Nortrac 25XT with Backhoe - BEWARE!

[borderline]

If you order one of these up with the backhoe attached and it comes in bolted to the top link..... - You're probably gonna need a 3/4" impact to take that nut off.

Over a week on the phone trying to pry out of them what the torque spec on it was and STILL nothing.

All I had was a 1/2" impact (the book says this nut should've been somewhere around 430 ft/lbs - my 1/2" is supposed to be able to go to ~ 650) and I was getting NOTHING.

Had to call out a local semi truck road service guy to come hit it with a 3/4"... - Still took a few solid pulls to knock it free.

I'm not at all pleased with this 1st call to Nortrac. - So far, I'd recommend anyone not comfortable finding their own ways of fixing things to look elsewhere.

 

[mguitas]

:welcome:sorry to here of your troubles.

 

[borderline]

Thanks. Sorry my 1st post is a rant. I lurked a bit & it seems my situation is probably unique (or at least I hope so) but I thought, just in case someone runs into the same thing, its nice to be able to find the answer.

Other than this, it seems to be a fairly decent machine. But wow, was it frustrating having it sit while I tried to work this out.

 

[s219]

Just keep thinking about the thousands of dollars you saved by buying a Chinese tractor. I think people who buy these know there will be tradeoffs. From what I have read here, so far you're on easy street .

 

[Fawken]

Just keep thinking about the thousands of dollars you saved by buying a Chinese tractor. I think people who buy these know there will be tradeoffs. From what I have read here, so far you're on easy street .

It's difficult to quantify at this point. Yes there are lots of posts here of Chinese tractor woes, but same goes for other brands. No idea what percentage of actual sales experience failures and of that percentage how many were operator error induced. Not defending Chinese tractors and I surely would not pay the mark-up Northern Tool gets on a Foton IF I were to buy one. I will say that I will be watching the Fotons especially for improvements in overall quality. I like the looks of them. Time will tell.

 

[ultrarunner]

When I was looking for a dozer I really considered buying one from Northern... the price, 3-point and hoe attachments made it a nice package...

Too many people told me to beware so I ended up buying a used CAT D3 and owned it for 17 years... still miss it today and it provided very good service and repair/maintenance over 17 years came to $150 per year... including things like two batteries, a couple of hydraulic lines and relining the steering brakes...

 

[Bob Rooks]

A 1/2" drive impact capable of a honest 650 lb. ft. torque? What brand is it, I gotta get one.

 

[Bob Rooks]

When I was looking for a dozer I really considered buying one from Northern... the price, 3-point and hoe attachments made it a nice package...

Too many people told me to beware so I ended up buying a used CAT D3 and owned it for 17 years... still miss it today and it provided very good service and repair/maintenance over 17 years came to $150 per year... including things like two batteries, a couple of hydraulic lines and relining the steering brakes...

"Too many people" probably don't own one. I have 700 trouble free hours on mine. Bought new in '05. Comparing a Yuchai to a Cat is apples and oranges. I was a Cat field mechanic for years.

 

[ultrarunner]

700 hours is a testament for sure... my bottom line was price... and of course the D3 was used... spent it's life as a track layer... and had the boom removed when I bought it for 17k delivered.

Knew a guy that bought one from Northern and had a place in the Santa Cruz mountains... he bought new and said he figured something would break for each full day he used it... did do a lot of work with it putting in roads and logging his redwoods.

Another was a Dealer that had sold a few and stopped selling them and of course... I did ask around on message boards. The Dealer sold trailers and had some Tractors and Dozers... don't think sell tractors anymore either.

Traveling Toys | #1 Trailer Dealer On The West Coast

Nice thing for the few things I did need was having Peterson Tractor 4 miles from my house... I'm a nobody with an older used machine and they treated me like I had a fleet of earthmovers... when a broke a hydraulic line late one afternoon... the parts man asked me if I was on a job... I said I doing work around my property... he called back to the shop and sent me back with my old line... made a new one and this was after closing... $42 and I could not have been happier... they also have an extensive library that they let my use and copy a few pages...

When I pulled the brake bands and went to Peterson... there was a grading contractor at the counter... before he left, he asked me if I was looking for work... told him I had no experience and this was my own dozer... gave me his card and said to call if I changed my mind.

 

[Bob Rooks]

700 hours is a testament for sure... my bottom line was price... and of course the D3 was used... spent it's life as a track layer... and had the boom removed when I bought it for 17k delivered.

Knew a guy that bought one from Northern and had a place in the Santa Cruz mountains... he bought new and said he figured something would break for each full day he used it... did do a lot of work with it putting in roads and logging his redwoods.

Another was a Dealer that had sold a few and stopped selling them and of course... I did ask around on message boards. The Dealer sold trailers and had some Tractors and Dozers... don't think sell tractors anymore either.

Traveling Toys | #1 Trailer Dealer On The West Coast

Nice thing for the few things I did need was having Peterson Tractor 4 miles from my house... I'm a nobody with an older used machine and they treated me like I had a fleet of earthmovers... when a broke a hydraulic line late one afternoon... the parts man asked me if I was on a job... I said I doing work around my property... he called back to the shop and sent me back with my old line... made a new one and this was after closing... $42 and I could not have been happier... they also have an extensive library that they let my use and copy a few pages...

When I pulled the brake bands and went to Peterson... there was a grading contractor at the counter... before he left, he asked me if I was looking for work... told him I had no experience and this was my own dozer... gave me his card and said to call if I changed my mind.

I think I know of the dealer you're speaking of. The greatest problem with these little dozers has been the dealer prep and the owner's attention to maintenance. Also the demographic, largely inexperienced first time operators. I've done sub contracting with mine too. Feels good. True, there have been issues with particular models, but have been taken care of with changes in subsequent models. Pipe laying is pretty easy (on dozers), relatively speaking.

 

[borderline]

A 1/2" drive impact capable of a honest 650 lb. ft. torque? What brand is it, I gotta get one.

Why, right at Northern Tool, same place I got the tractor. - Guess I was off by 20 ft/lbs tho..

My only real complaint (so far) is the lousy documentation and possibly once I learn more, the assembly done by Northern Tool.

The documentation is so wonderful that I managed to mangle my 3 point trying to move crap out of the way so I could get the backhoe off. The level of detail on it is to the point of, "remove backhoe from tractor".

Which probably goes a long way in explaining why a 3/4" impact was needed in the first place.... Their support guys were surprised it didn't have a quick connect on it, so.... Yeah..

 

[borderline]

This would have been a total blessing of a setup in comparison.

Instead, what I've got going on is this, where wiggling that sucker around all over the place, I just can't seem to get the right angle to pull that bolt all the way out. Which is made even harder now that the lower right arm is bent to **** and maybe more stuff is trashed too. I hooked up the linkage in order to move the upper arms out of the way so I could get to the bolt and of course, left it engaged and for whatever reason, had the right side adjuster connected. 2 seconds after start and I was too slow smacking that lever.. A pin wouldn't have saved me from where I am now I guess except for the frustration of trying to get that nut off to even begin.. - And I'm expecting a real cluster with the PTO attached hydraulic pump once I do manage to get it off the top link.

 

[Bob Rooks]

I really don't see what the problem is. Just set the hoe down in equalibrium rest (no weight bearing on the tractor), put a wrench on the bolt head and a 3/4 drive socket on the nut. If that won't work then break out the hot wrench.

 

[Bob Rooks]

All linkage should be slack.

 

[borderline]

Yeah, I kinda guessed pressure & friction weren't my friends for this. Did finally get it off. Put it back on & moved it then dropped it again. They really could've added a short bit describing the best way to go about this but maybe the legal dept wouldn't allow them to..? I sure wouldn't want to be hooking onto one without a smooth, flat, level surface to work from. And it doesn't take long to realize you need a couple extra tools to put it back on, too.

Quickly found out why they bolted it instead of pinning it... - The pin they included is about 1mm short of being able to slide the keeper.

 

[Bob Rooks]

A flat level surface is your friend, but he's not always around to help.

 

[s219]

Yeah, I kinda guessed pressure & friction weren't my friends for this. Did finally get it off. Put it back on & moved it then dropped it again. They really could've added a short bit describing the best way to go about this but maybe the legal dept wouldn't allow them to..?

From what I have heard, the manuals that come with Chinese tractors are not real thorough. I'd be surprised if anybody at Northern even read them over.

 

[Bob Rooks]

From what I have heard, the manuals that come with Chinese tractors are not real thorough. I'd be surprised if anybody at Northern even read them over.

Caterpillar manuals are very thorough.