Woe is me!!!

E

EastTexFrank

Senior Member
GOLD Patron
Today has not been a good day.

Before taking the L4740 out to the pasture to finish bush hogging I did a few piddling chores with the B2400 and the FEL. Everything went fine and I came back to the house and parked it in the driveway. After a cup of coffee I went back outside and decided to put the B2400 away as I wouldn't be using for a while. I started it up and run it under cover. When I looked back there was a trail of fluid from where I had started it up to where I had parked it. The fluid was still pouring out. I stuck an oil catch pan underneath and waited until it had stopped leaking. I looked underneath and I could see that it was leaking from the housing at the back end of the engine and dripping off a bolt. I couldn't actually see where it was coming from. I checked the UDT transmission fluid and it was low .... way low. I started to top it up but when I looked it was just pouring back out from underneath the tractor.

It looks as if it will be a dealership job as I still can't see where it is actually coming from. Here's the problem. Since there is little or no transmission fluid in the system and it won't hold any, how do I start it up, remove the FEL, load it on the trailer, get it to the dealer and unload it without totally screwing something up. Any ideas or suggestion would be helpful. I'll get round to taking it in next week.
 
Stick a cork in it?

I recall one time when I was a little kid, my uncle carved a raw potato to plug the oil pan of a 47 Pontiac to get us out of the woods. He added cooking oil (this was intended as a well-provisioned camping trip) and eventually water to get the level up where it registered oil pressure. Aside from welding up the dinged oil pan, no harm done.
 
EastTexFrank said:
Today has not been a good day.

Before taking the L4740 out to the pasture to finish bush hogging I did a few piddling chores with the B2400 and the FEL. Everything went fine and I came back to the house and parked it in the driveway. After a cup of coffee I went back outside and decided to put the B2400 away as I wouldn't be using for a while. I started it up and run it under cover. When I looked back there was a trail of fluid from where I had started it up to where I had parked it. The fluid was still pouring out. I stuck an oil catch pan underneath and waited until it had stopped leaking. I looked underneath and I could see that it was leaking from the housing at the back end of the engine and dripping off a bolt. I couldn't actually see where it was coming from. I checked the UDT transmission fluid and it was low .... way low. I started to top it up but when I looked it was just pouring back out from underneath the tractor.

It looks as if it will be a dealership job as I still can't see where it is actually coming from. Here's the problem. Since there is little or no transmission fluid in the system and it won't hold any, how do I start it up, remove the FEL, load it on the trailer, get it to the dealer and unload it without totally screwing something up. Any ideas or suggestion would be helpful. I'll get round to taking it in next week.
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Man I am sorry to here that . The best route I can think of is to start it and get the bucket down flat and shut it down ,then maybe with a tractor jack you can get the loader off . Then I would winch it on the trailer backwards .
 
Wow, I hate to hear this kind of stuff. I hope it end up being a relatively minor fix.
Does your 4740 have a FEL and would that help in removing the FEL on the 2400? I was thinking of it taking the weight as you pull/winch the 2400 away from the loader.
 
shvl73 said:
Wow, I hate to hear this kind of stuff. I hope it end up being a relatively minor fix.
Does your 4740 have a FEL and would that help in removing the FEL on the 2400? I was thinking of it taking the weight as you pull/winch the 2400 away from the loader.
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Yea it could but I can't get into it where it is parked at present. I sat and stared at it for a while today. I think I can get the front end up with either a farm jack or an overhead hoist. That should allow me to get the stands on the FEL set and I should be able to disconnect it and push/pull/drag the tractor out. Then as BigAl said, I'll probably wiggle the trailer as close to it as I can and winch it on in some fashion. I've got a turkey shoot tomorrow so I'll probably start messing with it on Sunday (depending on football) and finish it off on Monday. That's my plan anyway but you know how my plans always seem to work out. :pat:
 
Plan B:

Would it work to feed the hydraulic pump directly from a bucket of fresh fluid and a temporary inlet hose instead of it pulling from the sump? Keep in mind this will consume somewhere in the range of 10 gpm and you need to capture that quantity of waste coming out the break, too.

Or B (1):

Run hydraulic hoses from the other tractor straight into the dead tractor's lift cylinders.

It seems to me that even with the bucket dragging the ground and the engine not running, the second tractor should be able to drag this tractor to a more convenient location.
 
California said:
Plan B:

Would it work to feed the hydraulic pump directly from a bucket of fresh fluid and a temporary inlet hose instead of it pulling from the sump? Keep in mind this will consume somewhere in the range of 10 gpm and you need to capture that quantity of waste coming out the break, too.

Or B (1):

Run hydraulic hoses from the other tractor straight into the dead tractor's lift cylinders.

It seems to me that even with the bucket dragging the ground and the engine not running, the second tractor should be able to drag this tractor to a more convenient location.
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I don't think it would take that much to chain up the loader , move it to work on it, and then get the loader off . I could do it with a tractor jack on my Kioti . It will take a winch or "come along" to get it on a trailer so it can head to the shop . Sounds like a seal let go .
 
I think I can get the front end high enough with a farm jack to get the loader off. It's only a little tractor about 1500 pound. Once I get it off I'm sure I can push or drag it back out in to the open. I've got rope and pulleys somewhere from the time we pulled a downed tree out of a gully but it might just be easier to use a come-along to suck it up on to the trailer.

What's funny is that my wife tried to help me today with her ideas on how to get the little tractor to the dealer. She knew I was a little upset that the thing broke and to be honest I felt a little like a parent whose kid is sick and there's not a thing you can do to help. My wife, the engineer, has this plan where she has me strapping the oil catch pan underneath the tractor and filling it with transmission fluid, rigging up a 12v pump to the battery to suck the fluid from the pan and pump it in to the fill hole at the back of the tractor through clear poly-flow tubing. With a cut-off switch I can shut the pump off when I see it start to suck air and let the catch pan fill up again. She says if I take it slow and keep filling up the transmission case from the catch pan, I can DRIVE the tractor anywhere I want to go. Strange thing is, it would probably work and I've got the stuff to do it laying around, but after 30 years she should know that my strong point is brute force and ignorance. We'll try to muscle it on to the trailer first. If that doesn't work we may try to finesse it. Heaven forbid that she may get the satisfaction of seeing me use any version of her idea. Nah, brute force will prevail.
 
I don't know how I'd get my loader off if the tractor wasn't running. The loader mounting arms sit in the mount and HAVE to be extended a little before they will raise up.
 
:bump:

Well, I did get the loader off and dragged it on to the trailer. Took it to the dealer about 10 days ago.

My wife hates it when "stuff" stays at the the dealer for over a week 'coz it means she usually has to sell some of her jewelery to get it back out of there. Just Joking.

Anyhow, I got it home today. It seems that I blew/knocked a plastic plug out of the transmission housing. The same housing is used for both gear transmissions and HST transmissions but the entry point of the drive shaft varies depending on which one is installed. The other is sealed off with a plastic plug. Somehow, something got up there and knocked the plug out allowing the fluid to drain out to the level of the plug. Also, over the course of the last nine years, I had bent a hydraulic line over until it was touching the drive shaft and it had worn a small hole in the line.

All in all, it wasn't too bad. It's a sign of the time though that the parts cost about $70 and the labor was $260. How much do they pay these mechanics an hour????

I'm just glad I got my baby home and I've put it to work already. Now maybe I can start to catch up again. It's one of those few times during the year when everything I've got seems to be working as advertised. It probably won't last for long so I better go and make the most of it while the going is good.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
 
EastTexFrank said:
:bump:

I'm just glad I got my baby home and I've put it to work already. Now maybe I can start to catch up again. It's one of those few times during the year when everything I've got seems to be working as advertised. It probably won't last for long so I better go and make the most of it while the going is good.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
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You have a great Thanksgiving too , buddy .:tiphat: Glad you got it up and running again !!!
 
Know what you mean about just glad to have her home Frank. I just got my ZTR back from repair and I feel the same. Glad to haver her back, and she sure is working smoother than she did before she needed serviced.
Glad you are back in the saddle so to speak. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
 
shvl73 said:
I'm glad it wasn't serious! Still money gone but, I feared much worse. very good to hear it's back.
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Yea, me too. The way that the transmission fluid was pouring out I really thought I had somehow cracked the housing and after taking over a week to get the call that it was fixed I was fearing the worst. So, in the end it was pretty good news.

So tomorrow I'll finish the last yard mowing of the year, mulch all the fallen leaves and hopefully spray pre-emergent before the rain arrives on Sunday night and Monday.

One good thing to come out of it all was that while at the dealer I fell in love with a Kubota diesel ZTR mower he had on display. I can't remember the exact model number but it was around 26 hp with a 60" deck. So, I've put together a game plan. First I have to convince my wife of the benefits of a little backhoe to go on the B2400. She knows that I've wanted one for a long time and that'll be my Christmas present to me. Secondly, sometime next year during the late spring or early summer, I have to convince her that changing out the backhoe to the finishing mower and back again is a real chore and that what I really need is a dedicated mowing machine ... enter the ZTR. I don't know if it will work. After 30 years she knows me pretty well but we're going to give it a try. :)
 
Good bump Al, and welcome to Net Tractor Talk!!!!! :tiphat:

Yeah Frank, do you have a ZTR in your garage now? :D I'm guessing you would have been bragging about it and showing it off a little if you did. But, since you just got back from taking your wife on a beautiful vacation in England now might be the time to pop the ZTR question. :D Good luck!
 
I too am curious if the ruse worked in your favor. Oh and I ran the numbers and I'm willing to bet their shop rater per hour is $65 and that puts the the $260 bill at 4 hours.

Alot of times the mechanics at those shops can get paid anywhere from $10 to $15 an hour depending on specialty and how generous the manager/boss/owner is. A good chunk of that hourly labor will go to pay for electricity and any other kind of resources that went into repairing your tractor. At my family's shop $65 is our usual rate, sometimes if the job is easier or we know the client and we are a client of them we cut the rate down some but it seems to be a standard rate for most shops in the area around here.
 
Sorry to take so long to reply but all kinda things have been going on around here.

To answer all your questions about my backhoe and possible ZTR .... in short ....NO it didn't work out but I've got a new angle.

We had all kinds of expenses at the end of the year and the beginning of this one and I had previously promised my wife that I'd take her on a trip to Scotland to see the grandkids and new great grandbaby instead of them coming over here as usual. So, being a frugal Scotsman, I put the backhoe on hold but I'm starting to get the fever again.

As far as the ZTR is concerned, I may have worked that one out as long as my S-I-L still likes me. Early this spring we spent about a week getting the two lawn tractors at the farm up and running again. It didn't last long. Within a month they were both down. This time I couldn't work on them but took them to their respective dealers. My M-I-L came unglued when she saw the cost of fixing them both. She's 92 years old and still thinks that people work for $5 a day. Anyway she made the executive decision to get rid of those old things and get a new mowing machine that would outlast her. That gave us plenty to choose from, remember she's 92. :hide::hide::hide: (Sorry M-I-L, I still luvya)

My S-I-L, who lives at the farm and I were talking about replacements and I told her that there was a 26hp diesel ZTR with 60" deck at the Kubota dealer that I lusted after and I'll be danged, she drove out there, test drove it and brought it home. So the ZTR is in place ... just not my place. I've used it a couple of times at the farm and, my goodness, what a machine. My S-I-L absolutely loves it. She can mow at NASCAR speeds and has only wiped out one section of board fence which isn't bad ... considering.

So, if nothing else goes wrong for the rest of the year, I'll get my little backhoe and since there is no need to duplicate the ZTR I may try for a new 60 gallon boom sprayer for herbicide and save a bunch of money over the ZTR. I don't think that my dearly beloved will go for that one either but hey, it's worth a try.
 
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