As my tractor rode off on the flat bed truck, I wondered if I would ever see it again. I wanted to follow it to the dealer, but I had to get to work; I was already late.
This isn't a normal feeling a tractor owner has when he sends his tractor off for the 50hr service. In fact, I am very proud to say that the only problem I had, was that I lost a bolt off the FEL joystick cowl within the first two hours of operation.
So what happened?
The service guy from the dealership arrived to pick up Iggy on time, so far so good, I actually recognized him from when he delivered my tractor. He's a likeable guy, during the original delivery he took the time to ensure I understood all of the controls and felt comfortable with the operation of the tractor before he left. Today, he had the same reassuring smile, commented on my chains, and talked tractor a little bit before he hopped aboard Iggy. Being the observant type, or so I thought, he noticed the key wasn't in the ignition. "No problem," he said, "all of the Boomers have the same type of key." He pull a key off of his ring and tried it, nope, that's not the one, he tried another, but that didn't fit either. I quickly hurried into the house to grab the proper key. I handed him my key, and he proceeded to insert it into the ignition. He then had a puzzled look, bent over and looked at the ignition...the tumbler assembly was gone. He got off of the tractor, walked around and looked into the hole where the core used to be. He said he must have pushed through hole. He popped the hood, but there wasn't any access. "Don't worry," he said, "we'll fix that up at the shop, but I need to back down your driveway and turn the truck around, and we'll just use the winch." While he was driving down the driveway, I took a closer look at my missing ignition key core. Upon his return, I pointed out that the core couldn't have been pushed through, since there isn't hole to be pushed through. He doubted what said, and stated that the core is what is blocking the hole. I pointed out the core was stainless steel, and the back of the hole was black. O.K., where's the core? I looked around on the ground, but a lightbulb seemed to appear over his head, because with a surprised look, he reached down into his pocket and pulled out the core, with a key jammed into it. "Don't worry, we have plenty of these at the shop. We'll take care of it."
Next, he lowered the ramp of the flatbed truck and winched the tractor onto the truck. He looped a chain around the front axle of the tractor, but not wanting to bend over to hook up the chain he decided to raise the ramp. When the ramp raised off of the ground, his truck started rolling down the driveway. He sprintedto the cab and stopped the truck after a short uncontrolled trip of about 15 feet.
Returning to his original plan, he continued to level the flat bed ramp, but now the truck was pointing downhill on my driveway, so when the ramp went level on the truck, my tractor started rolling towards the front off the truck. A shocked look came across his face, and he grabbed the chain that was looped around the front axle. Now I can't imagine he would have been able to stop better than 2 tons of tractor from rolling down a hill, but the other end of the chain wasn't attached to anything. So, the tractor took about 10 ft uncontrolled trip until the rear tires hit the vertical frame at the front of the ramp. No damage.
Needless to say, he was embarrassed, and he assured me that I would get my tractor back in one piece, and if it didn't, they would give me a new one. I laughed it off at that moment, but as he drove down the driveway, I wondered if I would ever see Iggy again.
This isn't a normal feeling a tractor owner has when he sends his tractor off for the 50hr service. In fact, I am very proud to say that the only problem I had, was that I lost a bolt off the FEL joystick cowl within the first two hours of operation.
So what happened?
The service guy from the dealership arrived to pick up Iggy on time, so far so good, I actually recognized him from when he delivered my tractor. He's a likeable guy, during the original delivery he took the time to ensure I understood all of the controls and felt comfortable with the operation of the tractor before he left. Today, he had the same reassuring smile, commented on my chains, and talked tractor a little bit before he hopped aboard Iggy. Being the observant type, or so I thought, he noticed the key wasn't in the ignition. "No problem," he said, "all of the Boomers have the same type of key." He pull a key off of his ring and tried it, nope, that's not the one, he tried another, but that didn't fit either. I quickly hurried into the house to grab the proper key. I handed him my key, and he proceeded to insert it into the ignition. He then had a puzzled look, bent over and looked at the ignition...the tumbler assembly was gone. He got off of the tractor, walked around and looked into the hole where the core used to be. He said he must have pushed through hole. He popped the hood, but there wasn't any access. "Don't worry," he said, "we'll fix that up at the shop, but I need to back down your driveway and turn the truck around, and we'll just use the winch." While he was driving down the driveway, I took a closer look at my missing ignition key core. Upon his return, I pointed out that the core couldn't have been pushed through, since there isn't hole to be pushed through. He doubted what said, and stated that the core is what is blocking the hole. I pointed out the core was stainless steel, and the back of the hole was black. O.K., where's the core? I looked around on the ground, but a lightbulb seemed to appear over his head, because with a surprised look, he reached down into his pocket and pulled out the core, with a key jammed into it. "Don't worry, we have plenty of these at the shop. We'll take care of it."
Next, he lowered the ramp of the flatbed truck and winched the tractor onto the truck. He looped a chain around the front axle of the tractor, but not wanting to bend over to hook up the chain he decided to raise the ramp. When the ramp raised off of the ground, his truck started rolling down the driveway. He sprintedto the cab and stopped the truck after a short uncontrolled trip of about 15 feet.
Returning to his original plan, he continued to level the flat bed ramp, but now the truck was pointing downhill on my driveway, so when the ramp went level on the truck, my tractor started rolling towards the front off the truck. A shocked look came across his face, and he grabbed the chain that was looped around the front axle. Now I can't imagine he would have been able to stop better than 2 tons of tractor from rolling down a hill, but the other end of the chain wasn't attached to anything. So, the tractor took about 10 ft uncontrolled trip until the rear tires hit the vertical frame at the front of the ramp. No damage.
Needless to say, he was embarrassed, and he assured me that I would get my tractor back in one piece, and if it didn't, they would give me a new one. I laughed it off at that moment, but as he drove down the driveway, I wondered if I would ever see Iggy again.
