Massey 2660HD rear brake issue

[sawtooth]

Well have bad news the right brake is acting up again. Pedal seems same as before. Very hard with little movement and tractor stops fast when I depress clutch. You can actually feel the right side grab and then trying to torque on the tractor. This time since I have been running it for a couple hours I decided to feel the rear axle housing for heat. The left housing was slightly warm to the touch but the right housing would actually burn you if you left your hand on there more than a split second. Back to the dealer it goes next week I guess. So how does it work If you pay for repair that actually ends up not being repaired. Just trying to get a plan before I call them Monday. Thanks.

 

[JWR]

Hate to hear that. Anxious to see what they say and plan to do. Just have a good description of what it does and lay it in their lap to get it right once and for all.

 

[sawtooth]

Ok so think I finally have some resolution on this. So last Monday I called the dealer back and they’ve been researching the issue. Apparently, the Massey rep was traveling so I wasn’t suppose to hear back from him till this week. Being impatient and inquisitive like I am I got on the tractor yesterday to test it out and noticed the right pedal now has a little more free travel. Immediately I could tell it wasn’t close to grabbing so decided to mow again. Every 15 minutes or so I stopped to check it and all was well. After 2 hours of mowing all was still ok. Today same thing with same results. Based on this I believe the tech just didn’t adjust the brakes properly after the “fix” was applied. This also explains why the pedal had very little movement when they delivered the tractor back to me and way the left side goes down to the floor. Even though the right side had little movement the brakes didn’t catch or grab at first but I believe as they got warmer they were close enough to start touching off resulting in heat which further worsened the issue. Since they had to wear in some over the two hour period i used them it seems to me that there is now enough free play between the components to keep them from making contact. The right side actually seemed perfect today and because of this I’m loving the tractor. Now the left side needs to be bleed out as it travels to the floor. But I think the issue is that the tech didn’t bleed both brakes properly after he completed the work. I did call the dealer explaining I was disappointed in the final checks and adjustments before they returned my tractor. It was obvious they just reassembled it and check a box so to speak. Anyway, provided the left side is just a bleeding issue I should be all set now. Thanks for everyone’s help.

 

[JWR]

I sure hope this is as good as it seems to be right now. I cannot recall when I was under there doing brake linkage adjustment back when mine was brand new, but there must be a separate set of nut-and-lock-nut for left and right sides. I'd be hesitating to touch it myself (very much anyway) until this is all squared away. Are they going to come out and do the bleeding on the left side and re-test the tractor?

 

[sawtooth]

No not at this point. Actually I would rather do this myself to make sure it’s done right. I’ve adjusted several tractors in the past so feel comfortable in doing this. The right side is actually perfect now provided nothing changes as the spec calls for 1-1.5” of free travel which is where I am now. When they delivered the tractor the right side was .5” but was not engaging so decided to leave as it was which ended up being a mistake. I think it was so close that as things started heated up some engagement took place causing even more heat than normal. The wild card will be the left side now. Once I bleed it I wonder if it will effect the right side. If it does because of the crossover then I may call them back next week. The tractor really is awesome though and a joy to driver. The Perkins engine as a ton of low end torque and really chews right through all the brush I’m cutting. I’m using a Land Pride RCF-3672 which is their heaviest cutter on 7-8 acres of 5-7 year growth. Many trees are up to 3-4” in diameter plus brush that’s up to 7-9ft high. So far just eats right through all of it.

 

[JWR]

Wow, I use a 7ft Bush Hog brand model 297. It weighs over 1400lbs and does all I ask and then some but it is not as heavy duty as your Land Pride. I do not cut that heavy a material (3 to 4") hardly ever. I do cut autumn olive woody brush, etc. way over the height of the tractor at times but not that thick a wood. Good that you are comfortable doing the bleeding yourself. The more you do yourself the more you know first hand about what is going on. Since I think you said the equalizer cross connection was removed/defeated I would not think bleeding one side would affect the other at all. With everything that has gone on I guess I'd make sure there is plenty of fluid in the reservoirs. Hopefully you are on the home stretch and about to enjoy many years of a good strong tractor. Yes, that Perkins is top notch in my book. I have to wonder if the newer 3 cyl AGCOs are that strong and reliable.

 

[JWR]

Well, in the month since the last post the Chinese virus has just about sunk the country. Anything good to report on your 2660?

 

[sawtooth]

Hello JWR,

To date I’ve only bleed the tractor left side 3 times but did learn something in the process. Apparently this tractors brakes takes longer to refill fluid than last ones I’ve done as each time it’s bled I seem to need to run it for up to 10 minutes to get all the line pressure back. Each time it’s bled the pedal just seems to take a long time to re-pressurize. Anyway, it’s slightly better now but I believe I still need to adjust the linkage underneath as it still has to much travel. Brakes and stops fine just has to much left pedal travel. Probably will attack this later this week. Also I got the new lift / draft control shroud or cover installed which is the one that goes over the lift and draft levers. Only issue is Massey change the slots to where the lift and draft control knob stops won’t engage anymore. Had to order new ones that hopefully have the right length to engage properly. I’m getting there just taking some time.

 

[sawtooth]

Hello again! Figured I would update this thread in case someone else has this same issue. I did a little more tinkering with the Massey 2660HD yesterday and decided to adjust the left side pedal to remove the extra free play. It was actually very easy to do once I found the adjustment nut and proved to be a very straightforward process. The results however were as good as I had hoped. The left side engaged inconsistently and the pedal still felt strange (2 stage like) when pressing it down. What I’m finding is the left pedal has almost a two stage feel as compared to the right side. It’s extremely easy for the 1st inch or so almost like nothing is connected then immediately gets somewhat firmer while still travels another 1-2” before hitting the fairly firm stop that you typically feel when locking up the brakes. The right side now offers a consistent feel from the start to finish and travels almost 1” until the firm stop. Both sides were tested when tractor was cold. Then I warmed the tractor by driving it around for 10 to 15 minutes and notice the left pedal starting to feel different by not depressing as far and two stage feel was almost completely gone. This is similar to what the right side did before the fix” just not as bad as the right side was at that time. The other thing I noticed when I tried reducing the left pedal free play when tractor was cold that the brake would prematurely engage on its own as the brake fluid starting warming up. No problems when cold only when warm. Again, same issue the right side experienced before the “fix”. Based on this I’ve come to believe the extra spring set they installed helps to apply enough force with cold brake fluid to overcome any resistance that the colder fluid may provide. Again this makes sense as the right side now stays consistent whether the tractor is hot or cold with no perceived difference in pedal feel. Based on this I will order another parts kit for the left side and do the upgrade sometime later this summer. Overall this will be a costly repair at around $3000 for both sides. Thankfully one side is complete but still have one side to go. Either way Ive learned a lot about this tractor and hopefully will prove to be a very reliable machine after these improvements are done.

 

[JWR]

OMG on the $3000. That's been a real head-shaker episode. If I followed all this closely enough, it would have been better in hindsight to do both sides while they were in there working on the right side (?) Would that have made a large $ difference ? There has to be someone out there (probably just not communicating on TBN) who has had the problem. By the way, curiosity, how many hours on the tractor ? You probably told us before.