What broke on your tractor that ain't getting fixed?

[Bedlam]

Id recommend this charger. ...Its in our price range.... el-cheap. But Ive used about 5 of these year round with good results. If you get one and hook it up be sure to hook up the battery ends first. and there a small light that tells you you have a good connection.
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Allan

 

[ToadHill]

Got a broken headlight on the old 8N. My oldest grandson named it one eyed willy. I wouldn't think of fixing the headlight, we'd have to rename the tractor.

 

[N80]

Concerning having a nice shiny tractor. Thieves love'em. ..... I think a lot of it is where do you want to spend your time, cleaning or tractoring.

All depends on your situation. I have a one year old tractor. I can't imagine maintaining my property without it, yet it is till more or less a luxury. So at this point, I am always thinking about resale value. If things went south for me financially, the tractor would have to be one of the first things to go. And if you look at used tractor ads, especially CUTs, you know that 'pretty' counts. I think mine has seen soap once, but I rinse the dirt off and make small repairs, even cosmetic ones, as I go.

I'll be the first one to admit that I still like having a shiny new looking tractor....but so do potential buyers. If i knew I was going to keep this thing forever (and I hope to) then I might not bother.

 

[mjarrels]

Red tractor - one headlight out
Blue tractor - lights don't work at all
Orange tractor - fuel leak and air cleaner bracket - go figure
Green tractor - gas cap broken

mark

 

[3RRL]

I busted the toggle off the turn signal switch. My tractor never leaves my rural property so I don't think I'll be replacing that. The ground squirrels, coyotes and deer will just have to live with it.

 

[Soundguy]

Ironically, my old 1975 ford 5000 looks more shiny and new than my 2002 NH 7610s...

Soundguy

All depends on your situation. I have a one year old tractor. I can't imagine maintaining my property without it, yet it is till more or less a luxury. So at this point, I am always thinking about resale value. If things went south for me financially, the tractor would have to be one of the first things to go. And if you look at used tractor ads, especially CUTs, you know that 'pretty' counts. I think mine has seen soap once, but I rinse the dirt off and make small repairs, even cosmetic ones, as I go.

I'll be the first one to admit that I still like having a shiny new looking tractor....but so do potential buyers. If i knew I was going to keep this thing forever (and I hope to) then I might not bother.

 

[PineRidge]

This past summer the glow-plug timer went flaky on the TC-40D SS and the instrument cluster light starting winking at me. So, I pulled the timer module since it wasn't needed for summer starting anyway.

I'm now thinking since it's starting to get cooler that it's climbing my need to do list.

 

[Timber]

It’s kind of funny, I am very **** about my stuff, I have an 89 pickup I have had since new an I like the truck and that why I kept it. I fix everything that breaks as soon as it happens. I have a New truck my wife drives and the same rule applies. My dad always wants my old truck because it’s in such nice shape. He would be the last person I would give it to because he fixes nothing. All his trucks die because he Mickey mouse everything to run. Then when it has a catastrophic failure nobody knows how to fix it because so many things have been bypassed it is difficult to figure out what exactly failed. It is difficult to believe he is my sire sometimes. Preventive maintaince is the rule. Bypass something today and next month and then next year pretty soon you have junk

 

[Soundguy]

I've seen tractor wire harnesses that are more 'bypasses and hacks' than original wireing. makes it sooooo hard to diagnose problems..

Soundguy

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I've seen tractor wire harnesses that are more 'bypasses and hacks' than original wireing. makes it sooooo hard to diagnose problems..

Soundguy

Ain't THAT the truth!

Funny thing is, sometimes people can actually get a charging system to "work", albiet incorrectly, but some function, with some of the most "creative wiring" ever seen. Then you fix (correctly) ONE WIRE and the whole ball of wax melts in your hands.

I worked on a friends 135 Massey here a while back that had been "field engineered" to get it running and lights working. There must have been 15 "jumpers" hooked up. The alternator was cranking out in excess of 16 volts, yet the battery was going dead. After a few hours of head scratching, I took the wire cutters to EVERYTHING and started fresh.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. ditto.



I bought a tractor that just barely charged.. I mean.. the genny put out 13.0 volts.. I lived with that for a while, as it started and ran.. and as long as you ran it for an hour before putting it up.. it actually did recharge the battery enough to start the next time. At the point where I wanted to use lamps.. then i ran into problems.

I started digging into it and found it was the wrong reg.. kind of. The cutout was pulling in, but there was no working field control. The only reason the genny put anything out was that the reg had a bias resistor across the fild control, providing a very little bit of field current.. and thus a very little bit of charge. The ampmeter was wired int he system.. somewhere.. but not in the charge line... This was, as you mention.. a head scratcher that ended with new wireing, and a properly setup vr.

Soundguy

 

[Ford960]

We need brakes on tractors ?
Wow learn something every day

I WILL NOT operate a tractor or anything without brakes, not after riding a brakeless Case 580 backhoe down a mountain road at over 48mph and almost hitting several cars and trucks. It's owner was following me in his car, that's how I know how fast it got going. Took everything that I had to keep it on the road and not over the side for over 4 miles. It was bouncing so bad that I couldn't stay in the seat and it didn't have a ROPS but I doubt that it would have helped anyway. Why is it that when you're in trouble on a grade there's always a curve at the bottom?

When I looked at this old Ford the first thing that I asked is if the brakes worked. And I keep them adjusted, always.

 

[Soundguy]

Were you not able to control travel speed to some degree with engine braking?

Soundguy

 

[PineRidge]

I WILL NOT operate a tractor or anything without brakes, not after riding a brakeless Case 580 backhoe down a mountain road at over 48mph and almost hitting several cars and trucks. It's owner was following me in his car, that's how I know how fast it got going. Took everything that I had to keep it on the road and not over the side for over 4 miles. It was bouncing so bad that I couldn't stay in the seat and it didn't have a ROPS but I doubt that it would have helped anyway. Why is it that when you're in trouble on a grade there's always a curve at the bottom?

When I looked at this old Ford the first thing that I asked is if the brakes worked. And I keep them adjusted, always.

I had a similar situation years ago when I borrowed the neighbors old Massey. Only he didn't tell me that the brakes faded badly and I didn't find out until I was coming down our sloped drive and headed for the pond.

I was able to finally get it stopped by standing up, saying a quick Hail Mary, and applying all my weight to the brake. That was also the very day when I decided to purchase our 1st tractor.

 

[RobJ]

Were you not able to control travel speed to some degree with engine braking?

Soundguy

I thought about this to. But I will say first time out on my BIL's old MF 1080 (90hp tractor) I headed down the branch dip toward my house, tractor took off, barely any brakes. With a ditch at the bottom, large oaks I saw my life flash. Standing up I got one side to hold enough.

LAter I found out on that tractor there is a lever on the dash, left gives you engine braking, right, nothing. With it off you could be idling along in 1st gear, hit a slope and the tractor would take off!! NEver seen that before on the deeres I drove.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I thought about this to. But I will say first time out on my BIL's old MF 1080 (90hp tractor) I headed down the branch dip toward my house, tractor took off, barely any brakes. With a ditch at the bottom, large oaks I saw my life flash. Standing up I got one side to hold enough.

LAter I found out on that tractor there is a lever on the dash, left gives you engine braking, right, nothing. With it off you could be idling along in 1st gear, hit a slope and the tractor would take off!! NEver seen that before on the deeres I drove.

Sounds like you discovered that MAssey's MULTI-POWER shifter. Low would "free-wheel" on downhills. High gear would over-ride low gear and give you engine braking. You aren't the first to get an unexpected roller coaster ride on a MULTI-POWER tractor.

 

[Ford960]

Were you not able to control travel speed to some degree with engine braking?

Soundguy

Well that was the plan that I had in mind but when it started picking up a lot of speed I found that it had jumped out of gear.

I knew right then that it was going to be a bad day. My first reaction was to drop the loader but that had little effect and soon I had the front wheels off the road. We were on our way to load dirt to fill in a swimming pool that a guy had us remove and he was leading the way in a borrowed dump truck. At one point he thought that he was going too fast and stopped in the middle of the road to let me catch up. Little did he know that I was coming on like a run away freight train and when he noticed that I was waving my arm and My BIL (the owner of this ragged out Case) was blowing the car horn. Just in the nick of time the truck took off just before I rammed into the back of it.

When I got to the required curve I took all the road that I could to try and keep it from flipping. About that time I met a small pick-up truck coming the other direction and I was in their lane. An old man and two girls, the look on their faces is still in my mind. He took the ditch but came right back out and kept going.

After reaching the bottom and starting up the other side I put it back in gear when it had slowed enough but it started to go backward and I reached around grabbed the boom lever and dropped it. The bucket tore up the road and stopped me right there. That's when I noticed that the shuttle was in neutral also.

It took about half an hour for my BIL to talk me into getting back on this POS and I loaded that truck 10 times the next day. I put my foot down when he said that I needed to drive it back over to the pool and he reluctantly borrowed a trailer. I think that he changed his mind when I said that I would drive the car.

If ever there was an accident waiting to happen this 580 Case was it.

 

[Tig]

Well I've only owned a tractor for a couple weeks so it is still a novelty. I enjoy checking it out. I have spent as much time working on it as I have working with it. The dealer is going to pick it up this week to take care of a few things he overlooked during the prep. It's a pretty basic machine with no luxury features beyond a padded seat. The last things to get fixed will be the ripped seat, rust repair on the fender and touch up the paint a bit. Dents will not get fixed unless I get really bored.