NH TN 65 - Looking to buy - looking 4 input good/bad

[Robert_in_NY]

I have 2 friends with new Deeres and they carp about small and large problems as well. I do think the overall quality of the Shibaura New Hollands is somewhat better than the Fiat built units and the Mexican built units have some rough spots and are looking more like Chinese built tractors. One would think they could do a better job with paint and wiring. The paint is probably attributable to bad or no prep. The wiring is bad engineering combined with second-rate connector vendors. Hey Fiat, why don't you check out the AMP catalog and buy some decent connectors for a product that is typically stored outside? Couldn't add more than $20 to the cost of the tractor. DUH! Instrument clusters failing is ridiculous. The user depends on the instruments to monitor the operating condition of an expensive piece of equipment. They should be durable and designed to last the life of the equipment and for a tractor that means they need to last at least 10 years. Idiot lights that fail in a year or two and hour meters that stop working before they even get to 1000 hours is just wrong. If there were enough angry owners the lawyers would jump in with a class action suit and sooner of later NH owners would get a discount coupon for a new plow The problem is that tractors are manufactured in relatively small quantities by a relative few manufacturers. There is much less competition than there used to be both at the manufacturers level and the dealer level. The bottom line is that there aren't any perfectly made tractors and if you don't believe me check out any of the other brand forums. As for me, I am fond of blue and bought a TN because of the color, even though it is flaking off

Where is the paint flaking off your hood? Most of the hoods the paint comes off in the center directly above the muffle (I am thinking it is a heat related issue). I have seen a couple where the paint is also coming off the front corner on the older TN's where they actually had corners on the hoods. I do not know if it is poor prep, poor paint or damage by the operator of the tractor. So far my bald spot is only about a 6" by 4" spot with the very beginning of some rust starting to show thru the primer. I figure as old as the tractor is right now (7 years) I will give it some more time and then just repaint the hood and touch up a few other areas.

 

[gsxrsquid]

The hood paint is gone over about a third of the hood and the metal cowling also is bald on top and rusting through primer. What is funny is I dented the front of the hood by dropping a 6' bushhog on it and the only place the paint is gone is the actual impact site.

As far as the poor wiring. It is a known fact that a 600 dollar fiat wiring harness will melt down to save a 50 cent fuse.

I had called new holland about most of the stuff and they were quite sympathetic, but not to the point of actually doing anything about it. The exception was the oil line that cracked. My dealer pulled a pipe off a new tractor to keep me going and dealt with the factory to replace it on their machine.

I only snivel about the stuff that were factory issues. I have busted a few things myself. What controls seizing did they recall? the lift controls? Mine are so stiff I have to beat them with my fist to move and they have been like that since the machine was a few months old. I disassembled the level assembly and tried to clean and lube it but it only lasted a few days. I was never notified of any recalls on anything. Somehow I bent a tie rod so am going to pull it and see if I can straighten it out before I order a new one.
Probably happened when I was pushing over some of the heavier brush. (like 10" in diameter. lol)


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The shifting linkages would seize up on the early models. It wasn't very hard to fix and mine was taken care of in my yard. They just had to disassemble the linkage under the platform and I think all they did was use a different lube on it but I can't remember for sure now.

As far as wiring goes I have not had any issues or heard of any issues with any harness on the TN's. As I said earlier, there are a lot of TN's in this area and I have operated a few different TN's (standards, D's, F's and V's) There was a problem with the TN 75V (350 hours) as it had a idiot light on in the dash but I can't remember exactly what was wrong. The F's had over 1600 hours and 3100 hours and the D had over 600 hours. My standard has over 1100 hours and my friends standard has around 200 hours.

I had a wire pinched that fed one of the rear outlets but that was done by the factory. As far as the TN's I have had actual experience with I have not had very much trouble with any of them. And never had a knob pop off a handle. If you are having to pull that hard to switch gears then chances are your linkages are seized up. These machines shift very easily if the linkage is working properly.

What leveling linkage are you having trouble with? The 3pt lift systems? Your tractor is also the first one I have heard of having the paint on the cowling come off. I know of one guy who had his hood replaced under warranty as a result of the paint coming off but he was the only one. I asked about the hood I saw in the garage and they told me it was cheaper and easier for NH to pay them to put a new hood on instead of trying to repaint the old one. I was hoping they would just let me have the old hood to clear out room in their garage but they were keeping it in case they had a damaged hood on a trade in.

Enjoy 2008. I am hoping this year is better then last and last year was pretty good up till October

 

[WeedHopper]

Paint is peeling on approx. a 18" by 12" spot. Looked at other TNs around here before I bought mine and they all peel in about the same area over the muffler. I doubt whether the paint is formulated to resist high heat and the ambient temps can be pretty high around here and TX, where it was originally sold and used for 250 hrs. No rust as it was stored under a carport a good bit of the time and I store it inside. Probably get around to painting it one of these days. Use some Sikkens poly on it and I suspect it won't peel again regardless of how much heat it gets. The seat is another issue. Mine was toast and had been for some time (2003 model). No excuse for NH not being able to make a seat that will hold up outside for at least 5 years. They aren't cheap either at $140, just for the bottom cushion. The back cushion is pretty weathered but hasn't started to come apart yet. Had the seat base recovered with extra HD foam for $50. I really don't care what the logo on the side of the tractor says as long as it is reliable, easy to operate, gets the job done and is easy to maintain. I might even use a Deere if they'd paint em blue.

 

[gsxrsquid]

I went out to do some bush hogging today and no start. Either an interlock switch or the ignition switch. For now I will just jump the starter solenoid to the batter to start it. When I get caught up on work I'm going to replace the ignition switch with a better one and replace the entire fuse block. Then while I have the cluster off I will pull the metal cowling and sand it down and paint it. the way that NH sheet metal is starting to rust I better hurry.

The good news since the friendly fold on this site told me how to remove the rear wheel to get at all the goodies I am not wearing the deck plates out removing and replacing them anymore.