I filled up the tank with fuel, hooked up the JD 71 Flexi planter and finished planting the sweet corn. Mowed a small part of the yard. Moved branches to the burn pile. Did a few other odds and ends. Parked the tractor and took the day of Monday to be with the family.
So today a college kid (and his 2 assistants) I hired shows up to tear up the sod in my back yard with a sod cutter to prepare it for a new Japanese inspired garden. He grew up on a farm, drove tractors all his life, I left the TC for him to use ot haul the sod to the compost pile. He and I went through everything, safety interlocks, operating, etc last week. So off I go to my office. An hour later he starts up the tractor, drives to my back gate and the tractor sucks the fuel tank dry while it is exactly in the middle of the open gate. Fuel tank is reading FULL.
On the cell phone I try to talk him through everything, I figured as he was coming down the hill to the gate the leaned forward and the safety switch cut the engine. I hear the engine cranking over the cell phone. Can't be a safety interlock because they disengage the starter. I can't just tell him to fire up the other tractor for 2 reasons. . . 1st, the bigger tractor won't fit through the gate. . . 2nd, this tractor is stopped in the gate!
I leave work, come home and find him and his 2 assistants and my little tractor stopped in the middle of the gate. Can't push it back because that is UP HILL. Can't push it forward because they had dug a nice hole in front of it for a fountain. Hmm. Fuel guage is reading FULL. The clearance on either side of the tractor is 2" to either gate post.
Silly me, I take the fuel cap off and look inside. NOTHING. Not a drop. Guage is reading FULL.
Into the garage for some fuel. Spare tank is 1/4 full. So there is a bit over a gallon of fuel in the tank. So now I have Larry, Moe & Curley trying to help me as I try to get between the tractor and the gate to lift the hood, take off the side panel and see about bleeding the fuel line. Never done that before on a tractor with a loader, let alone a tractor with a loader stuck in a gate, while wearing my best dress Hawaiian shirt, finest Top Sider boat shoes and crisply ironed khaki slacks. Fortunately the little Craftsman 1/4" drive socket set fit in the small area and I had the nut undone to bleed out the air. It started without having to undo the injectors too.
But now I guess I better watch my fuel a little better. And call my dealer as my warrenty is about to run out and I'd like to get the fuel gauge fixed under warrenty.
