Backhoe Mahindra owners. Little help here please.

Gasifier · Dec 4, 2017

tkevan said:
Couple of points from this thread. First, the fork/ quick connect issue is not a Mahindra problem. They source the loaders from quality suppliers like Ansung and KMW. If you're popping the fork frame off the quick connect, you're putting downward pressure on the tips of the forks, or the frame doesn't pin in correctly. Either is equally bad. Second, the problem with the tractor was an intermittent electrical short? Personally, I'd rather have my left ******** ripped off that have to troubleshoot that one. You could literally spend weeks/months before finding it, unless it finally dead shorts. I wouldn't sell it, because I doubt you'll have any more issues of this type.

I would like to clear something up here.

First.
Your information, which I think you obtained from a past poster, is wrong. Because he had it wrong. I did not “pop the fork frame of the quick connect”. I had my bucket on. Have pictures of it right after it happened. And I was back dragging to smooth an area off where I had dug stumps out of. Back dragging is a very common and normal thing to do with a loader and bucket. I’m not actually sure how it happened, but I personally think that while I was back dragging, the pin on the left hand side that holds the bottom of the bucket to the QA possibly hit a stone or another stump that was under the dirt and I hadn’t removed yet. As soon as that happened there is already pressure pulling the bucket away from the quick attach while back dragging. Didn’t take long to bend it.

Now let me just give said prior post the benefit of the doubt and just say I didn’t pin the bucket on right. (Apparently that would mean I did one side correctly and the other not.) And it was my fault that it came off. Fair enough. I did say I was going to see if it was covered by warranty. But what actually happened was when I talked with the dealer on the phone about it I did not push to try to get it fixed through warranty. I actually admitted to him on the phone that I was working the tractor pretty hard doing the ground work and I asked him to get me a price on a new QA. It turned out is was going to be something like $900+ and take a week to ten days to get here. Well I couldn’t wait ten days, I had work to do, and I didn’t want to spend that kind of money. So I had my neighbor take it off the loader, fix it, reinstalled it and I was back to work.

Second.
Why would there be a focus on the QA? This problem that resulted in the metal of QA being bent, should not be tied together with the others. The problem with the damage to the QA did not have anything to do with any of the other problems with the tractor. Not the hydraulic problems, not the bolts falling out of the steering mechanism early on, not the power/starting problems because of extreme corrosion at the battery terminals, not the transmission problem, and not the electrical short problem which they say apparently caused all the loss of power with the engine and much of the lost time. These are design and/or material quality problems of Mahindra’s.

And I do not believe that saying something is caused by excessive jarring of the tractor is even close to a decent cause/excuse for these problems either. If you design and then build a tractor to have a loader and backhoe installed on it then it needs to be designed to take the jarring that will come with that type of work. Come to think of it, driving across a bumpy road or field empty, or pulling a plow, rake, etc. would do some jarring as well.

I would rather troubleshoot than ........

I am truly hoping I won’t have any more issues of this type.

I’ve had family home visiting so haven’t had a chance to put it to work.

Thank you for your input.

Luke'sScreenName · Dec 4, 2017

Gasifier said:
I would like to clear something up here.

First.
Your information, which I think you obtained from a past poster, is wrong. Because he had it wrong. I did not “pop the fork frame of the quick connect”. I had my bucket on. Have pictures of it right after it happened. And I was back dragging to smooth an area off where I had dug stumps out of. Back dragging is a very common and normal thing to do with a loader and bucket. I’m not actually sure how it happened, but I personally think that while I was back dragging, the pin on the left hand side that holds the bottom of the bucket to the QA possibly hit a stone or another stump that was under the dirt and I hadn’t removed yet. As soon as that happened there is already pressure pulling the bucket away from the quick attach while back dragging. Didn’t take long to bend it.

Now let me just give said prior post the benefit of the doubt and just say I didn’t pin the bucket on right. (Apparently that would mean I did one side correctly and the other not.) And it was my fault that it came off. Fair enough. I did say I was going to see if it was covered by warranty. But what actually happened was when I talked with the dealer on the phone about it I did not push to try to get it fixed through warranty. I actually admitted to him on the phone that I was working the tractor pretty hard doing the ground work and I asked him to get me a price on a new QA. It turned out is was going to be something like $900+ and take a week to ten days to get here. Well I couldn’t wait ten days, I had work to do, and I didn’t want to spend that kind of money. So I had my neighbor take it off the loader, fix it, reinstalled it and I was back to work.

Second.
Why would there be a focus on the QA? This problem that resulted in the metal of QA being bent, should not be tied together with the others. The problem with the damage to the QA did not have anything to do with any of the other problems with the tractor. Not the hydraulic problems, not the bolts falling out of the steering mechanism early on, not the power/starting problems because of extreme corrosion at the battery terminals, not the transmission problem, and not the electrical short problem which they say apparently caused all the loss of power with the engine and much of the lost time. These are design and/or material quality problems of Mahindra’s.

And I do not believe that saying something is caused by excessive jarring of the tractor is even close to a decent cause/excuse for these problems either. If you design and then build a tractor to have a loader and backhoe installed on it then it needs to be designed to take the jarring that will come with that type of work. Come to think of it, driving across a bumpy road or field empty, or pulling a plow, rake, etc. would do some jarring as well.

I would rather troubleshoot than ........

I am truly hoping I won’t have any more issues of this type.

I’ve had family home visiting so haven’t had a chance to put it to work.

Thank you for your input.

One of the better, no-confrontational, but effective rebuttals I have ever read on TBN. Well done Gas. Certainly better than I could do. :drink:

darmstrong2319 · Dec 4, 2017

Good post Gasifier. Some people blame manufacturer some blame dealer and some blame operator, I’m guilty also but none of the blame games help the problem. I hope no more problems and keep us posted when you have a chance to work it some.

Rustyiron · Dec 4, 2017

:thumbsup: Me too!

tkevan · Dec 4, 2017

I gathered, maybe incorrectly, that the starting/power issues were caused by the now corrected short. You didn't say what the fix was with the low gear issue, so we can't intelligently comment on that. The bolts coming loose? Happens. They may have missed the locktite on the bolts for the steering rack. I do an inspection after each day of work and each morning before work looking for loose bolts/lines/wires. A "walkaround" is something I guess I picked up from my years in the service. The battery corrosion? Not sure how is that a Mahindra problem? Exide provides millions of batteries every year. I'll guess that is what's in your unit. The leads on my 4025 are solid lead, better than those on my Ram 3500. Maybe the 3550 ones are substandard, but I doubt they're worse than the stamped steel ones on the truck. I tend to leads as soon as I take ownership. Cover with Dielectric grease, and they don't fuzz up so quick. I too had my bucket pop off backdragging. The Ansung pins rode up with backwards pressure. I welded stops above the pins similar to other loaders I've seen. Should I have had too? Probably not. Ansung makes a good loader. But I did. The hydraulic leaks also happen. On all my equipment. I usually catch them, snug them up, and they stop.

Gasifier · Dec 5, 2017

tkevan said:
I gathered, maybe incorrectly, that the starting/power issues were caused by the now corrected short. You didn't say what the fix was with the low gear issue, so we can't intelligently comment on that. The bolts coming loose? Happens. They may have missed the locktite on the bolts for the steering rack. I do an inspection after each day of work and each morning before work looking for loose bolts/lines/wires. A "walkaround" is something I guess I picked up from my years in the service. The battery corrosion? Not sure how is that a Mahindra problem? Exide provides millions of batteries every year. I'll guess that is what's in your unit. The leads on my 4025 are solid lead, better than those on my Ram 3500. Maybe the 3550 ones are substandard, but I doubt they're worse than the stamped steel ones on the truck. I tend to leads as soon as I take ownership. Cover with Dielectric grease, and they don't fuzz up so quick. I too had my bucket pop off backdragging. The Ansung pins rode up with backwards pressure. I welded stops above the pins similar to other loaders I've seen. Should I have had too? Probably not. Ansung makes a good loader. But I did. The hydraulic leaks also happen. On all my equipment. I usually catch them, snug them up, and they stop.

The starting power issues were from severe corrosion at battery terminals. This caused cheap wire ends to fall apart. I had to fix those because I had to get things done. And the dealership only has one mechanic servicing “well over 100 tractors” around the county. So I can’t always wait until he is free to fix .......

One at a time, when needed, I replaced them with new, better, corrosion resistant ends. Placing a grease substance sold to stop corrosion on terminal of battery as well. (And my tractor stays inside my barn when I’m not using it.)

The low gear issue was fixed by them going into transmission from the top and replacing a pin that had broken. This should not happen at this low of hours. Period.

When new, and now that it is fixed, changing to and from low, medium, and high, has never been smooth. You have to very carefully change using the brake and it can take allowing the tractor to move a little to get it into the l,m,h gear range you want. This is a design flaw. No doubt about it. I have never had a problem changing gears on other machines I’ve owned. And I’ve been driving tractors since I was a young teen. About 35 years now.

I pay them to do their suggested service. I grease all my fittings, and keep my tractor inside an enclosed barn.

Anyway. Let’s hope I don’t have anymore time loss issues for a good long while.

linuxman51 · Dec 5, 2017

Yeah, good luck talking to Mahindra. They absolutely will *not* talk to customers it seems. If your dealer is good, they'll be an intermediary (mine is awesome), but sometimes you don't want to burden the middleman with your problems, ya know? Esp if it's not related to service or something like that.

Sometimes you want to talk to whomever designed the new seat, to find out what they like to smoke.
Sometimes you want to have a friendly discussion with the person(s) responsible for the battery tray/electrical system/battery selection process.
Sometimes you want to find out if everyone else is having trouble with their $26,000 piece of sh..equipment, or if you were the lucky winner in the monday lottery.

With all the trouble I've had with my max26, it just about has me ready to unload it on some other poor unsuspecting fool and trade up to something orange or green. maybe even a massy. If I did that, at least I could keep my dealer(though, given the history, he may not want me back lol).

I'm bitter right now. Seems like every three times I go to use my tractor around the property something tears up. That's probably an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like. Not every day that the end snaps off one of the loader control valves.

tkevan · Dec 5, 2017

Gasifier said:
The starting power issues were from severe corrosion at battery terminals. This caused cheap wire ends to fall apart. I had to fix those because I had to get things done. And the dealership only has one mechanic servicing 努ell over 100 tractors around the county. So I can稚 always wait until he is free to fix .......

One at a time, when needed, I replaced them with new, better, corrosion resistant ends. Placing a grease substance sold to stop corrosion on terminal of battery as well. (And my tractor stays inside my barn when I知 not using it.)

The low gear issue was fixed by them going into transmission from the top and replacing a pin that had broken. This should not happen at this low of hours. Period.

When new, and now that it is fixed, changing to and from low, medium, and high, has never been smooth. You have to very carefully change using the brake and it can take allowing the tractor to move a little to get it into the l,m,h gear range you want. This is a design flaw. No doubt about it. I have never had a problem changing gears on other machines I致e owned. And I致e been driving tractors since I was a young teen. About 35 years now.

I pay them to do their suggested service. I grease all my fittings, and keep my tractor inside an enclosed barn.

Anyway. Let痴 hope I don稚 have anymore time loss issues for a good long while.

I get your frustration. My leads are heavy molded lead on what looks like 4ga wire. Not sure but looking at a schematic of the 3550, it does look like they used the stamped steel clamps. Did they use a lighter gauge wire also? I think expecting metal parts to never fail prematurely is unrealistic though. Even the best ISO9001 factories have a MTBF. Metal fails. Without stress testing or NDT, there's no way to weed out every potentially internally defective part. And we wouldn't want to pay for a product that reflected the cost of 100% testing. Never had, and probably will never have, an HST unit, so I can't comment on the shifting issuesof your particular machine. I do have to stop my tractors dead to switch ranges, have to sometimes rock the 885 to get it to switch, but, again, those are both gear tractors.

Gasifier · Dec 9, 2017

Mahindra did contact me and left a message on my phone.

A follow up e-mail also said this:

Dear Mr. ______,

I called you this morning and left a voicemail for you to return my call. I have also been in touch with ______, owner of The Wood Chop Shop. ______told me your tractor has been repaired and returned to you.

Please accept my sincere apologies for the issues you have had and the time it has taken to resolve it. As a gesture of goodwill from Mahindra I would like to offer you the next tractor service for free. I have instructed _______ to take care of this for you and Mahindra would reimburse him for the service.

If I can be of further assistance to you please feel free to contact me at any time.

Thanks for choosing Mahindra and have a great afternoon.