CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE.

   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #1  

jlong

Bronze Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2002
Messages
60
Location
West Virginia
Tractor
NH TC35D
I am the owner of a New Holland TC35D hydrostatic drive with a 16LA FEL. I purchased it in June of 2001and have put about 300 hours on it so far. I traded in a Ford 1520 with about 1300 hours on it when I had a major failure in the rear gearing of that tractor. I had been working it pretty hard and decided it was time to move up. I use the machine around my 18 acres, mowing about 9 acres and also take care of the roads in a near by development along with a 1,000 foot driveway during the winter.

Although I have had one major repair, (PTO brake failure) along with some minor problems, I am impressed with the tractor overall. If I needed to make the decision again, I am not sure that I would purchase anything from New Holland again. My main problem is not so much with the tractor as I know all machines will break, but with the service or lack of from the Dealer and so far, New Holland.

When I purchased the tractor it was explained to me that I was responsible for delivering and picking up the machine to and from the dealer for warranty repairs. At the time, I thought that seemed reasonable. My dealer is over an hour away, making it a 2 hour plus roundtrip. Regardless, when the time came, I loaded up the tractor and delivered it to the dealer. After they said it was finished, I picked it up and back to work we went. I soon learned that a couple of the minor repairs that was to be done, ( minor leak of Hydraulic fluid and instrument panel fogging) was still a problem. I learned to live with it for the time being and put it on the list for the next trip to the dealer.

I started having trouble shifting from 2wd to 4wd. Sometimes moving the hydrostatic drive pedals slightly enabled the shift, and when I asked the dealer, they said that was just a characteristic of the hydrostatic transmission. Since this was my first Hydrostatic drive machine, I took their word on it. Sometime later, I was stuck in 4wd, unable to shift to 2wd. I called to make a service appointment, and was told that they were pretty busy, call back in about a month. Since I usually used it in 4wd, I agreed. After about a month, I called and was able to make an appointment for the following week. I explained that I relied heavily on the tractor and needed it fixed as soon as possible. When the time arrived, I delivered the tractor to the dealer with a list of what needed to be fixed. Four days later, I called to find out the status of the repair. I was told that they had not yet looked at it, but are just getting to it. I called a couple day later and was told that the repair that we thought was minor, was really major, (PTO BRAKE failure), and they had to order parts. Three days later I called and was told that parts were still on order. Once the tractor was repaired, the dealer stated that I needed to install a PTO slip clutch to prevent this from happening again. I still don’t understand how a tractor designed to use implements can’t handle the forces of these implements without a modification. All in all, the repair took two weeks. Although the major repair had been completed, the hydraulic leak was still there along with the instrument panel fogging.

One item on my list pertained to an article on TBN detailing problems with some welds on the hydraulic pedals. Along with the article, were some responses from NH dealers stating that although there was no recall from NH, they were fixing the welds as they came across them. I had hoped that my dealer would have the same positive attitude, but no such luck. Their position was; no recall-no problem. They refused to address it.

One other item on the list was that the tractor under heavy load or grade had a tendency to keep traveling forward a couple seconds after I took my foot off of the pedal. Once again, I was told that this was another characteristic of the Hydrostatic drive. Sometime later, I started seeing similar complaints on the TBN site and was surprised that there was a simple fix. After reading the material, I performed a simple adjustment and to my amazement, that was the fix. I couldn’t believe the dealer did not know how to correct such a minor repair. Worse yet, I had needlessly been tolerating a very unsafe condition for over a year!!!

As you can probably detect, I have no faith in the dealer that I bought from. This is where the lack of service from NH comes in. After receiving a post card from NH asking for feedback regarding my recent service, I sent in my negative response. About a month later, I received another card in the mail reporting that NH had tried to contact me and wanted me to contact them to resolve any problems. I called an 800 number and reached Customer Service. They seemed very understanding and promised to get back to me within 5 business days. I waited a month- then called them again. Although I had a file number, I re-explained all the issues again to the new representative. Once again, she promised to contact me within a week with some options. She did contact me later and suggested that I take the tractor to another dealer. I explained that I already took the tractor TWICE for the repairs that were not done correctly and that I did not feel that I should have to take the tractor anywhere again. All of the remaining issues are minor and could be done on site.

After nearly another month, I sent a registered letter to NH credit with whom I financed the tractor. I informed them that I was not sending another payment until I had these outstanding issues resolved. I am still awaiting their response.

In summary, purchasing a tractor or anything is only half of the picture. Service is the other half. When making the purchase, I thought that I was getting the most for my money, but didn’t know what I was losing on the service end. In retrospect, I would try my luck with another brand. I don’t know their service is any better, but I do know that it can’t be any worse!!
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #2  
I think the heading for this topic should read "CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE (OR GREEN, OR ORANGE, OR RED, OR PURPLE, OR YELLOW, ETC., ETC., ETC.)

Service is all important regardless of brand.
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #3  
<font color=blue>I think the heading for this topic should read "CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE (OR GREEN, OR ORANGE, OR RED, OR PURPLE, OR YELLOW, ETC., ETC., ETC.)
</font color=blue>

Amen to that! Color has nothing to do with it. If you don't have a good feeling about your local dealer, find another regardless of the brand.

Pete
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #4  
Re: CONSIDER SERVICE/Dangers of withholding paymnt

Jim: what the others have said is right on. I just bought a TC40. Had three quotes. I bought from the highest (though not much higher) because I "think" I will get better service-I have bought a few other things from them-whether I will get decent service or not remains to be seen. Dealer service is important. I have reason to believe if my tractor ever got tied up in an emergency, I believe I could get something as a loaner (or at least a cheap rental). One very, very strong suggestion though. I would NOT hold back payments because of service issues, certainly not as long as the tractor is running. That will not help the situation and it certainly will cause you more problems than just the tractor issues. They may take some action because of it, but I doubt it. The only certain action will affect your credit rating. If you have to rely on credit to buy things, withholding payment is dangerous. At the minimum, if you insist on doing that set up an escrow account at your bank and make payments into that and advise New Holland where their payments are. As a credit grantor I can promise you that you are on dangerous ground. If you make payments into an escrow account, your withholding payment at least has the appearance of legitimacy. Simply withholding payment does not. I didn't buy the hydro trans because of many issues including safety and more stuff to go wrong. Good luck. John
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #5  
I agree with what's been said above.

However, I would be careful with the payment withholding. Usually, the credit arms of companies are separate from the rest and they MAY mess with your credit report. Late payments reported on your CBI or TRW may cause problems down the road when trying to borrow money. If you hold payments, make sure your report is clear and, if not, make sure your side is told on it.

Small claims court may be a place to resolve this problem better.

Just my 2cents.

Mark
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #6  
I would completely disagree that that is a characteristic of hydrostatic drives. None of what the dealer said could be attributed to my hydrostatic drive. Shifting into 4WD or out of it will always have a variable level of difficulty whether it be a manual tractor or HST. My understanding is that with some hydrostatic drives, the more load placed upon it can cause a heavier pedal, that is, more force required to depress it, but again, not noticeably with my hydrostatic drive. Returning back to neutral is always the same and happens regardless of load the moment my foot stops applying pressure, you were correct to adjsut it. I know that Kubotas hydrostatic drives are noted for being great, but I would think the ones put in New Holland would share some of the same characteristics. The neccessityof a external PTO slip clutch addition sounds odd. I understand PTO cluthces or shear pins and the need to have them, but not on all implements. None of my mowers have them. My PTO uses the main clutch of the tractor with an override slip clutch that allows an implement with high rotational mass to continue going faster then the PTO shaft which can happen various ways such as when going from full throttle to idle immediately. Anyway, I do hope you get all the bugs worked out, Rat...
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #7  
I have an older Ford which works fine but when I started thinking about a smaller tractor, I spent a lot of time reading the TBN posts. There's no local dealer near me. For that reason I wanted to buy something that I could count on to not breakdown and require a dealer's attention.

It's nice to be able to count on a dealer but it's nicer not to have to. Worked for me.
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #8  
Rat,
I think the PTO clutch jlong's dealer is refering to is an over-runningcoupler on the tractor PTO shaft.
This saves wear on the PTO brakes(independant PTO's)when shutting off heavy implements like rotory cutters.
Over-running couplers let the cutter freewheel to a stop instead of the PTO brake needing to stop it .
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #9  
Before I bought 18 months ago I talked to some of the big farmers in the area and got their recommendations. I usually don’t like to buy from the big dealers. Somewhere I got the idea that you get lost in the numbers. I bought my 4300 JD from the largest dealer who was highly recommended by the area farmers. I could not be happier.

They have service trucks traveling all over our area. If I call with a problem or a question, I always get help fast. When my tractor had to go in for warrantee work, it was picked up in the morning and dropped back off after lunch. I paid a little more but I have gotten it back many times over.

I just bought a van from one of the largest GM dealers in the area and the service department has been wonderful. So much for the the small dealer personal touch. I am getting much better service from the bigger dealers.
 
   / CONSIDER SERVICE BEFORE BUYING BLUE. #10  
There are reasons small dealers stay small and large dealers grow larger. Service is the main reason but I know it does not apply to all small and large dealers, but it does to most of them. Have fun.
 

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