Why did I buy this thing?

[sandman2234]

I have since I roasted an engine

Not that it would have saved it in my case but it's been added to my every day/every time checks.

We all have limits to how much we are willing to risk, and apparently you found yours! I found mine when I went to sleep in a tractor trailer while sitting on an ice sheet, and the guy at the terminal had left the oul fill cap off (loose hanging by its chain). I pumped oil out on the ice all night, and almost lost an engine. I now check it every day, and a lot of times when fueling. The APU now runs all night, so I don't worry about burning one up during the night. (If I loose an APU, it is probably a lot less money because initial cost is so much less!
David from jax

 

[CalG]

Mahindra 1626 HST.

Yeah, it was cheaper than a Kubota, but really, I have never seen a piece of machinery so badly engineered. The manual tells me to check the engine oil every day. What a laugh! I have to raise the hood, remove the starboard side panel, raise the bucket to the ceiling, thread a trouble light past the loader arm and hydraulic cylinder, and SEARCH for the dipstick. Taking it out is hard enough, but find the hole with my left hand and guiding the dipstick into the hole with my right hand, all the while being careful not to dislodge the trouble light, is one of the most aggravating tasks of my life. Then of course I have to put it back together again. It takes me, all in all, about half an hour. Ridiculous.

And that's hardly the only bit of bad design. I rarely get down from the cockpit without accidentally activating the left turn signal. Nothing is placed logically to my mind. From 1975 to 2019 I enjoyed a Japanese Bison tractor with International Harvester sheet metal (IH 284). How I miss it! How I wish there had been a shop closer than 50 miles so I could have kept it operating. (It went into the shop only once in forty-four years. Mahindra Baba has been there twice already.)

A front end loader is a royal pain in regard to service and maintenance.

For Most of the world's use of tractors like the 1626, no loader is fitted needed or wanted.

An North American specialty that just gets in the way at times.

 

[k0ua]

Hmmm.. My Kioti, walk over to the Starboard side, pull big orange dipstick out that is in plain sight loader or no, No need to raise hood or take off side panels. , check oil level, push big orange dipstick back into its easily seen and reachable hole, now matter where the loader is. Done. Now wasn't that easy?

 

[Browneyesvictim]

I have been tempted to replace/extend the dipstick on mine so that the tube is accessible from the top while the hood is open.

 

[4570Man]

A Mahindra is the biggest POS I’ve ever had the displeasure of using. In nice terms it’s a very unrefined machine.

 

[Mrsig]

My LS very easy too. Dip stick on the right side next to the filter below the hood not under it.
Very easy to check HST fluid also.

 

[oldpilot]

I haven't yet changed the oil filter. Indeed, I paid north of $900 to have the dealer do it (and other things) last fall for its 50-hour heck. That's almost as much as I paid the same dealer rehabilitate my IH/Bison tractor after more than thirty years of rough service, the only repair work I ever had done on it.

It's VERY difficult for me even to FIND the hole for the dipstick. I doubt I could get a wrench around the filter. I'd post a photo here except that the filter and dipstick are almost impossible to SEE. (On the good side, Mahindra or their American assembler did indeed put a splash of paint on the dipstick finger loop.)

I wouldn't be surprised if a Kubota was likewise difficult to work on. Mahindra Baba after all has a Yamaha engine. Making tractors PRETTY was a very bad mistake.

Thanks for letting me vent. I didn't mention the fact that what prompted me to go into Baba's innards was a lot of diesel fuel on the garage floor. It appears to come from the fuel filter. But where is the g-d shut-off valve? I absolutely cannot put my finger on it! And if I can't put my finger on it, I can't turn it off....

 

[LittleBill21]

yea no offense, but your ridiculous. although i agree its dumb that you need to remove a side panel, it takes less then 30 seconds, and I don't raise my loader, now mine is a max, but it has the identical engine. if a turn signal and a oil dipstick blows your mind, then maybe a tractor should not be in your future, and the new models don't need a side panel removed at least on the max series

 

[jimnor46]

Mahindra 1626 HST.

Yeah, it was cheaper than a Kubota, but really, I have never seen a piece of machinery so badly engineered. The manual tells me to check the engine oil every day. What a laugh! I have to raise the hood, remove the starboard side panel, raise the bucket to the ceiling, thread a trouble light past the loader arm and hydraulic cylinder, and SEARCH for the dipstick. Taking it out is hard enough, but find the hole with my left hand and guiding the dipstick into the hole with my right hand, all the while being careful not to dislodge the trouble light, is one of the most aggravating tasks of my life. Then of course I have to put it back together again. It takes me, all in all, about half an hour. Ridiculous.

And that's hardly the only bit of bad design. I rarely get down from the cockpit without accidentally activating the left turn signal. Nothing is placed logically to my mind. From 1975 to 2019 I enjoyed a Japanese Bison tractor with International Harvester sheet metal (IH 284). How I miss it! How I wish there had been a shop closer than 50 miles so I could have kept it operating. (It went into the shop only once in forty-four years. Mahindra Baba has been there twice already.)

Same thoughts on the engineering. Worked in construction for over 40 years and I have seen some engineering that made me wonder what the person that designed the equipment had in mind. I have a 4025 and I could write a book about the stuff that I have found that could have been done a lot simpler. From hydraulic dipstick that you can’t read (finally made my own) to hydraulic strainer that is all but impossible to remove, a in-tank fuel filter that isn’t mentioned in the owners manual and must have been made for a go cart. Those are just a few, could go on and on but you get the drift.

 

[bearthebruce]

Reminds me of this: