50 hour service ALMOST turns disastrous!

[HawkinsHollow]

So I was doing my 50 hour service yesterday and decided I would be smart and use about 6" of 1/2" id tubing attached to the end of my funnel to make getting the funnel in a more desirable position to pour my engine oil and hydtrans fluid. Worked great for engine oil. As I went to put tube in filler hole in rear diff to fill hydraulic reservoir the tube slipped off of the funnel and fell COMPLETELY into my rear diff, disappearing! :banghead: I didn't panic though, I ran to my nearest harbor fright and bought one of those cameras that allow you to look into small spaces. Proved to be harder to use in such a tight spot than I thought, but eventually got a visual on it. I used one of those claw reachy things to grab small parts and I LUCKILY grabbed the end of it and was able to pull it towards the hole. Once there I used a big forceps to grab and clamp it and got it out of the hole, averting disaster.:cool2::drink:

Moral of the story, be VERY careful what you put in and around the fluid fill holes on your tractor. Thank you and have a nice day!

 

[Avenger]

Yep. Those claw reachy things are wonderful!

Disaster averted

 

[hunt4570]

YEOWZA!! Nice recovery!!

 

[searcyfarms]

i bet you are VERY careful next time not to drop that sucker like i am when i do something like that, it only takes once for me - most of the time ;-)

 

[Wagtail]

Good stuff!

And you've now got two very 'handy to have' tools in your arsenal... I bought an inspection camera to look down into my tractor's fuel tank (yes, there was a biological growth in there), however I'm sure that there'll come a time that I'll need it again.

The same for the long shafted mechanical 'grabber'. I used it to clean/wipe the biological growth out of the tank (after I'd killed the growth with biocide).

So both tools are waiting for the next "Murphy's Law" situation. :thumbsup:

 

[4get gto]

Wonder if there's a shady mechanic out there that would have put the lid back on and said all finished...!

Thankfully you got it out..... :thumbsup:

 

[dalola]

Wow, I do believe I would have shat my pants had that happened to me! I congratulate you on your poise. :drink:

 

[Jim Nelson]

Harbor Freight also sells a large assortment of funnels and last time I looked one has a long,10"-12"flex spout on it.Mine sure has saved me a lot of spilled oil and mishaps like you had.

I just checked and they do not show the funnel I have on their web site but I've found that quite often individual stores will have items not listed on the site.

 

[s219]

Lots of stories here on TBN about people dropping spouts into their fuel tanks when fueling up their tractor. Generally harmless but hope it doesn't block the fuel flow!

The other thing to be careful about are the foil seals on the top of fuel additive bottles and other types of fluids. I've had a couple close calls with those and now remove them thoroughly and far away from any fill holes on equipment.

 

[WranglerX]

D.