Massey nightmare continues

[AxleHub]

Interesting enough, I own an allis Chalmers 185. It is about 75 hp tractor and has served me well. I purchased the massey ferguson 1531 for lighter work. Mowing working in tight spaces around the barn etc. 31 hp should handle a 5 ft brush, a 4 ft would not clear the wheels on the tractor. My father has a John Deere 4100 about 22 hp and it plays with a 5 ft brush hog. His John Deere has out performed and been way more reliable than my massey. Interesting enough the dealer and agco only warranty the repair for 12 months. The agco representative said I had some hard decisions to make. (Really) Cut my losses and buy a John Deere or Kubota. Nothing hard about that except the money I poured into this massey ferguson compact tractor.

Greetings Phillip,

I can't tell you about warranty on repairs - but I can tell you your Massey 1531 has the following warranty:

This comes directly from the 1500 series brochure.

"Our 3-year/2000-hour warranty
Even our warranty is high performance, covering 3 years/2,000 hours on the
engine and power train – a whole year over and above our 2-year/2,000 hour
all-inclusive warranty on parts and labor. Bumper to bumper, it’s one of the best
in the business, backed by dealers who understand how to help you make the
most of it."

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Anyone whos says this has never worked on a farm.

That's what I need, an education...

We have been on THIS farm for more than 60 years, have more than a dozen tractors right now, I guess I'm a pretty sloooow learner though. lol lol

SR

 

[plowhog]

Regarding: "My father has a John Deere 4100 rated at about 22 np. His tractor kicks my massey ferguson's butt in both reliability and performance."

TractorHouse has 29 listings for John Deere 4100 tractors right now, many between $8,000 and $10,000. Why not go buy one? I'm certain all of your problems would be solved, just as you have pointed out. It's got to be far superior on any task plus better reliability, as you have already experienced and commented about.

Even better, maybe hire out you and your tractor and make some money using the time you'll be saving not having to write posts to bash the Massey brand. Win-win.

Now, if you instead have a question about how to make your tractor ownership experience better, I believe there are a lot of folks here willing to help with that.

 

[Fergie4608]

Hey there Phillipw I hear what your saying, I am in Australia and bought a 4608 brand new in oct 2015 its got 420 hours on it now, from brand new the salesman demonstrated it with a lethal/ They call Aggressive Savage Shuttle release which means it goes from Zero engagement to 100 percent engaged in the opposite direction after pausing with no drive at all, this was supposed to be fixed in the pre delivery but was delievered with that fault, steering doesn't work at all, no Hydrualic flow at all when ever it feels like, Alternator screaming its **** off all the time, loader Hydrualics just continues free fall after joystick is centralized and then lifts the tractor off the Ground, you have to grab it by the throat and shake shiiiiiit out of it to make sure you get it shook loose, So with the dealers Mechanic on the tractor at 380 hours and only 14 months of complaining about the lethal shuttle he tested at 2000 rpm and as usual the tractor left the ground with daylight under all 4 tires and stalled out, yet 2000 rpm and stalled the tractor while lifting the tractor fully into the air, he updated the software and then tested again, exactly the same result, he then went back saying he had to report it for a decsion to be made on next move, this was a result of my contacting Agco? Massey Ferguson Directly so 3 weeks go past, Alternator screaming its head off, I contacted Agco/ Massey Ferguson directly again complaining about the Tractor and the dealer for 15 months of this life threatening issue telling them how dissappointed I was that they had not contacted me at all about the issues of this tractor, they simply contacted the dealer again and the mechanic returned with a new software update from Agco Directly, Mechanic tested tractor same result and more air time, Stalled out right at 2000 rpm and daylight under all 4 tires, Updated software and tested, repeat same result of tractor leaving the ground and stalling out right, Can you even imagine the load on the driveline or this is what I dealt with every single day operating this tractor. Ok mechanic leaves saying the same thing oh and he again adjusted the alternator. 4 weeks go past and I am not happy, Contact Agco all over again this time they remove the tractor for repair but the Manager of Technical support here is Australia is pissed becuase the mechanic operated and tested the tractor in my prescence at 2000 rpm which is PTO speed and that is why he did. Ok they split the tractor in half, these are facts, inside there is a servo which fires back and forth to shuttle drive direction, the fix for tractors like mine is for them to have the O rings replaced having them custom made becuase they do not know what they size of the machining is so this lethal defect is finally fixed. at 16 months so what am I complaining about I hear you say? because when they do this fix the Tractor is returned and its as tight as, that means you can leave it on a 20 degree to 30 degree slope and it will sit there just fine, if you turn the front wheels it will stop the tractor unless you are right up into it, I would say around 40 to 60% of its power up it if there is a slope, just to run the tractor, I complain again about that and boom she Blows the front diff, Again back onto Agco cause the dealer is useless North Pine Motors Qld now I tell them this is my Primary piece of equipment and I have nothing else on the property to do its job, they tell me they will get after it, I also told them I want nothing else to do with the dealer but they send it back to them for the repair, 4 weeks for the diff to be repaired, and then another 3 weeks for Agco to come from Melbourne to Brisbane to inspect the Tractor so it can be release back to the farm. so a 7 week without your main piece of equipment, So anyone reading this please contact me if you have had dealings with them or similar problems, now after the tractor is back from the diff its as tight as, the Steering still did not work and we are at 21 months now its as unsafe as ever, just a different unsafe then before, but its literally half the tractor it was before becuase they lowered the Hydrualics releif valve settings and now it won't pick up a 3/4 bucket of Grass and I have a video on that for your to see.
Rookie Mistakes in Tractors - YouTube Check it out for yourself and many other video's on the subject.

 

[Fergie4608]

It is very interesting when finally the computer loaded all the replies which I could not see before, for some reason but having just posted something myself on the Massey Ferguson conversation and noting the amount of Bagging out Phillip W because his comments don't allow help or a solution.
I would guess its becuase as noted he got a lemon and he can't make lemonade out of it so I guess his message is trying to warn people to actually look for the defects before they buy the product, which is why my post is there and details actual dealings with both the Dealer and Agco/ Massey Ferguson so that I hope anyone purchasing one or that has one looks at my information and dealings with them and checks if they have the same defects so they can approach their dealers with more information so they can get their fixed. For some unfortunate people who have the lemons there is no out and thats a fact, I cannot sell the tractor that is still under warranty becuase its unsafe and legally its a crime for me to sell it, this sounds like a bad joke and I wish it was, I cannot get Agco to fix it nor the dealer so where do you go from there, I guess you come to a Forum hoping to tell others to be aware of the defects which I would really say is Phillips point. Luckily everyone who is offended by him posting with the original thread does not have a lemon. I hope somewhere along the way Phillip w you get some reasonable outcome but I very seriously doubt it from my Dealings with Agco in Australia but then I know guys in the USA that swear by them, so I guess there is a chance the 8 people I spoke to here in Technical support in Melbourne are just the bad ones.

 

[wasco8]

General Comment Here. I have driven Ford, John Deere, IH, Massey Ferguson tractors over my life. All were good tractors if maintained. I am New to this forum but I have seen this type of criticism and negative posts before in a different forum on a different topic. They are not useful and no one should base their purchase decisions on them. Looking at the facts stated I agree that at the minimum the individual purchased a tractor too small for his needs. The maximum would be they also just abused the thing and the dealer and manufacturer are just trying to deal with them at this point. 10k sounds like a lot of damage in the area mentioned.

BTW. I do not work for or sell any brand of tractor. And the other forum I see such posts on are in HAM radio. Typically with some helpful Q&A we find out the owner hooked something up wrong to cause damage if the complaint is real and they were unaware of this.

 

[Dmacleo]

bumping almost 5 year old threads is just as bad as the thread itself.

 

[Gee Ray]

I would like to know why the OP was treated with such hostility.

Several have acted as if Massey was something beyond reproach. The backlash from some one reporting a bad experience with a machine is just plain wrong.

Maybe he did go about incorrectly by posting the message in different forums but his message was and is not posted with anything but his truth.

I purchased a MF 1528 new in 2005. I also had many problems with the tractor. First the front axle broke off as I was mowing a hay field. The front axle dropped into a "bull hole" and the result was the welds that hold the axle to the frame broke off. There is a 1 1/2 inch strap of flat steel that runs across the frame from side to side. It is welded to the frame without any supports or gussets of any kind. The entire axle assembly is bolted to the strap by 2 bolts. They are metric bolts but they are near the 3/8 size of bolts. The result of this poor design is the front axle is attached to the tractor with 3 inches of weld that broke easily. This was to become a known weakness in this tractor.

The axle, when it broke off, also damaged the pinion gear as well as the shaft that applies the power when the tractor was in 4 x 4. This resulted in nearly $2,000 of repairs.

The axle broke off the second time as the front wheel touched a small 2 inch walnut tree as I was working on a very steep hill side.

I never repaired the 4 x 4 parts the second time as I ran out of money and the tractor was used for several years as a 2 x 4 tractor.

The second problem occurred as my son was trimming up a field that we were brush hogging. As he backed over a small clump of brush the PTO stopped turning. It turned out to be one of the gears was now toothless.

The third major problem occurred as a friend was cleaning out a pond with a backhoe and laying the waste on the bank. I was using the box blade to gather the waste. As I was pulling away from the pond with the box blade down I saw a puddle of oil on the ground. The rear axle housing on the right side of the tractor was broken. It had cracked open as if it was an egg shell struck against the edge of a bowl.

The tractor was used but it only had 2,000 hours on it. The engine, transmission, hydraulics, and loader were never a problem. The construction of the frame and the rear axle were very questionable. Along with the damage to the PTO the result was it had to go.

Thousands of dollars for repairs and the non working 4 x4 resulted in a new Kubota L2501.

But I am in agreement with the OP. Massey and Agco are not the same as the old Masseys. His message to avoid MF / Agco are valid.

I do not think the age of this thread means that it should not be revisited. There are still 1528, 1531, and I believe the number is 1538 that are still out there and may not be the best tractors to buy.

 

[Dmacleo]

was the original poster treated wrong?
in my opinion yes.
should a poster with no actual tractor problems revive an old thread for no good reason?
no.

But I am in agreement with the OP. Massey and Agco are not the same as the old Masseys. His message to avoid MF / Agco are valid.

and theres your hook here.
the 2 posts today bring nothing to the table and I am out.

 

[5030]

Modern MF's and older MF's are two entirely different tractors built in 2 different countries. They have nothing on common with each other but the badging and the color scheme.