What a nightmare, please read.

[powerscol]

OP
Your dealer should be able to flush and examine the rest of the hydraulic system now while it is apart. The should be able to hook up and external pump and bucket to do this. The Kubota dealer where I get my implements from has such a system to do hydraulic service. They have a fitting they screw on the filter housing and back flush to the hydraulic sump and other parts of the tractor.

Just a thought.

 

[DavesTractor]

On the slow parts issue, I can think of a couple of scenarios which would cause this that are not normal. One is that it may have started with a Hanjin shipment sitting on an idled ship off the coast due to the complications of bankruptcy. It's been mentioned before, but it is a really interesting problem. The port won't let them in until they prove they have the ability to pay to unload (millions $$), and they also must prove they can pay for fuel so they can leave the berth. But Hanjin won't dock until they have an assurance that their ship will not be seized by creditors. It is very complicated.

If these parts were part of a normal restocking load and on a Hanjin ship, the MUSA parts department would be reluctant to air freight over parts when any day the ship will get released to dock. So they wait....and then they decided to air freight over critical parts. So we have a reasonable delay that is out of MUSA's hands. Then the air freight had to clear customs, etc. That MAY have happened, we don't know. It would explain a lot.

But what must happen is MUSA and the dealer MUST return phone calls. Good communication can go a long ways toward keeping a customer happy. Bad communication will cause threads like this one. There might very well be a logical answer to the parts issue and they may have a plan in place to search for the cause of the metal in the oil and the cleaning of the sump...but we don't know since they won't tell us. They must communicate, otherwise it appears they have dropped the ball even if they haven't.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Do they give 5 years because it takes them 4 years to get replacement parts to the customer?

unch:

 

[Steppenwolfe]

30 years ago I bought my first Kubota, an L2550 I believe, with fel, and backhoe. It had the brand new shuttle shift and I bought it for business use. Anyway, six months or so into it, the clutch went out. The dealer came one hour, picked it up, and took it back. Upon inspection he concluded we probably were riding the clutch and caused the failure. When I pointed out in the sales brochure we were only doing what Kubota said we could do, he agreed, split the tractor, made the repair and returned the tractor within a week, no arguments, no charge. That one experience has followed me to this day, and is one of the reasons for my fierce brand loyalty. As is with most things in life, first impressions mean the most.

 

[SteveM70]

On the slow parts issue, I can think of a couple of scenarios which would cause this that are not normal. One is that it may have started with a Hanjin shipment sitting on an idled ship off the coast due to the complications of bankruptcy. It's been mentioned before, but it is a really interesting problem. The port won't let them in until they prove they have the ability to pay to unload (millions $$), and they also must prove they can pay for fuel so they can leave the berth. But Hanjin won't dock until they have an assurance that their ship will not be seized by creditors. It is very complicated.

If these parts were part of a normal restocking load and on a Hanjin ship, the MUSA parts department would be reluctant to air freight over parts when any day the ship will get released to dock. So they wait....and then they decided to air freight over critical parts. So we have a reasonable delay that is out of MUSA's hands. Then the air freight had to clear customs, etc. That MAY have happened, we don't know. It would explain a lot.

But what must happen is MUSA and the dealer MUST return phone calls. Good communication can go a long ways toward keeping a customer happy. Bad communication will cause threads like this one. There might very well be a logical answer to the parts issue and they may have a plan in place to search for the cause of the metal in the oil and the cleaning of the sump...but we don't know since they won't tell us. They must communicate, otherwise it appears they have dropped the ball even if they haven't.

You have taught me something but to my way of thinking about the shipping problems is, if you knew this could happen, Mahindra knew it could happen

They managed to get the tractors over here to sale but not the parts to fix them? I don't mean to sound harsh but months for a pump is rediculous!

 

[IH782]

*Update*

I made 4 phone calls to 3 different people at Mahindra today, none of them returned my call, big surprise.

The dealer said the pump was in Texas today. So they should have it by mid week. When they get it they are putting it in and throwing it together.

The dealer was helpful in the beginning, as of late they just want it out of their shop. Again, they were supposed to try and get ahold of someone on Friday to ask if the pump can be opened. Never happened.

I am honestly at a loss for words.

 

[MossRoad]

My dad used to go through this with VW's in the 70's.... waiting for parts/instructions from Germany. As with you, he got a loaner. Didn't like it, but at least he had a machine to do the tasks he needed to do while they had his. Good luck.

 

[sixdogs]

They are going to flush the system, right? If not this is step one of a multi step problem.

You might want to think about an immediate trade. Get what you can, trade for something with dealer and factory support and chalk up the loss to a "tax" for buying the wrong thing. This is how I have dealt with similar issues over the years and it's worked for me. That's how I would up with Kubota and Deere. Not everything in life works the way we want it to.

 

[SteveM70]

My dad used to go through this with VW's in the 70's.... waiting for parts/instructions from Germany. As with you, he got a loaner. Didn't like it, but at least he had a machine to do the tasks he needed to do while they had his. Good luck.

VW's as in plural? He must have been one loyal Volkswagen fan or very patient to buy into that more than once.

 

[MossRoad]

VW's as in plural? He must have been one loyal Volkswagen fan or very patient to buy into that more than once.

Well, he had a wife and 5 kids spread out in age over 12 years, and family out of town. So there was a lot of shuttling kids around and long vacations/visits. From the time I can remember, around 1963 or so... we had a Plymouth station wagon, a mid 60's grey VW bus, a VW Karmann Ghia, a Beetle, two 60's mustangs (both rusted out), and 4 more blue buses from about 1968-1979, and a 70 Nova (which actually had room for 6 people). The wagons and buses were for mom and she wore them all out. He'd dump em at 100,000 miles or so. The Karmann Ghia, Beetle, Mustangs and Nova were for him to go back and forth to work. Then he got a couple Toyota cars and a LandCruiser, and after the kids left he and mom got a couple Chevy wagons to supplement the Toyotas. Thing that always made me think... he was a WWII vet, and had no issue owning German and Japanese cars. He swore off Fords after the two Mustang rust buckets. And he had good luck with the Chevy's and Toyotas. :confused3:

 

[IH782]

They are going to flush the system, right? If not this is step one of a multi step problem.

They don't have a flush "system", just refill and run.

 

[DieselBound]

On the slow parts issue, I can think of a couple of scenarios which would cause this that are not normal. One is that it may have started with a Hanjin shipment sitting on an idled ship off the coast due to the complications of bankruptcy. It's been mentioned before, but it is a really interesting problem. The port won't let them in until they prove they have the ability to pay to unload (millions $$), and they also must prove they can pay for fuel so they can leave the berth. But Hanjin won't dock until they have an assurance that their ship will not be seized by creditors. It is very complicated.

If these parts were part of a normal restocking load and on a Hanjin ship, the MUSA parts department would be reluctant to air freight over parts when any day the ship will get released to dock. So they wait....and then they decided to air freight over critical parts. So we have a reasonable delay that is out of MUSA's hands. Then the air freight had to clear customs, etc. That MAY have happened, we don't know. It would explain a lot.

But what must happen is MUSA and the dealer MUST return phone calls. Good communication can go a long ways toward keeping a customer happy. Bad communication will cause threads like this one. There might very well be a logical answer to the parts issue and they may have a plan in place to search for the cause of the metal in the oil and the cleaning of the sump...but we don't know since they won't tell us. They must communicate, otherwise it appears they have dropped the ball even if they haven't.

This is a first class post! I don't think that anyone wants to be in this situation. Sometimes things just go BAD. And as Dave notes, what matters the most in these situations is COMMUNICATION. Well, yeah, getting the issue rectified is what matters most, but as the issue is dealt with it's "communication."

Our global JIT (Just In Time) world is extremely fragile. Most folks can't comprehend this. The reality is is that things are only going to get more tenuous.

 

[Ford850]

They don't have a flush "system", just refill and run.

Your dealer could have already flushed the tractor and had it ready for the new parts. You said in your first post that Mahindra told the dealer to flush it. At this point, from what we know on this thread, I'd say your dealer is letting you down as much as Mahindra. Shame on Mahindra for allowing incapable dealers into their network, and for not stepping up when they know of the dealer limitations.

 

[newbury]

On the slow parts issue, I can think of a couple of scenarios which would cause this that are not normal. One is that it may have started with a Hanjin shipment sitting on an idled ship off the coast due to the complications of bankruptcy. It's been mentioned before, but it is a really interesting problem. The port won't let them in until they prove they have the ability to pay to unload (millions $$), and they also must prove they can pay for fuel so they can leave the berth. But Hanjin won't dock until they have an assurance that their ship will not be seized by creditors. It is very complicated.

If these parts were part of a normal restocking load and on a Hanjin ship, the MUSA parts department would be reluctant to air freight over parts when any day the ship will get released to dock. So they wait....and then they decided to air freight over critical parts. So we have a reasonable delay that is out of MUSA's hands. Then the air freight had to clear customs, etc. That MAY have happened, we don't know. It would explain a lot.
<snip>.

You have taught me something but to my way of thinking about the shipping problems is, if you knew this could happen, Mahindra knew it could happen

They managed to get the tractors over here to sale but not the parts to fix them? I don't mean to sound harsh but months for a pump is rediculous!

Knowing it COULD happen doesn't mean diddly about expecting it to happen and when. They probably know that a meteor COULD hit a ship but don't plan on that happening. Any tractors they were shipping at the same time as the part would be held up also. As Dave wrote in a post way back in this thread the failure of the part has been VERY rare. It's not like stocking an oil filter. And if you have to split a new tractor to get the specific part it's not a good solution either.

When I was intimately involved in fielding truck/computer Topographic systems to the field Army we always planned on "spares". But it was always a "calculated risk" of fielding replacement parts because we got reamed for ending up 5 years down the line with warehouses full of unique replacement parts for obsolete equipment scattered across various continents..

This is a first class post! I don't think that anyone wants to be in this situation. Sometimes things just go BAD. And as Dave notes, what matters the most in these situations is COMMUNICATION. Well, yeah, getting the issue rectified is what matters most, but as the issue is dealt with it's "communication."

Our global JIT (Just In Time) world is extremely fragile. Most folks can't comprehend this. The reality is is that things are only going to get more tenuous.

It's truly the "butterfly effect" in action.

 

[SteveM70]

Knowing it COULD happen doesn't mean diddly about expecting it to happen and when. They probably know that a meteor COULD hit a ship but don't plan on that happening. Any tractors they were shipping at the same time as the part would be held up also. As Dave wrote in a post way back in this thread the failure of the part has been VERY rare. It's not like stocking an oil filter. And if you have to split a new tractor to get the specific part it's not a good solution either.

When I was intimately involved in fielding truck/computer Topographic systems to the field Army we always planned on "spares". But it was always a "calculated risk" of fielding replacement parts because we got reamed for ending up 5 years down the line with warehouses full of unique replacement parts for obsolete equipment scattered across various continents..



It's truly the "butterfly effect" in action.

Your experience has been completely different than mine. I worked as a mechanic in an industry where when equipment broke down I would order the part or parts as soon as I diagnosed the problem. The parts to fix the equipment often arrived before I had the old parts off. We had a warehouse or warehouses with obsolete parts but having everything possible to curb equipment downtime more than payed for the parts that were never used.

I'm not arguing with your post, just pointing out that there are two sides to every coin and you and I are speaking from totally different experiences.

On the shipping problem though, if the likelihood of it happening is equal to the likelihood of a meteor hitting a ship then why even bring it up? DavesTractors post read like it was something that happened often enough to cause shipping problems.

 

[Rmart30]

Your dealer could have already flushed the tractor and had it ready for the new parts. You said in your first post that Mahindra told the dealer to flush it. At this point, from what we know on this thread, I'd say your dealer is letting you down as much as Mahindra. Shame on Mahindra for allowing incapable dealers into their network, and for not stepping up when they know of the dealer limitations.

Ive worked on construction equipment for 25 years and have never seen a "dealer power flush system" for a machine. There is no magic flush port to use. Most shops will build their own type of "flusher" thats just a pump of some sort with a spray tube/nozzle that washes out the insides of the cases etc.

Pumps,planetary, gear boxes,valve bodies etc get torn down and washed out with mineral spirits and visually inspected in every shop Ive worked in. Even after "trying" to flush a system you will still have something floating around in it that wont come out without further disassembly and cleaning in all the nooks and crannies.

Now to my Mahindra story.
Long story short bought a 3510 and thought was going to end up needing a used block or reman short block. Tried all the tractor salvage yards I could find from the south to the mid west. Not a single 3510/4110 to be found. So called Mahindra dealer.... No reman motors offered at all.. No bare blocks... No new motors in stock anywhere in north America. Lead time was 4-6 months for a new long block and cost on it was more than I could buy a whole other tractor for. Luckily I was able to save the block, and I sold the tractor soon after.

 

[buickanddeere]

Here's the proof. Mahindra is 10 time's better tractor than John Deere, Just get on and go, and come's with a 5 year no BS power train warranty, they just have to work on their customer service department.

Mahindra 2538 vs John Deere 338E - YouTube

Well I seen a video where the Deere was 10X better than the Mahindra.

 

[buickanddeere]

VW's as in plural? He must have been one loyal Volkswagen fan or very patient to buy into that more than once.

Isn't VW in trouble at the moment with their diesels ?

 

[paulfun9]

Pumps,planetary, gear boxes,valve bodies etc get torn down and washed out with mineral spirits and visually inspected in every shop Ive worked in. Even after "trying" to flush a system you will still have something floating around in it that wont come out without further disassembly and cleaning in all the nooks and crannies.

.

This would be my more like my experience as well. Hence my post about selling it trading it right away.

 

[flusher]

....
By the way, you guys that hook your new tractor to your old hydraulic implements (like I think we all do) are sharing oil with that implement and any tractor it has connected with. Sort of like STDs in the human world, we will call this Implement Transmitted Disease - ITD. I really doubt this is the cause, but a failed implement that is putting metal shavings into the oil will put that abrasive and damage causing oil into the tractor tank. The system is designed to capture and filter the oil, but just a heads up that you can introduce metal into a system absent a tractor mechanical issue. HST transmissions are much more fussy about filtration. It makes sense that they can tolerate less crud in the oil then a simple gear trans. But the fact that you were pulling metal out of your rear remotes makes me wonder if you were actually putting metal in through your rear remotes. It is possible, and if so this repair should not be on Mahindra's dime....


Hopefully you will have your part soon. Nice you have a loaner.

Right on, Dave. I never attached the rear hydraulic remotes on that 2008 Mahindra 5525 I bought from you way back then to "strange" implements. The hydraulic ram on my old Minneapolis Moline 10 ft wide grain drill was a modification I made myself using a brand new ram so I knew it was clean. Similarly, I disassembled, cleaned and refilled the ram on that 13-ft wide wheel disk you sold me before plugging it into the 5525. An ounce of prevention etc.

My 75th birthday is coming up in Nov. Heading to the old homestead in St. Louis for a birthday bash. Take care.