I've been monitoring this forum since I purchased my TC55DA just about a year ago and I though I would share my ownership experience in the hope of helping others.
Overall, the tractor is a great little workhorse, but it hasn't been without problems. I believe you have to expect some problems with any machine, especially one that works as hard as a tractor can.
I've done what I consider to be a heck of a lot with my TC55DA in one year of 'spare time', and roughly 300 hours of tractor time. I've cleared 10 acres, removed all stumps (with a few days assistance from a Cat D8 bulldozer and a Hitachi excavator), smoothed and seeded the acreage, fenced the property in 4000 ft of split-rail, planted horse pasture, put in an outdoor riding ring, cut in a large entry road and parking area around our 3600 sqft barn, cut in new pathways between fields, spread several hundred yards of gravel and sand, built a 20ft high ramp out the back of our barn, plowed snow, mowed brush, and carried vast quantities of large stones (boulders, really) from wherever they were to some better place. I've only got a few more days of work to do finishing the roadwork, and I'm pretty much done all of the heavy work I planned for this project, then it's just maintenance for a while. Very little of this would have been possible without my TC55DA. As far as I am concerened, the tractor and the implements have paid for themselves already, many times over considering the value increase I see in my property since I started work on in.
I have a New Holland 759C backhoe, which I must say is well engineered for the tractor; a quick-attach Bradco grapple bucket for my FEL, which is probably my favorite machine; a Woods RB84 blade that I've destroyed twice and am now replacing with a Gill HRB84, a BushHog 286 brush mower, a BushHog Post Hole Digger, and a set of forks. Everything except the Woods blade has worked great over the past year, and it failed because it isn't rated for the HP the tractor can deliver. The new Gill blade should hold up to any abuse I plan to give to it.
About a week after the TC55DA was delivered, the front left wheel sheared right off the mounting bolts, leaving me to drag myself home on the back of my FEL bucket. Apparently they didn't tighten the bolts either at the factory or at the dealer. I had maybe 10-20 hours on the tractor at the time. The dealer came out with a new wheel and bolts a few days later, as New Holland didn't have any spare parts immediately available.
No problems occured with the tractor for about three months, then the PTO clutch welded itself together, after putting in about 400 fenceposts. The cutting blade on my post-hole digger was pretty much dull by then as well. The dealer installed a new PTO clutch within about 3 weeks under warranty.
Everything was working fine, winter hit, did a little snow removal, but all plowing was done with my truck (I have an 8ft BOSS V-Plow). I used the tractor to pile snow in an area where it could melt off without causing any soil erosion on my newly planted pasture. No problems with the tractor whatsoever.
Spring is here, and two weeks into it, my front-end ring and pinion became flat washers. No real warning, just a couple of loud bangs and suddenly no more 4WD. Up until that point I rarely used 2WD. The dealer told me it would be 3 weeks to get a ring and pinion, so I put the backhoe on and proceeded to cut out the drainage and roadways around my barn. I couldn't carry anything, but I could dig. Once the parts were in, off went the tractor to the dealer.
20 hours after getting the tractor back, the front end went out again, while I was back-dragging gravel onto my new roadway. This time the front end locked up in 2WD and banged loudly in 4WD. I called the dealer who picked it up in mid-May and I haven't seen my tractor since.
New Holland doesn't have any ring and pinion gears in stock, and they say they can't give me a complete new front end. They say they are 'checking the hardness' of the ring and pinion gears removed from my tractor.
What I don't like is New Holland telling me they don't have any parts in stock anywhere in the world, and they won't have any parts available for my specific problem for another two months (end of July). This is prime tractor working season, and both New Holland and the dealer literally tell me 'your're screwed'. I think this is a very poor way to treat a client; I pay all my bills on time and I have bought a lot of equipment from the same dealer, and was planning to buy more in the future.
The tractor is under full warranty for another year and drive train warranty for another year after that. I just pay the dealer for picking up and delivering the tractor when it breaks, and for shipping of the parts, and I figure that's reasonable in exchange for getting replacement parts installed whenever something breaks.
I know I've got a lot of value out of my machine, and it is probably about due for a breakage or two. However, I'm not happy with the support I'm currently getting. Two months of backlog and no parts inventory doesn't sound right to me.
I'm pretty annoyed with this situation, so 've asked the dealer and New Holland to just take all their equipment back and let me walk away from the financing, but of course, they'll have none of that. They also refuse to extend the warranty or delay payments while my tractor sits idle at the dealer for two months. Does anyone else have a similar experience with parts backlog? Any suggestions for alternative actions I can take, other than to simply 'suck it in' and wait for the parts? I'd also appreciate any perspectives on this situation; perhaps I am simply expecting too much of the dealer and of New Holland.
Overall, the tractor is a great little workhorse, but it hasn't been without problems. I believe you have to expect some problems with any machine, especially one that works as hard as a tractor can.
I've done what I consider to be a heck of a lot with my TC55DA in one year of 'spare time', and roughly 300 hours of tractor time. I've cleared 10 acres, removed all stumps (with a few days assistance from a Cat D8 bulldozer and a Hitachi excavator), smoothed and seeded the acreage, fenced the property in 4000 ft of split-rail, planted horse pasture, put in an outdoor riding ring, cut in a large entry road and parking area around our 3600 sqft barn, cut in new pathways between fields, spread several hundred yards of gravel and sand, built a 20ft high ramp out the back of our barn, plowed snow, mowed brush, and carried vast quantities of large stones (boulders, really) from wherever they were to some better place. I've only got a few more days of work to do finishing the roadwork, and I'm pretty much done all of the heavy work I planned for this project, then it's just maintenance for a while. Very little of this would have been possible without my TC55DA. As far as I am concerened, the tractor and the implements have paid for themselves already, many times over considering the value increase I see in my property since I started work on in.
I have a New Holland 759C backhoe, which I must say is well engineered for the tractor; a quick-attach Bradco grapple bucket for my FEL, which is probably my favorite machine; a Woods RB84 blade that I've destroyed twice and am now replacing with a Gill HRB84, a BushHog 286 brush mower, a BushHog Post Hole Digger, and a set of forks. Everything except the Woods blade has worked great over the past year, and it failed because it isn't rated for the HP the tractor can deliver. The new Gill blade should hold up to any abuse I plan to give to it.
About a week after the TC55DA was delivered, the front left wheel sheared right off the mounting bolts, leaving me to drag myself home on the back of my FEL bucket. Apparently they didn't tighten the bolts either at the factory or at the dealer. I had maybe 10-20 hours on the tractor at the time. The dealer came out with a new wheel and bolts a few days later, as New Holland didn't have any spare parts immediately available.
No problems occured with the tractor for about three months, then the PTO clutch welded itself together, after putting in about 400 fenceposts. The cutting blade on my post-hole digger was pretty much dull by then as well. The dealer installed a new PTO clutch within about 3 weeks under warranty.
Everything was working fine, winter hit, did a little snow removal, but all plowing was done with my truck (I have an 8ft BOSS V-Plow). I used the tractor to pile snow in an area where it could melt off without causing any soil erosion on my newly planted pasture. No problems with the tractor whatsoever.
Spring is here, and two weeks into it, my front-end ring and pinion became flat washers. No real warning, just a couple of loud bangs and suddenly no more 4WD. Up until that point I rarely used 2WD. The dealer told me it would be 3 weeks to get a ring and pinion, so I put the backhoe on and proceeded to cut out the drainage and roadways around my barn. I couldn't carry anything, but I could dig. Once the parts were in, off went the tractor to the dealer.
20 hours after getting the tractor back, the front end went out again, while I was back-dragging gravel onto my new roadway. This time the front end locked up in 2WD and banged loudly in 4WD. I called the dealer who picked it up in mid-May and I haven't seen my tractor since.
New Holland doesn't have any ring and pinion gears in stock, and they say they can't give me a complete new front end. They say they are 'checking the hardness' of the ring and pinion gears removed from my tractor.
What I don't like is New Holland telling me they don't have any parts in stock anywhere in the world, and they won't have any parts available for my specific problem for another two months (end of July). This is prime tractor working season, and both New Holland and the dealer literally tell me 'your're screwed'. I think this is a very poor way to treat a client; I pay all my bills on time and I have bought a lot of equipment from the same dealer, and was planning to buy more in the future.
The tractor is under full warranty for another year and drive train warranty for another year after that. I just pay the dealer for picking up and delivering the tractor when it breaks, and for shipping of the parts, and I figure that's reasonable in exchange for getting replacement parts installed whenever something breaks.
I know I've got a lot of value out of my machine, and it is probably about due for a breakage or two. However, I'm not happy with the support I'm currently getting. Two months of backlog and no parts inventory doesn't sound right to me.
I'm pretty annoyed with this situation, so 've asked the dealer and New Holland to just take all their equipment back and let me walk away from the financing, but of course, they'll have none of that. They also refuse to extend the warranty or delay payments while my tractor sits idle at the dealer for two months. Does anyone else have a similar experience with parts backlog? Any suggestions for alternative actions I can take, other than to simply 'suck it in' and wait for the parts? I'd also appreciate any perspectives on this situation; perhaps I am simply expecting too much of the dealer and of New Holland.
