As I posted here before, I bought a brand new DK-40 last Saturday from Little Tractor, and they were nice enough to have it delivered the same day. It started snowing just as it was being delivered, so we just put it in the garage for the night. Sunday was warmer, so I got out with it and tried out both it and an older used 2 bottom plow I bought a while back. Everything was working great for about the first 30-45 minutes. I couldn't quite make a tight enough turn to line the plow up straight for one run, so I stopped, pushed in the clutch, shifted the shuttle from forward to reverse, and nothing happened. I thought I just hadn't engaged the shuttle correctly (it was pretty stiff, being brand new) so I pushed in the clutch, shifted the shuttle forward and back to reverse, then let the clutch out again-still nothing. I ended up checking every gear and every range (hi, med, and lo) and the darn thing still wouldn't go. I finally shut it down, and went and re-read the manual in case I forgot something. Not finding anything there, I called James Little, who had told me to call even if it was a Sunday, so I did. He went through a few things with me, and finally said it was beyond him and he would have his service tech call me back. Mike, the service man, called me Monday. After going over everything I had done and tried, he said they'd pick it up and take it back to their shop (a 2 hour drive) to check it out. They were going to pick it up Tuesday morning. I went home early to tow the tractor out of the field and back to the driveway so they could pick it up. I grabbed my trusty Harbor Freight towstrap and stared my little Hinomoto tractor and drove it out into the field to the Kioti. I started the Kioti so I could lift the bucket and the plow, and so my wife would have the power steering to make it easier to tow. After starting it, I thought I'd put it in gear just for grins. Sure enough, the darn thing started moving just like nothing was wrong! Figuring I must have just overlooked something the night before, I called Mike and told him what was going on, that I figured I was just stupid and missed something the night before. We decided to cancel the pickup, and I was to call them if it happened again. I was already home for the day, so I decided to finish the plowing. Again, everything went great for about 30 minutes. I was plowing with the tractor in 4WD, low range, 2nd gear. Each time I got to the end of the row, I would stop, push in the clutch, and move it from low range to high. After about 30 minutes of this, the next time I stopped at the end and switched from low to high, when I let the clutch out, nothing happened. I tried all the gears again, moving it from high to low back to high range, turned off the 4WD, moved the shuttle back and forth-nothing. Then I shut the tractor off, shut the 4WD off, and restarted the tractor. Abra cadabra! It started moving again!
After it did this to me consistently each time I reached the end of the row and tried to move from low to high, I called Mike back and told him what was happening. We decided it was best for them to pick it up after all. I went ahead and finished the plowing, with it again consistently doing this each time I tried to switch from low to high, and me having to shut it down and restart it each time to get it going again. When I had talked to Mike I thought it had something to do with the 4WD, which didn't really make sense, but it seemed like I had to switch that off each time to get it going. After hanging up with him and paying even closer attention to the problem, I realized it was the high-medium-low range system that was the problem (which I relayed to Mike the next morning).
They picked it up Tuesday and brought it back Friday. Mike and I spoke , veral times in between, with him working the tractor in mud one day and, with my permission, plowing 2 acres with it the next. True to Murphy's Law, it didn't do it a single time with him. He went ahead and lubricated several of the controls, including the shuttle shift lever. As I said, they brought it back Friday, but it's been raining since then and I was finished with the plowing anyway, so I really haven't been able to test it.
I know that they (the people at Little Tractor) think I'm crazy. I know that Mike's explanation of how it is unlikely for this to occur is very logical. I also know that I'm not an idiot and am fairly mechanically inclined, and I know it was happening over and over to me on Monday night. I feel bad that the folks at Little have gone through all the time and expense they did, only to not see the problem. In my line of work, heating and air conditioning, we have the same thing happen from time to time-the homeowner reports a problem which turns out to be intermittent, and we sometimes make 4 or 5 trips before we catch it happening. I know where they are coming from; if the problem doesn't present itself while you're looking at it, there's nothing you can do about it.
What about it? Anybody out there seen anything like this before?
After it did this to me consistently each time I reached the end of the row and tried to move from low to high, I called Mike back and told him what was happening. We decided it was best for them to pick it up after all. I went ahead and finished the plowing, with it again consistently doing this each time I tried to switch from low to high, and me having to shut it down and restart it each time to get it going again. When I had talked to Mike I thought it had something to do with the 4WD, which didn't really make sense, but it seemed like I had to switch that off each time to get it going. After hanging up with him and paying even closer attention to the problem, I realized it was the high-medium-low range system that was the problem (which I relayed to Mike the next morning).
They picked it up Tuesday and brought it back Friday. Mike and I spoke , veral times in between, with him working the tractor in mud one day and, with my permission, plowing 2 acres with it the next. True to Murphy's Law, it didn't do it a single time with him. He went ahead and lubricated several of the controls, including the shuttle shift lever. As I said, they brought it back Friday, but it's been raining since then and I was finished with the plowing anyway, so I really haven't been able to test it.
I know that they (the people at Little Tractor) think I'm crazy. I know that Mike's explanation of how it is unlikely for this to occur is very logical. I also know that I'm not an idiot and am fairly mechanically inclined, and I know it was happening over and over to me on Monday night. I feel bad that the folks at Little have gone through all the time and expense they did, only to not see the problem. In my line of work, heating and air conditioning, we have the same thing happen from time to time-the homeowner reports a problem which turns out to be intermittent, and we sometimes make 4 or 5 trips before we catch it happening. I know where they are coming from; if the problem doesn't present itself while you're looking at it, there's nothing you can do about it.
What about it? Anybody out there seen anything like this before?
) so I didn't get to try it out today. Besides, I'd already plowed all I needed to. 
