I want to thank all of you for your input. I probably should heed your warnings. However I'm having a tough time seeing how letting another dealer perform the repairs, would be in my best interests. Maybe I'm just 'gun shy' over what has already happened. Granted, I'll probably lose my warranty if I do the repair myself...but what kinda warranty do I really have, given the circumstances?
The way I see it, here are my options...
--Bring it either to another dealer in CT or the dealer I bought my 21 from. Either way, it will cost me $300-$400+ for them to transport.
--Borrow a trailer and bring it myself. I'll have to miss time from work for both trips and including fuel, that will cost me a few $$$. If I just use a days pay(1/2 day bring it 1/2 day pick up) and the fuel...it's real close to what I would pay for them to haul it.
--Do it myself and have the satisfaction of knowing what specifically was leaking and correcting the problem. By no means am I implying any discredit to any NH techs, but by being employed at GM dealers for almost 30 yrs, I know what it's like to be on both sides of the fence. Splitting a new tractor with 8 hrs on it is no different than splitting a new Caddy with 8 miles on it. It takes a certain finesse that many dealers(Not All!) just don't posses. But that's another topic and I'll just leave it alone.
I still believe NH builds a quality product, and with that said, I would hope the 24 follows the same path as the 21 did....I never had to bring it to a dealer in the 5 yrs I had it(at least not until the inj pump issue). That is my basis for wanting to repair it myself. If this tractor is going to cost me $300-400 for every warranty issue...keep the warranty!! I'm sure some of you will say something about a 'catastrophic failure' like an engine, trans, axle, etc that could cost $$$$ just for the part alone. You'd have a valid point too! On the other hand, I'm a pure optimist and tend to think positive for even the worst case scenerio.
