HELP !!! Any Place For TC35D HST Parts ????

[jinman]

On the other hand people interested in NH especially the older Tc-D HST models 35-40-45 and the new 3040-3045-3050 should really beware there is an $8000.00 Jack-In-The-Box waiting for them...

as for me i am now starting my research on the ORANGE and or GREEN ( Goodbye BLUE) i will try to trade mine in if all goes well with repair.

Nemco, Jack-in-the-boxes come in many forms. Do you think that the HSTs for Kubotas and JDs don't have similar gotchas? I would be highly doubtful of that. The problem from my standpoint is that something caused your shaft to become pitted and ruin the seal. I think it may have been condensation rather than mouse urine. The mouse's nest may have clogged a drain, but I'd bet the culprit is just good ol' fashioned condensation. I don't really have a firm grip on why you can't buy the shaft, but I'd bet it has something to do with matched components. Many parts are replaceable in the transmission. You just got the "jack" shaft. Nothing that was designed into the transmission caused your failure. It was something external.

In the case of the other thread, the poster had his engine removed and repaired. I'm not satisfied that the engine re-install was not responsible for his problem.

You said the mouse "pee corroded the lower pto shaft and ate into the seal area." The PTO shaft is not the lower shaft. It's the upper shaft leaving the HST transmission. The lower shaft is the shaft going into the gearbox where you select Hi/Neutral/Lo range. I don't want to pick on you because of nomenclature, but I'm still not sure where your failure is. I would sure appreciate anymore details you can give us. I know you are frustrated as any of us would be. You should be; you didn't cause this. You are just the "lucky" guy who has to pay for it.

 

[nemco]

Hello Jinman

Thanx for clarifying . The dealer told me the lower shaft was the pto ?

The HST has the one shaft coming in from the engine and 2 shafts going out the back.

between the HST and i guess what is the transmission their is a cavity where the shafts couple to the shafts that
go into the trans.

in this cavity is where the mouse nest was and was about half way full covering the lower shaft.

the lower shaft coming from the HST is the one that has the rusty pitted seal surface causing the seal to fail.

Please understand i am in no way blaming NH for the problem. I am in no way asking for free parts or to be covered under warranty.I also believe the tractor to very well built (except for the place where the mice can get in) and was very happy with it until i learned that NH has no interest in supplying crucial parts after warranty.

It was totally the mouses fault either peeing on or breathing on this shaft or a combination of this and condensation from the outside was more than likely the cause and i am willing to pay for the repair. As it stands the repair thus far with seals and fixing the shaft will be close to $3000.00, I was just hoping to put a new shaft in while it was apart.


Regardless the fact remains to repair correctly would have been be to replace an 8" shaft that NH refuses to supply without buying an $8000.00 HST.

Herein is where the frustration lies, If lack of ability was the problem (say 30 years old discontinued model) i would be more than understanding.

but what is in question here is willingness or the lack there of on NH's part as the HST is in production and being used on new models.

As per KYB the shaft is available and the spec drawing is in japan and could be .pdf'd to me but due to contractual obligation it has to be supplied by NH. to which the rep replied no we will not.

this is a 2001 model Tc35d with 502 hours and the people at NH told me to "scrounge it or scrap it ".....
(Yes they really did)

in my opinion this is un acceptable but again i guess this is NH official position.

So in light of NH's un-willingness to do the decent thing. It seems the term "disposable tractor" can accurately be applied to all NH compact Tractors with this HST .

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Turns out a mouse got in and built a nest between the trans and HST and he pee corroded the lower pto shaft and ate into the seal area causing the leak... ( YES REALLLLLY )

Very sorry to hear of your situation.
As the owner of a 2003 TC35D. I would be Very interested in hearing and clearly understanding just how and or where a mouse got inside the tractor to build a nest.
This certainly is not and would not be a normal or typical problem. At first glance it appears to be a "hopefully" once in a lifetime very bizzar situation leading to equipment failure.
I also think your "$8000.00 Jack-In-The-Box waiting for them..." statement is inaccurate for not every owner of these model boomers is going to have a mouse build a nest in his tractor thereby damaging this shaft. I do however understand your anger and frustration with NH.
I don't feel for a second, that my $23,000 investment is by any means "disposable" just because it has an HST transmission.
I hope your tractor dilema works out in a manor that satisfy's you.

 

[nemco]

Hello Mark

you know, I still cannot find the hole or entry point where they got in. so as i visit the dealer tuesday with the sleave for the shaft i will look and let you know.

the new holland rep said he recieves this call on a fairly regular basis (not the mouse call) but rather people needing an HST part .

answer is always the same - NO -

Look It's all good untill you need the part i have 30k in mine with implements hoe loader rake debris blower and so on i have a fairly large investment (for me ) in NH and i did not think i would be second guesing my purchase 8 years later either.

i hope you never need any of the unobtainable Hst parts but the HST is a mechanical thing and they wear so that being said, what happens to the poor customer who has a failure that cannot be repaired and will need the new part. do you buy the 8k part or use the 8k toward the new tractor. Then would the new tractor be BLUE?????

will he ride the 8k pony "scrounge it or scrap it" as this was a quote from NH customer service.

look guys don't kill the messenger i am simply relaying the messages from NH. Be it what people want to hear or not.

in the begining of this thread i was just looking for some parts hoping to get a shaft for i duno $400.00 to $600.00 fix my great tractor and be on my way.

as the soap opera unfolded i relayed my info into the thread so you can brace yourself if you have a problem, take from it what you want.

i did not put the mouse in the trans and thats just one freak thing ( or is it ) - how big is the nest in your tractor- (sorry couldnt resist) there are other things that could happen to render this hst having to be repaired at that point BOINNNNNGGGG Theres jack...


i thought i had a wonderfull tractor also. it has done a great job.I still think it is the best built compact in its class. but if this shaft could not be fixed this would have been an expesive paper weight.





i couldnt understand why the real tractor guys sneered at these compact import things (now i know)

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Hello Mark

you know, I still cannot find the hole or entry point where they got in. so as i visit the dealer tuesday with the sleave for the shaft i will look and let you know.

i hope you never need any of the unobtainable Hst parts but the HST is a mechanical thing and they wear so that being said, what happens to the poor customer who has a failure that cannot be repaired and will need the new part. do you buy the 8k part or use the 8k toward the new tractor. Then would the new tractor be BLUE?????

Mice being what they are don't need much of a hole or gap to get into something whether it's a house or I suppose, even a tractor. Keep us posted on any developments as to the where and how the mouse entered.

Your situation however bizzar does give a person food for thought. What if theses kinds of parts will ever be needed, what would a person do. I do also feel that this type of availability problem could potentially arise with any of the manufactures, as Jinman said. So even if a person were to walk away from the Blue, whats to say that their not walking into similar or a whole batch of differant problems with their next color choice. After all we are talking about greedy, non customer oriented corporations and mostly foriegn made equipment.
It's a crap shoot, albeit a very expensive one. Keep us posted on your situation for this is knowledge that will benefit all of us.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Does KYB have any authorized service centers where you could send it to for repairs? I m just throwing out ideas.I know in these econimic times if my tractor needed an $8000 part it would get parked till the economy got better.
Bill

 

[IH3444]

very sorry to read about this complete lack of support from NH on your tractor Nemco. I for one was going to buy a hydro tractor, but after reading about some of the hydro problems long ago I decided to go with a NH TC48DA 12/12 gear drive. It was priced the same as a NH TC45DA Hydro. NH's policy to not supply parts is completely unaccepable, and has me also rethinking my purchase. My fuel gauge has failed after only 310 hours, and the dash instrument cluster is $409. Is that absurd or what also? A simple temp, and fuel, and tach. You cannot replace the gauge alone like your TC35. It's the whole cluster. After looking at the Kubota, and that digital readout dash, it swayed me to the NH's. I thought if the Kubota dash failed it would be over $1K. Yikes! Thankfully my cluster is still fine, and my problem looks to be either a stuck open thermostat, or sender failure. There is a thread under John Deere where a fellow is rebuilding a 4300 hydro. All parts are available from JD on a part to part basis. The $8K charge for a NH unit is absolutely one of the most absure business practices I have ever heard. And the complete disregard for your purchase by the NH rep is not generating brand loyality. Can the shaft be polished so that the seal surface can be salavaged? So very sorry to read about your troubles......just another reason to steer clear of a hydro. About 5 years ago afellow posted about his NH TC40 hydro gernading. Seems that a sintered bronze bushing for the pistons on the swatch plate has just desinergrated. Not under warrenty....dealer reply way to just swap out entire unit for "factory replacement unit" Unit charge then was about $5K, plus shop labor. He was not happy either. All for a single bronze bushing......

 

[jinman]

Nemco, it's very little consolation, but I'm attaching a drawing of the PTO power flow from the engine, thru the HST, and through the rear transmission. You can clearly see it is the upper shaft. You can also see the void area between the HST and the rear transmission where the two shafts are coupled (just to the left of reference #4). The only way I can think of that a mouse could get into this area is through the port where the HST relief valves are located. There must be an opening inside the cover. I thought this area was sealed, but in fact it may not be.

How much fluid were you losing? Is this one of those seeping leaks you just have to learn to live with or is it a huge leak? I'm really siding with you on the repair parts issue. It's obvious that NH and KYB decided the number of failures of these shafts would never justify having replacements in their system. I'm sure they decided it was cost-prohibitive to have a part in the system that sees less than say 10 failures throughout the whole line of tractors. To me, it's not so much an HST issue as NH's decision to not carry the part. Did you know that there are some simple rubber o-rings inside that transmission that are "not serviced separately"? Wouldn't you really be "fried" if you had an o-ring fail and they told you to replace the whole transmission? This is simply a case of bad parts support instead of a bad transmission or bad design.

 

[jinman]

you know, I still cannot find the hole or entry point where they got in. so as i visit the dealer tuesday with the sleave for the shaft i will look and let you know.

I'm attaching a picture of where I think the mouse may have found its access. I had a weld break on my HST pedal mechanism and decided to repair it myself instead of taking my tractor to the dealer. This picture is when I was reinstalling the pedal mechanism and above the silver plate in the top-center (slightly left) is a hole going into the transmission case. This is so the HST relief valve can be serviced from outside the transmission. There is a hole like this on each side of the housing. I thought this was only open to the area around the HST, but I'd bet it has an opening inside that the mouse found suitable for setting up "housekeeping."

 

[gould37]

Sorry for jumping in so late, I have my tc40d split right now in order to replace the same shaft that is not available. You can read my thread under tc40d no forward or reverse. It seems that this shaft is a weak point in this configuration. The one side of my shaft stripped off under the coupler that joints the trans and the motor.

I know that is was said before that I had the motor repaired on this tractor once before and that maybe the motor was not installed properly, but there are alignment pins, and I think it would be difficult to install the motor and trans out of alignment. Unless maybe the casting was bad from manufacturing, or something along those lines. The funny think is, and its not funny at all, was when the motor blew a head gasket and wiped out the rod bearing, I wanted to replace the whole motor. NH said that you could not purchase a complete unit or short/ long block and it could only be rebuilt. Kind of backwards of where I am now....make up your minds....

The entrance for the mouse I believe was probably located on the underside of the bell housing between the motor and the trans. There is an inspection hole located right above the front drive shaft. It is about 2"x3". Here you can see the front "input shaft" and there is plenty of room in there to make a home.

Just a suggestion on getting the shaft repaired. Did you happen to try a good crankshaft repair shop. I know in the past, I have had crankshafts repaired. They build up the surface area, grind it down to the correct size, and then they heat treat it and polish it. Just a suggestion.

I can not see why you would not be able to replace this shaft because of it being "matched" with other parts of the transmission. It is held in place with just 4 bolts and comes out in about 5 min once the tractor is split. It slides into another set of gears and has a coupler on the other end. Not rocket science here...If you told me the gears it drove needed to be shimmed or replaced in a set, that I might believe, but this is only a jack shaft/ input shaft.

No matter what the outcome, NH should step up and make this part available. It's not like we are asking for something for free. Just make available the parts we need to keep our equiptment running.

Again, good luck with your repair and if you find a source for this part keep me posted.....I am still waiting for my other parts I ordered and would like to replace this shaft as well....