Broken Bucket Joystick Support

Bill_Ryan · Aug 8, 2002

TC35D with a 16LA Bucket.
The bucket control joystick came off in my hand while doing some bucket work.
2 screws hold the plastic joystick handle to a metal rod with curved flat piece (aka support rod). The screws are theaded into the curved flat piece. It broke clean through on either side of threaded hole of botton screw.
Under warranty, so part is free. A no brainer to replace. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this failure?
And I am gentle on the joystick...I realize that pressing harder doesn't move the bucket faster or raise a heavier load

Bill

Anonymous Poster · Aug 9, 2002

It's always good to be gentle with your joystick.
You're very lucky yours is still under warranty.

edt · Aug 9, 2002

HI BILL ONE OF MY BOLTS PULLED FREE AT ONE TIME NOW I CHECK IT REGULARY LUCKEY IT WASN'T SPRIPPED
EDT

gmason · Aug 9, 2002

Bill,
Yep mine broke off about a year ago, 4 months old then. Looks like they drilled the holes out for the screws and didn't leave enough material to support the stress.

Dealer replaced it under warrenty, no problems.
Looks like it's the weak link in the whole 16la loader.
I would hope the factory is looking into the problem after a number of failures like this.

gary

mikim · Aug 9, 2002

Looks like it's the weak link in the whole 16la loader.
it's the "D" models that have the weak joy stick - I have the 16LA loader on my plain 'ol 45 and it has a different joy stick - simpler/stronger
mike

jinman · Aug 14, 2002

Bill, here is a link to my thread titled "No Joy Joystick" in which I documented the same problem back in March of 2001.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=nhown&Number=36994&Search=true&Forum=nhown&Words=no%20joy&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=36994>Joystick</A>

After replacing my joystick with a new one and having it break in the same place, I gave up on the "Italian engineering" and came up with my own solution. You are exactly right that the metal support is weakened ridiculously by the screw hole at the point of highest stress. What I did was to slide the bracket down to where only the top screw hole is aligned to the bottom hole in the black handle. I put in one screw and let the broken piece stick out the bottom. I placed the whole unit down on top of the joystick shaft and used two hose clamps to secure the handle to the shaft. It doesn't look pretty, but it works like a charm. The joystick is actually much stronger.

My guess is that New Holland will eventually come out with a fix for this problem, but like many other snafus in the tractor's design, this one is really frustrating. I'm glad you got yours fixed...for now./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Bill_Ryan · Aug 16, 2002

Thanks jinman.

If it happens again and it's not still under warranty, I'll use your idea to fix it.

Bill

P.S.: While I waited for the part to come in, I did something a bit less glamorous involving a wooden doll rod and some electrical tape. Wasn't pretty, but it held up until the replacement part arrived.

jinman · Aug 17, 2002

Here is a drawing of what I actually did for my joystick. It doesn't look like much, but it's amazingly strong compared to the original design. I think it's because the joystick sits further down on the round shaft and the screw just keeps the plastic handle from sliding up and down. I'd take a picture, but you couldn't see anything but a joystick with two clamps below it, so it wouldn't be as good a representation of the "fix" as this illustration is. I'm sure there are a lot of non-deluxe model owners out there that are getting a few laughs about our "deluxe" model tractor's shortcomings./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

mikim · Aug 21, 2002

I'm sure there are a lot of non-deluxe model owners out there that are getting a few laughs about our "deluxe" model tractor's shortcomings.
not from me bud ... everytime I look down and want to see what my oil pressure is and all I see is an "idiot" light ... well ... they don't name 'em idiot lights fer nuttin'. Problem was when I ordered my 45 what I really wanted was a "D" model with manual transmission - but I guess I couldn't get it that way at the time - don't know if that's changed or not.
mike

Kodiak · Aug 21, 2002

And now New holland is going to allow that option. All the Boomer models with the exception of the TC18 will have all the Deluxe features, no matter what transmission you purhase.

spencer200 · Aug 21, 2002

I am surprised you had to wait for that part. They break so often we stock 3-4 of them all the time.

jinman · Aug 21, 2002

everytime I look down and want to see what my oil pressure is and all I see is an "idiot" light 

Well Mike, the laugh is on both of us on this one./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif The "D" model also has an "idiot light" for oil pressure. We do have a temperature gage, but no oil pressure gage. ...and I agree with you, you should be able to order a deluxe model tractor with a gear-shift tranny. I love my hydro, but in a different application, the standard tranny would be an advantage. I haven't heard of any plans for that in the Boomers. I guess you can get a "D" model TN series tractor that way since they don't have a hydro model. Maybe New Holland wants people to step-up to to the TN to get those features. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

mikim · Aug 22, 2002

I had a tough time deciding between the 45 and TN65 - but there were a couple of things that turned the tide against the 65. The fuel tank is under the deck, near the ground, and I'd have punctured that in no time clearing my woods. The hyd filter was also a problem on it. It stuck out in harms way and I think I remember that if you had a loader frame on it - you had to remove that to change the filter?? something ... I can't quite recall now - but anyway - I'm real happy with my 45 - just wish it had a full complement of gauges.
mike

Kent · Sep 9, 2002

My fix for broken 16LA joystick

I too was shocked at this pathetic welded rod/plate combination NH used (after it broke off!). I figure they did it so that the button wires could be routed through the inside of the handle (why not use a solid rod and expand the plastic housing for the cable?).

Anyway, here is my fix: 1) I cut off a 6" or so piece of electrical conduit (9/16" ID) and jammed it over the rod end. A very tight fit! 2) I drilled a hole big enough for the wires under the joystick "head" (that round thing that fits in your hand) and routed the wires outside the plastic handle (you have to cut them, which I did, or re-solder them at the switch). 3) tapped two holes in the conduit to hold the screws (which I think are metric, which I replaced with standard #10 because my taps are all standard). 4) wrapped the lower part of the handle with electrical tape to cover the wires.

Appearance/functionally it isn't bad for me (to have the wires outside the plastic case) because my 4-in-1 switch is tie-wrapped to the joystick handle and has wires running outside anyway. So I don't notice the wires coming out of the underside of the ball (hand never went there anyway).

I should slather some silicone around the hole where the wires come out....

The result is that the joystick is much more solid than before! So I probably won't bother to have it replaced with the (inferior) original version.

By the way, mine was overstressed by an afternoon of using a rock-picking bucket, where you really abuse the loader by bouncing the rocks around to sift out the soil.

AnneReynolds · Aug 9, 2015

Same problem, same tractor, same loader, about the same time. Had a man remake the part out of steel and never had a problem since. Stupid engineering. Still have the tractor -- Did yours come with a New Holland electrical gremlin too?