Help! 3 problems and just 11 hours in. Warranty? Insurance? Me?

[LD1]

1. The dealer should have done as you asked in the first place. And if issues 2 and 3 result in a trip in, they should widen it for you at no cost.

2. I am unfamiliar with your PTO set up. Could be something wrong, or could be an operator issue. But definatally worth it to have them look.

3. This one does have me concerned. An ocassional grounding I. Just a part of life. The cutter should be built to survive. I believe this is 100% a warranty issue.

 

[dstacy]

Well... you can break anything if you really work at it!! I was worried that with cold temps and tree branches whackin' 'em they'd crack, etc. but they've been holding up for 2 winters just fine. I've got my 16.9-30's set as far out as they'll go without wheel spacers.

Those extensions have taken some pretty good smacks and no problems. Mud is all on them, too - not on my cab!

AKfish

Not to hijack this thread but this is good to hear. I just asked my dealer to put a set on my new 5093.

 

[Verticaltrx]

I googled it. I would say I have u joints. The pto didn't slide apart easily. It's out at our land so ill double check all of the suggestions this afternoon. Dealer didnt call yesterday so ill call them again today.

While I'm thinking of it. Is there a clever way to hook the cutter to the drawbar? Seems like a two person job. One person backs up while the other holds up the sideways u-shaped hitch. Otherwise if its up or down it doesn't seem the geometry would line up.

If it has the CV-type shaft it will be a long shaft running almost all the way back to the cutter gear box with a big bulky head on the tractor end. A equal angle pto shaft will be a short (maybe 3' long) shaft that runs to a support block, then another shaft running back to the gear box. The equal angle setup will have only u-joints and no CV-head. It's possible to damage either one, but the if you have the CV type and something in the CV head goes wrong it can throw it out of balance quick(as would the long shaft having a bend in it). With the equal angle type you either have a bent shaft or a bad u-joint.

As for hooking it up, does it have a double acting hydraulic cylinder (2 hoses)? If so it'll be just like our 1008, which I hook up by myself regularly. What I do is back the tractor up close, hook up the hyd. lines first. Push the lever all the way forward to lift the wheels of the cutter off the ground and bring the tongue up. Then I have a little 4x4 block of wood cut to the right length that I stick under the tongue/swiveling clevis to keep it all aligned. Back up, drop in the pin, hook up the PTO and that's it, takes about 2-3min.

 

[gocards1177]

1. The dealer should have done as you asked in the first place. And if issues 2 and 3 result in a trip in, they should widen it for you at no cost.

2. I am unfamiliar with your PTO set up. Could be something wrong, or could be an operator issue. But definatally worth it to have them look.

3. This one does have me concerned. An ocassional grounding I. Just a part of life. The cutter should be built to survive. I believe this is 100% a warranty issue.

I have a tendency to read into things, but I feel like I'm getting different messages from the salesman versus the service manager at my dealer. When I talked to the saleman on Monday he was super helpful and I felt like evertyhing would just magically get taken care of, but he said these issues would have to go through the service department. When I talked to the service manager on Monday, he sounded skeptical about how I described the problems. He didn't call yesterday. I called him this AM and he apologized that he was busy. He said he found a service bulletin or something that discussed a PTO engagment issue that sounded similar to my problem. He said he would prefer to bring it in to look at the PTO and the MX10 vibrating. I told him if that if they were bringing it in I'd like the wheels set wider. He said they could make them as wide as they could as long as it still fit on the trailer. Before we got off the phone, he asked if "this" was on me or them. I thought he meant the trailering, so I said I didn't know. He said he would ask my salesman and get back to me. Now that I think of it, I'm wondering what he meant by "this".

 

[gocards1177]

If it has the CV-type shaft it will be a long shaft running almost all the way back to the cutter gear box with a big bulky head on the tractor end. A equal angle pto shaft will be a short (maybe 3' long) shaft that runs to a support block, then another shaft running back to the gear box. The equal angle setup will have only u-joints and no CV-head. It's possible to damage either one, but the if you have the CV type and something in the CV head goes wrong it can throw it out of balance quick(as would the long shaft having a bend in it). With the equal angle type you either have a bent shaft or a bad u-joint.

As for hooking it up, does it have a double acting hydraulic cylinder (2 hoses)? If so it'll be just like our 1008, which I hook up by myself regularly. What I do is back the tractor up close, hook up the hyd. lines first. Push the lever all the way forward to lift the wheels of the cutter off the ground and bring the tongue up. Then I have a little 4x4 block of wood cut to the right length that I stick under the tongue/swiveling clevis to keep it all aligned. Back up, drop in the pin, hook up the PTO and that's it, takes about 2-3min.

Yeah, a block under the swiveling clevis would work. Thanks!

 

[CliffordK]

If you have a good jack, then you should be able to swap the tires around yourself.

On my brush hog, I've bent the back guard a few times so the blades strike it. Yours has chains so this shouldn't be an issue. I'd put it in neutral and spin everything by hand. Use a pencil or something to check that the PTO shaft doesn't wobble when you spin it, or you may be able to see a bend by sighting down it, or using a straight edge when disconnected from the tractor.

Lift it up, and spin the blades by hand to see that they aren't bent, again using a pencil or something to check that everything is even.

 

[Tx Jim]

As in regards to the mower vibration are the u-joints on the 2 telescoping shafts still in phase(time)? If not this can cause a vibration.

 

[gocards1177]

If you have a good jack, then you should be able to swap the tires around yourself.

I had thought of that. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and as tempting as that is, it would mean stepping up to bigger socket/ratchets/cheater bar, plus I'd be doing this in the field since I don't have a shop at my land yet. Although I could maybe do it on the county road... I wonder how much inertia a falling 700# tire has? I love a good excuse to buy more tools.

 

[gocards1177]

As in regards to the mower vibration are the u-joints on the 2 telescoping shafts still in phase(time)? If not this can cause a vibration.

I'm not sure what you mean?

 

[CliffordK]

U-Joints should always be in pairs with a shaft that allows some slippage.

File:Cardan Shaft.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Note that the two yokes line up (which gives in effect a 90 degree shift).

However, the shafts should be keyed so it is really hard to get them together backwards, unless, of course, a shaft is twisted, or a spline is stripped.

If your mower has belts, then it would be designed for the disks to be constantly changing phase. If it has gears, then they should be arranged 90 degrees out of phase.