Is anyone else having lots of problems with an 1850?

AltavistaLawn · Jun 29, 2006

At 250 hours its broke down again!

And I have two big contract customers who are due for bushhogging....we're using the JD 4115 with all of a 4 foot wide bush hog to get all of it done.

I can't remember what all has happened, but heres a list:
Motor on bushhog was bad at 0 hours..leaked oil, we reaplaced it.
Seat kept cocking over..had to keep cleaning pin valve.
Over Heated. Still does to this day....anything that runs hot, won't run long.
O-Ring in little box next to battery blew out..oil leak.
Front tires on bush hog keep pushing off of rims..put tubes in them, and that helped.
Temp sending unit went bad. Ones on order now from Deutz..they prob. won't warrenty it.
Had to replace seal in mysterious box mounted on frame next to engine..it leaked oil like crazy, took forever to find it.
And lastly..it won';t crank...I thinkit the solenoid on the starter...$200.00! Deutz probably won't warranty that either..
And if it still won't crank, the starter is $500.00. .. and not available, they have 4 on back order from the Father Land!!

I don't think theres no fine German engineering in the house here.

Guess I need to buy the biggest John Deere I can afford and put dual rear tires on it and tackle the slopes with it!

AltavistaLawn · Jun 29, 2006

Oh, yea, almost forgot.
It blew two hydraulic lines on the right steering cylinder.

IH3444 · Jun 29, 2006

"As Power Trac grew, more attachments were added and more refinement to the Power Trac line. In 1996, Power Trac won the distinguished honor of the "National Engineering Award For Excellence in Design." Power Trac's most well known machine and the "King of the Hill" is their model 1850."

REALLY!!?????

Write the Company, and present them their own advertistment, and ask why yours is so unique. Maybe they will be willing to help you with a machine with so few hours.

Sorry to read about your troubles.....maybe it was built during Octoberfest.

KentT · Jun 29, 2006

IH3444 said:
Sorry to read about your troubles.....maybe it was built during Octoberfest.

Or, more likely the day or week before opening day of deer camp...

Charlie_Iliff · Jun 30, 2006

AV:
I think you're the first to post about a starter problem. I also have an intermittent dead starter. Happens only when hot. When I turn the key, the voltage gauge bottoms. My battery is original, so may be the problem. Keep us posted what you find.

marrt · Jun 30, 2006

Charlie_Iliff said:
AV:
I think you're the first to post about a starter problem. I also have an intermittent dead starter. Happens only when hot. When I turn the key, the voltage gauge bottoms. My battery is original, so may be the problem. Keep us posted what you find.

Charlie, I had the exact same problem with the starter and there’s a simple fix. The Deutz solenoid is very sensitive to voltage. Because of the way the switch is wired, there’s a voltage drop and the Deutz solenoid will not engage sometimes. When I stopped the tractor, it would not crank again until I waited a few minutes. The solution is to install another solenoid “in front” of the Deutz solenoid. Power Trac sells a “kit” that fixes the problem. Basically, the kit consists of a standard solenoid (the old type that’s been around for ages…the three or four prong type will work) some small wires and a mounting bracket. You can easily find this stuff yourself and I’ve already replaced the new solenoid once because the bracket suffered vibration fatigue and failed. Anyway, this is a simple fix and things will work fine. If interested, I can try to post a pic tomorrow.

AltavistaLawn · Jul 1, 2006

Mine has the litle solenoid in front of it. I hope my starter isn't fried.

Maybe the little solenoid failed, and it fried the $200.00 unit.

AltavistaLawn · Jul 1, 2006

Well, I take delivery of this Monday, I'll bet this doesn't overheat bushhogging!
The PT can sit on site broke down, while I ride around in air conditioning.

Charlie_Iliff · Jul 2, 2006

marrt said:
The solution is to install another solenoid “in front” of the Deutz solenoid.

Sounds too easy.

I have the battery our and will hunt up a relay to go in when new battery does. That way I'll never know what fixed it.

RegL · Jul 2, 2006

AltavistaLawn said:
Well, I take delivery of this Monday, I'll bet this doesn't overheat bushhogging!
The PT can sit on site broke down, while I ride around in air conditioning.

You can get some A/C in that PT also when you get the bugs worked out. These guys in Barkhamsted don"t mention all the problems some have.

http://www.barkhamstedhistory.org/Diary September 2003.htm