Rattling noise

[Gregster613]

Hey fellow TYM owners,
I've got 65 hours on my 273. Last Sunday after I was done with some boxblade ripping practice, followed up with disking work I put it into the garage to shut down and (as it was at idel & cooling down) I'm hearing a strange rattling noise that sounds like a small bolt being thrown around. I'm perplexed, I crawled under and listened and I could not localize it. It sounds like the flywheel area...but it also rattles back by the hydro area. I thought "I'm tired, maybe I'm imageing it." so I shut down.
Tonight I did some repair work to the disk; started her to lift up the disk and yes indeed - rattle is still there strong as ever. Believe me she runs fine, strong but that rattle was never there before. So....I'm wondering if any other 273 users have had this happen??? Hopefully yes and it's nothing to worry about. As I stated before, I have no TYM dealer near me and the last repair work/hydraulic addition I got done cost me a big chunk of $$$$...
I'd rather fix it before it breaks down big-time but I don't have a clue as to where to begin to look. Or are unusual rattles just common with compact tractors?
If it's something simple I'd be glad to say "I'm stupid..shoulda seen that" but right now I'm perplexed. Any experience/insight appreciated.
Thanks Greg

 

[TYMinColton]

Are you sure it's internal? Stupid things to check (that I've had break) would be the front muffler bracket and mounting bracket for the water separator in the fuel line. Both rattled something fierce and were surprisingly difficult to track down at first due to frame resonance. Do you find that this "rattle" is worse at certain engine RPMs?

Sorry I can't be more help.
Pete

 

[Tom59]

Also the fuel pump mount might be loose mine broke in half. Pretty obvious though- It made a loud rattling noise.

Do you have a stethoscope? That might track it down faster too. Google homemade ones if you don't. Pretty easy-

 

[Gregster613]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I remember the thread about "What's next" on 273's and I have read it but no...tonight I looked throughly at everything and find nothing broken, yet. However...I did see something I'd maybe overlooked? The input shaft (right above the hydo filter) appears to have 1 grease fitting at each end? I've never greased it. I greased all the fittings shown in the service manual at the 50 hr service, but missed these two? How important are they? The shaft is solid & has snap rings, etc, etc. The rattle seems to be in that area but am unable to ID the exact location. How important is it to grease this solid shaft? How many pumps should it get? How do you stop the engine at the exact right spot so that you can access the fitting right above the hydro filter? I know, a zillion questions...Sorry.

However....I did notice something that was loose...my main frame attachment points had bolts that were finger tight. Six large metric bolts on each side. Darn it, I know the book says check them daily...whomever does that? I scratched up my arm real good getting them tight and darned if I can figure out the correct torgue between Kfg/m and foot pounds so I'm just going "Real Tight" with 19m wrenches. Else I'd try use my torgue wrench. How often to you guys actually check all these bolts? Should I remove them and use locktite also? Or will a monthly check be sufficient?

I will continue to try & track down that illusive rattle. but I'm running the beast anyway until I either find it or something goes bang and breaks.
Thanks for the ideas....Greg

 

[honorbound]

I have had this same rattling on my 233. The input shaft underneath the tractor came from the factory and had not been greased. Once I troubleshooted and then greased the shaft the rattling went away. This is a hard area to get a grease gun into but with a bit of persistance you should be able to grease the shaft. Hope this helps. Also if the shaft has been ungreased the odds are the life expectancy of the bearings has been cut in half so keep an eye on them.

 

[Gregster613]

Thanks for the "Great' tip honorbound!! I crawled underneath and easily greased the frontmost fitting; then I fumbled around trying to get the fitting just above the HST oil filter to get into a "somewhat" accessible location... Grrr!!! after much, much trial and error I finally got it close enough to catch it. Whew, I'm thinking I sure hope this works. I crawl back out, stretch, and fire her up. Whola, no more rattle noise!
I'm gonna remember to grease those two nipples every 50 hrs. No matter what a pain it is to get to the back one. I wonder, just how much Hydro fluid would one lose by removing the HST filter to grease that fitting? If it would only be what's in the filter it'd sure be worth it. I don't know, I never tried removing just the filter before draining the entire system. Might be worth trying though. If the filter wasn't in the way it'd be a breeze to grease those two nipples.
At any rate, my annoying rattle is now gone! I do realize that that probably means those bearings are probably half shot and I can only imagine what a pain (and expense) it'll be to ever replace them! Which is another reason for me to "remember" to shoot them with a few pumps of the grease gun as often as I can. Thanks for the suggestion; it sure worked for me!
Greg

 

[TYMinColton]

Pictures? Now you've got me wondering whether I ever grease the "shaft". Sounds like an easy fix (maintenance) that all TYM K2 owners would appreciate knowing . . ..

Good suggestion and fix honorbound!

 

[honorbound]

Glad to help. I would grease bi-weekly though.

 

[Gregster613]

TYMinColton, I don't have pictures but the shaft is easily seen from underneath tractor. It goes between HYDRO and engine flywheel. Located just above the Hydro filter (and that's where the perplexing to access) grease fitting is. The front fitting is open and easy to grease -- that back one tho...Man! If the hydo filter wasn't in the way = no problem.
I finally got smart enough to realize that I could get the flexible hose of grease gun just over and between the mounting plate which helped me a tiny bit. Otherwise you just have to keep trying to bump the starter motor over enough to "HOPE" you get the fitting to stop in a somewhat downward direction. It's a bear and I'm going to try find a different kind of end for my grease gun. One that is like those used for slide on fittings. I remember when I used to oil on a crane that they used fittings like that sometimes.
But, I don't enev know if something like that exists; for a regular push on fitting anyway. Sorry about no pics, but that takes me much time. Shoot pic, download into computer, resize several times, then finally get it attached. I'm not a technically advanced sort of fellow...Ha!
Just go under 273 and look up, you'll see shaft and fittings.
Greg

 

[TYMinColton]

TYMinColton, I don't have pictures but the shaft is easily seen from underneath tractor. It goes between HYDRO and engine flywheel. Located just above the Hydro filter (and that's where the perplexing to access) grease fitting is. The front fitting is open and easy to grease -- that back one tho...Man! If the hydo filter wasn't in the way = no problem.
I finally got smart enough to realize that I could get the flexible hose of grease gun just over and between the mounting plate which helped me a tiny bit. Otherwise you just have to keep trying to bump the starter motor over enough to "HOPE" you get the fitting to stop in a somewhat downward direction. It's a bear and I'm going to try find a different kind of end for my grease gun. One that is like those used for slide on fittings. I remember when I used to oil on a crane that they used fittings like that sometimes.
But, I don't enev know if something like that exists; for a regular push on fitting anyway. Sorry about no pics, but that takes me much time. Shoot pic, download into computer, resize several times, then finally get it attached. I'm not a technically advanced sort of fellow...Ha!
Just go under 273 and look up, you'll see shaft and fittings.
Greg

Sounds like it's as tough to grease this shaft as it is to remove the oil drain plug . I actually had to unbolt the oil pan guard from the subframe just to get enough wiggle room to put a socket wrench on the plug. Ugh - that's wasn't too fun. I guess this is why these babies are referred to as compact!