Thanks for the comments and suggestions last week.
The used unit arrived on Saturday and I was, for what ever reason, determined to get it done.
"HAhahahha".. laughed the ghost of the engineer who designed it for John Deere.
I channeled my inner "Phil" and " Leigh" , both gluttons for punishment, and decided the
tractor wasn't gonna win.
The covers were off from when I diagnosed it on Tuesday a week ago.
It was leaking from this area under the tilt mechanism that is bolted to the actuator.
Starting at 3:30pm , It took about 4 hours to swap it out. 4 bolts and 4 hydraulic lines.
Now, mind you , I don't do this for a living so the tools I have are a good overall set
of mechanics tools to cover a lot of various projects but nothing specialty.
The tilt mechanism has to be disassembled so you can get to the aluminum block bolted on
top. This went well as access was open. After that it was a puzzle project.
Try some wrenches, English, nope, metric. Walk back to the tool box. Grab more stuff.
This thing is packed in there with the bolts going up through the weldment and the two back
ones, were blocked from any access that was easy. There are 4 hydraulic lines all coming out
of the bottom of the unit. They are packed into a 3.5 to 4 inch dia area and yes, I have big mitts.
Take out the front two bolts, closer to driver's seat. Remove the first two hydraulic lines that you
can access. Snake a 1/4 drive with universal joint and 13 MM up through the remaining
hydraulic lines, because you can't get a 7/8 wrench anywhere near the fittings. Curse a bit.
Finally loosen the back two bolts and remove. "Don't drop them into the nether regions" " How the
fuck am I gonna get those back in?" Pry the unit up with 2 stiff lines and attached.
Ooops.. gotta remove the CPU it's in the way.
Then get the last two lines off.
Reverse steps.
As you can see, not much room:
Rear of gas tank is behind my hand:
I stopped at 7:30pm and finished it up in the morning.
A few years back I had purchased parts to rebuild the tilt. No better time than now. Got that
all assembled, greased and mounted. Put the dash on, added the steering wheel and fired it up.
Yippee, no leaks, steering works good and .....
WTF? no gauges working. Two plugs go into the gauge cluster. Unplug, replug, nope.
It lights up and turn signals work but no gas gauge, rpm or temp.
I had heard that these fail a lot but it was working, last week, other than the RPM would sometimes
stick at zero. Onto the internet and yeah, lots of BS with this cluster. I can get it repaired or
buy an aftermarket unit. Not sure what I want to do just yet.
The tractor is clean and a workhorse so I would like to have the cluster work as intended.
More later I guess......
Every one of my projects is "More Later". I'm beginning to despair! All in all, you did good. I'd probably be bleeding all over everything about halfway through...
ReplyDeleteYou poor bastard.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my world.
Good job though!!
👍
Find yourself hydraulic mechanic with F-4 experience. They can do anything, even while blindfolded. The design of the F-4s hydraulic system was the first industrial application of LSD.
ReplyDeleteAmen. I’ve got more Phantom bites than I care to count. McDonnell’s engineers went to work for Learjet when they quit making Phantoms.
DeleteI worked with a guy that always seemed to be the one doing Huey repairs, because he was the only one small enough to fit in the "Hell Hole" - as he called it. It was especially a shit job, as he was doing it on the tarmac in the Viet Nam heat. Kind of a shit Senior Trip, by all accounts.
DeleteLeigh
Whitehall, NY
Just repaired the hydraulic valve assembly on the bucket mechanism on my Kubota. Been gnawing at me all winter. Once I wrestled the unit off, I found it was just a rusty piston and cylinder. Wire brush, solvent, steel wool and I'm back in business.
ReplyDeleteWhen I retired and we moved to our 63 acre homestead in the mountains of NC 6 years ago I purchased a compact JD utility tractor with bucket and all the attachments I thought I needed to maintain the property, gardens and orchard area we would plant. It has been a nice piece of reliable equipment. I did have to replace the battery once and quickly cursed the so called engineers who designed that tractor. The battery itself is a made special for John Deere size mounted up in the front of the tractor. You cannot get the special smaller sized battery in or out without disassembling the head light assembly taking it out and even then it is a very tight squeeze. Engineers who design such things should be lined up and shipped to the front lines in Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteI've got one of those too. The battery is mounted RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE RADIATOR! I don't know WHO THE HELL thought that blocking a battery-sized portion of the radiator by putting the battery an inch in front of it was a good idea! Aside from that, when I pulled the battery to swap it out I found that field mice had BUILT A NEST between the battery and the radiator! Of course, you can't see this UNLESS you pull the battery. Great stuff, especially since I live in the Desert Southwest and a well-vented radiator is... kinda important...
DeleteDesign on the fly, that's how I build things / Repair on the dare, uh take it apart see if I can fix it hope I don't break anything or have extra parts.
ReplyDeleteEarly spring projects:
100' would rail and chain link dog pen replacement. Cheated, only had to dig out 2 not 12 concreted in old posts. I did use the old hispanic auger though.
New carb on the 4 wheeler. Simple unit and atv racer son in laws dad mechanic couple a calls no problem.
Walk behind mower would not start. Damn another new carburetor, amazing how simple those carbs are.
Rider mower no start, seen it before. Solenoid needle fuel valve gummed up. ps Cub Cadet/Kohler 27 hp engine if you have one with the same problem (youtube)
Thought I was done, oh hell no.
Septic well pump crapped out, 3rd one in 15 years. Damn $400 bucks later and redo on all wire connections.
Thought pump cost was bullshit took old one apart. Two pieces, motor and pump stack. Can you get a replacement pump stack, oh hell no. Design is interesting though. Wished I would have torn the first one apart and paid bigger money on high head pump with replaceable stack. To damn busy back then.
Ahh the life of an aged homeowner with to much home/land and to much equipment these days.
Wife wants to go back to the big city. Yes, I did say for me, "no f#$&^%$ way".
Still alive no agreement to sell home yet, big Irish hands feel like they have been through a meat grinder.
Good job on yours Irish, your old mower project last year would have beat the hell out of me also.
"All those lines nestled together". Not my tractor, but just seeing those lines like that makes me want to cuss a blue streak.
ReplyDeleteZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou got the bug zapper running?
DeleteNot sure if your JD is the same as mine but my fuel gauge and heat gauge will quit working until I unplug and replug the wire to the heat sending unit. It seems to be a ground for the those two and gets some corrosion. Worth a try
ReplyDeleteCrows feet. Not the ones on the outsides of our eyes. The wrenches. For that type of fitting in that area, either the AN set or the 12 point set will get 'er done. Horrible freight has the cheapie AN set, but the 12 point are a bit saltier. https://www.harryepstein.com/3-8-drive-12-point-box-bonney-martin-crowfoot-set.html
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're specialty tools, but with the right set, the jobs aren't all that hard. Since the acquisition of a BX 'bota has made them highly valuable addition to the toolbox I finally don't regret buying them all those years ago.
Oh, and check the fuse panel for the cluster fuse. Some of those 'engineers' put the male side of the connector on the 'flops around' side, and it's not that hard for them to contact a bolt or other dangly grounded item. Not saying 'those' engineers did it, but it's not the first I've seen the male end being hot, and the female end being well protected. Kinda like life in general.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's easier to pull the whole assembly out in one piece if the hoses are long enough. That way you can at least see it. I've never been able to afford Green paint to work on one of those.
ReplyDeleteOne can never have too many tools. A necessary evil since engineers have always shown a penchant for packing parts and pieces in a perplexingly tight area. I think we've all felt that pain, both physically and mentally.
ReplyDeleteOhio Guy
Ah, yes, Grasshopper - you too shall learn the ways of Big Green.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to steer is much more important than a tach. IMO - YMMV.
The Farm had to creatively repair a failed tie rod end on the 7200; because after three weeks, they still don't know when they will be in. And because the machine is beyond a certain age, they have "upgraded" the design and no longer carry just a tie rod end. The whole steering sub-assembly has to be replaced - to the tune of $2500+. FOR A TIE ROD END! Hence why it got welded, errrr - repaired.
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
So... a partial win???
ReplyDeletePerhaps a stupid question...(and someone else alluded to it). Did you check the ground for the instrument cluster? We were about to scrap a great '02 GMC Yuk as the dash went out. (It did go out "slowly" as one stand at a time of the final few left of a 1/4" or so ground wire, broke while traveling down bad gravel roads.) Finally found it - using mirrors - behind the engine where it emerged through the firewall only to be bolted to somewhere on the back of the block. Clamped on a new end, put it back on and she is in the 240K's now.
ReplyDeleteMy God I love working on my Packard, and loathe working on a Honda.
ReplyDeleteWorked as a mechanic for a while. Early model Honda Civic needed to have its crack exhaust manifold replaced. All went well right until the last nut fastened to a stud on the head. Needed a special wrench. From Honda. Special order only. From Japan. Good times...
ReplyDelete