Battery Replacement:simple task made difficult

[meadowlarkponds]

I guess this post could be categorized as a rant. The battery on my MF 383 failed to take a charge so I set out on what should have been an at most 15 minute job to change it out.

The first clue that this was going to be a bit more than 15 minutes was the battery location...the battery is located beneath the foot plate on the tractor... attached to the plate by bolts and a metal lip.

There is absolutely no spare room in the battery case and recessed battery posts are required to keep the battery from shorting out on the plate. I had to disconnect the ground cable at the source because couldn't get to the terminal post. Then the real fun came...the entire case has to be removed in order to get the battery out. Three bolts underneath and a metal lip and then you slide the case out...in the process, pulled an infrequently used muscle in my low, low back as the case fell out on the ground.

No replacement battery that would fit in the case could be found within my area so had to buy one that was close, just like the one I was replacing, and then saw off the edges to make it fit the case. After inspecting the old battery, I determined that this was what the previous owner had to do also.

That all happened two days ago. I'm still on Advil waiting for my back to heal so that I can attempt to reinstall the battery. Holding up the battery while sliding it in the case in place and feeding the holding bolts underneath looks like a task for a healthy back....and more than two hands. Maybe in another day or so I can return to working the land, instead of messing with what should have been a simple task.

I've had other MF and loved them, but this is the poorest design I have ever seen....and hope to never see again. Did I overlook a simple way to replace the battery?


p.s. thanks for letting me rant.

 

[dqdave1]

Maybe you can relocate it with a little work.

 

[sandman2234]

Ever tried to remove the battery from a '66 Corvette? It is located under the right front fender, underneath the stainless steel radiator overflow tank, which has to be removed in order to get to the battery. Another one of those for a strong back!!
Hopefully the Advil will do the trick. Be carefull!
David from jax

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm not familiar with this tractor-but is there any way to use an engine lift, hoist, boom or winch? A friend wrecked his back putting a kohler engine back in an old cub cadet. It's not good to wrestle these things if there is a way to use a lift or something....

 

[CurlyDave]

Many long years ago, I bought an off-brand floor jack for a "one-time" problem with a car.

About every six months that fool thing proves to be a lifesaver.

I bet one of them could lift the battery & the battery box to the right height.

 

[RalphVa]

This is one area where the new (2320/2520) JDs really hit a home run. The hood raises, exposing the battery: RIGHT THERE.

I shudder at the thought of moving the FEL guard, etc. to get to the one on my 4010.

I'd find a new location, buy the cabling and relocate the bugger. The fuel filter on my Tacoma was located beneath the intake manifold. I had it moved to above the engine to the back of the engine compartment. Even I can change it now.

Ralph

 

[meadowlarkponds]

Thanks for the encouragements....got it back in today and used a floor jack as an aid.

Just heard of a study that says Advil may help prevent dementia/Alzheimers...if so, I'm on the road to prevention.

 

[Soundguy]

I feel for ya... It almost seems like some people design an engine or part, and then build the other stuff around it without regard to what has to come off to get at parts. I've seen some pretty miffed green tractor owners that have to disassemble lots of sheet metal to get common replacement items off their tractor.

I have a scout CUV a small farm vehicle like a golf cart. To properly service the air filter, you have to tilt the dump bed back, pull the bolts that limit the bed travel, so it will swing all the way back, and then you have to use stubby screw or nut drivers and bend your hands at dd angles to get the 16 screws out that hold on the small plastic cover that the air cleaner is bolted into.. all the screws somehow fall in line with small tube frame support members.. you can't get a straight on attack at any of them. Why they needed that many screws to hold a plastic housing the size of a 1 litre bottle to another housing.. I'll never know.. and why they lined up all the screws with the frame.. I'll never know. It literally takes an hour to R&R the air cleaner. Oil drain is under the engine, but warded by a bracket that is welded tot he frame and NON removable... no drip hole in the bracket, and it is basin shaped. so you have to use a open end wrench to pull the drain plug which drops into the basin, and then the 1.5qts oil runs out and then you have to sop it all up with rags. ( I drilled a drain hole inthe basin after doing this song and dance twice ).

Gear oil is even worse. The oil drain is a lower bolt on the transfer cover.. and of course, it has a suspension member in front of it.. it is a philips head too.. so you have to attack it off angle.. there is just enough room for the 1.5" long screw to unthread and then slip out along the side of the housing. Again.. the drain hole is on a lower SIDE of the transfer case.. so the 1.2 qts oil dribbles out and then runs down and drips off onto a couple tube frame mebers that prevent you from getting a drain pan right under the flow.

The fill ports are just as good. The crankcase fill is the dipstick port, and is about a 3/8" opening that you have to get a small neck flexi-funnel to fill.. like a trans funnel.. and the dipstick, once again, is situated tot he side of the crankcase, up against a sloped engine frame bracket.. you can't get a funnle straight down the hole.. you have to kind of lay it lip to lip and coked at a 45' angle.. virtually ensuring yuo spill some oil unless you fill with a piece of thin diameter tubing and take 15 minutes to get the oil inthe crankcase. Gear fluid fill is in a similar position... no room to even get a 1 qt bottle with pointy nose as the fill bolt is on an oblique side that has a flat panel frame member in front of it. You have to remov ethe bolt by feel.. you can't even see it.. have to use opn end wrench, and again.. you have to fumble with a piece of flexible tubing to get any oil into the sucker.

I swear I'd like to smack-down the engineer who thought all that was a good idea. Actually.. his punishment should be that he should have to drive around the country and have to service all those machines himself...

soundguy

I guess this post could be categorized as a rant. The battery on my MF 383 failed to take a charge so I set out on what should have been an at most 15 minute job to change it out.

The first clue that this was going to be a bit more than 15 minutes was the battery location...the battery is located beneath the foot plate on the tractor... attached to the plate by bolts and a metal lip.

There is absolutely no spare room in the battery case and recessed battery posts are required to keep the battery from shorting out on the plate. I had to disconnect the ground cable at the source because couldn't get to the terminal post. Then the real fun came...the entire case has to be removed in order to get the battery out. Three bolts underneath and a metal lip and then you slide the case out...in the process, pulled an infrequently used muscle in my low, low back as the case fell out on the ground.

No replacement battery that would fit in the case could be found within my area so had to buy one that was close, just like the one I was replacing, and then saw off the edges to make it fit the case. After inspecting the old battery, I determined that this was what the previous owner had to do also.

That all happened two days ago. I'm still on Advil waiting for my back to heal so that I can attempt to reinstall the battery. Holding up the battery while sliding it in the case in place and feeding the holding bolts underneath looks like a task for a healthy back....and more than two hands. Maybe in another day or so I can return to working the land, instead of messing with what should have been a simple task.

I've had other MF and loved them, but this is the poorest design I have ever seen....and hope to never see again. Did I overlook a simple way to replace the battery?


p.s. thanks for letting me rant.