Anyone servicing a 4540/4550 or any Mahindra Owners feel free to chime in...

[BigRed4540]

Ok I wanted to write this up partially to inform others as well as to vent a bit with this experience. First as a Disclaimer, I have had no problems out of my Mahindra for the 50hr I have owned it. I have been used to running various JD compacts and the main thing I realized about this tractor is just how outdated and just plain John Wayne this tractor is (not necessarily a bad thing). It shifts hard, has squealing dry brake drums, slow hydraulics, and very simple crude operating characteristics. But, it can plain get some work done and pulls like a mule and I thought seems to be a heavy built machine for the $$.

I just reached 50 hrs on my 2021 4540 4WD with FEL and called the dealer about the $50 hr service. HOLY CRAP $800 to do the FIRST PM! So I got out the manual and hit the internet to get all the info to do this myself. And wow, do I wish I knew then what I know now!!

I first started down the road to cross the filters to WIX Part numbers (get some high quality filters right, WRONG), save yourself the time and don't listen to what others say on the forums about WIX numbers I have yet to find a filter matching the Gasket size and correct length for Fuel, Oil, or Hydro. These filters are all weird metric 20x1.5mm or 40x1.5mm Threads that seem to be really hard to source. Ended up ordering the full Mahindra service kit off amazon. $162

Amazon.com: FILTER ECONOMY PACK of 6 MAHINDRA 4540 4550 006000455F1 006000456F1 001081778R93 006018618D1 006017310B1 000013427P04 : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Buy FILTER ECONOMY PACK of 6 MAHINDRA 4540 4550 006000455F1 006000456F1 001081778R93 006018618D1 006017310B1 000013427P04: Tractors - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

This kit contains more than is required for the 50hr service but I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and change them all to catch any manufacturing debris in the systems.

First the Oil and Filter..... Dropped the engine oil no problem 24mm plug (typical dark black oil, a bit of a metallic sheen) The filter was another story, my standard strap wrench wouldn't budge it! Drove a screwdriver through it and nearly destroyed it. Finally ordered and waited three days for a special channel-lok style filter wrench and ended up chipping all the paint off around the filter housing to get the filter off. I presume it was painted after being installed way to tight. Since the old filter was pretty much destroyed I went ahead and opened it up and found a moderate level of metal shavings in the pleats of the filter, seemed normal for a brand new engine? Replaced with the new red Mahindra filter and topped off with Mobil Delvac 15w-40. Whew, one step done!

Next the Hydraulic strainer... let me tell you this is a HORRIBLE ANTIQUATED DESIGN.... the strainer lives along the suction line coming out of the rear of the transmission down against the ground (Right side) behind the loader support arm with two Allen key bolts holding in the filter screen plate. This thing was a PAIN to get the little 4" long rubber hose (Has also been painted over) off with two worm clamps on the suction line going up to the filter. I ended up loosening the mounting bolts on the filter housing and bending the suction line outward to allow clearance to get the screen out after sliding the rubber hose and clamps back up the line with some silicone spray. Also, I lost over 2 gallons of fluid in the process. Just PSA there was a pretty significant amount of metal shavings in the strainer, I cleaned it out with a small brush and brakleen and re-installed painfully the way it came out... the pain continues...

On to the Hydraulic Filter ..... also a **** show..... The housing had once again been painted with the filter installed already, you also cannot get behind it to chip all the pain off against the transmission....so brute force with my Channel-Lok filter wrench once again concerned I was going to snap the housing mounting brackets and it finally broke loose. Lost around another gallon of fluid in this process. Prepared the new filter filled with fluid and IT WOULD NOT THREAD UP TO THE GASKET! I thought really.... so I took the old filter and tried to reinstall it, it did the same... The filter would start and thread easily until the gasket was about 1/8" from making contact with the housing and would get very difficult to turn. I am still not sure what caused this..... So a re-installed the new one (all the threads looked fine on the filter and housing) so I forced it all the way up to where I thought it was tight on the gasket. HOW WRONG WAS I....see below when I crank it up later!!


Fuel Filters next.... the pre-filter I have yet to get off... there is no room to get the channel-lok wrench on it and I gouged the housing all up with the strap wrench with no luck so it will have to wait I guess (any opinions are welcome). The secondary filter / water separator was a breeze, the Kit from amazon came with a BOSCH filter with foreign writing all over (imagine that) it fit perfectly and the old one came off easy, changed out the sensor, filled with fuel and done.

So after all this I thought might as well check the front diff and grease all the fittings in the manual. So first off the left front axle fluid was not even touching the dipstick I am assuming from factory fill, I guess the dealer didn't check when I purchased in Oct? Right side was low, so another day later and trip to Autozone for 80w-90 got both sides topped off and hopefully there is no damage from having low fluid... Next already have a grease fitting failing on the front axle yolk, it will not hold grease it just shoots back out the fitting when you pump it in at pressure... yay.

So after an entire week of evenings after work wasted, everything is topped off and ready to run so I thought. Had to pump and pump on the hand primer to get the tractor to crank for like 5 mins. After everything was running and warm I rechecked the hydro fluid and it was good. Went to go drive it out of the shop and bam no power steering.... So Im like there must be air in the lines? I had removed the FEL before the service for better access and just introduced air from the filter change, but all the other tractors I have worked on have quickly recovered and pulled the fluid up through the pump. So again I googled and googled about this older design and found some information about a similarly designed Case/IH system a guy was working on and said to take a rag and air hose and lightly pressurize the transmission fill hole and it will force the fluid up and through the filter and suction line to the pump... Did just that and fluid came gushing out from around the filter.... apparently the immensely tight filter was not tight enough!! So I cut everything off, removed the filter again and just could not get it tight enough like it was in a bind, finally after bending the housing outward from the transmission the top lip of the filter was rubbing quite heavily against the transmission casting causing the problem. So again had to loosen the housing bracket get the filter tight to make the seal and re-tighten the bolts. WHAT A PITA!!! Fired the tractor up, pressurized the trans-fill hole and wallah-steering and loader works again.

Guys, I really want to like this tractor and give a good report on my Mahindra but it is becoming harder and harder. Every JD I have ever worked on was like a Mercedes compared to this geo metro of a tractor. I am really reaching a breaking point at only 50 hrs on this machine, trade in value is.... less than desirable. Selling to an individual will also be difficult. I knew going into this it was not going to be an R series JD, but it really is beginning to let me down with build quality and apparent difficulty of maintaining. The tractor is heavy and strong, but man it sure lacks in so many places JD excels. This thing just is not instilling confidence at this point.

Please someone chime in and give me some hope I did not buy a $30k piece of garbage and need to sell at a loss and buy a 4044R....

 

[kneedeep]

Might have been worth the $800 to have the dealer do all of that??

 

[Woodstock Walt]

I have to agree with pretty much all of your observations. The 50 hr. service on my 4540 was a b****.

Only thing I did differently was lightly grind the block on the hydraulic suction line, and lightly grind the ring of the new filter for adequate clearance before reinstallation. Getting it off was terrible, even after chipping away the painted seal, it was bound firmly against the suction line. I didn't realize this at the time, and thought it was just seized onto the threads. I bent/broke multiple filter wrenches trying to get it off. I ended up driving a pry bar through it in a fit of uncontrollable rage, and was able to spin it off that way. Terrible design.

I've since found the trick to changing it is to remove the suction line from the filter housing first. That also makes accessing the in-line strainer easier as well.

 

[priberc]

Ok I wanted to write this up partially to inform others as well as to vent a bit with this experience. First as a Disclaimer, I have had no problems out of my Mahindra for the 50hr I have owned it. I have been used to running various JD compacts and the main thing I realized about this tractor is just how outdated and just plain John Wayne this tractor is (not necessarily a bad thing). It shifts hard, has squealing dry brake drums, slow hydraulics, and very simple crude operating characteristics. But, it can plain get some work done and pulls like a mule and I thought seems to be a heavy built machine for the $$.

I just reached 50 hrs on my 2021 4540 4WD with FEL and called the dealer about the $50 hr service. HOLY CRAP $800 to do the FIRST PM! So I got out the manual and hit the internet to get all the info to do this myself. And wow, do I wish I knew then what I know now!!

I first started down the road to cross the filters to WIX Part numbers (get some high quality filters right, WRONG), save yourself the time and don't listen to what others say on the forums about WIX numbers I have yet to find a filter matching the Gasket size and correct length for Fuel, Oil, or Hydro. These filters are all weird metric 20x1.5mm or 40x1.5mm Threads that seem to be really hard to source. Ended up ordering the full Mahindra service kit off amazon. $162

Amazon.com: FILTER ECONOMY PACK of 6 MAHINDRA 4540 4550 006000455F1 006000456F1 001081778R93 006018618D1 006017310B1 000013427P04 : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Buy FILTER ECONOMY PACK of 6 MAHINDRA 4540 4550 006000455F1 006000456F1 001081778R93 006018618D1 006017310B1 000013427P04: Tractors - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

This kit contains more than is required for the 50hr service but I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and change them all to catch any manufacturing debris in the systems.

First the Oil and Filter..... Dropped the engine oil no problem 24mm plug (typical dark black oil, a bit of a metallic sheen) The filter was another story, my standard strap wrench wouldn't budge it! Drove a screwdriver through it and nearly destroyed it. Finally ordered and waited three days for a special channel-lok style filter wrench and ended up chipping all the paint off around the filter housing to get the filter off. I presume it was painted after being installed way to tight. Since the old filter was pretty much destroyed I went ahead and opened it up and found a moderate level of metal shavings in the pleats of the filter, seemed normal for a brand new engine? Replaced with the new red Mahindra filter and topped off with Mobil Delvac 15w-40. Whew, one step done!

Next the Hydraulic strainer... let me tell you this is a HORRIBLE ANTIQUATED DESIGN.... the strainer lives along the suction line coming out of the rear of the transmission down against the ground (Right side) behind the loader support arm with two Allen key bolts holding in the filter screen plate. This thing was a PAIN to get the little 4" long rubber hose (Has also been painted over) off with two worm clamps on the suction line going up to the filter. I ended up loosening the mounting bolts on the filter housing and bending the suction line outward to allow clearance to get the screen out after sliding the rubber hose and clamps back up the line with some silicone spray. Also, I lost over 2 gallons of fluid in the process. Just PSA there was a pretty significant amount of metal shavings in the strainer, I cleaned it out with a small brush and brakleen and re-installed painfully the way it came out... the pain continues...

On to the Hydraulic Filter ..... also a **** show..... The housing had once again been painted with the filter installed already, you also cannot get behind it to chip all the pain off against the transmission....so brute force with my Channel-Lok filter wrench once again concerned I was going to snap the housing mounting brackets and it finally broke loose. Lost around another gallon of fluid in this process. Prepared the new filter filled with fluid and IT WOULD NOT THREAD UP TO THE GASKET! I thought really.... so I took the old filter and tried to reinstall it, it did the same... The filter would start and thread easily until the gasket was about 1/8" from making contact with the housing and would get very difficult to turn. I am still not sure what caused this..... So a re-installed the new one (all the threads looked fine on the filter and housing) so I forced it all the way up to where I thought it was tight on the gasket. HOW WRONG WAS I....see below when I crank it up later!!


Fuel Filters next.... the pre-filter I have yet to get off... there is no room to get the channel-lok wrench on it and I gouged the housing all up with the strap wrench with no luck so it will have to wait I guess (any opinions are welcome). The secondary filter / water separator was a breeze, the Kit from amazon came with a BOSCH filter with foreign writing all over (imagine that) it fit perfectly and the old one came off easy, changed out the sensor, filled with fuel and done.

So after all this I thought might as well check the front diff and grease all the fittings in the manual. So first off the left front axle fluid was not even touching the dipstick I am assuming from factory fill, I guess the dealer didn't check when I purchased in Oct? Right side was low, so another day later and trip to Autozone for 80w-90 got both sides topped off and hopefully there is no damage from having low fluid... Next already have a grease fitting failing on the front axle yolk, it will not hold grease it just shoots back out the fitting when you pump it in at pressure... yay.

So after an entire week of evenings after work wasted, everything is topped off and ready to run so I thought. Had to pump and pump on the hand primer to get the tractor to crank for like 5 mins. After everything was running and warm I rechecked the hydro fluid and it was good. Went to go drive it out of the shop and bam no power steering.... So Im like there must be air in the lines? I had removed the FEL before the service for better access and just introduced air from the filter change, but all the other tractors I have worked on have quickly recovered and pulled the fluid up through the pump. So again I googled and googled about this older design and found some information about a similarly designed Case/IH system a guy was working on and said to take a rag and air hose and lightly pressurize the transmission fill hole and it will force the fluid up and through the filter and suction line to the pump... Did just that and fluid came gushing out from around the filter.... apparently the immensely tight filter was not tight enough!! So I cut everything off, removed the filter again and just could not get it tight enough like it was in a bind, finally after bending the housing outward from the transmission the top lip of the filter was rubbing quite heavily against the transmission casting causing the problem. So again had to loosen the housing bracket get the filter tight to make the seal and re-tighten the bolts. WHAT A PITA!!! Fired the tractor up, pressurized the trans-fill hole and wallah-steering and loader works again.

Guys, I really want to like this tractor and give a good report on my Mahindra but it is becoming harder and harder. Every JD I have ever worked on was like a Mercedes compared to this geo metro of a tractor. I am really reaching a breaking point at only 50 hrs on this machine, trade in value is.... less than desirable. Selling to an individual will also be difficult. I knew going into this it was not going to be an R series JD, but it really is beginning to let me down with build quality and apparent difficulty of maintaining. The tractor is heavy and strong, but man it sure lacks in so many places JD excels. This thing just is not instilling confidence at this point.View attachment 740740

Please someone chime in and give me some hope I did not buy a $30k piece of garbage and need to sell at a loss and buy a 4044R....

#1 I do not have this size Mahindra #2 I can say I have had none of your issues and have done all the servicing up to the 500 hr [actually done at 650] hr service that requires a valve set. Yes the original filters were a little harder[fuel filter being the hardest] to get off but no where near as bad you describe at all. If you are doing all your own maintenance why not buy bulk from the dealer. Factory filters for any make are warranty approved and thus good enough.
You did not sit on it and think about the "operating characteristics" before buying.?
No issues with taking the loader off and on with mine.
Lost some oil changing the hydraulic filter yes.....just what was in the cartridge housing though. You lost 2 gallons?
Tight gears on that I can agree when new. But at about the 300/350 hr mark the transmission "broke in". Now I can shift up or down in the main transmission pulling a 10' heavy/breaking disc. At about the same time the shuttle softened right up too. Doing loader work I can change direction with two fingers from the steering wheel.
IMO I have had good luck with my M85. I have worked the dog stuffing out of it for most of the 700 hrs on it. Yes it has needed repairs an updated ECU at 1,400 CAD and some months to get. Still worked/did not leave me completely stranded. A seal in the Hydraulic pump. Some machining and replace non existing seal with a common garden variety seal = 650 CAD. On warranty one sensor and the steering wheel adjuster
It is likely that price was a major consideration for you when you got this Mahindra. Looking it up at +/- 10k difference for yours over the JD you now lament not buying. Are the "issues" of painted over and hard to remove filters. And air in hydraulic lines worth 10K? Look up the issues with the 4044JD

 

[3gunr]

IF you paid 30 k for a 4540 you overpayed , All new tractor brands have issues with their first service , My buddys new Ls gave him fits, Neither of my mahindras gave me much trouble and i do all of my own service, The 26 series mahindras are much nicer as for as comfort and ease of use , your 4540 model has always been a low tech workhorse,

 

[Emainiac]

Timely thread for me. I have a new 1626 that needs its first dealer service. I was contemplating doing it myself as I have the tools and feel I have the know how, but I'm with kneedeep thinking it might be worth the money for a dealer to do the first one and then I'll take over.

I had a Mahindra 2015 for about 9 years and loved the tractor. It did everything I asked it to. Decided to bump up to the 5' implement size and settled on the shuttle 1626 after looking at the green and orange ones like I did 9 years ago before I bought my 2015. Back then, as now, I think that certain model Mahindras have it all over the Deere and Kubota counterparts. Deere are very overpriced when comparing weight, lift capacity and a non-skidsteer quick-change. Kubota never really felt comfortable, but it might have been the models I looked at.

Hopefully the difficulties you had with the service will be offset by the tractor performance.

 

[SimpleSimon]

FYI My 4025 looks very similar to yours, BigRed: I let the dealer do the 50hr but this spring it was time to service the coolant.
Now, that should be straightforward, but NO. I had to use 2 long screwdrivers to turn the petcock at the bottom of the radiator. You cannot reach up from underneath, and 2 hydraulic lines block it from up top.
There is a drain plug on the side of the block which IS accessible.
These things are not exactly maintenance friendly. But they are heavy, and get the job done!
-Simon

 

[Root Cause]

I get that you are venting right after wrestling the beast but even you admit that comparing them to JD's isn't fair. And as others said, JD has its issues too.

Many tasks are tough the first time through and I suggest you give it a fair chance to perform in the field before throwing in the towel. Once I get annoyed, I start looking for reasons to hate something when in fact, it was partly, if not mostly, me not thinking clearly to finish the task. So grade it on the 2nd time through and see if it is a deal breaker before selling at a loss.

I got aggravated with mine (cheap battery terminal connections and corrosion) but after another 130 hours of service and dependability, it has been a workhorse and the project is about done. I knew my 2638 wasn't a Cadillac but it has done everything I hoped and frankly, simplicity (old technology) is in part why I bought it.

 

[DaBear3428]

After reading this I broke out the service manual for the 5100 series, it shares the 4 cylinder engine but I'm glad to see the HYD. strainer is a new design that is accessed behind a bolted on plate and the fuel filter is out in the open (may be a damage issue) but it should be easier to service, I hope!