NH 2120 issues/problem

JATO_RaT · Feb 11, 2003

Anyone with a NH/Ford 2120 or similar with HSS (hydraulic shuttle shift) have or had this problem? Ours now does this all of the sudden. Neutral is now forward. Forward still is forward and reverse locks up and stalls the engine. There is no neutral or reverse.
After all the work we have gone through with trying to keep the the engine to transmission bolts from loosening via Loctite primer and Loctite, their loosening up again and the oil is coming out. Years ago someone posted that they had the engine/transmission bolt problem as well as on more frequent posts. Did you get a resolution about the best way to fix it short of welding the two halves together? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Rat...

AndyMA · Feb 12, 2003

Rat

Sorry to hear your having these problems. My 2120 (12 yrs old) fortunately never had the bolt loosing or leaking problems. The only problems I had with the HSS were all linkage problems and required new linkage parts. Your problem doesn't sound like linkage to me unfortunately, it sounds like something in the tranny. I lost a clutch to rust from condensation. The drain hole was too small and the bellhousing trapped water. We replaced the clutch and drilled out the drain and haven't had the problem again.

Keep us posted, I hope it isn't something serious.

Andy

JATO_RaT · Feb 15, 2003

Thanks Andy. We brought the 2120 into a NH dealer Wednesday. Friday they called and said to expect repairs to be as much as $5000.00. I'm a little ticked because this tractor only has about 400 hours on it but is many years out of warranty. You are correct about the many little connections or u joints on the linkages. They mentioned this is a likely source of the problem but as I explained the symptoms a little more in detail we ruled that out on the phone. I suppose that should we get them to repair it, one bright spot will be that if the stinkin bolts loosen up again, its going back to NH with the understanding that this is not a normal function of tractors. Thanks, Rat...

thcri · Feb 15, 2003

Wow,

5 G's is a lot of money for 400 hours. I wouldn't have the money to fix. Tractor would just sit in the garage.

Murph

JATO_RaT · Feb 16, 2003

Yeah, it's an issue, but the tractor is really to new and all in all is a pretty decent tractor to just let sit and waste away. Perhaps a nice trade or sale to a home mechanic could be in order. Rat...

spencer200 · Feb 16, 2003

There where some issues with the eic board that controls the trans on the hss tractors even if the tractor is older your dealer should be able to get your parts covered by the district service manager if he has a good relationship with him. They will not pay for labor when tractors are long out of warranty but parts they will when there has been a known problem.

Pacesetter300 · Feb 16, 2003

This might seem a little old fashoned, but regarding the bolt loosening, is there a way to safety wire them? It's not hard to drill the heads out on a drill press. 2120 is one of the best Ford/NH's ever sorry you're having the problems.
pacesetter

JATO_RaT · Feb 19, 2003

Well, we got the NH dealer to diagnose the 2120's problem. It is in the hydraulic clutch pack. Both the forward and reverse clutch packs will need to be replaced. A bolt somewhere in there sheared. The cost per clutch pack, $1000. Thats $2000 just for those 2 issues. The estimated cost will be indeed in the $5000 range. I can't believe it. When folks talk about the cost to replace/repair a hydrostatic drive versus a manual with hydraulic shuttle, perhaps this would be a good example of just how much these hydraulic shuttles can cost you. Unbelieveable! Rat...

Whiskey · Feb 19, 2003

RaT:

Ouch! that made me pucker just to read it. This is one of the stories that scares me and I've herd a few. I'm sticking with geared on my next tractor here in the near future.

Like the others have said I've herd nothing but good about the 2120's.

Whiskey

JATO_RaT · Feb 19, 2003

It is a geared tractor, it just has the added benefit of a hydraulic shuttle shift which is a huge bonus once you've used it. I would still go hydraulic shuttle minimum over standard shift. I believe this is the first time anyone has reported a problem with a shuttle shift itself going through this extreme. I think THIS 2120 HSS was built on a Monday by some hung over workers. Its been quite the lemon, a blue one. Hopefully this is an isolated incident and won't be an issue for you. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Rat...