jlong
Bronze Member
I currently own a NH TC35D, which I bought a year ago. I previously had a Ford/New Holland 1520 with 1350 hours on it before the rear end went out, and I decided to move up in size to more easily handle some of the jobs.
The TC35D has 250 hours on it now and went into the shop for what I thought were some minor hydraulic adjustments. Turns out one of these repairs were not so minor. The symptom was that initially, the tractor was “difficult” to change from 4WD to 2WD. It was also sometimes tough to change gear ranges. After a month or so, I was no longer able to move the tractor from 4WD to 2WD. I figured that since this was all hydrostatic, it was simply an adjustment. After 2 weeks in the shop, here is what I have been told:
The 35D has a braking mechanism on the PTO. This device stops the PTO from spinning as soon as the PTO lever is set to OFF. The problem seems to be that I use a 6’ finish cut mower deck about 80% of the time. I sometimes use a 5’ Brush Hog. It was explained by the mechanic that the momentum of the blades of these implements put extreme forces on the PTO braking device, breaking the ring, which happened to fall and wedge between my 2-4WD gearing and jamming those.
My dealer highly recommended an external PTO slip clutch, which just slips onto the PTO and allow your implement to keep spinning until stopping on its own once the PTO lever is disengaged. I was told that without it, I would do the same damage. It costs $46.00; I bought it on the spot. (The dealer has since sent me a check for the $46.00, since I protested having to buy one in the first place!)
Although this is my first Hydrostatic drive tractor, I can’t understand why a tractor manufacturer would design such a feature knowing that many implements have spinning parts that would cause these failures!! I was fortunate that my machine was still under warranty, as the “fix” is written for 24 hours of service + parts. At $35-$40/hr. I was looking at well over $1,000.00 repair for a year old tractor!!
Are all Hydrostatics designed like this? I’m really questioning my decision on buying blue.
Any similar experiences/views??
The TC35D has 250 hours on it now and went into the shop for what I thought were some minor hydraulic adjustments. Turns out one of these repairs were not so minor. The symptom was that initially, the tractor was “difficult” to change from 4WD to 2WD. It was also sometimes tough to change gear ranges. After a month or so, I was no longer able to move the tractor from 4WD to 2WD. I figured that since this was all hydrostatic, it was simply an adjustment. After 2 weeks in the shop, here is what I have been told:
The 35D has a braking mechanism on the PTO. This device stops the PTO from spinning as soon as the PTO lever is set to OFF. The problem seems to be that I use a 6’ finish cut mower deck about 80% of the time. I sometimes use a 5’ Brush Hog. It was explained by the mechanic that the momentum of the blades of these implements put extreme forces on the PTO braking device, breaking the ring, which happened to fall and wedge between my 2-4WD gearing and jamming those.
My dealer highly recommended an external PTO slip clutch, which just slips onto the PTO and allow your implement to keep spinning until stopping on its own once the PTO lever is disengaged. I was told that without it, I would do the same damage. It costs $46.00; I bought it on the spot. (The dealer has since sent me a check for the $46.00, since I protested having to buy one in the first place!)
Although this is my first Hydrostatic drive tractor, I can’t understand why a tractor manufacturer would design such a feature knowing that many implements have spinning parts that would cause these failures!! I was fortunate that my machine was still under warranty, as the “fix” is written for 24 hours of service + parts. At $35-$40/hr. I was looking at well over $1,000.00 repair for a year old tractor!!
Are all Hydrostatics designed like this? I’m really questioning my decision on buying blue.
Any similar experiences/views??
