Mowing oil seepage beneath bush hog gear box

[banjodunn]

G'day at the risk of sounding like an a#@e can i ask why you bought a unit from a dealer 80 mi away when there was two on your doorstep? I sell and repair machinery for a living and am never happy when someone buys the same unit from another place and then expects me to repair it under warranty. One of the things you build into your profit margin ( small as it may be ) is to do warranty work if needed, as if your lucky the manufacturer may pay you something for your effort. We are very choosy in what we sell and we have been able to weed out the rubbish over the years so that we keep our margins down as tight as we can so we can be competitive. Now don't get me wrong if a person brings in a unit needing work and it wasn't bought from us it will get done but it may not get to the top of the list straight away espescially when we know the person has the time to be able to take it back to where it was bought from. Anyhow enough of my rant take it to the dealer and i hope they get it sorted out for you


Jon

 

[Soundguy]

I'd go to the dealer for waranty service work first.. if that didn't help.. then I'd make the phone call.

NLGI 00# grease is actually a light grease.. some call it pourable... it's thinner than regualr tube grease.. but thicker than gear oil... when you put thick grease in a gear box, the moving gears quickly make a cavity, and the grease doesn't slump much ( though will with heat and time ).. the 00# grease slumps easier and recoats the gears. For instance, JD corn head grease is a 00# greas.. it's made for corn header gear boxes.. is very sticky.. etc... many times people with older implements where parts are hard to find.. , etc, will pump oo# grease in a leaky gearbox as an easy semi-permanent fix.

soundguy

@Soundguy-- Even while hampered by the limited visibility, and lack of flashlight, I really don't think there is anything at all wrapped around the shaft. In fact, it looked purty darn clean.

@DeadHorse-- I don't have a picture, can get one tonight. You mean of just the oil seeping area? Or the entire mower? To post a picture here, do I have to get a photobucket or picassa or something account to actually host the pix?

@Heavyduty-- What is 00 grease? Never heard that term (though this is not a surprise). Is it something heavy, like plain lithium grease? Why use that over 80/90 weight? Thicker and less likely to run out?

I stopped by a local farm last night and purchased (CraigsList ad) a couple of log chains for lifting the mower. I got to talking to this guy, and among other things chatted about the seeping mower. He said to call Woods directly, that they are very good about taking care of customers. I wonder if I should do that anyway, in addition to taking it to the local dealer.

Thanks for all the help, y'all.

~Allen

 

[amarlow]

@banjo-- I don't mind the question at all. It was all about economics. I called the nearby dealer first. The do sell Woods, but their on hand stock has dwindled. They could get this mower, but would have to order, and the quoted prices was 18% higher (>$200 after gasoline). I got the impression from the far away dealer that he had been given a screaming deal from Woods, probably a while back, on exactly the rotary mower I was looking for. He had a number of them in stock, and quoted an out the door price, with hitch pins thrown in, that I just couldn't pass up. This far away dealer is apparently the largest Woods dealer around, by a lot. They have lots of equipment, new and used, in stock. I called the nearby dealer back, told him the situation, and he very graciously, very kindly told me he understood, that he appreciated me giving him the opportunity, but he couldn't come close, and to please keep him in mind when I needed something in the future.

A second reason to drive to the far away, bigger dealer was just to see what they had. I'm looking for a used post hole auger, a used back blade, a used set of pallet forks I can lift with fork hooks on a bucket, etc. His used implement yard must be 5 acres. I wouldn't have made a trip to see this stuff if the main purpose wasn't to purchase something.

OK, all that said... Yes, I still felt badly about not giving the business to my local dealer. I actually believe in and consciously practice that philosophy as often as possible. But I couldn't justify the extra $200. So it was all about the economics, but with a good sized helping of guilt on the side.

~Allen

ps. Should I give the nearby dealer the warranty (I hope) repair business? Or haul it 80 miles to the far away guy? I would think any work is good work, and wherever I take it, they'll either make money off of me or get it from Woods. Thoughts?

 

[banjodunn]

G'day Allen I understand where you are coming from and i hope woods looks after it's dealers better than some over here ( whom i won't name) by all means take it to the local guy and i hope he looks after you good enough for you to go back there in the years to come. It is so annoying when companies want you to sell there equipment but because you only have a small turnover you can't get the discounts of the larger guys I would love to be able to sell more new stuff but where i am it is mainly serious farming (1000 acres plus) and after 7+ years of drought the money is just not there for the farmers to spend yet if i go 50 mi to the east hundreds of smaller holdings ( 5 - 20 acres ) with guys that have an off farm income and can afford to buy new, allowing the dealers there to have a much larger turnover. Hope i didn't upset anyone with my rant but it is one thing that gets on my goat, anyhow i hope they sort your prob out it's never nice having new stuff that doesn't operate correctly.


Jon

 

[MarkV]

Allen if it were me I would talk to the local dealer and just plain ask them if warranty work paid enough for them to be interested. Some companies are better than others about paying dealers for warranty repairs. I have heard more than one dealer say that it cost them money to do warranty work. If that is the case I would suck it up and drive the 80 miles to the place you bought it rather than insist the local guy do it because it is under warranty.

MarkV

 

[amarlow]

Update:

I did call my local dealer and asked if they wanted the warranty work or would prefer I took it back to the far away dealer where I bought the mower. Again, very kind & gracious, "Oh, sure, bring it on in! We'll be glad to help you out. We want your business, all your business, including repair work, from now on..." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

So I get home from work, change into more appropriate clothing, and head out to the van which has the trailer with the mower laying on it already hooked up and waiting for me.

Then I get to looking at it. Hmmm.... That oil ISN'T just seeping from below the gear box anymore. It's up higher on the gear box. That doesn't make sense if it's the output seal. In fact, the oil is quite a ways up the gear box. Hmmm... I get a flashlight and aim the beam under the mower, and lo! there is zero oil beneath the deck. If the output seal is leaking, there should be at least some oil there on the trailer. And as I'm looking at it, studying the gear box, the oil on the mower deck... DRIP. Bigger than life! OK, actually kinda small. But there is a drip of oil from up high on the gear box, up toward the INPUT shaft.

I'm going to try to insert a couple images here. Hope they aren't too large. One shows the big picture. The other is a close up showing the up-and-coming next drip/drop over the spot where they have been hitting recently.

Did they make it? Did I attach the files??

Anyway, I drove the blessedly short distance to the oh so gracious dealer nearby. He unloaded the mower with the fork lift and set it out back, where it now is waiting its turn for repair.

It does seem to me that this will be warranty work. There isn't any reason the input shaft seal should be leaking after only a couple hours of use, is there?

Thanks for all the help, y'all. I'm learning and learning.

~Allen

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. input shaft leaking.

causes could be non vented plug and too much oil allowed a seal to push out.. or failed seal.. or failed bearing which caused a failed seal.

different reasons for bearings to fail... to tight.. too loose.. or damage from a long driveshaft.

good luck

soundguy

 

[wedge40]

Totaly unrelated to the real problem, but from the title alone I was going suggest talking to BP about the oil seepage. Well that or Thad Allen.

Wedge

 

[jayste]

I agree with Soundguy. Input shaft seal leak. Definately have THEM replace it on one so new and so little time in service! :thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

yep.. input shaft leaking.

causes could be non vented plug and too much oil allowed a seal to push out.. or failed seal.. or failed bearing which caused a failed seal.

different reasons for bearings to fail... to tight.. too loose.. or damage from a long driveshaft.
good luck

soundguy

This may bear repeating since this is your first. Did you or the dealer check the PTO shaft length? It's not unusual for the PTO shaft to need shortening when first fitting up an attachment.
Dave.