New 2520TLB - Working out the bugs

hemiguy · Nov 2, 2006

Hi all,
I picked up my new 2520 with 46BH and 200CXFEL on Sept 1. Its been so wet and rainy here in upstate NY this fall that I've only put 15hrs on it so far with only about 2hrs using the BH. The rest using the loader, box blade and rake. It doesn't really look like its put together quite as rugged as my old 755, but does seem to have power to spare, especially with the loader. Anyway I ran up a short list of issues needing attention so I dropped it off at my dealer this past weekend. Here's what I've run into so far:
- One of the BH swing cylinders has a minor leak. I noticed some green paint overspray speckles on the cylinder rod. That wouldn't effect the seal, right?
- The tractor mounting bracket for the power-beyond (PB)hoses is wearing a quarter sized gouge in the back of the BH seat. Another 2520/46BH that the dealer was prepping had a PB bracket with an obvious notch machined out of it. Humm...
-The bracket that is supposed to be on my ROPS to mount the SMV is not there. No place to put the SMV sign when BH removed.
- There is only about 3/16" clearance between BH footrest plate corners and R4 rear tires (other BH at the dealer had about the same clearance with turfs). Doesn't rub, but REALLY close. A side effect of this was that when mounting my Woods rake on the 3pt, the hitch arms rubbed MAJORLY
on the tires. My fix for this was to switch the rake 3pt pins to point inward instead of outward.

Has anyone had any similar problems on their 2520? In particular, does anyone know of a 2520 rear wheel spacer kit as the rims on the 2520 R4s and turfs are NOT reversible like on 755/855/955's. By this I mean you get the same tread width no matter how you mount them. My dealer will definitely take care of the other issues,but wasn't sure how to improve the clearance issue. As always any feedback is appreciated.

B8FISH · Nov 2, 2006

On the 3pt arms--I have had the same issue. Best that I can do is keep the adjustment turnbuckles snug--each one is tigntened almost all the way down. I cannot imagine ever being able to loosen them--the arms start to rub on my R4's as soon as they move a turn or two. I found that the split rings didn't really keep them from turning to well--so I have taken them off, and just keep tightening as needed. I am using an iMatch, so the adjustment is pretty much the same all the time. I am not sure if there is a better method or not--curious to see if any else has a better answer.

Dutch445 · Nov 2, 2006

make sure that the tires have been moved to the wide position,
should have done with 46 bh install... but double check.
we have ground down the corner of that plate on the platform
for more clearance there.. it sure is tight.

ducati996 · Nov 2, 2006

I thought I mentioned the tight clearence for the foot rest using R4's on this forum about a month ago? maybe it was elsewhere. Its close but it still works fine. I cant see turfs working because the turfs being a lot larger. I dont have contact between the Power beyond and the BH seat. You could add a split rubber fuel line hose as added protection on the lip of the power beyond mounting bracket. My 3pts come close to the R4's but I have enough bite on the clamps to keep it off the tires with all my implements....
Having paint on the hydrolic cylinder will have zero effect. Dirt will get on it all the time and it has zero effect. As for the tires (R4's) they must be reversed in my opinion in order for the BH to fit. My valves are on the inside of the tire, and there is added room when doing this compared to having the valves on the ouside.
I personally dont see your list as a negative or serious at all. They seem like easy fixes. Overall I find the machine very well put together, keep in mind its still made by yanmar and the 2210,4010,4100,4110,4115 2305,2320, 2520 are the most trouble free in the industry. Its not by luck

hemiguy · Nov 3, 2006

The rear tire mounting position (wide vs narrow) was my first thought when I noticed the clearance issues. So I checked the manual for tread width specs and found ...... nothing (my old 755 manual had narrow/wide, inside/outside tread specs listed in a table for all of the tire options available on that machine). So next I simply took out my tape to measure from each edge of a tire in to the mounting surface of the wheel. The numbers were equal within a small fraction of an inch. I was certain I measured wrong so i did it again and... equal. When I dropped the machine off at my dealer I asked about this and he confirmed that this is true with both the R4's and turfs. I would be thrilled if one of you guys could prove me wrong on this, but the lack of info in the manual sort of confirms it to me. And, as I mentioned earlier the 2520/46BH with turfs in the dealer shop appeared to have maybe a tad more clearance than mine. The turfs look taller, but no wider than my R4s.

BTW, I agree that these issues are all correctable and overall am very happy with my purchase. I looked at and tried out several other tractor brands but finally end up with another JD. My box blade and rake (with pins swapped) both give me at least 1" 3pt clearance on each side with the sway chains snug. However, I'm considering getting IMatch and would want at least the same clearance which would then be set by the hitch. If you guys get a chance to measure the inside/outside tread widths on your machines, I would certainly be interested in what you find.

PS. How much snow did you get out your way today B8FISH? I'm just down the road from you in Farmington.

B8FISH · Nov 3, 2006

Hemiguy--not much snow, maybe an inch--and it is in the process of melting now. I have Carlisle Trac-Chief R4's 14-17.5 NHS on my 2520. Measurements (within 1/4 inch or so) are 51" outside and 27" inside. I use the iMatch for most of my implements, and the sway chains are pretty snug. Hope this helps.

ducati996 · Nov 3, 2006

hemiguy said:
And, as I mentioned earlier the 2520/46BH with turfs in the dealer shop appeared to have maybe a tad more clearance than mine. The turfs look taller, but no wider than my R4s.

.

I wonder what Dutch445 mentioned above would be required with turfs? (grinding back the foot rests) I picture if the turfs are taller than they will definitly rub on the BH foot rests.

I would do the actual un-reversing the tires to take some measurements for you but they are loaded with Rim guard and could weigh up to 400 lbs (if my calculations are correct each) I only want to wrestle with that if I had to ! I hope you understand..

Im just thinking from past experience using my 4100 and the 3pt arms rubbed on the tires. I reversed them and gained a few inches on eachside for the arms. I would hope there is some gain (2520 & 46BH) because my dealer told me it was needed and wasnt an option on my install...I saw them do it

jimfish · Nov 3, 2006

I found the split rings useless. I secured the adjusters with HD cable ties. So far - since May - no further issues with tire clearances and/or rubbing.

hemiguy · Nov 10, 2006

Well here's an update.
I had dropped the 2520 & BH at the dealer Oct 28 for the fixes and was all set to pick up this coming Saturday. But earlier this week found a small sheared off nut/bolt end (looking clean & cadmium plated like something that might have come off a new JD) when sweeping up the garage floor. I decided I had better call the dealer to see if anything was missing on my machine. Sure enough they called back a few minutes later. One of the L shaped bolts that holds the BH subframe backets to the loader mounts was broken off. Now I'm not very experienced with a BH yet, but thought I had been pretty gentle digging in soft, damp clay to get the feel of the controls. The dealer was at a loss a how it would have broken & said it is an unusual failure. Anybody ever heard of this?

As to the rear wheel spacing what I was trying to get across is that the difference in "wide" and "narrow" on this tractor is at most maybe 1/2" total. On my old 755 the difference was about 3" on each side. Why? So narrow would be about 46" to fit through the path of the 47" blower & wide would be about 52" for stability with the loader. It looks like we get about 52" period and that's that. Wheel spacers would be nice to get maybe another 3/4" on each side for the BH and 3pt. I suspect any of you guys that have a blower to use on this tractor are NOT going to be happy. Comments?

turbo36 · Nov 10, 2006

hemiguy said:
Well here's an update.

So narrow would be about 46" to fit through the path of the 47" blower & wide would be about 52" for stability with the loader. It looks like we get about 52" period and that's that. Wheel spacers would be nice to get maybe another 3/4" on each side for the BH and 3pt. I suspect any of you guys that have a blower to use on this tractor are NOT going to be happy. Comments?

I was thinking of swapping my 2305 for a 2520 until I learned about the width issue with the snowblower. According to my dealer, JD told him a solution is coming but not soon, so he was suggesting that I make up "wings" for the sides of the blower to increase the width to the same as the tire width. While this would not be a big deal to make these up on my press break I elected to wait for what I hope is a wider blower.