We All Live In An Orange Submarine

[Jstpssng]

Suddenly I don't feel like such a Klutz!!!

It has to make you cringe to see him running that tractor. The worst thing he could have done was let it set with water in it.
No, that's the second worst. The worst is that he is still running it.

 

[FriendwithTractor]

What's the saying? "When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging."

Your neighbor at the very least is tenacious.

 

[deezler]

His tractor, however, isn't OK. He's been driving it around, leaving a smoke trail like a WW2 destroyer. It is now having trouble starting, so he took the starter apart, cleaned it (it was submerged), liberally dosed it with WD-40 (a/k/a chicken soup for machinery), and it is barely working. That, I think, is the least of his problems.

He says he's still able to get "light work" out of it, but I am concerned that if there is any metal debris in it (symptoms seem to indicate a cracked piston), the shrapnel is going to damage other parts of the engine and his ultimate repair bill is going to be a lot higher than it needs to be.

Essentially, he's in denial. (I happen to know that de nial is a river in Africa, in fact there are two of them, the Blue Nile and the White Nile. I have seen them, they are both very brown.)

While the tractor is definitely broke, he isn't, so the ultimate resolution might just be for him to use it as a trade-in on a new one. He has over 2,000 hard hours on this one, so that might be the best way forward. Of course, it is his decision, not mine.

Stay tuned . . .

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

Sheesh. His starter probably died because the engine is real hard to turn over due to various internal damage.

I agree with whoever posited above that he probably bent some rods due to hydrolock before it pumped the water out enough to run.

Your neighbor is an absolute dummy for immediately starting the engine instead of draining and replacing all the fluids first. What a shame to waste a good machine like that. Peeing on the electric fence, indeed.

 

[scootr]

The OP is a lucky man.
Who needs television when you got a neighbor like that?

 

[goeduck]

While the tractor is definitely broke, he isn't, so the ultimate resolution might just be for him to use it as a trade-in on a new one. He has over 2,000 hard hours on this one, so that might be the best way forward. Of course, it is his decision, not mine.

I'd hate to see another tractor trashed.

 

[ruffdog]

It's only money..................................

 

[Alan46]

Can’t wait for the next episode of the saga!

 

[fidowanttobe]

Following

 

[sunandsand]

Yes, he is tenacious.

Understand that I am not trying to mock him or hold him up to ridicule - I don't work like that. I see this as a learning experience (with him paying the tuition, not me) and a demonstration of differing approaches to a problem. Some of those approaches work, some are, shall we say, rather less successful.

That's what makes TBN so valuable. "This happened and I tried X, which did/did not work, was a complete success/blew up in my face spectacularly."

I do recall seeing the statement that if you don't get your tractor stuck once in a while, you aren't working it hard enough. Since I am a comparative tractor newbie, I really prefer to learn from the experiences of others who know a lot more about this stuff than I do. (But I am learning.)

I just don't like being the first penguin through the ice looking for killer whales.

If my neighbor's experiences eventually guide someone in the right direction, I'm happy. Gather all relevant information, sort through it, then make your decision, understanding the consequences.

I'll keep the information going. Right now the tractor is parked with the hood off and the front loader raised as high as it will go. (Hopefully he will block it there, but it really should come off for easy and safer access to the engine.)

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I do recall seeing the statement that if you don't get your tractor stuck once in a while, you aren't working it hard enough. Since I am a comparative tractor newbie, I really prefer to learn from the experiences of others who know a lot more about this stuff than I do. (But I am learning.)

In my experience it's the little ones that like to get stuck, the BX25D and especially the L3800.

Have stalled the M6040 with all the rippers on an 8-foot box blade fully extended, and on very hard packed dirt. Operator error/wanting to find the limit. Not a stuck, obviously, but it does get to work.

Part of it could be that the little ones are easy to pluck out of a predicament, and also that putting the M6040 (with a cab) on its side would be expensive, so I'm more cautious.

When/if it happens, at least these days I have winches and cranes capable of getting it unstuck and/or upright again, but it could still be expensive so I'm still cautious.