TYM 273 Annoyances

[pacorunner]

Has anyone had problems with their 273? I see alot of you swear by this tractor. I bought one about a year ago and am happy, I don't use it commercially just around the "ranch", I have 20 acres that are pretty neglected. I have run across a couple of anoyances that are not problematic enough to take it into the dealer for, I don't have a trailer.
1) The hood keeps popping up. No apparent reason. Most of the time I notice that it is unlatched so I reach up and push it down. If I'm going down hill and it does this it can open all the way forward and I have to stop, get down and close it. Kind of a pain.
2) The seat belt blew up. The plastic part around the female part of the buckle came apart at the seam and thats what holds the spring and mechanism together. I glued it back together and it happened again, Im about to go to UPULLIT and get one from a car.
3) The linkage to shift from lo to hi range bent. It is just a strap of stamped sheet metal. It works fine to go form lo to hi, to do this the lever is pulling the strap. To go from hi to lo the lever pushes the strap, worked fine the first few times but receintly it buckled. Now it buckles every time. I am consiering borrowing a trailer to take it in for this but if they just replace the flimsy strap it will happen again. I will probably make another one or reinforce this one with a small piece of angle or something.
4) The 3 pt lift isn't very high. It barely lifts my box scraper off the ground. I have to tilt it forward quite a bit to keep it form scraping the ground as I'm traveling from project to project.

Have any of you had these "issues"?
What have you done to remedy them?
What other problems/solutions have you had?

 

[Mike5252]

I thought I had heard someone say the Montana version had vibration problems. Have you noticed anything in this area?

I'm hoping to be able to put eyes on one in the next couple days.

 

[pete-mi]

On the first problem I have herd of slightly drilling out the hole larger so the pin that holds the hood down can go in farther. A file my do the job to as they said it didnt need much. Some oil on the release lever linkage may also help. For the next two items I would contact your dealer as these parts should be replaced under warranty. It is also posible that the new part they give you may be updated. I had that on my pickup a few years ago. The plastic end cap on the shift lever was updated and made stronger.

 

[N.W. Logger]

I have 100 hours on mine and have none of the problems you have described (No problems other than the muffler bracket ) The 3 Pt not lifting high enough would consern me the most. I have used a box blade extensively with no problem with the lift.

 

[Roady]

109 Hours so far and I also have had none of those issues. In fact, sometimes I find the hood very difficult to open.

Roady