JD3520+ICY ROAD+CHEVYSUBURBAN=

[dirtworksequip]

LBrown, thanks for the observation on the back wheels. I missed that and so did the adjuster. I will have to check that out more extensively. That is a possibility that the wheels are bent at the axle. I'll take some measurements and try to determine what is going on. Maybe its just the camera angle. The adjuster just left and he had a pretty good eye for bent and straight. The adjuster found a couple of things I had missed. We removed the front blade and found that both the front blade mounting brackes were bent. He also found that the right draw bar had a twist to it.
The bent stuff just keeps adding up. Found out today that the insurance company totaled the Suburban that caused the accident.

Thanks again for all the help.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[gemini5362]

I noticed what Lbrown was talking about after he mentioned it. It does look like the tires are sitting at a weird angle. I am going to mention something from another post. You might want to check state law in your state and see if they have to replace anything that is bent with John Deere green parts or if they can use after market parts to fix it. From what I am seeing I am starting to think your tractor is probably going to be totaled also. The parts might not be that much but labor adds up in a hurry. To replace the clutch on my little 15 horse kubota B6100 that I use as a riding lawn mower was going to be 600.00 my friend and I changed it in about 4 hours the parts were a bit less than 100.00

 

[john_bud]

DON'T report this to your home owners insurance! Unless you want your rates to go up (2-10x up). They will jack you into a high liability class and jack your rates thru the roof. Even if they don't pay out a dime, even if you didn't even ask for a dime.

jb

 

[gemini5362]

DON'T report this to your home owners insurance! Unless you want your rates to go up (2-10x up). They will jack you into a high liability class and jack your rates thru the roof. Even if they don't pay out a dime, even if you didn't even ask for a dime.

jb

Jb I am curious why you think that. I dont know that you are wrong just curious to why. I have rental property and have collected storm damage on my rental houses a couple of times. usually ice storms that involved installing a new roof. I have never seen my policy rates go higher from claims. I have had claims against my auto insurance for a couple of smaller things. My wife did not put the parking brake on in her miata and then hit the gear shift getting stuff out of the car. It went into neutral then waited for her to get on the front porch before deciding to go down the hill into a bob wire fence. ( convertible tops do not like barb wire fences.) I had someone hit my truck in a parking lot and I had to have the side repaired by the insurance company. I have never had my premiums go up.

 

[tallyho8]

In Louisiana and many other states, if you make 2 claims on your homeowners insurance within 3 years, they will usually refuse to renew you. Then the only policies you can get cost much more.

Most homeowners policies do not ask you if you have a tractor. When they find out you do through a reported claim, they may deem it an increased risk and raise or fail to renew your policy.

 

[orezok]

DON'T report this to your home owners insurance! Unless you want your rates to go up (2-10x up). They will jack you into a high liability class and jack your rates thru the roof. Even if they don't pay out a dime, even if you didn't even ask for a dime.

jb

I would be careful here and read your policy. It probably states that you must report all losses even if they are not covered. The reason being is that while the tractor may not be covered you are probably still covered by liability. If the other party (or their insurance company) should sue you and you did not report, it is possible that your insurance could deny coverage. Think about that $100,000 I hurt my back claim that might be coming. Makes the tractor loss look insignificant.

Also don't bet that the story will change at court time to ... "he was sideways in the road and I had to lock up the brakes to keep from hitting him!"

These are the type of deals in our convoluted legal system that can cost people their houses.

 

[chh]

I started to post on this a couple of days ago, but if the insurance wants to total that tractor I would let them and walk away from it. It could very easily turn into a lemon that would never be right after it was fixed. I had a p/u once that was border line on totaled and the insurance co. decided straightening the frame was a better answer. The truck never drove right and had constant problems after that. If you and the insurance got for repairing it be sure they leave the claim open to internal damage that may be found when the tractor is torn down.

 

[dirtworksequip]

After LBROWN pointed out how the rear wheels looked in the pic I took I did some checking. I jacked up the rear of the tractor and supported it on jack stands as level as I could. Then I started it up and brought it up to almost max speed in high range. Turned on the cruise control and exited the tractor. I then took a 2 foot level and held it on the inside of the wheel. There was a slight wobble on both the left and right wheels. It was only between a 1/16th & an 1/8th inch. I think you would find that amount of wobble on any tractor. The only other thing I could check, would be to remove the wheels and tires and see if the axles run true and also check were the wheels mount to the hubs to see if something is wrong there.

The insurance adjuster is going to replace all four blade mounts as they are all bent or twisted. I think I listed the rest of the damage in an earlier post. He also suggested I take it to Deere and let them go over the machine to see what they also might find that we missed. Plus let the dealership do the repairs. ANYBODY WANT TO BUY A SLIGHLY HIT 3520!

Sincerely, Dirt

Heres a pic of the front blade on the tractor and another one of it off the tractor.

 

[john_bud]

Gemini -

Insurance companies are getting quicker and quicker to pull the trigger dumping anyone that may end up costing them more $$. Statistics show that once an occurrence happens (whether a claim is made or not), more follow - costing the insurance company money. A person that gets in an accident may be deemed "accident prone" and dumped right away. Running a tractor on the road may be seen as a "dangerous activity" compounded by the roads being essentially impassible, they may determine that a "prudent man" would not have been on the road at that time exposing himself to unwarranted danger.

(Well, duh ! You don't plow snow when it's 70 and sunny! But try and reason with a big city insurance lawyer's position).

Various state regulations may allow or restrict this behavior, depends on the state.

Just my take on it....

jb

 

[dirtworksequip]

Latest parts list too long to list now. Total as of 02/20/08. $3,037.69 It will be interesting to see what the adjuster comes up with for labor cost.
Most of the parts cost is in the front blade and mounts. It may be cheaper to find a new one on eBay.

Sincerely, Dirt