Tilt Steering - Gas Out - I witnessed it just now.

[cdcole]

Gents,

Went out to work on the tele-scopic steering that is stuck. I pulled back the lever for the tilt steering - and it gassed out. Squirting me in the face - not with WD40 but with the hydraulic fluid. I just cleaned out my eyes - everything ok.

Now - who has fixed this sucker? I remember replying to a post explaining that I have had shocks and hydraulic cylinders rebuilt - anyone check that out? Any pictures of this thing dissassembled or pulled out?

Unfortunately - I will have to tear mine down. It will just bother me too much to have a $20K tractor that is "broke".

What have you all learned? Just replace it? My wife is going to freak considering I just replaced a spindle for $150.

Please let me know.

Had to pick up my son from football... now I have more time to more thoroughly document the situation. When I got the tractor - the tilt worked fine but the telescopic function was stuck. It never really bothered me because I really liked the height of the wheel. Later - after about 3-4 mowings - the tilt lever would not engage. After calling the dealer - he advised to squirt WD40 down into the hole with the little spring. I did - then whenever I released the tilt lever it would squirt what I thought was WD40 into my face /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. I had difficulty figuring out how after 3 weeks the WD40 still had not seeped out or evaporated or something. It just kept coming. Well, obviously after tonight - and reading comments from others - I now realize that this was the early signs of a leaking gas shock (actually filled with oil and gas). I wonder if the sticking latch mechanism that required WD40 to get it to operate smoothly is somehow channeled to the cylinder (meaning that when I sprayed a large quantity of WD40 into that little mechanism - it seeped down and ate away at the cylinder seal causing a secondary problem. Probably not - as I think that seal could tolerate WD40. In any case - those of you that have had to spray your mechanism- might be nearing a gas shock failure as well. Mine failed at 350 hours.

I will tear down the unit this weekend and try to take some pictures for the forum. I think that anything over $50 for the cylinder would be a rip off since the cylinder should last longer than that. When I worked for Chrysler - I remember the dealers giving away gas shocks for the hatchbacks because they were wearing out after about 6 months. What I am saying here is that this cylinder is obviously defective - and they should simply break even on the part. My 2 cents.

By the way - when it gasses out - it gasses out gradually. It took about 3-5 seconds for it to release and spray the gas out under force (oil and gas sputtering). When it was squirting at me before - that was just fluid that had leaked out of the shock then into the latch then shot out by the latching mechanism - not by shock "gas out" force. Make sense?

Cliff

 

[markie61]

Is it out of warranty? If not, NH should spot you the parts.
Mark

 

[cdcole]

Yep - out of warranty. I will fix it and tell you about the costs.

 

[DUMBDOG]

When I checked out the cost for my 1630, the cost was 167.95. They had two in stock, which tells me that it is high replacement item.

Still have not replaced, checked into fixing it or designed a better system, have not had the time. Still thinking of making my own system which will not need replacing on a ongoing basis.

 

[cdcole]

Just got back fr0m the dealer here in Milwaukee. They want $183 for the shock. Now I know why they call it a shock! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif They should give them out at cost - since it should last longer. He had none in stock and said that they have to have sold 3 units a year in order to stock it. I called two other local dealers and one had 1 unit in stock and the other had 2. Therefore - I agree - they are seeing lot's of failures. I may even consider tearing down the shock and loading it with a spring. I will tell you one thing - it's not the price that kills so much - it's the idea of it going down again while I'm slated to do some work with it. In any case - I will definitely post my end solution to the forum. Everyone takes the time to help me and I really appreciate it.

I bet most don't care about this problem right now because they don't have the problem. You can bet when they get the problem (and they will) they will come straight to this excellent forum to find out what to do. Hopefully by then I will have the answer. I think that installing a new "time bomb" is not the answer. I will likey go to a hydraulic or gas shock type of shop. There is a company in south Milwaukee that has rebuilt cylinders for me. I plan to install a more robust solution. Funny thing - never had to deal with this type of stuff on my old Ford 600 series. It was like a brick house. The Boomer is nice but sure seems to have some weak links that never would have been seen on a 1950s model. But then again - those 50s units didn't have the modern conveniences - but then again it's not always convenient to have the conveniences....if they fail.

 

[DUMBDOG]

Maybe the price has gone up, I checked last month.

Thinking of some type of mechanical tube, one within the other with a lever that inserts a pin to hold the two tubes in place, but it will have to wait.

Let us know what you come up with for a fix.

 

[jcollins]

Hope this helps. It is the parts page and listing out of the parts catalog. We sell around 100 of the TC's a year and we have never sold a shock for the telescopic steering. We don't stock it either. This particular parts diagram is for a TC33D 1998 and newer version.

 

[cdcole]

Started disassembly - everthing has to come off to get to the bottom pin of the shock.

 

[cdcole]

here is the whole mess removed from the tractor

by the way - thanks for the PDF - that is really helpful /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

THis part is very small and not worth the nearly $200

Cliff

 

[cdcole]

Ok - the damping shock is out. I have identified the unit and actually found it on the www. I now know the specifications. No way I can rebuild it. Unlikely that I can get it rebuilt. I will bite the bullet next week and buy a new unit. I could rig it to work with a different solution.

I want to keep it original. When I get more time I will give you all the next update. These units fail on "lot tractors" - tractors that have sat in the rain. I understand that some of the dealers have not seen the failure. But a lot of users have - and so have some dealers. Maybe a series thing - certain date codes - mine has a date code of 288/98 and a p/n of 7001IP

see ya /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif keep smiling gang

Hopefully you are not sitting on the time bomb.

I estimate 4 hours to replace it - maybe 8 with time to get new part and clean up everything.

Unfriggin believable - all this for a little damping shock that has the ability to put a $20K machine out of operation!!! DANG!!@^%#@%^ /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

OK Im calm now...... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif