Been meaning to get back in here and update this, but haven't taken the time. Figured I should in case anyone else is having problems. I ended up taking my tractor in to the dealer where I bought it. They kept it for two months and ended up swapping the computer out. I was told they had "2 or 3 more in there doing the same thing" and the NH engineers had been in there trying to figure it out and they weren't having much luck. Personally, I don't buy that. If it was a few months old and a bunch of tractors were doing something, ok maybe it's a mfg defect of software bug or whatever. Four years down the road, all of a sudden 4 tractors are doing the exact same thing and even the NH engineers have never seen this problem? Meh.... Anyway, they swapped out the computer and said it was ready. When I came in, the service manager cheerfully announced that they were covering it under warranty, otherwise the bill would have been $6,100. I told him that was a good thing, otherwise they could keep that sum*****. $6,100 part on a $16,000 tractor brand new. smh I asked him if they could just bypass the computer somehow and he said they couldn't. I also asked him what was the point of having the computer if it couldn't even tell the ENGINEERS WHO DESIGNED THE DANG THING what was wrong with the tractor? He didn't know. So anyway, I take it home and go back to work. First or second time I use the tractor, I'm dragging my driveway and it starts to rain. I keep on going and a few minutes later, the dang thing shuts off on me again. I was not a happy camper. I call the guy up and give him the news and he says they'll come get it. I forget what they did to it that time, but when I talked to him, he said, "It's on you this time. The lights you had connected into the wiring was causing a short." I replied, "No sir. When the problems first started, the first thing I did to diagnose the problem was disconnect those lights and they have not been connected since. When I got ready to connect them back up, I was going to mount an external battery box and wire them into that so they would not interfere with the electrical system in any way." He was like, "OH. Well, we got it running and you shouldn't have any more problems out of it." And I haven't. I've got 1400 hours on it now and haven't had any more problems out of it. They didn't charge me anything for either trip, so I was happy about that.
Now here's my take on it, keeping in mind that this was my first tractor and I know very little about tractor design and engineering. If he was telling the truth about there being 3 other same tractors in there with the same problem, I believe the Workmaster 33 has some type of design flaw that allows an electrical short when something gets wet. I did get a foot throttle switch sensor code that one time on the dash, so maybe that part was bad, I don't remember now if they swapped that out or not. But before, I never had the tractor under cover and I would use it in the rain if it started raining and I was working on something. Now I keep it in a little lean-to I built until I can get my shop built and I never use the tractor in the rain. If memory serves, every time it shut off on me it was raining or had been raining at some point shortly before using the tractor and I think something was just shorting out. That's exactly how it acted, just like you had a kill switch running to ground on a lawn mower or something. Whether they actually fixed something or whether it's me keeping it dry, it has not given me any more problems. They did take care of the situation and it didn't cost me anything other than driving it over there to them the first time and I appreciated that. The service manager seems like a nice fella and always returned calls and handled the situation. He may have been stonewalling me about the situation, but I'm sure he was just telling me what the engineers were telling him and he was somewhat caught in the middle. I repaired computers and worked on computer networks for a long time and I myself have had situations where I had no idea what the heck I did to get something to work other than waving the old magic wand and saying abra cadabra, hocus pocus, and you just kinda had to tell someone something that would pacify them.
Not to knock New Holland, but I'd have to think long and hard before I purchased another new tractor from them. Of course, I guess with new tractor designs, they're all probably the same now. But with a 4"x4" circuit board that could fail at any time, is proprietary and I can't replace it myself costing almost 40% of the cost of the ENTIRE TRACTOR, I'd have to pass. My understanding that if the DPF chamber fails, that's 2 or 3 thousand itself. So over half the cost of the tractor really has nothing to do with putting power to the wheels on the ground, other than it's just designed that way.
That's a shame. So at my neighbor's equipment auction last summer, I bought a Ford 3400 diesel and a Ford 2000 gasser to tinker with.
They may end up costing me more by far, but MAN I love 'em!
P.S. I did just break the hydraulic steering link on the tractor and I've got to fix that. The snap ring that held in the pin that went through the end of the hydraulic arm and the yoke on the wheel broke or came off, probably going through brush. The pin then worked its way out of the lower half of the yoke and then the upper half of the yoke just couldn't take the twisting pressure and it snapped off. I think I can just fabricate a new piece and weld it on and get 'er going again. Meanwhile I'm using my 3400. It may not be much compared to what some of y'all are driving, but to me that thing is a BEAST!
